Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is taking heat from all sides as he faces what could be the most fraught moment in the Israel-Hamas war since fighting broke out seven months ago.

A dizzying number of recent developments, both at home and abroad, have underscored the politically perilous path Biden finds himself on as he navigates criticism from Republicans and Democrats unhappy with his approach to the conflict.

All this mixed up with his reelection campaign in which polls show voters say they trust Donald Trump to do a better job in the same tough situation.

“I think he’s in a very precarious position,” Guy Ziv, the associate director of American University’s Center for Israel Studies, told ABC News.

Aaron David Miller, a former State Department diplomat now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, described Biden as being stuck in a “strategic cul-de-sac with no easy way out.”

College protests have brought the overseas turmoil closer to home than ever before as students across the U.S. express frustrations with Biden’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza and show support for Palestinians. Along with chants of “Genocide Joe,” the campus unrest has produced images of mass arrests, some violent clashes and accusations of antisemitism.

Congressional Republicans have seized on the fallout as a unifying election-year issue for their party, denouncing the scenes as “chaos” borne from Biden’s policies and claiming he hasn’t done enough to protect Jewish students.

Biden has pushed back on GOP efforts to brand him with the narrative, this week forcefully condemning what he called a “ferocious surge” in antisemitism in a major address on Holocaust remembrance, saying hate speech of any kind has no place on any campus.

“The campus protests, if I could sum it up in a few words: It’s terrible for Biden, it’s very good for Trump and it won’t change U.S.- Middle East policy one iota,” said Miller.

Republicans — and even some Democrats — are now pouncing on Biden’s new warning to Israel that the U.S. will withhold weapons Israel could use in a major invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering. A shipment of some 3,500 bombs was paused last week.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, angry that top Republicans weren’t informed beforehand, slammed Biden’s decision as a “senior moment.” Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, called it “disgraceful” as he spoke to reporters before entering the Manhattan courtroom on Thursday where he’s on trial for allegedly falsifying business records about hush money payments prosecutors say were made to boost his 2016 election prospects.

Meanwhile, many progressives and a number of mainstream Democrats continue to pressure Biden to take a tougher stance on Israel as Palestinians face a growing humanitarian crisis. Parts of Gaza are currently experiencing a “full-blown famine,” a top United Nations official recently warned, though no formal declaration has been issued by the organization.

Democratic criticism could ramp up further when the Biden administration submits a highly-anticipated report to Congress in the coming days on whether Israel has violated international law in Gaza, or if Israel does mount a major ground offensive in Rafah, putting Palestinian civilians even more at risk.

Biden has largely sought to balance unwavering support for Israel’s security and harsh condemnation of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack with alleviating hardship for civilians suffering in Gaza by pushing for more humanitarian aid and urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to better protect them or face consequences.

Ziv, who previously worked at the State Department and on Capitol Hill, applauded Biden’s “cool-headed” response and ability to handle “a very difficult situation and not to succumb to any of the louder, more extreme voices on either side.”

Divided Supreme Court rules no quick hearing required when police seize property
“He’s navigating a very fine line,” Miller said of Biden. “And I think he wants to continue navigating it.”

A no-win situation? Maybe not

Unfolding in the background are touch-and-go negotiations for a cease-fire deal. Talks reached a “critical stage,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier this week, after Hamas unexpectedly announced it accepted a proposal — one that Israel said did not meet their requirements. CIA Director William Burns was in Cairo this week to try to bridge the gap between the two sides, but talks ended Thursday with no resolution.

An agreement to stop hostilities in Gaza, even temporarily, and return Israeli and American hostages held by Hamas may be the only way for Biden to silence most of his critics, experts said.

“In the immediate sense, a cease-fire and bringing calm to the region this summer would be a huge, huge achievement,” Ziv said.

“Without this Israel-Hamas deal, there’s no way to change the picture,” said Miller. “No way to de-escalate Israeli military activity, no way to surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza on a regular basis, no way to free the hostages, including six Americans, and no way to even begin introducing the administration’s regional peace initiative.”

Looming large over Biden is what impact the Israel-Hamas war will have on his chances in the U.S. presidential election.

“Obviously success is the best outcome. How long he has is not completely clear,” said Jon Alterman, the director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The best thing is when November rolls around, he can point to the episode as one where he both advanced the interests of Israelis and Palestinians and American interests,” Alterman said. “And there’s six months between now and November.”

An ABC News/Ipsos poll released last week found Americans divided on U.S. policy toward the conflict, but that salience on the issue was low. The war ranked last in a list of topics Americans said will be an important issue for them in November.

But the question remains as to whether even a small number of defections from Biden would be enough to sink him in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin, which saw protest votes against his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza in those states’ Democratic primaries.

“The issue for Biden is not those voters turning to Trump, it’s the fact that they may not turn out at all,” said Miller. “We don’t know how the Israel-Gaza issue, even if it continues in the state that it’s in now, is going to affect voting in November.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester will continue his efforts to distinguish himself as a border security hard-liner on Thursday by becoming the first Senate Democrat to back an immigration bill that has been championed by Republicans in both chambers of Congress.

On Thursday afternoon, Tester will announce his intention to co-sponsor the Laken Riley Act, a bill named after a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed while out on a run near the University of Georgia campus in February. Authorities say her alleged perpetrator is an undocumented migrant who was previously arrested for a non-violent crime but released by the New York Police Department.

The Laken Riley Act would require federal officials to apprehend and detain undocumented immigrants who commit crimes such as burglary, shoplifting or larceny until these individuals are removed from the United States.

The bill cleared the House in early March with support of every Republican and 37 Democrats.

But it hasn’t gotten as robust support from Democrats in the upper chamber.

Tester will become the first Senate Democratic co-sponsor of the legislation, joining a slate of GOP co-sponsors. The move comes as the Montana Democrat, who faces a tough reelection this November, looks to further establish himself as a border security hard-liner.

“Keeping Montana safe is my top priority, which is why I’ve repeatedly called on the Biden Administration and Congress to do more to secure the southern border and have worked to get the brave men and women in law enforcement what they need to keep criminals off our streets,” Tester said in a statement. “After hearing from law enforcement officers across Montana, I’m backing the Laken Riley Act to make sure that individuals who enter our country and commit a crime are held accountable so that no Montana family has to worry about the safety of their loved ones.”

Tester faces reelection in his deep-red state, where likely Republican Senate nominee Tim Sheehy is working to make high numbers of unauthorized border crossings and the spread of fentanyl top issues for his campaign.

In recent months, Tester has become more and more outspoken about the challenges at the southern border.

Tester was closely watched during an effort by House Republicans to convict Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a quickly-dispensed-with impeachment trial.

Though Tester did ultimately vote with his party to prevent a trial, he called the situation at the southern border “completely unacceptable” and said that the Biden administration needed to “do more” to keep the county safe.

Though there was an effort earlier this year to advance the bipartisan border security bill drafted by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Ct., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and James Lankford, R-Okla., those efforts ultimately stalled out after Senate Republicans rejected the deal because they felt it was not strong enough.

Senate Democrats, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Murphy, said yesterday they hope to reopen discussion about the border security provisions, just as sources tell ABC News that DHS is slated to propose a change to the process for those seeking asylum.

ABC News’ Tal Axelrod contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Witnesses testifying at a congressional hearing have accused the U.S. intelligence community of deliberately downplaying dozens of Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) affecting U.S. personnel, often referred to as “Havana dyndrome.”

“It is my view that the executive branch, particularly at the behest of and manipulation by officials within CIA, is not truthfully reporting what it knows,” said Mark Zaid, an attorney representing more than two dozen victims of “Havana syndrome,” citing U.S. intelligence that he says he’s seen in his work but could not reveal in an unclassified setting.

An assessment released last year by the U.S. intelligence community found it was “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was behind the cases of the so-called “Havana syndrome” affecting U.S. diplomats, intelligence community members, and Defense Department officials.

Each of the witnesses at Wednesday’s Homeland Security subcommittee hearing disputed the intelligence community’s claim, citing undisclosed classified intelligence that they say proves their assertion.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Greg Edgreen, who ran the Pentagon’s investigation into “Havana syndrome,” told lawmakers the attacks are likely tied to “directed energy,” shot through a kind of futuristic weapon. He said there are “extremely strong” indications that at least some of these incidents were the result of attacks conducted by Russian intelligence.

“Give me 20 minutes in a [secure facility] and I’ll convince all of you,” Edgreen said.

When asked for comment, a CIA spokesperson referred questions to Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which issued last year’s assessment.

ABC News has reached out to the ODNI for comment.

Last March, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said in a statement that the health events were probably the result of other factors such as “preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.”

Haines added that the evidence also did not indicate that a “causal mechanism,” such as a weapon, or a “unique syndrome” brought on the reported symptoms.

Zaid told the committee he’s aware of attacks on U.S. personnel all over the world, including on U.S. soil. Many attacks, he says, were concentrated in Northern Virginia, an area home to many CIA officers.

“There are at least two dozen cases that even the CIA acknowledges they can’t explain away by any other alternative factors,” Zaid added, referring to a 2022 assessment by the agency that examined roughly 1,000 “Havana syndrome” cases.

Lawmakers on the committee promised to continue to examine these claims and hear more from the witnesses in a classified setting.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, testifying elsewhere on Capitol Hill Wednesday, was asked about compensation for Defense Department personnel who have reported symptoms associated with AHI.

“Will you commit to this committee that the department will work on that and provide the required payments to victims?” asked New Hampshire Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

“Absolutely, senator,” Austin said.

The Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA) Act of 2021 passed by Congress authorizes government agencies to provide payments to personnel who have suffered brain injuries from hostilities while on assignment.

A U.S. official told ABC News on Wednesday the Department of Defense has “provided medical assessment and/or treatment in the military health care system for more than 200 people” relating to AHI since 2016. But the official wouldn’t say how many of those were deemed to have suffered traumatic brain injuries, citing patient privacy rules.

But so far, none has received payments.

“DOD has not made any HAVANA Act payments yet, because we are working to establish implementation guidance for the Department,” the official said. “We expect to issue such guidance this summer.”

A study published last month by the National Institutes of Health concluded: “There was no significant MRI-detectable evidence of brain injury among the group of participants who experienced AHIs compared with a group of matched control participants.”

But the Pentagon might provide compensation to some possibly affected individuals, regardless.

“The implementation guidance will address criteria for determining who qualifies for compensation. We anticipate that MRI results will be one of several factors considered in making the determinations,” the official said.

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(WASHINGTON) — In his fourth trip to Wisconsin already this year, President Joe Biden on Wednesday, at an intimate campaign event in the swing state, sought out Black voters to speak about the stakes in November.

The event was the first in a series of engagements the campaign has scheduled through the month of May that focus on deepening contacts with what it has deemed to be the core constituencies critical in the 2024 election.

“I got involved in politics because of the African American community,” Biden told the mainly Black audience of local supporters and community members in Racine County.

The president, who has faced criticism from key Democrats, including South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, for his lagging polling numbers in the Black community, sought to woo the key demographic in Wisconsin by drawing a sharp contrast with former President Donald Trump.

“Trump means what he says and he says he’s gonna get rid of all the stuff that we’ve done,” Biden said.

On a call with reporters, Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said the campaign is “attempting to earn every vote.”

“The general election is just starting to crystallize for voters across the country, and we’re taking advantage of the moment to meet them where they are,” Fulks said.

Racine Police Chief Art Howell, who introduced Biden at the event called the event “encouraging.”

“The folks that were there, were able to really connect with the president on an intimate level. Learn more about his past accomplishments, current agenda and vision moving forward,” Howell said.

Biden also touted his administration’s policies that have directly affected the Black community, including capping insulin out-of-pocket costs at $35.

In a memo released Wednesday, the campaign argued that Trump has failed the Black community, saying he’s supported legislation that cost the state more than 83,000 jobs.

“While Trump and his MAGA allies abandon efforts to reach Black voters, the Biden-Harris campaign has been showing up early and often,” said Wisconsin Director Garren Randolph in the memo. “President Biden and his campaign are committed to meeting voters where they are to earn their vote. That’s a stark contrast to Donald Trump, who has virtually no campaign infrastructure in the state and is driving away voters with his job-killing, extremist agenda.”

On Wednesday the campaign announced a new $14 million paid media investment for May that includes seven-figure investments into African American, Hispanic, and AAPI media.

Wisconsin has special political significance. It’s part of the critical “blue wall” in the Midwest that voted Democratic for decades before Trump’s candidacy. Biden only won the state over Trump in 2020 by some 20,000 votes. A loss in November would likely be a major blow to his reelection effort.

According to the latest Marquette Law School polling, just 37% of Black voters in Wisconsin say they’re “very enthusiastic” about November’s presidential election. The coveted group makes up nearly 7% of the state’s population, according to the 2020 census and 21% in Milwaukee.

In a recent Washington Post/Ipsos poll, Biden faces additional problems with Black Americans in terms of turnout. The poll found that 62% of Black Americans say they’re “absolutely certain to vote,” down from 74% in June 2020.

Shanice Jones, who has been out canvassing in Milwaukee for the group Black Leaders Organizing for the Community, or BLOC, said she’s “tired” of supporting presidential candidates who she said don’t support her community.

“I feel like everybody deserves a chance once they get that chance, but it’s up to what you do when you get to office to prove if you deserve another chance. And right now, the way he’s going, I really don’t feel like he should,” she said.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that American bombs have been used to kill civilians in Gaza and doubled down on his administration’s plan to withhold weapons that Israel could use as part of a major invasion of Rafah.

More than a million Palestinians have sought refuge in the city in southern Gaza.

At least 30 people had been killed in Rafah since Tuesday, including women and children, the Al Kuwaiti hospital spokesperson in Rafah told ABC News. More than 33,000 have been killed overall in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

“I know that you have paused, Mr. President, shipments of 2,000 pound U.S. bombs to Israel due to concern that they could be used in any offensive on Rafah. Have those bombs, those powerful 2,000 pound bombs been used to kill civilians in Gaza?” CNN’s Erin Burnett asked in the rare major network television interview.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden answered.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem,” the president said.

“So it’s not over your red line yet?” Burnett asked of Israel’s current action in Rafah.

“Not yet. But it’s — we’ve held up the weapons. We’ve held up the one shipment. It’s an old shipment. We’ve held that up,” Biden said.

The White House on Tuesday called the Israeli incursion into Rafah “limited in scope” so far.

Israel on Wednesday appeared to downplay the U.S. withholding the bombs.

“We are responsible for the security interests of the State of Israel, and we are attentive to the interest of the United States in the region,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Biden’s comments to CNN were the most outspoken he’s been to date publicly on how far he’s willing to go to curtail U.S. aid to Israel.

Biden said the U.S. will “continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently.”

“But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used, that have been used,” Biden said.

Burnett also sought to nail down Biden’s view of what Israel is doing in Rafah right now, and if he believes that qualifies as a major ground invasion in Rafah that he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be a major mistake.

“No, they haven’t gone into the population centers. What they did is right on the border. And It’s causing problems with, right now in terms of — with Egypt, which I’ve worked very hard to make sure we have a relationship and help,” he said.

“But I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet, they’re not going to get our support, if in fact they go in these population centers,” he added.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden took shots at former President Donald Trump on Wednesday as he traveled to Wisconsin to tout a new multi-billion dollar Microsoft investment at the same site where a Trump administration project failed.

The event in the 2024 election battleground state, billed by the White House as an official stop in his capacity as president, came as Biden ramps up both campaign and official visits across the country while his political rival is largely stuck in a Manhattan courtroom.

“The administration promised a $10 trillion investment by Foxconn to build new manufacturing complex, create 13,000 new jobs. In fact, he came here with your Senator Ron Johnson, literally holding a golden shovel, promising to build the eighth wonder of the world,” Biden said, being careful not to use Trump’s name, referring to him only as “my predecessor.”

Biden instead announced a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build an AI data center at the location in Racine, Wisconsin. The data center will be at the same site that Trump planned for the Taiwanese tech company Foxconn to invest billions of dollars in 2018.

That facility failed to materialize, even after the Biden administration said that local and state governments pumped $500 million in taxpayer dollars into preparing the site.

“Are you kidding me? Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it,” Biden continued, trolling Trump.

Biden was referring to a 2018 groundbreaking ceremony that Trump participated in with other officials, all holding gold shovels. Then-President Trump shoveled dirt with the backdrop of the construction lot, tractors, and a large American flag.

“They wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, your state and local tax dollars, and promised a project that never happened,” Biden added. “Foxconn turned out to be just that, a con.”

Biden promised thousands of new jobs and his remarks were intended to draw a contrast between the Trump administration’s economic policies and the current White House approach — a message he’s continued to lean into as he looks to sell his economic accomplishments to the American people ahead of the November election.

“Folks, during the previous administration, my predecessor made promises which he broke more than kept and left a lot of people behind in communities like Racine. On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises. And we leave no one behind,” Biden said.

This official stop, in the critical swing state in Wisconsin, will be followed by a campaign event in the state.

Wednesday’s Wisconsin speech is just the most recent official event Biden has held in important electoral states. Last week, he was in North Carolina touting new funding to help replace lead pipes across the state and country.

He has also frequented the important swing state of Pennsylvania, for both campaign and official presidential events.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump has praised South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, saying he likes her “a lot” and that she’s gone through “rough” days amid controversy of her newly released book.

“She had a rough couple of days. I will say that,” Trump said in an interview with Wisconsin’s Spectrum News 1 on Tuesday, while declining to say whether she’s on his shortlist to be his vice president. Noem is among Trump’s close allies whose name has come up as Trump’s potential vice presidential hopefuls.

His comments came as Noem continues to face backlash over several anecdotes in her book, No Going Back, which came out Tuesday.

Noem has been harshly criticized for describing how she shot and killed her 14-month-old dog “Cricket” and was forced to admit what she called “errors” in her book including claiming she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. That description has been removed from the book, according to the publisher.

Asked about Noem’s vice presidential chances now, Trump declined to say more.

“I like her a lot,” Trump said, adding, “I don’t want to comment on anybody on the list.”

Noem spent the weekend at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club as hundreds of donors and Republican supporters gathered for a spring retreat hosted by the Republican National Committee. She appeared along with others whose names have been speculated about as possible vice presidential picks, including Sens. Tim Scott, Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance.

The South Dakota Republican governor has been upfront about her desire to be vice president, saying she would accept the offer “in a heartbeat.”

At a rally in her home state in September, when she greeted the former president on stage, a graphic popped up on stage reading “TRUMP-NOEM 2024.” She also endorsed Trump at the rally.

Trump has boasted about Noem’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as she campaigned for him in early states.

However, her recent efforts to explain the mistakes in her book, as well as a lawsuit stemming from an ad she released promoting an out-of-state dentist, have affected her reputation. Sources have told ABC News that Noem’s chances at being selected as Trump’s running mate are bleak.

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(WASHINGTON) — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday officially triggered a vote on her motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, but within minutes Democrats joined almost all Republicans to overwhelmingly reject her move.

There were audible boos from lawmakers in the chamber as Greene spoke at length about her grievances with Johnson as she called for a vote.

The Georgia congresswoman, flanked by co-sponsor GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, asserted Johnson had “not lived up to a single one” of the promises he made the Republican conference after he was elected to the top post in October.

“By passing the Democrats’ agenda and handcuffing the Republicans’ ability and influence legislation, our elected Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has aided and abetted the Democrats and the Biden administration in destroying our country,” Greene said.

Johnson was on the House floor with his leadership team as Greene read her resolution.

The House quickly moved to hold a vote on a motion to table, or effectively kill, Greene’s effort to oust Johnson. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise rose to request the vote on tabling Greene’s resolution, which passed with bipartisan support.

The final vote to dismiss Greene’s motion was 359-43 with seven lawmakers voting present. Lawmakers cheered when the tally was read out.

Eleven Republicans and 32 Democrats voted against killing Greene’s motion.

Johnson joked with reporters after the vote, saying, “it’s just another Wednesday on Capitol Hill.”

The speaker called Greene’s resolution a “misguided effort,” and thanked his colleagues for supporting him.

“Hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress. It’s regrettable. It’s not who we are as Americans and we’re better than this. We need to get beyond it,” Johnson said.

Greene told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott after the vote that she was not surprised by the vote against her motion to vacate the speaker’s chair.

“I think this is exactly what the American people needed to see,” she said.

“I didn’t run for Congress to come up here and join the uni-party, and the uni-party was on full display today,” she added. “As a matter of fact, [the Republican Party] proved they’re ready to do everything with the Democrats.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party’s decision to help save Johnson’s job was aimed at restoring common sense and quelling chaos in Washington.

“Our decision to stop Marjorie Taylor Greene, from plunging the House of Representatives and the country into further chaos is rooted in our commitment to solve problems for everyday Americans in a bipartisan manner,” the New York congressman told reporters. “We need more common sense and less chaos in Washington, D.C. Marjorie Taylor Greene and extreme MAGA Republicans are chaos agents.”

When asked repeatedly whether Democrats would vote to save Johnson again if further motions to remove him are filed — or if Democrats would demand concessions from Johnson to do so in the future — Jeffries said “the vote clearly speaks for itself.”

“It was a vote of conscience. It was overwhelming. It was decisive. And we need to move forward as a Congress,” he added.

Greene did not answer when asked if she plans on trying to kick out Johnson again.

Former President Donald Trump, who has backed Johnson during his feud with Greene, said in a post on Truth Social that now was not the time to be making motions to vacate.

“If we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything! Mike Johnson is a good man who is trying very hard. I also wish certain things were done over the last period of two months, but we will get them done, together,” he said.

Nevertheless, Greene said she was thankful for Trump’s support.

Greene’s move Wednesday was a sudden shift in tactics after she appeared to be backing off her weekslong threat, following back-to-back meetings with Johnson on Monday and Tuesday.

In between meetings, she had given Johnson a list of demands she wanted implemented, which included no more aid to Ukraine and defunding special counsel Jack Smith’s office.

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(WASHINGTON) — Getting illicit pills is as easy as ordering food delivery through an app, the Drug Enforcement Administration warned Congress on Tuesday.

“We say all the time that the most dangerous place in the world right now is our homes because everyone has a smartphone, and within two or three … clicks on a smartphone, people are having pills delivered to their front doorstep like Uber Eats, like they get pizza delivered,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday.

“We’re losing 22 Americans, teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18, every single week right now” to illegal drug use, Milgram said. “So, this is a national tragedy.”

Milgram also noted that the DEA has been waiting for nearly a year for one of their work visas to be approved by the Mexican government so they can send personnel into the country to investigate the drug cartels that are running the illegal operations that are sending illicit pills to the U.S.

“We’ve been waiting eight months for one visa, and we know the cost of, of what that means for us in terms of our ability to get worked done,” Milgram told the subcommittee. “Every year in the United States, we’re losing more than 100,000 Americans. So time matters, and I couldn’t speak with enough urgency as to how important it is for us to get those 13 agents and intel analysts into the country.”

The visas would make it easier for DEA agents and analysts who are investigating drug cartels, she said.

“The men and women of DEA are working nonstop to defeat those cartels,” she said. “And we shouldn’t ask them to work under difficult circumstances, but they do and they’re incredibly effective.”

Milgram said the DEA currently has 2,000 active investigations into the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, including money laundering and precursor chemical investigations.

Seven out of ten illicitly made pills contain some form of fentanyl, which is killing thousands of Americans each year, Milgram said. She also noted that last year, the DEA seized 79 million fake pills and 12,000 pounds of powder fentanyl.

Milgram asked Congress for more funds so that the DEA can invest in more resources to stop illicit drugs from entering the U.S.

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(CHICAGO) — In 1968, violence at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with hundreds of protesters arrested in a police crackdown, upended the party’s gathering and soured public opinion in the final months before the presidential election.

Americans had witnessed it all on their TV screens.

Now, more than 50 years later, as college campuses across the United States have erupted into protests over the Israel-Hamas war, some experts say history could repeat itself at this year’s DNC convention — also in Chicago.

While the 1968 protests were against the Vietnam War, activists today are blaming President Joe Biden for his support of Israel’s military operations in Gaza — and some have expressed intentions to disrupt the party’s plan to nominate him this summer for a second term.

Back then, opposition to the Vietnam War had gotten so intense that then-President Lyndon B. Johnson withdrew from being considered as the Democrats’ nominee, throwing the party into political turmoil.

In 2024, unrest over another war could mean a similar chaotic scene that the party badly wants to avoid as it tries to showcase Biden to voters.

​​”We have been making comparisons to 1968, of course, because, you know, it was a very contentious convention,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of March on DNC, the group leading the protest effort this summer.

More than 70 organizations attended a daylong conference last month to plan protests leading up to the DNC, Abudayyeh said, with close to 200 organizations and thousand of protesters expected to join in by August.

This spring, protesters at college campuses have demanded their institutions divest themselves from any ties to Israel for its response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, which claimed 1,200 Israeli lives, according to Israeli officials. More than 34,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Looking to continue the protests into the summer, some of the same groups are targeting the DNC when more than 5,000 Democratic Party delegates will descend on Chicago.

At a news conference in April, leaders of the Democratic National Convention Committee downplayed the prospect of protests derailing the convention.

“We’re trying to create an environment where everyone is welcome. We do protect First Amendment rights. But we also want to reassure you that the people are excited about this convention coming,” DNCC Chair Minyon Moore said.

“[The Secret Service is] doing all the right things to protect the citizens of Chicago, but we’re also doing — we hope to do the right things to protect the protesters,” Moore said.

The protest groups claim their free speech rights are being violated.

Last week, March on DNC filed for an injunction against the city of Chicago, arguing officials improperly denied issuing permits to hold a pair of protest marches within blocks of the DNC.

Instead of allowing protests “within sight and sound” of the DNC, the group said, the city has instead offered an alternative location four miles away. Abudayyeh of March on DNC argues that the distance keeps them “buried,” and that the groups will march “whether they have permits or not.”

In a statement to ABC News, the city argued it does not have enough resources to handle the kind of protests the groups want to carry out.

“The City of Chicago has received parade or assembly permit applications from seven groups coinciding with the DNC. All seven permits were denied following review by multiple City departments to identify any potential conflicts, safety issues, and to assess the availability of resources needed to support the gathering,” Director of Public Information for Chicago’s Department of Transportation Erica Schroeder said in a statement to ABC News.

Nevertheless, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling assured residents that police are properly trained in “anticipation of large demonstrations.”

DNCC Chair Moore told reporters they are “very sensitive to the environment that we’re walking into here in Chicago,” adding that the committee is coordinating “very closely” with the Secret Service, as well as the mayor’s office and the Chicago Police Department.

“We have read the stories, we have seen the stories and we have heard the stories. And we know that protesters are coming. Protesters come every four years,” she said.

Avoiding 1968 redux
American University professor Leonard Steinhorn said while there are common threads between now and 1968, there are some clear differences, most notably the American death toll in Vietnam — where more than 58,000 American service members were killed.

“​​It’s hitting any neighborhood where you have relatives who are living in a dystopian, horrific, brutalized moment. It’s hitting people in that sense, but it’s not hitting people because their kids are going off to war in this country,” he said.

At the convention in 1968, the city of Chicago refused permits to the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and the Youth International Party, denying them a designated space to peacefully protest.

The groups weren’t legally able to protest near the convention, which led to a clash between protesters and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s police force. Authorities said 668 protesters were arrested; 110 hospitalized; 425 were treated at temporary hospitals.

The Walker Report, commissioned by President Johnson to look into the violence, called it a “police riot,” with many officers using billy clubs, rifle butts, mace and tear gas on the protesters. National Guard troops were called out. The report detailed that the “vast majority of the demonstrators were intent on expressing by peaceful means their dissent.”

Former Republican President Richard Nixon tried to harness the unrest to activate what he called the “silent majority,” and won a decisive White House victory.

The aftermath of 1968 still looms large over the Democratic Party.

Former President Donald Trump has tried to take advantage. In an interview with a local station in Wisconsin, Trump warned that the Democrats will have a “problem” in Chicago because “they’ve handled things very poorly.”

Steinhorn, the American University professor, surmised that moving the protests this year to a separate location makes logistical sense, but that the city of Chicago must learn from its past “mistake.”

“There’s sort of a political strategy behind that, which is, where are the cameras going to be? The more you can isolate it and make it a sidebar story that’s more helpful,” said Steinhorn. “But it’s a mistake when you look at the history. If you don’t allow peaceful protest and a space to organize, things can get out of control.”

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