(NEW YORK) — The White House said Wednesday it wants protecting democracy — not conspiracy theories — to be a key message heading into the general election, mentioning the recent conspiracy that alleged Taylor Swift was part of a psyop plot to help President Joe Biden win reelection.
Asked about the Taylor Swift conspiracy during the White House press briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House is “always going to be concerned” about these types of conspiracy theories and the impact they can have, mentioning some voters’ belief that the 2020 election was stolen, which ultimately led to the Jan. 6 attacks at the U.S. Capitol.
“We have a concern about our democracy and where it’s going and protecting our democracy,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, some Republicans circulated a baseless conspiracy that Swift — along with her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce — were part of a scheme to rig the Super Bowl and use the moment to endorse President Joe Biden in the 2024 contest. While the Chiefs did win the big game, neither Swift nor Kelce made a political endorsement.
“The Taylor Swift conspiracy, that’s for others to speak to. I’m not going to speak to that from here,” Jean-Pierre said.
This comes as a new national Monmouth University poll found that just under one in five Americans think that Swift is tied to an undercover government plot to help Biden win the 2024 election.
The poll, which was conducted from Feb. 8 to Feb. 12, called 902 U.S. adults to ask their thoughts on the pop star. Among the questions asked was, “Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists?”
Eighteen percent of respondents said they believe such a conspiracy involving Swift exists; 73% said that it does not exist. Nine percent said they didn’t know.
“The supposed Taylor Swift PsyOp conspiracy has legs among a decent number of Trump supporters. Even many who hadn’t heard about it before we polled them accept the idea as credible,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a release about the poll’s findings.
The poll also found that 68% of those Americans support Swift’s get-out-the-vote efforts among her fans. Twenty-five percent disapprove of those moves while 7% don’t know what to think of them.
Last year, Swift posted on her Instagram story urging her fans to register to vote. That led to a more than 35,000 bump in registrations and record-breaking traffic on the Vote.org website, the group’s CEO said.
The majority of Americans — 65% — said in the poll that they are not fans of Swift. Just 22% said they are fans and 6% said they are “Swifties” or super fans.
The polls has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson wants a one-on-one meeting with President Joe Biden to find a way forward to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and border security, but those requests have been denied.
Johnson on Wednesday reiterated his call for a sit down with Biden, seeking to put the onus on the White House to more forcefully intervene as Congress remains at a standstill.
“I am going to continue to insist on that because there are very serious issues that need to be addressed and if the speaker of the House cannot meet with the president of the United States, that’s a problem,” Johnson said. “I don’t know why they’re uncomfortable having the president sit across the table from me, but I will go in good faith.”
The White House pushed back on Wednesday by pointing to Johnson’s shifting positions on how to deal with foreign aid and border security, and his rejection of two Senate deals on these issues that gained bipartisan support.
“What is there to negotiate, truly?” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce.
“What is the one-on-one negotiation about when he’s been presented with exactly what he asked for?” Jean-Pierre continued. “So, he’s negotiating with himself [and] he’s killing bills on his own.”
Johnson’s most recent meeting request was last week. Since the meeting at the White House with congressional leaders on Jan. 17, Johnson requested a one-on-one meeting on Jan. 22 and “multiple times” since, a source familiar the requests told ABC News.
All requests for a meeting between Biden and Johnson have been declined by the White House, according to the source.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., cast the rebuffs as proof of what Republicans say is Biden’s inattention to the southern border.
“The president cares about all these other things going on around the world, as we do too, but if you don’t care about one of the biggest crises facing our country to the point where the president won’t even sit down with the speaker of the House to talk about ways to solve this problem … we’re going to take this seriously as we have for months even if the president and his administration refuse to,” Scalise said.
The White House, expressing exasperation, said Johnson still appears to be negotiating with himself on what he wants to see happen.
In the fall, when Biden first requested supplemental funding to support Ukraine and Israel amid their respective conflicts, Johnson said he wanted to tie that money to changes in immigration policy.
For months, a group of bipartisan senators worked to hammer out a deal that they said would implement the most comprehensive immigration reforms in years. Even before the details of the deal were released, Johnson cast doubt on whether it would pass muster in the House. Shortly after the bill was unveiled, he deemed it “dead on arrival” in the House.
At the time, Johnson denied the characterization that he reversed course. He told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that the legislation was a “nonstarter” because it didn’t contain, in his view, “real border security reform.”
The Senate then moved ahead with a standalone $95 billion foreign aid bill, which passed early Tuesday morning. Twenty-two Senate Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the measure.
Johnson said he was opposed to the stand-alone bill because it didn’t include any border changes.
“We are not going to be forced into action by the Senate who in the latest product they sent over doesn’t have one word about America’s security,” Johnson said Wednesday.
When pressed on what House Republicans are proposing now to find solutions on the border and aid for Ukraine, Johnson did not provide specifics.
“So, what we’re doing right now is the House is working its will, the House Republican conference — we just met an hour ago with all the members — and there are lots of ideas on the table of how to address these issues,” he told reporters. “We will address issues, we’ll do our duty on that matter and all that begins in earnest right now.”
Jean-Pierre pressed Johnson to bring the Senate foreign aid bill to the floor and was confident it would pass.
“I think the speaker’s confused,” Jean-Pierre said. “I think the speaker doesn’t understand what it is that his job is. Put that bill to the floor. Put that bill to the floor. It will get bipartisan support.”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, joining Jean-Pierre at the White House podium on Wednesday, spoke about the urgent need for Ukraine aid as its fight against Russia’s invasion approaches its third year.
Asked how long Ukraine can continue to fight Vladimir Putin’s forces without this funding, Sullivan said he “can’t put a timetable on it,” but stressed inaction is costly.
“All I can say is that each passing day, each passing week, the cost of inaction from the United States that’s being borne on the front lines by brave Ukrainians is rising,” he said.
Jean-Pierre had sharper words for Republicans opposed to the aid, saying they are “siding with Putin.”
(WASHINGTON) — Congressional House Ethics investigators have obtained text messages allegedly showing that a few months after first joining Congress, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz asked a young woman, who at the time had received payments for sex from Gaetz’s then-close friend Joel Greenberg, to join him and others on a three-day trip to the Florida Keys in May 2017, multiple sources tell ABC News.
In the alleged text messages described exclusively to ABC News, the then-freshman congressman appeared to message a woman, who ABC News is not identifying, asking if she would fly on a private plane to the Florida Keys for a trip with Gaetz, three other women, and one other man.
“Hey — any interest in flying on a private plane to the keys May 19-21?” Gaetz allegedly wrote to the woman, who was older than 21 at the time, according to multiple sources familiar with the messages.
Gaetz then allegedly said that the trip would feature “2 guys, 4 girls. A very high-quality adventurous group,” according to the messages, which have previously not been reported on.
“Yeah I’m in,” replied the woman, according to the texts.
Gaetz allegedly replied: “Fantastic. As is true with all time you spend w me, it’ll be fun and chill […] You have a passport?”
Sources familiar with the events tell ABC News the woman ultimately declined the 2017 trip.
The messages, if accurate, mark the first known example of alleged direct private communication between the Florida congressman and a woman who his one-time close associate Joel Greenberg told investigators he had been paying to have sex with other men, according to documents and interviews with multiple sources.
It’s unknown if Gaetz knew that Greenberg had allegedly been paying the woman in such a manner.
A spokesperson for Gaetz told ABC News, “Rep. Gaetz has no knowledge of these activities by Mr. Greenberg and was not involved in them. Rep. Gaetz has never paid for sex. Rep. Gaetz does not know anything about the woman you’re referencing, though he takes thousands of selfies each year.”
Members of the House Ethics Committee declined to comment to ABC News.
A photo of Gaetz and the woman has also been turned over to the committee, according to sources briefed on the matter. According to the sources, the photo, which is dated May 19, 2017, shows the woman smiling in a selfie next to Gaetz, who is wearing a shirt that reads, “If you think research is expensive, try disease,” a quote from health activist Mary W. Lasker.
According to bank and Venmo records reviewed by ABC News, the woman had previously received multiple payments from Greenberg, which multiple sources tell ABC News were for the woman to have sex at parties with Greenberg’s friends.
Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, reached a deal with federal investigators in May 2021 in which he pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor and introducing her to other “adult men” who also had sex with her when she was underage.
He was a top witness in the Justice Department’s yearslong investigation into allegations that Gaetz had engaged in sex trafficking the same minor who was the victim in the sex trafficking case to which Greenberg pleaded guilty. The probe concluded with the DOJ’s decision not to bring charges against Gaetz.
The House Ethics Committee opened its own probe into Gaetz in April 2021 but paused its investigation while the Justice Department completed its probe. The Ethics Committee then reopened its probe this past summer.
Gaetz has long denied all wrongdoing. The Florida congressman has blasted the Ethics Committee, saying its efforts are part of a plan by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to retaliate against Gaetz for helping remove McCarthy from his post late last year.
House investigators have recently ramped up their probe of Gaetz, which ABC News previously reported is looking into allegations that he paid for sex, as well as allegations about drug use and potential lobbying violations, according to sources familiar with the committee’s work. The DOJ examined related allegations in their yearslong probe before deciding not to bring charges.
Since the start of 2024, the Ethics Committee has contacted numerous witnesses, including Greenberg and the congressman’s ex-girlfriend.
Federal investigators previously sought answers about a separate trip in 2018 that Gaetz allegedly took to the Bahamas with women who Greenberg said he had been paying for sex, and were looking to determine if Gaetz was provided travel and entertainment in exchange for political favors, according to people familiar with the investigation. House investigators have conducted at least one interview with a witness who was allegedly part of that trip, sources tell ABC News.
It’s unclear if the text messages regarding the planned 2017 Florida Keys trip reported by ABC News were also scrutinized by federal investigators.
(WASHINGTON) — A day after former President Donald Trump filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to stay last week’s appeals court decision that rejected his claim of absolute immunity from prosecution in special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case, the court on Tuesday asked the special counsel to respond within a week.
The Supreme Court asked for the special counsel to file his response by the afternoon of Feb. 20.
After that filing, Trump’s legal team will get a chance to file a reply, after which the court can act on Trump’s request at any time, at its discretion.
Trump, who in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is seeking the dismissal of the case on the grounds that he has “absolute immunity” from prosecution for actions taken while serving in the nation’s highest office.
Last week a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, clearing the way for Trump to seek to appeal the issue to the Supreme Court.
In Trump’s application to the Supreme Court, filed Monday, his attorneys argued that the high court should allow the appellate process to play out — and effectively delay any possible trial indefinitely — given the magnitude of the issues and the stakes for the upcoming presidential election.
Trump’s lawyers suggested that the former president intends to seek en banc review — done by the entire bench rather than a select panel — of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and, ultimately, Supreme Court review some time down the road.
“Allowing President Trump to pursue en banc review in the D.C. Circuit will provide an opportunity for similar thoughtful consideration in the lower court before this Court addresses the novel, complex, and momentous issues at stake in this appeal,” his attorneys wrote in the new filing.
In last week’s ruling, the appellate panel flatly dismissed Trump’s claims to legal immunity and said that affording him such protection “would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three Branches.”
Trump’s trial had been scheduled to start on March 4 before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan postponed that start date while waiting for his immunity appeal to play out.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Rep. Tom Suozzi will win back his old House seat in Tuesday’s special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, ABC News projects — extending his party’s largely winning record in such races and further whittling down Republicans’ tiny majority in the chamber.
Suozzi dispatched with Republican nominee Mazi Pilip to earn the seat, which encompasses parts of Long Island.
Their race was widely seen as offering the year’s first notable clues about how voters, particularly in the suburbs and in swing areas, are feeling about key political issues and about President Joe Biden and down-ballot Democrats heading into November’s general election.
At the same time, Tuesday was an off-schedule special election with relatively low turnout to replace disgraced Republican Rep. George Santos after his expulsion, and experts said the contest was shaped in part by local factors, likely limiting how much the results are indicative of voters across the country.
Here are five takeaways:
House Republicans’ precious little leeway shrinks again
Once Suozzi takes office, Republicans will be able to afford only two defections on any vote in the 219-213 House, assuming full attendance and no Democrats voting with the GOP.
Republicans have already struggled to unite on major legislation, from funding the government to Ukraine aid to impeachment.
That was underscored when the House last week initially failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas because three Republicans voted against doing so and one Democrat returned from the hospital to vote the same day — an appearance that surprised Republicans.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, an unlikely chief who won the role just months ago after a historically dysfunctional leadership fight in his party, will now have even less wiggle room in making sure Republicans stick together to pass their key priorities in the remaining 11 months before a new Congress is sworn in.
Government funding deadlines are right around the corner.
Democrats’ winning streak continues
Democrats’ winning streak in special and off-year elections was continued Tuesday, another sign that the party is able to win elections even while being led by an unpopular president whose handling of issues like immigration and inflation is roundly disapproved of by the public.
Democratic hand-wringing about the future has reached a fever pitch in some corners given Biden’s dismal approval ratings, especially after special counsel Robert Hur’s report on the president’s handling of classified information while out of office also included multiple descriptions of his poor memory, which he denies.
However, even with those problems, Democrats have celebrated notable wins after wins since 2018 — including in recent special and off-year races under Biden, like last year’s gubernatorial and legislative races in Kentucky and Virginia, respectively, and in races for state legislative seats across the country to fill vacancies. (There have been glaring exceptions, like in Florida and New York.)
Even in many seats they lost, Democrats overperformed the partisan makeup in the districts.
Suozzi’s projected victory is the latest sign that the Democratic enthusiasm sparked by former President Donald Trump after 2016, which escalated after the scrapping of constitutional abortion protections in 2022, is alive and well heading into November — and members of both parties took note.
“Donald Trump lost again tonight. When Republicans run on Trump’s extreme agenda – even in a Republican-held seat – voters reject them,” Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said in a statement.
“Let’s just say the quiet part out loud. Donald Trump continues to be a huge weight against Republican candidates. Despite the enormous and obvious failings of Joe Biden, we just lost another winnable Republican House seat because voters overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump,” added Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump’s lone remaining major primary challenger.
Trump, for his part, argued on social media that a “very foolish” Pilip, who is still a registered Democrat, had failed by not more fully embracing him and the MAGA movement.
Suozzi’s win was even sweeter for his party given Democrats’ relative wipeout in New York in 2022, when they unexpectedly lost out on House seats on Long Island and in the suburbs to New York City’s north — seats that will now be key to the fight for the House next year.
Still, Suozzi has warned his party that it has work to do with voters, indicating that he in part has run against Democrats’ national brand.
“I think my whole campaign is a warning sign for Democrats,” he told ABC News in an interview before Election Day. “I’ve always been somebody who has been battling with my own party. I’ve always been a centrist … and they asked me to run. Why? Because they know my message is what we need to be talking about.”
Campaigning and recruitment matter
Democrats appeared to learn their lesson from the 2022 New York races.
Suozzi’s seat was open after he waged a failed bid for governor and the GOP elevated Santos, an unknown quantity who won by about 7.5% in a year that favored New York Republicans amid worries over crime and inflation.
Robert Zimmerman was Democrats’ nominee and he ultimately lost a seat that Biden had won handily in 2020.
This year, Democrats went after Suozzi again. He represented the district in Congress for three terms and served in local office before that — an established track record that he used to set himself apart from the image of national Democrats, particularly on immigration.
Pilip, meanwhile, came in with an impressive background as an Ethiopian-born Jew who served in Israel’s military, but her stances on policy were murky, which Suozzi seized on given her lower profile compared to him.
On top of that, Suozzi blitzed the district with events, while his campaign and outside groups swarmed the airways with ads both supporting him and knocking Pilip. Republicans couldn’t keep up with Democrats’ spending, and Pilip’s campaign schedule was unusually lighter than Suozzi’s.
Israel isn’t necessarily an election sinker for Democrats
Some Democrats have worried that Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war could hurt his electoral prospects this year, given the outcry from younger and progressive voters that he should focus more on Palestinian civilian casualties as Israel bombards Gaza.
Protesters who have been critical of his backing of Israel have repeatedly appeared at his events, while Republicans use any utterance of criticism of Jerusalem to cast the president as insufficiently supportive of the longtime U.S. ally.
Biden has tried to strike a balance between backing the campaign against Hamas and urging more caution from Israel’s military, while Israel insists it takes steps to avoid civilians amid the high death toll.
Tuesday’s race on Long Island isn’t a perfect microcosm for how the issue will play out this year — the district boasts a hefty Jewish population and skews more in support of Israel.
The war was also more notable in the special election given Pilip’s background and the fact that one of the hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel is from the district.
Suozzi came out in strong support of Israel’s response, which has drawn pushback from Biden as “over the top,” saying he didn’t support conditions on aid to Israel, a key demand of many of Biden’s more liberal detractors.
Hope for Democrats on crime, immigration?
Democrats in New York were dogged by concerns over crime and immigration in 2022, and the latter issue has been especially elevated in recent months with New York City receiving thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers sent north from the southern border.
Pilip campaigned by tying Suozzi to the White House’s border policies, which Suozzi rejected, saying he wanted a bipartisan deal on the issue while tightening security.
It could be tough for other candidates to replicate his playbook, given that Long Island has a unique political identity, as 538 details. But Suozzi found electoral success as a more moderate Democrat by taking clear stances on immigration reform and crime.
He established a tough-on-crime reputation throughout the campaign, and he repeatedly knocked Pilip for opposing a bipartisan immigration bill in the Senate, arguing she stood in opposition to the legislation while offering no alternatives herself.
“Crime and immigration and taxes is not a Republican message. It’s an American message,” Suozzi told ABC News. “And Democrats as well as Republicans need to be addressing these issues.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks about security during a news conference ahead of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 7, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Republican-led House on Tuesday night narrowly impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over what they claim is his failure to enforce border laws amid a “crisis” of high illegal immigration, allegations he denies as “baseless.”
The historic move — only the second Cabinet impeachment since the country’s founding, after William Belknap in 1876 — has been criticized by some Republicans and many Democrats as based on policy disagreements, not accusations of specific crimes. Conservatives have also sought to paint Mayorkas as incompetent.
The impeachment articles are expected to be rejected by the Senate’s Democratic majority.
The House GOP tried and failed last week to impeach Mayorkas on the same accusations.
In a statement after Tuesday’s vote, Speaker Mike Johnson blamed Mayorkas for “fueling the worst border catastrophe in American history.”
“[He] deserves to be impeached, and Congress has a constitutional obligation to do so,” Johnson said. “Next to a declaration of war, impeachment is arguably the most serious authority given to the House and we have treated this matter accordingly.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson shot back in a statement that “without a shred of evidence or legitimate Constitutional grounds, and despite bipartisan opposition, House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country.”
“Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue working every day to keep Americans safe,” the spokesperson said.
The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas passed on Tuesday 214-213, with the majority made up of only Republicans and three Republicans voting with Democrats against impeachment.
Two Democrats representatives, Judy Chu and Lois Frankel, and Republican Reps. Brian Mast and Maria Salazar did not vote.
Reps. Ken Buck, Mike Gallagher and Tom McClintock — the same three Republicans who opposed a previous attempt to impeachment Mayorkas last week — kept their opposition.
Mayorkas will now face a trial in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority vote will be needed to convict and remove him from office, which is very unlikely.
The chamber’s majority leader, Chuck Schumer, on Tuesday night labeled the impeachment a “sham,” echoing how Democrats say Republicans have seized on Mayorkas to go after President Joe Biden’s border policies and spotlight immigration.
Polling shows the public broadly disapproves of Biden’s handling of the issue.
The president criticized Tuesday’s vote in a statement, saying in part, “History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship.”
The Senate is on a two-week recess, returning Feb. 26.
“The House impeachment managers will present the articles of impeachment to the Senate following the state work period. Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day. Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray will preside,” Schumer’s office said.
Republicans accuse Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” amid a surge in unauthorized migrant crossings, according to the articles of impeachment against him.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican who led the impeachment investigation, has cited Mayorkas discussing “operational control” of the U.S. border, which Congress previously defined as zero illegal crossings.
As Mayorkas has pointed out, under this definition, no administration has achieved operational control. At a previous congressional hearing, Mayorkas said he believed there was a form of operational control and said he was not following the definition outlined in the dated statute.
Green, however, has contended Mayorkas’ conduct is disqualifying regardless if it is criminal: “The founders designed impeachment not just to remove officials engaged in criminal behavior, but those guilty of such gross incompetence that their conduct had endangered their fellow Americans, betrayed the public trust and represented a neglect of duty.”
Lauding the successful impeachment vote on Tuesday, Green said in a statement: “Our country has suffered from an unprecedented border crisis that has turned every state into a border state, causing untold suffering in communities across our country. With this vote, Congress has made clear that we will not tolerate such lawlessness.”
Critics of the impeachment push, including Rep. Buck of Colorado, have said the articles don’t show specific crimes or wrongdoing and instead reflect a political dispute with the Biden administration.
“This administration has removed, returned, or expelled more migrants in three years than the prior Administration did in four years,” the DHS said in a memo circulated ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
The previous attempt to impeach Mayorkas surprisingly failed last week after the three Republicans voted against it along with all Democrats present.
That marked a major defeat for Speaker Johnson and other House GOP leaders.
“Last night was a setback, but democracy is messy,” Johnson told reporters the next day on Capitol Hill, seeking to soften the losses. “We live in a time of divided government. We have a razor-thin margin here, and every vote counts.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise then returned to Washington after blood cancer treatment to help his party’s narrow majority in the second vote, on Tuesday.
Scalise’s office had said in a statement on Thursday that he “successfully completed his autologous stem cell treatment and has been medically cleared to resume travel.”
The Louisiana Republican is in “complete remission,” his office said then.
On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Mayorkas maintained that the flood of migrants at the border has been a problem for years and that legislative action is needed to fix the system.
In December, there were 302,000 encounters along the southwest border — the highest monthly total ever recorded.
Kristen Welker pressed Mayorkas on whether he bears the responsibility for the flood of migrants crossing the border — something President Biden has also called a “crisis.”
“It certainly is a crisis, and, well, we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system and we’re doing a tremendous amount within that broken system,” Mayorkas said. “But, fundamentally, fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix that.”
Last week, the Senate’s vote to advance a bipartisan foreign aid bill with major new border provisions failed — a blow to the negotiators who worked for months with Mayorkas to develop the border deal. Johnson and other notable GOP critics of the agreement argued it was insufficient.
“The system has not been fixed for 30 years,” Mayorkas said on NBC. “A bipartisan group of senators have now presented us with the tools and resources we need … and yet, Congress killed it before even reading it.”
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin left the hospital on Tuesday afternoon after being admitted to the intensive care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier in the week, the Pentagon said.
Austin was put under general anesthesia on Monday for a non-surgical procedure to treat an “emergent bladder issue,” his doctors have said in a statement.
Austin was forced to cancel a planned trip to Brussels this week as a result of the medical episode.
Austin’s hospitalization was the secretary’s third since his diagnosis of prostate cancer in December.
Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said earlier Tuesday that “we anticipate Secretary Austin will be released from the hospital later today. So, we will provide an update on when that occurs, and when he resumed his full duties and functions.”
She said it’s not believed that the bladder issue was related to his cancer diagnosis.
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Tuesday — with more than 20 Republicans defying former President Donald Trump who fervently spoke out against the bill, which now faces an uncertain future in the House.
The Senate voted 70-29 to approve the bill early Tuesday, with 22 Republican senators supporting it.
Trump, whose opposition to the initial national security supplemental led to its demise, criticized the foreign aid bill, saying in a social media post over the weekend that the United States should only loan money to foreign allies.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a national security hawk who once supported the foreign aid, voted no on the bill Tuesday and echoed Trump’s comments that any aid should be a loan — even though much of the money would go to American companies to replenish U.S. arms supplies.
The bill now heads to the House, however, Speaker Mike Johnson, in a statement Monday night, strongly suggested he may not take the Senate bill on the floor for debate or a vote because it does not address the southern border. The Senate agreement did not include any additional money for the southern border after an attempt to pair them collapsed last week.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a Tuesday morning news conference that he hopes to impress upon Johnson how urgent it is for the House to act on the bill. Schumer said he hopes to speak to Johnson directly in the coming days.
“My message [to Johnson] is this is a rare moment where history is looking upon the United States and seeing if we will stand up for our values, stand up to bullies like Putin and do the right thing,” Schumer said. “I will say to Speaker Johnson I am confident that there’s a large majority in the House who will vote for this bill. I am confident there are many Republicans in his caucus, I know I’ve spoken to a whole bunch of them who feels strongly we ought to pass this bill and I will urge Speaker Johnson to step up to the moment and do the right thing.”
Schumer said House Republicans would be giving a “enormous gift to Vladimir Putin” if they do not act.
“The responsibility now falls on Speaker Johnson and House Republicans to approve this bill swiftly. And I call on Speaker Johnson to rise to the occasion. To do the right thing. Bring this bill to the floor. As I said, given the large majority, robust majority here in the Senate it is clear that if that bill was brought to the floor, our bill is brought to the floor, it will pass. But if the hard-right kills this bill, it would be an enormous gift to Vladimir Putin.”
Schumer was asked a number of questions about possible House amendments to this package. While he didn’t fully rule out considering a House-amended version of the bill, he did repeatedly state that he believes the House ought to pass the Senate version.
Asked if the he would view a House amendment to the national security supplemental changing the payments to Ukraine and Israel to loans as a non-starter — per Trump’s suggestion, Schumer said “we ought to stick with this bill.”
“I mean, no one even knows how this loan program would work. Because Donald Trump says something doesn’t mean Republicans should march in lockstep to do it,” Schumer said.
In a speech at the White House Tuesday afternoon, President Joe Biden said the House should “immediately” vote on the Senate bill.
“I urge Speaker Johnson to bring it to the floor immediately, immediately,” Biden said. “There’s no question that if the Senate bill was put on the floor in the House of Representatives, it would pass. It would pass. And the speaker knows that.”
Biden said it’s a “critical act for the House to move on” and must be done soon to show that America can be “trusted.”
“This bipartisan bill sends a clear message to Ukrainians, and to our partners and, to our allies around the world. America can be trusted,” the president said. “America can be relied upon. And America stands up for freedom. We stand strong for our allies, we never bow down to anyone and certainly not to Vladimir Putin. So, let’s get on with this.”
The White House warned Tuesday that failure by the House to pass additional aid for Israel and Ukraine would call into question American leadership on the world stage.
“It sends messages not just to allies and partners, but to potential adversaries as well, that the United States can’t be counted on. That we’re not interested in being a leader on the world stage,” National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told ABC News’ Mary Bruce.
Israel is in a fight literally for their lives and the Ukrainians are too for their democracy. So, I think it sends a strong signal to the whole world … that perhaps certain members of Congress aren’t willing to show and demonstrate the kind of American leadership on the world stage that President Biden has,” Kirby added.
After the vote, Schumer praised the bipartisan effort that led to the bill’s passage.
“These past few months have been a great test for the U.S. Senate, to see if we could escape the centrifugal pull of partisanship and summon the will to defend Western Democracy when it mattered most,” Schumer said in brief remarks on Senate floor. “This morning, the Senate has resoundingly passed the test.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted to advance the bill, issued a statement praising the passage as an affirmation “reaffirming a commitment to rebuild and modernize our military, restore our credibility, and give the current commander in chief, as well as the next, more tools to secure our interest.”
“History settles every account,” McConnell added. “And today, on the value of American leadership and strength, history will record that the Senate did not blink.”
ABC News’ Lauren Peller, Morgan Winsor, Sarah Beth Hensley and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, setting up a showdown in the House of Representatives where Republican leaders have resisted such legislation.
The Senate voted 70-29 to approve the bill early Tuesday, with 22 Republican senators supporting the final passage. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised the upper chamber of Congress for approving “one of the most historic and consequential bills to have ever passed the Senate.”
“These past few months have been a great test for the U.S. Senate, to see if we could escape the centrifugal pull of partisanship and summon the will to defend Western Democracy when it mattered most,” Schumer said in brief remarks on the floor of the Senate in Washington, D.C. “This morning, the Senate has resoundingly passed the test.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who voted alongside 21 of his GOP colleagues to advance the bill, issued a statement praising the passage as an affirmation “reaffirming a commitment to rebuild and modernize our military, restore our credibility, and give the current Commander-in-Chief, as well as the next, more tools to secure our interest.”
“History settles every account,” McConnell added. “And today, on the value of American leadership and strength, history will record that the Senate did not blink.”
The successful vote in the Senate follows months of wrangling over if and how to approve more overseas funding, with conservatives initially saying U.S. President Joe Biden’s request for that money had to be tied to an overhaul of border and immigration policy.
However, a deal in the Senate that was negotiated between Democrats and Republicans to seriously tighten border security along with the new aid was quickly criticized by some in the GOP as insufficient and weakened by loopholes. Instead, the Senate then moved forward with the current legislation, which removed the immigration provisions.
It’s unclear what fate the bill will face in the lower chamber of Congress, which recently tried and failed to pass stand-alone legislation just to send aid to Israel in its war against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has suggested the Senate proposal is not likely to get a vote or even be brought up for debate in his chamber.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks about security during a news conference ahead of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 7, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise plans to return to Capitol Hill this week in time to help his fellow Republicans try again on Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — after an embarrassing failed vote last week to impeach him over what they say is his failure to enforce the law on the southern border.
Scalise, who was undergoing treatment for blood cancer, was absent from last week’s vote to impeach Mayorkas — one of the reasons the GOP-led effort failed.
Scalise’s office said in a statement Thursday that he “successfully completed his autologous stem cell treatment and has been medically cleared to resume travel.” The Louisiana Republican is in “complete remission,” the statement said — clearing the way for Scalise to vote with the fellow Republicans to impeach Mayorkas, a historic move.
With Scalise, Republicans could finally have the votes they need to impeach Mayorkas, whom they accuse of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” amid a surge in unauthorized migrant crossings, according to the articles of impeachment. The vote failed last week with a final tally of 214-216 — a crushing defeat for House Republicans.
The impeachment vote is scheduled for Tuesday night, but could change if member attendance is poor.
If the vote is put off, another potential curveball could come with Tuesday’s special election to fill the vacancy left by former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
If former Rep. Tom. Suozzi, D-N.Y., prevails over Republican Mazi Pilip for the seat and is sworn in before a second impeachment vote, the impeachment effort is likely to fail again, provided all lawmakers are present and vote the same as last week.
Last week, Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado voted against Mayorkas’ impeachment, telling ABC News’ Jay O’Brien that the secretary had “not committed a high crime or misdemeanor.”
“There is a policy difference,” he said.
Buck was joined by fellow GOP defectors Reps Tom McClintock and Mike Gallagher, who announced over the weekend he won’t run for re-election. They are still expected to vote against impeaching Mayorkas.
If the vote succeeds, it would mark just the second time in U.S. history a Cabinet official has been impeached. The issue would then have to go to trial in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority vote would be needed to convict.
On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Mayorkas repeated that the Republicans’ allegations to impeach him are “baseless.” He said the flood of migrants has been a problem for years and that legislative action is needed to fix the system.
“The system has not been fixed for 30 years. A bipartisan group of senators have now presented us with the tools and resources we need — bipartisan group — and yet, Congress killed it before even reading it,” Mayorkas said.
This past December, there were 302,000 encounters along the southwest border — the highest monthly total ever recorded.
Moderator Kristen Welker pressed Mayorkas on whether he bears the responsibility for the flood of migrants crossing the border — something President Joe Biden called a “crisis.”
“It certainly is a crisis, and, well, we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system, and we’re doing a tremendous amount within that broken system. But, fundamentally, fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix that,” Mayorkas said.
Last week, the Senate’s vote to advance a bipartisan foreign aid bill with major border provisions failed — a blow to the Senate negotiators who worked for months with Mayorkas to develop the border deal.
