(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall does not intend to prosecute in vitro fertilization providers or families in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling that embryos should be considered children — a decision that has thrown the whole process into chaos.
“Attorney General Marshall has no intention of using the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision as a basis for prosecuting IVF families or providers,” Katherine Robertson, chief counsel in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement.
At least three providers have stopped IVF procedures in the wake of the ruling out of concern that mishandling of embryos, even if unintentional, could lead to civil or even criminal lawsuits.
In an unprecedented decision, the state’s highest court ruled that “unborn children are ‘children’ … without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.”
Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker quoted the Bible in a concurring opinion, citing the sanctity of unborn life.
“Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself,” Parker wrote in the decision.
The ruling was part of a civil lawsuit in which someone wandered into a fertility clinic and dropped embryos belonging to several couples. The couples filed wrongful death suits against the facility, but a lower court threw out the suits. The state Supreme Court then reversed the decision, setting a new precedent that embryos are the same as children.
Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said Friday she was “working on a solution” with Republican colleagues in the House and Senate to pass legislation that would guard IVF treatments in the state.
“Following the ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court, I said that in our state, we work to foster a culture of life,” Ivey said in a statement. “This certainly includes some couples hoping and praying to be parents who utilize IVF. Republican colleague in the Legislature Senator Tim Melson, along with Senate and House members, are working on a solution to ensure we protect these families and life itself. I look forward to continue closely following this issue.”
Melson is proposing legislation to protect IVF that would say embryos must be implanted in the uterus to be considered viable.
Another Republican state congressman, Russell Bedsole, told ABC News he’s “confident” they will address the issue.
“I am confident a quick solution will occur that will once again ensure that Alabamians will have access to IVF services,” said Rep. Russell Bedsole.
Donald Trump, the leading GOP candidate for president, also said Friday he supports IVF and called on the state legislature to protect the option.
“We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America,” Trump posted on his social media platform.
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa and Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Two years into the war on Ukraine, the economic sanctions against Russia leveled by the Biden administration are working, according to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, but she said there is more to do.
“We’re working with 30-plus other countries all around the globe, to work together to do everything we can to deny President Putin what he needs in terms of equipment and technology to fuel his war machine,” Raimondo told ABC News on Friday.
“Is it working? Yes. Have we done enough? No. We got to get up every single day and ask ourselves what more can we do,” she said. “We know what’s working because continually, we see there’s been real impact. It’s harder for [Russia] to get access to spare parts, semiconductors, drones, technology, etc. They’re still doing it. But, we have definitely slowed down their effort in a meaningful way.”
On Friday, the Biden administration, including the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, leveled more sanctions against Russia.
The sanctions limit U.S. equipment from getting in the hands of the Russians — and the administration has to get creative when it comes to which companies they sanction.
“We have to deny them everything,” Raimondo said. “It’s not just the parts and the drones and the satellites, but it’s equipment that they might want to get their hands on to make their own parts or supplies. So … that’s what makes this so hard. Putin and Russia are expert criminals. They’ve been doing this for decades, so they figured out ways around our controls.”
She said at one point Russians were “confiscating” breast pumps for their semiconductors to put them into military equipment.
“They’ll stop at nothing,” she said, adding the Commerce Department is “relentlessly vigilant” on the issue.
Two years into the war she said she has been “blown away” by the “immeasurable courage” of Ukrainian officials.
She said she has had Zoom meetings with her Ukrainian counterpart in which they have been from a “bunk, on the frontlines of combat.”
“We take our energy from their courage and we’re in it to win it with them until the end,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Months before they’re set to begin, law enforcement is already planning a massive effort to protect the presidential nominating conventions set for this summer, according to a new federal bulletin.
The Republican and Democratic gatherings – the signature gatherings of the 2024 presidential election – would make attractive targets for would-be attackers or anyone else interested in causing disruptions that might embarrass or endanger the events, or worse, in front of massive in-person and television audiences, analysts at the Department of Homeland Security have concluded.
The confidential DHS analysis, obtained by ABC News, lays out a menu of potential online and real-world attacks in an effort to help law enforcement agencies identify “potential threats” during the “build-up and execution” of the political conventions. With less than six months to go before the Republicans gather in Milwaukee and the Democrats meet in Chicago, law enforcement and security personnel are strategizing and planning, the document says.
“Nation-state and non-state threat actors may view these events as an opportunity to influence or disrupt the U.S. political process using hostile or violent disruption tactics on a national media stage,” according to the Feb.12 DHS bulletin.
Not only are the conventions “widely publicized,” the analysis notes, the threat landscape spans far wider than the event sites: from potential cyber attacks, to information warfare, to “physical threats” and attempts at inciting violence.
The new assessment comes as the partisan environment seethes with hostility and division, multiple wars are being waged overseas, and law enforcement eyes the risk of political violence ahead of an election unlike any other in modern American history.
“Our current environment is a tinderbox – and you never know which match is going to land and light a fire. So, whether it’s a parade celebrating the Super Bowl – or a major political convention – we don’t know where the threat might come from, or who might do it, but we know it’s coming – so we’ve got to expect the unexpected and prepare for all of it,” said Elizabeth Neumann, a DHS assistant secretary during the first years of Trump’s presidency and now an ABC News contributor.
“The level of preparations for this election are unlike any I’ve seen in the past, and that’s because the threat level is unlike it’s ever been before – for a variety of reasons,” said John Cohen, the former intelligence chief at the Department of Homeland Security and now an ABC News contributor. “We consider this a perfect storm from a threat perspective, because there’s multiple factors contributing to such volatility in the current threat environment.”
In mid-July, the 2024 Republican National Convention will be gaveled into session in the battleground state of Wisconsin, which played a pivotal role in the 2020 loss of then-President Donald Trump. According to the polls, Trump will likely be his party’s nominee once again, and would be declared as such at the Milwaukee event.
A month later, the Democrats will convene on the shores of Lake Michigan in their party’s historic bastion of Chicago, the hometown of former President Barack Obama. It is a city that holds a critical if not always flattering position in the history of presidential elections. Notably, the 1968 Democratic convention in the Windy City deteriorated into violence outside the hall and a near-riot inside as a result of tensions over the Vietnam War and protests over the party’s nomination process.
The 2024 race has so far been marked by increasingly toxic rhetoric, and the intermingling of inflammatory campaign trail hyperbole and courtroom theatrics, as Trump faces four criminal trials in which he maintains his innocence. In addition, hate speech, misinformation and disinformation are running rampant on social media and in real life, and rapidly evolving technology remains vulnerable, experts say. Meanwhile, the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine continue on.
“The country is polarized, people are angry, people view those who hold opposing views as the enemy, there is distrust in government institutions, and in particular, in the election process itself. And in some cases, we have seen this anger and distrust of government materializing into violence,” Cohen said – with foreign adversaries seeking to “exploit” contentious wedge issues in America to achieve their own objectives.
“High-profile public figures and elected officials – that makes it an attractive target – and law enforcement has to deal with a broad range of cyber, physical and information operation-related threats,” Cohen said.
These will be the first national conventions since the COVID-19 pandemic upended 2020’s plans for large in-person nominating events. It will also be the first since the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks at the U.S. Capitol, which grew out of a Trump rally dedicated to his bogus claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen.
Now, law enforcement is combating a more diffuse threat spectrum further enabled by the internet and advancement of artificial intelligence – and they’re gaming out how to thwart any would-be attack on this summer’s iconic political conventions.
The confidential bulletin warns to watch out for “potential cyber threats” surrounding the conventions, including “violent extremist, foreign terrorist organization, nation-state or state-sponsored actors, or cybercriminals attempts to disrupt or collect on the event,” including through “social engineering” like phishing attempts. Cyber techniques could also be used to “disrupt” communications and command and control infrastructure, the analysis said.
“Physical threats” also loom over the conventions, the analysis warned. Bad actors could try to pass as authorized “security partners” – and possibly attempt to “purchase, steal or acquire” explosives meant to target convention sites.
“Attempts to attack U.S. interests,” though perhaps nowhere near Milwaukee or Chicago, could also be planned “in conjunction” with convention events, the bulletin said.
Violent actors could plan to attack “critical infrastructure” associated with the convention venues – with potential targets including commercial or government facilities, political campaigns, emergency services, food and agriculture, energy, communications and transportation.
And there are other ways of exploiting the gatherings from outside the arena. Beware of “increased supply of narcotics or human trafficking activity to regions hosting” the conventions, the bulletin said.
The analysis also warns of the danger posed by information warfare of cyber actors sowing “disinformation,” and foreign adversaries’ messaging and attempts to influence, sway or disrupt elections.
“We’re seeing a security community trying to be agile – for a threat that’s very agile,” Neumann said.
Wisconsin’s House Delegation has asked the federal government for $75 million to cover security costs during each convention – a $25 million bump up from what host cities have typically received.
Security preparations have been long underway for what state and local law enforcement officials believe will be an “all hands-on deck” event with little precedent in recent Wisconsin history, the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter last March.
As many as 4,500 additional police officers from multiple agencies could be brought in to meet Milwaukee’s security demands during the week of the convention, Jeff Fleming, Milwaukee’s director of communications, told ABC.
In gaming out security plans for that week, Milwaukee’s Democratic Mayor Cavalier Johnson has underscored the range of factors to consider, Fleming said. Input from the Secret Service, drawing insights from their shelved 2020 DNC hosting plans – and, critically, the political climate in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s not just Jan. 6, you know – we’re also coming out of the George Floyd-related protests, where urban police departments in general had a great deal of exposure to passionate demonstrations,” Fleming said. “I think it has been a continuous learning process, for all law enforcement across the country, on best practices in managing demonstrations, and protecting people and property along the way.”
The city plans to designate a protest space near the convention center and a parade route should demonstrators wish to march, Fleming said.
When Chicago law enforcement found out their city would host the DNC, they sprang into prep mode immediately, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling said during a recent speech.
“We started training right away,” Snelling said. “We had about a year to prepare. That’s not a lot of time.”
“It’s going to be a massive, high resource security effort – not only at the conventions themselves, but all around them,” Cohen said. “What concerns law enforcement officials is, we’re very good at dealing with the threats of yesterday. We’re only learning now how to deal with the threats of today.”
(WASHINGTON) — It would only take a small change in legislation to allow more Homeland Security Investigations agents to investigate drug crimes without first getting the authority to do so from the Justice Department, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told ABC News Thursday.
At the heart of the issue is law enforcement agencies’ Title 21 authority — which allows the federal government to investigate drug crimes. As it currently stands, Homeland Security Investigations has to ask the Justice Department first before investigating drug crimes.
Homeland Security Investigations is the Department of Homeland Security’s law enforcement arm.
Patrick J. Lechleitner, deputy director and senior official performing the duties of the director of ICE, which is Homeland Security Investigations’ parent agency, said the statue was written in the 1970s and doesn’t allow for law enforcement to tackle a 21st century problem.
“I just think it would benefit the American people just having the authority just to pivot and spin quickly because we are currently hamstrung because, you know, we’re delegated the authority,” he said in an interview. “So, by having the authority delegated to us fully delegated to us via legislation, literally we’re talking like a few words changed, right? That would reflect the current environment in 2024.”
He said that because of the delegated authority and the way the law is written, the agency now has only select agents work drug cases, and it can’t give the authority to their task force officers.
“We are limited in scope to who can do that,” he explained. “You would instantly add thousands and thousands of agents and officers to combat synthetic opioids and fentanyl and come and really add a lot more bearing to the fight. It’s just common sense.”
Lechleitner said the Homeland Security secretary should have the ability to delegate the authority to HSI without running into red tape.
“We’re trying to fight very nimble, agile adversaries with antiquated rules and regulations and it’s just not productive,” he said.
There is legislation proposed in both the House and Senate to give the authority to HSI, but it hasn’t gone anywhere since being introduced in September.
Louisiana GOP Rep. Clay Higgins’ office said in a press release that ” HSI agents are limited by a reliance on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to investigate Title 21 crimes.”
“Due to bureaucratic constraints, HSI lacks the independent statutory authority to enforce drug crimes and target these transnational criminal organizations,” Higgins, one of the sponsors of the bill, said in September 2023 “It’s absurd. This common-sense bill adds thousands of highly skilled federal law enforcement officers to lead the fight against drug trafficking at no cost to the American taxpayers. We must work to keep deadly drugs out of our communities and keep America’s borders safe.”
The DEA has not responded to an ABC News request for comment.
Last year, more than 112,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses, and Lechleitner said by giving the authority to HSI to investigate drug crimes, it could potentially save lives.
“We’re not looking to take anything away from anybody else, just add our resources to the fight. Allow us to take off the strap that puts our arm behind our back, allow us to be flexible enough to deal with these organizations in meaningful way with all of our partners, very closely aligned across the federal spectrum,” he said. “We have joint investigations and we deconflict all of it. We collaborate with everyone. And we’re just looking to try and do more so that we won’t have another 112,000 deaths.”
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis this week quashed speculation about being Donald Trump’s vice president, blamed bitter ex-staffers for attacks he’s weathered from Trump’s allies, and criticized conservative media’s coverage of the the former president.
DeSantis made the remarks in a 30-minute Zoom call with supporters on Wednesday, audio of which was obtained by ABC News. (The New York Post was the first to report on the call).
“People were mentioning me [as his vice president]. I’m not doing that,” DeSantis said, when asked who he’d like to see Trump consider for the post.
“I know some people are really actively seeking it,” he continued. “It seems to me, just from watching kind of the body language and stuff, that you have a handful of folks who seem to be auditioning for it.”
As he campaigned for president, DeSantis, who suspended his run last month, ruled out being Trump’s running mate, but speculation arose on Tuesday after Trump, in a Fox News town hall, appeared to acknowledge the governor was among the people he was considering for the post.
After shooting down the idea, DeSantis criticized the way he believes Trump and his team are vetting vice presidential candidates, saying, “I have heard that they’re looking more in identity politics. I think that’s a mistake.”
A Trump spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, fired back in a statement, saying, “Ron DeSantis failed miserably in his presidential campaign and does not have a voice in selecting the next vice president of the United States.”
DeSantis endorsed Trump after dropping out but has not campaigned publicly for the former president.
Over 200 people joined Wednesday’s call, most of whom were people DeSantis’ campaign had recruited to be delegates at the Republican National Convention in July.
A woman who introduced the governor — who identified herself as a leader of DeSantis’ national delegate effort — said that the people on the call had been “willing to fight a floor battle for [DeSantis] in a brokered convention.”
At one point, DeSantis, who endured a barrage of attacks from Trump and his allies on the campaign trail, fielded a question about their attempts to “marginalize” the governor.
He downplayed the concern and attributed the blows to vengefulness of former allies who now work for Trump.
“I think he’s got people in his inner circle who were part of our orbit years ago that we fired. And I think some of that is they just have an ax to grind.”
The governor was likely referring to, among others, Susie Wiles, a top Trump aide who helped DeSantis reach the Florida governor’s mansion before being dismissed by the governor in 2019.
“She’s the main one,” a person close to the governor told ABC News.
Chris LaCivita, a Trump aide, reposted an X post about DeSantis’ comments, calling the governor a “sad little man.”
On Wednesday’s call, DeSantis expressed frustration with conservative media outlets he believes have failed to cover Trump critically enough during the primary.
“You know, he said at some point, he can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a vote. Well, I think he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and the conservative media wouldn’t even report on it that it had happened. I mean, that’s kind of where we’re at,” he said.
As for his own political future, DeSantis did not rule out a 2028 presidential run, telling those on the call, “I think a lot happens in politics.”
ABC News previously reported that DeSantis has signaled privately he is open to running again in four years.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday faced criticism from Republicans and some progressive Democrats over reports that he is considering executive action to tighten asylum restrictions.
One potential course of action, an administration official told ABC News, would be to prohibit migrants from seeking asylum if they cross into the U.S. illegally between ports of entry. The official stressed, however, that they are far from deciding what steps, if any, to take.
The considerations come as Biden continues to face political headwinds on immigration in the 2024 campaign. House Republicans have pressured him for months to act unilaterally to curb migrant encounters at the southwest border, which reached a record high in December.
The White House previously brushed off suggestions he could do so, saying only legislation from Congress could effectively solve the problem. When asked about his executive authority last month, Biden told reporters: “I’ve done all I can do.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has led the charge in urging Biden to use executive authority while also killing a bipartisan immigration proposal out of the Senate, dismissed Biden’s potential change of course as “election year gimmicks.”
“Now, in an election year, after the president has surrendered the border to cartels and smugglers, after tens of thousands of Americans have tragically lost their lives due to fentanyl poisoning, after countless unaccompanied minors and young people have been subjected to human trafficking, and after millions of illegal aliens have been scattered by the Biden administration throughout our country — the president suddenly seems interested in trying to make a change using the legal authority that he claimed until recently didn’t exist,” Johnson said.
An administration official, asked about Biden’s previous comments that he was out of options when it came to the border, argued it would be irresponsible not to consider all possibilities after the immigration deal hit a dead end in Congress.
The bill (which tied border security and immigration reforms to aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan) included funding to bolster immigration review and hire additional border patrol agents; some changes to the asylum system; and new emergency powers for officials.
But Johnson, who called for foreign aid to be connected to immigration changes, poured cold water on the deal before its release and immediately after deemed it “dead on arrival” in the House. Former President Donald Trump, too, has encouraged Republicans to avoid passing a compromise bill and wait until after the 2024 election.
Biden slammed Republicans for tanking the deal and “caving” to Trump.
“Every day between now and November, the American people are gonna know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” he said earlier this month in remarks from the White House.
But polls show immigration is a weak spot for Biden: He has just an 18% approval rating on the issue, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll.
In taking a tougher stance on the issue, Biden has drawn fire from progressives within his own party.
“Doing Trump impressions isn’t how we beat Trump,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on X in response to reports he is weighing possible executive action. “Seeking asylum is a legal right of all people. In the face of authoritarian threat, we should not buckle on our principles – we should commit to them.”
Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said an executive action to tighten asylum restrictions “would be an extremely disappointing mistake.”
“Cruel enforcement-only policies have been tried for 30 years and simply do not work,” Jayapal wrote on X. “Democrats cannot continue to take pages out of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s playbook — we need to lead with dignity and humanity.”
Executive action restricting asylum could also result in legal battles. An attorney for the ACLU told the New York Times that, depending on the details, they could challenge the action.
Immigration activists have also pushed back on the idea.
“The Biden administration should ensure that any border security executive action protects due process for asylum seekers and provides resources for a fair, efficient and humane asylum system,”Kerri Talbot, the executive director of the advocacy group Immigration Hub, said in a statement.
“An asylum ban would be misguided and illegal. Americans want an orderly system at the border that protects access to asylum,” Talbot said.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — President Joe Biden met with the widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, and his daughter, Dasha, on Thursday during the president’s trip to California.
Navalny, the longtime Russian opposition politician and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in prison last week at 47 years old. After her husband’s death, Yulia Navalnaya accused Putin of being involved in his death and has vowed to continue his work.
“The President expressed his admiration for Aleksey Navalny’s extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone,” the White House said in a statement. “The President emphasized that Aleksey’s legacy will carry on through people across Russia and around the world mourning his loss and fighting for freedom, democracy, and human rights.”
Images of the San Francisco meeting posted on the president’s X show him speaking with the two women and hugging Yulia Navalnaya.
Today, I met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya – Aleksey Navalny’s loved ones – to express my condolences for their devastating loss.
Aleksey’s legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha, and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights. pic.twitter.com/aiCcgTrws3
The White House said it is set to announce “major new sanctions” against Russia on Friday in response to Navalny’s death as well as its “repression and aggression, and its brutal and illegal war in Ukraine.”
Earlier this week, White House national security spokesman John Kirby did not go into detail about what the new sanctions package would include.
Navalny’s cause of death has been listed as “natural” on his medical report, according to Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh, who was relayed the information on the death certificate by Navalny’s mother. His mother also said the Russian government is blackmailing her and trying to force her to have a secret funeral for her son.
Kirby hammered Russia on the reporting that they were making demands of Navalny’s mother in order for her to receive his body.
Kirby said he could not confirm that she was being “blackmailed,” but “nevertheless, this is the man’s mother. It’s not enough that she gets to see the body of her son. She should be able to collect the body of her son so that she can properly memorialize her son and her son’s bravery and courage and service and do all the things that any mother would want to do for a son lost in such a tragic way.”
“The Russians need to give her back to her son and they need to answer for … specifically what befell Mr. Navalny and … acknowledge that they in fact, are responsible for his demise,” Kirby said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday blasted the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos are considered children in the state, calling it “outrageous and unacceptable.”
“Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion. And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant. The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable,” Biden wrote in the statement.
On Tuesday, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that “unborn children are ‘children’ … without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.” The unprecedented decision could impact the future of in vitro fertilization treatments in the state — and several IVF providers have paused parts of their care to patients for fear of legal risks.
Biden said the court’s decisions is a “direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade” — the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Biden said he will work to restore Roe v. Wade — however, with a divided Congress it could be challenging.
“My message is: The Vice President and I are fighting for your rights. We’re fighting for the freedom of women, for families, and for doctors who care for these women. And we won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state,” Biden wrote in the statement.
Biden’s campaign directly blamed former President Donald Trump for the Alabama court ruling, saying it was “only possible” because “Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade.” Trump appointed three conservative justices while he was president.
“Across the nation, MAGA Republicans are inserting themselves into the most personal decisions a family can make, from contraception to IVF. With their latest attack on reproductive freedom, these so-called pro-life Republicans are preventing loving couples from growing their families. If Donald Trump is elected, there is no question that he will impose his extreme anti-freedom agenda on the entire country,” Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the court’s decision in a post on X.
“This decision is outrageous — and it is already robbing women of the freedom to decide when and how to build a family,” Harris wrote.
Harris wrote that Biden would sign a bill reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade if Democrats win majorities in Congress, although such legislation would need 60 votes in the Senate.
Trump has not yet weighed in on the Alabama court ruling or Biden’s comments. Congressional Republicans have been noticeably quiet on the topic, too.
Nikki Haley, Trump’s opponent in the Republican primary, said Wednesday that she agrees with the court’s ruling, telling NBC News that “embryos, to me, are babies.”
Former President Donald J. Trump speaks at the CPAC Conference in Washington, Mar. 4, 2023. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, an erstwhile cross section of the GOP that has turned into a major staging ground for the party’s MAGA grassroots, is set to kick off in full force on Thursday.
The four-day conference, which formally started on Wednesday before big events begin Thursday, is expected to continue its relatively new legacy of vociferous support for former President Donald Trump and opposition toward his perceived enemies, both within and outside the Republican Party.
This year’s gathering is taking place in an election year when Trump looks set to coast to his third straight GOP nomination while promising “retribution” — and weighing who he might pick to join him on the Republican ticket this November.
All the while, the conference, much like the party, is delving into the nation’s culture wars.
Here are three things to watch at this year’s CPAC, which is set to attract notable names beyond Trump himself:
How much ‘retribution’ do Republicans want?
Trump vowed to Republicans at a rally in Waco, Texas, last year that he would be “your retribution” — a position he has since echoed and also sought to downplay.
But many of his supporters have sounded eager for him to make good on his promise, though it’s unclear how much revenge they’re looking for, either inside the GOP or in the federal government, if Trump is elected again.
Trump will speak to the crowd on Saturday, and the schedule is packed with his allies. Their remarks could help illuminate how much they and the base want to punish Democrats or government bureaucrats whom Trump has derided as the “deep state,” should Trump retake the White House later this year.
Already, the former president has expressed interest in firing swaths of the government’s career civil servants, falsely accusing them of broadly undermining his agenda while he was in office. He’s also floated going after President Joe Biden in retaliation for some of the criminal charges he faces, indictments that were brought by independent prosecutors but that he and his followers claim were politically motivated. He has pleaded not guilty.
CPAC in recent years has bragged about not inviting Sen. Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential nominee-turned-Trump critic, and speaker slots in recent years have been reserved for those allied with the former president.
Now, the conference is taking place after Trump dispatched with a slate of primary challengers, none of whom came particularly close to supplanting him atop the polls or as de facto GOP leader.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who suspended his own presidential campaign after running as a Trump cheerleader, is the only other former candidate taking the stage.
A spate of vice president auditions
With Trump cruising to victory in the initial nominating races in states like Iowa and Nevada, increased attention is being paid to who could join him on the 2024 GOP ticket — and many of the would-be contenders are slated to speak at CPAC in the next few days.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik (a member of her party’s House leadership) and Ohio Sen. JD Vance are among those speaking at CPAC who are thought to be in the vice-presidential conversation.
The conference marks one of the first cattle calls where multiple would-be running mates are in attendance, marking CPAC as an audition of sorts in front of the heart of Trump’s base.
CPAC is also including a vice presidential question on its straw poll for the first time in at least 10 years.
It’s not clear yet who will be featured in the non-scientific survey.
Picking battles in the culture war
Republicans in Washington are in the middle of a slew of policy debates, from Ukraine aid to government funding to the country’s spying powers. But if this year’s CPAC reflects the way the conference has gone in recent years, there will be an intense focus on culture war issues that reflect some of the base’s priorities.
Though there will certainly be discussions on foreign aid and abortion, among other things, the conference is also stocked with panels addressing the right’s grievance on issues like education and more, including talks on “Would Moses Go To Harvard?”, “Trump’s Wall Vs. Biden’s Gaps” and “Putting Our Heads in the Gas Stove,” referencing the often-cited and hyperbolic GOP complaint that Democrats are pushing families to use electric stoves.
CPAC this year chose Ramaswamy to headline its vaunted Ronald Reagan Dinner — which, if similar to the way Ramaswamy ran his presidential campaign, will focus on a potential wholesale revamp of the federal government and what he calls the disintegration of the family unit in America.
Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake announces her bid for the seat of U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) at JetSet Magazine on Oct. 10, 2023 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — John McCain’s daughter Meghan McCain rejected Kari Lake’s offer on Wednesday to meet one-on-one after Lake claimed that disparaging comments she previously made about the late senator during her failed gubernatorial run in 2022 were “said in jest.”
Lake, a former TV reporter-turned-vocal ally of former President Donald Trump, who notably feuded with John McCain, said after winning the Republican nomination to be Arizona’s governor in 2022 that she “drove a stake through the heart of the McCain machine,” referring to the family’s roots in the state.
But now, as she campaigns to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate, Lake’s tone and strategy are shifting, a change she has suggested is in the interest of getting things done.
“I’d love nothing more than to buy you a beer, a coffee or lunch and pick your brain about how we can work together to strengthen our state,” she wrote Wednesday in a 225-word public post to Meghan McCain. “My team is sending you my contact info — if you’re willing to meet, it would mean a lot to me.”
Lake’s appeal comes after she told Arizona’s KTAR on Monday that her past comments about John McCain, such as her telling McCain supporters to “get the hell out” of an event in December 2021, were meant as a joke.
“I think that if John McCain, who had a great sense of humor, would have heard it, he would have laughed,” Lake told hosts Barry Markson and Bruce St. James.
She also said Republicans “need to get a little bit thicker skin because we’re going through some tough stuff right now and we need to be able to take a joke,” before the hosts asked her — in that spirit — to unblock them on X.
Meghan McCain, a former co-host of ABC’s The View, rejected Lake’s answer.
“Kari Lake is trying to walk back her continued attacks on my Dad (& family) and all of his loyal supporters after telling them to ‘get the hell out,'” McCain wrote in a social media post on Tuesday. “Guess she realized she can’t become a Senator without us.”
“We see you for who you are – and are repulsed by it,” she added.
Lake’s lengthy post, in turn, sought to appeal to Meghan McCain by noting they’re both mothers and both lost their fathers to cancer.
“Our movement to save Arizona & America is growing, and it’s Mama Bears like us who are leading the charge — ALL Moms want the same thing: to leave our children a better America than the one we had. It’s as simple as that,” she wrote.
“I want to make Senator McCain and Larry Lake proud,” she continued — before Meghan McCain bluntly dismissed her offer to meet.
“NO PEACE, B—-!” she wrote, in a post that was shared by Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison.
Later, Meghan McCain also posted: “I breathe fire for my family and never forgive those who have trashed any of us – particularly my Dad in death. Never.”
Markson, one of the KTAR hosts who interviewed Lake, questioned afterward why the likely Republican nominee for Senate “won’t just admit she was wrong and apologize.”
“Kari was a friend of the McCains, a close friend of the family, yet she had no problem attacking John McCain over and over, and she even attacked Cindy McCain in her recent book,” Markson wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Lake, in an interview in July 2022, accused John McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, of running a scheme to promote a “globalist” agenda.
“This is the Cindy McCain branch of the Republican Party. They’re not Republicans. … I think they want an end to America,” Lake said at the time.
Her new outreach to Meghan McCain appears to be part of a larger trend of her attempting to mend relationships with so-called “establishment Republicans” she torched during her unsuccessful gubernatorial run.
Asked Tuesday on KTAR if she’d won back over any of those Republicans, Lake said she’s having conversations “that would shock you.”
