Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch responded publicly to personal attacks by President Donald Trump in an interview with ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis, suggesting he is determined to remain “independent” and “fearless” in fulfilling his duty despite harsh criticism from the president who appointed him.

After Gorsuch voted with Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the court’s three liberals to invalidate Trump’s sweeping global tariffs in February, the president lashed out at his nominees Gorsuch and Barrett, calling them a “disgrace,” “disloyal,” “unpatriotic,” “fools and lapdogs,” and “an embarrassment to their families.”

Gorsuch told Davis the comments prompted him to reflect on the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.

“We want independent judges, people who are fearless and able to apply the law without respect to persons, as our judicial oath says, right? That’s why we’re giving life [tenure] to anybody, and it’s quite an honor,” Gorsuch said when asked for his reaction to Trump. “It’s a humbling privilege to be able to serve in this capacity, and I’m just one link in a long chain.”

Gorsuch, who rarely does media interviews, spoke with ABC News ahead of publication of a new children’s book, “Heroes of 1776: The Story of the Declaration of Independence,” officially released Tuesday.

“We tell the story about the debate that led up to [the Declaration]. It almost didn’t go through,” the justice said of the nation’s founding charter, penned 250 years ago this year. “None of this is inevitable, and it isn’t inevitable that it will survive. America’s biggest enemy is itself. I believe we have to recommit every generation … if we’re going to carry those ideals forward.”

Even before he was confirmed in 2017, Gorsuch was forced to respond to extraordinary attacks on the federal judiciary by a sitting president, after Trump in his first term targeted judges who blocked controversial policies. Then-Judge Gorsuch described Trump’s behavior as “disheartening” and “demoralizing.”

Now, the conservative justice, 58, who will mark a decade on the high court bench next year, said he shares Roberts’ concern that a surge in personal attacks against judges is “dangerous,” even if intense criticism can be fair game.

“Part of the job of the judge is to accept criticism. Right? Everybody’s got a right to free speech,” Gorsuch said. “It’s a raucous thing in democracy, and that’s good. That’s great. And part of that is part of our story. Part of our story too, is realizing, again, that the person sitting across from you probably loves his country every bit as much as he did.”

Gorsuch said he was “heartbroken” by the recent attempted assassination of Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and that the episode appeared to be part of a broader deterioration of civility in politics.

“What keeps me up at night is disagreements that we have, and our sometimes incapacity to realize the humanity of the people we disagree with,” he said.

Gorsuch has publicly maintained a friendly personal relationship with senior liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, making several joint appearances in an effort to promote civics education and attempt to shore up faith in the Court as an institution.

“When I disagree with my colleagues … I never question that the person sitting across from me loves this country every bit as much as I do, that they love the Constitution and Declaration [of Independence], and that they’re doing their best.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the cost increase of his massive White House ballroom construction project, the price tag of which has jumped from $200 million to nearly $400 million.

“The only reason the cost has changed is because, after deep rooted studies, it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations,” Trump wrote in a post to his social media platform.

“The original price was 200 Million Dollars, the double sized, highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million Dollars. It will be magnificent, safe, and secure!” the president added.

Trump’s defense comes after his relentless criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s oversight of a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the central bank’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The cost of the Fed renovation increased, which the central bank said was due to rising costs of labor and material as well as unforeseen damage to the property.

The White House previously said it aimed to raise the $400 million through private donations, and Trump himself repeatedly promised no taxpayer money would be used to build the ballroom.

“So we did this, no charge to the taxpayer whatsoever,” Trump said about the ballroom in February. “This was all donations made by friends of mine and people that are — that love our country.”

But now, Republicans in Congress are proposing $1 billion for security-related aspects of the construction project.

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans said that they are aiming to secure $1 billion in funding for the Secret Service for security-related aspects of the East Wing renovation, including the ballroom project, as part of a broader funding package for immigration enforcement.

Trump’s social media post on Wednesday defending the higher costs made no mention of the proposed $1 billion infusion from Congress.

It’s unclear exactly how the Secret Service would spend the money — and the public may never know given that much of the agency’s spending related to White House security is classified.

But in federal court and in the president’s own social media posts, the administration has offered some examples of the security features that Trump has in mind.

In a filing in the ballroom lawsuit last month, the Justice Department said the protective enhancements to the East Wing project would include “missile resistant steel columns, Military-grade venting, drone-proof ceilings and bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass,” all aimed at forming a “fortified structural buffer” on the east side of the complex that would gird not only the ballroom, but also the main White House residence and the offices in the West Wing.

That April 27 filing also said the upgrades would include “bomb shelters, a state of the art hospital and medical facilities, Top Secret military installations, structures, and equipment, protective partitioning, and other features.”

Welcoming the proposed help from Republican lawmakers, a White House spokesman said on Monday that they “rightly recognized the need for these funds.”

Several Democrats criticized the Republican plan to allocate $1 billion toward the project.

“Donald Trump promised that ZERO taxpayer dollars will be used for his ballroom. He lied,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, the No. 2 House Democrat, wrote on X.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called it a “vanity project.”

“While Americans are struggling to make ends meet as a result of President Trump’s failed policies, Republicans are focused on providing tens of billions of dollars for the President’s vanity ballroom project and cruel mass deportation campaign,” Durbin said in a statement. “Republicans are in danger of losing control of Congress in November, so they are going outside the usual bipartisan appropriations process to fund these unpopular policies through the end of the Trump Administration.”

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is set to testify behind closed doors on Wednesday about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, making him the first Trump Cabinet official to face questions as part of the House Oversight Committee investigation.

Lutnick agreed to the voluntary transcribed interview after months of criticism over his relationship with Epstein — who was once Lutnick’s neighbor — and past statements distancing himself from the notorious sex offender.

During an interview last year with The New York Post, Lutnick described Epstein as “gross” and claimed that he said in 2005 he would “never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again” after touring Epstein’s New York City mansion.

However, documents released by the Department of Justice showed that Lutnick planned a visit to Epstein’s private island in 2012 — years after Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related charges in 2008.

“We are looking forward to visiting you,” Lutnick’s wife emailed Epstein’s assistant. “We would love to join you for lunch.”

When asked about the documents in February, Lutnick acknowledged he visited the island and said that he did not see anything inappropriate during his visit.

“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick testified on Capitol Hill in February.

While the DOJ’s Epstein files included a photo from that trip, the Department of Justice acknowledged they temporarily removed the photo before restoring it following backlash. A DOJ official claimed that the photo was temporarily removed with a “batch of files that were flagged for nudity,” though the photo did not contain any nudity and did not include any redactions when it was restored.

Lutnick also appeared to enter a business deal with Epstein in 2012, according to documents released by the Department of Justice. Both men signed business documents in 2012 to acquire an advertising company called Adfin.

Other documents released by the DOJ showed Epstein agreed to donate $50,000 in 2017 related to a dinner hosted in Lutnick’s honor.

During his New York Post interview last year, Lutnick said he believed that Epstein may have used blackmail to get the “sweetheart deal” he received during his first criminal case in 2008.

“I assume, way back when, they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence, which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail. I mean, he’s a serial sex offender. How could he get 18 months and be able to go to his office during the day and have visitors and stuff? There must have been a trade,” Lutnick said.

But those allegations contrast with statements from multiple Trump administration officials who have insisted that Epstein neither trafficked young women for people beyond himself nor held compromising information about high-profile individuals,

“There is no credible information. None. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals,” FBI Director Kash Patel said last year.

When asked about Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein in February, President Trump described Lutnick as a “very innocent guy” and suggested he would be willing to testify.

“Well, Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say,” Trump said. “He’s a very innocent guy, doing a good job.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans are aiming to secure $1 billion in funding for security-related aspects of the White House ballroom project as part of a broader, roughly $70 billion funding package for immigration enforcement, which they aim to pass with little-to-no support from Democrats.

Republicans began unveiling aspects of their reconciliation package late Monday night. Included within the bill is a $1 billion allocation to the Secret Service for “the purposes of security adjustments and upgrades … relating to the East Wing Modernization Project, including above-ground and below-ground security features.”

The funding can only be used for security-related aspects of the project, according to the bill text.

The Trump administration has previously said it aims to raise $400 million in private donations to pay for the ballroom, and has said it will cost the taxpayer nothing.

President Donald Trump said in October that the ballroom would be “paid for 100% by me and some friends of mine,” referencing donors.

“The government is paying absolutely nothing,” Trump said.

Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that they have titled “The Stop Ballroom Bribery Act” to regulate the project and impose restrictions on donations.

A group of GOP senators led by Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced separate legislation that would provide $400 million in funding. The senators on that bill say their proposal is to offset the cost of the ballroom by using customs fees. Because it is not in a reconciliation bill, it will almost certainly fail to pass if it even gets a vote on the Senate floor.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul put forward a separate bill that would authorize the ballroom but not fund it. He attempted to pass that by unanimous consent last week and it failed.

This bill text comes as Republicans have increasingly called for the construction of the ballroom following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last month. They say a secure facility is necessary for the president and Cabinet members to gather with large groups on the White House grounds.

The White House said Tuesday that “Congress has rightly recognized the need for these funds.”

“Due in part to the recent assassination attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the proposal would provide the United States Secret Service with the resources they need to fully and completely harden the White House complex, in addition to the many other critical missions for the USSS,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. “As President Trump has repeatedly said, the White House must be a safe and secure complex that generations of future presidents and visitors to the People’s house can enjoy.”

In a statement to ABC News on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said the bill does “does not fund ballroom construction,” but “provides funds for Secret Service enhancements that will ensure all presidents, their families and their staffs are adequately protected.”

The ballroom has been the target of a lawsuit filed late last year by historic preservationists, with a federal judge finding it to be illegal without the approval of lawmakers.

In a filing in the case last month, the Trump administration said that the security enhancements to the East Wing project would include “missile resistant steel columns, Military-grade venting, drone-proof ceilings and bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass,” all aimed at forming a “fortified structural buffer” to protect not only the ballroom, but also the main White House residence and the offices in the West Wing.

That April 27 Justice Department filing, which read in part like a social media post written in the president’s own voice, also said the upgrades would include “bomb shelters, a state of the art hospital and medical facilities, Top Secret military installations, structures, and equipment, protective partitioning, and other features.”

District Judge Richard Leon ruled in late March that building the ballroom without congressional authorization violated the law. While Leon carved out an exception for work that would be necessary to ensure the “safety and security of the White House,” he later clarified his decision to allow for “below-ground construction” on the project, as well as anything above ground that would be “strictly necessary” to secure and protect that work.

Leon’s injunction has been administratively stayed by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, pending oral argument at a hearing set for next month. The appeals court’s order means that, for now, work on both the ballroom and the project’s security-related features can continue.

For weeks, Republicans have been working to put forward a funding package in response to political gridlock that left Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol without their regular annual appropriations. Though these agencies received funding through the previously passed One Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans say more funding is needed, and they’re looking to secure $26 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and $38 billion for ICE in this just-released bill.

Republicans are aiming to pass the funding using a budgeting tool called reconciliation, which, if successful, would allow Republicans to send this funding to Trump’s desk without the support of a single Democrat and without the possibility of a filibuster. But there are rules governing this process, and it’s not yet clear whether the Senate parliamentarian, who must determine whether items in a reconciliation package are “substantive to the budget,” will green light the ballroom security funding or other items in the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Republicans are “on a different planet” than American families with their spending priorities.

“Republicans looked at families drowning in bills and decided what they really needed was more raids and a Trump ballroom,” Schumer wrote in a post on X Tuesday.

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(FULTON COUNTY, Ga.) — The Department of Justice last month demanded the names and contact information for every election worker in Fulton County, Georgia, involved in the 2020 election, according to court filings disclosed this week.

The Fulton County Board of Registrations and Elections is now asking a federal court in Atlanta to quash the grand jury subpoena from federal agents, which requested the names, addresses, phone numbers and emails for any staff member who worked the 2020 election.

“Its purpose is to target, harass, and punish the President’s perceived political opponents; it is grossly overbroad and untethered to any reasonable need; it cannot yield any evidence that could result in a criminal prosecution,” lawyers for the Fulton County officials said in the motion filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

The subpoena appears to escalate the Trump administration’s pressure on Fulton County amid an ongoing federal investigation into purported irregulates in the 2020 election.

Driven in part by Trump allies who unsuccessfully sought to use debunked theories to overturn the election, federal agents in January seized all the ballots and records from the 2020 election.

For months, Fulton County officials have urged a federal judge to order the records be returned, though that judge has not yet issued a ruling.

DOJ attorneys have insisted that the search was based on evidence of potential misconduct and accused Fulton County officials of speculating about “some kind of grand conspiracy.”

In the motion filed on Monday, lawyers for Fulton County called the recent subpoena the “latest effort to target and harass the President’s perceived political enemies.” They argue that the statute of limitations for any alleged crime has run out and that the investigation lacks a legitimate basis.

“Grand juries do not exist to conduct roving inquiries untethered to a prosecutable criminal case,” the motion said.

Robb Pitts, the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, described the subpoena as an “outrageous federal overreach designed to intimidate and to chill participation in elections” in a statement.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(WASHINGTON) — With Iranian forces attacking commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz and oil infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, President Donald Trump on Monday stopped short of saying the U.S.-Iran ceasefire has been violated. 

“[It was] not heavy firing,” Trump said in a phone call with ABC News when asked if the ceasefire had been violated. “We’ll let you know. Ships are moving. You know, we moved quite a few last night — big ones. There was no firing. I guess there has been some recently. I’m looking into it.”

Over the past several hours, Iran fired on a South Korean ship near the Strait of Hormuz, and fired missiles and drones on the UAE. Plus, according to CENTCOM, U.S. forces fired on six Iranian fast boats and intercepted several Iranian missiles and drones.

Trump told ABC that “Iran “better hope [the ceasefire] remains in effect. The best thing that can happen to them is that we keep it in effect.”

And what happens if the ceasefire is broken?

“I’ll let you know, like I’ll let everyone else know,” the president said. “We just heard about this, and we’ll find out about it. What should happen is South Korea should get involved. It was a South Korean ship that got hit. And I would think, if you have a ship that’s hit, you should immediately send some people.”

“Right now, we we’re being very nice. We’re taking care of the world,” Trump added.

On the Iran’s firing of missiles and drones at the UAE, Trump said “they were shot down for the most part.”

“One got through. Not huge damage,” he said.

So we shouldn’t overreact?

“Overreacting is very bad for them,” Trump said. “Not for me.”

And what does this all mean about the prospects for ending the war?

“We have it under control,” Trump said. “One way or the other, we win. And you know why, Jon? I always win. You found that out a long time ago.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday issued an administrative stay of a lower court order that had rolled back access to mifepristone nationwide.

The move preserves access to the abortion pill without the need for an in-person doctor’s visit.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Rudy Giuliani is hospitalized in critical condition, his spokesman said on Sunday.

The 81-year-old former New York City mayor is critical but stable, spokesman Ted Goodman said in a statement.

The statement does not say what led to the hospitalization.

“Mayor Rudy Giuliani is currently in the hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition,” the statement said. “Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak.  We do ask that you join us in prayer for America’s Mayor — Rudy Giuliani.”

Giuliani served as New York City’s mayor from 1994 to 2001.

More recently, he was a personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, who wrote about Giuliani’s hospitalization in a social media post. The president called Giuliani “a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR.”

A spokesperson for Eric Adams, who was the city’s mayor from 2022 to 2025, noted Giuliani’s service in a statement.

“From his years as a federal prosecutor to leading New York City through its darkest day on 9/11, he stood with this city when it needed him most,” Adams spokesperson Todd Shapiro said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Indiana Hoosiers — 2025 College Football Playoff national champions — will visit the White House on Monday, May 11, according to a source familiar with the team’s plans.

It’s unclear whether former Indiana quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza will attend. Mendoza was the first player chosen in April’s NFL draft.

ABC News reached out to the White House about the upcoming visit but did not receive an immediate response.

Led by a late-game touchdown run by Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ undefeated season was capped off in storybook fashion this past January, when the team defeated the Miami Hurricanes 27-21 for their first-ever championship.

Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti is also expected to attend.

The White House trip is an honor bestowed to the championship winning teams in both college and professional sports. It’s often coupled with visits to Capitol Hill but the source couldn’t determine whether the team’s schedule would feature a trip to Congress.

President Donald Trump welcomed several NCAA collegiate champions to the White House last month.

The Hoosiers’ expected visit comes amid Trump’s efforts to “save” college sports. The president signed an executive order last month urging Congress to “expeditiously” pass legislation that addresses the future of competition and opportunity in all college sports, especially football and basketball.

Meanwhile, the Hoosiers championship also comes as name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals have been scrutinized by the White House and lawmakers in Washington concerning pay-for-play and player eligibility.

Looking to repeat as national champions, the Hoosiers finished spring practice last week with a reloaded squad that features top transfer portal pickups, quarterback Josh Hoover and wide receiver Nick Marsh.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced Friday he will increase tariffs on European Union cars and trucks to 25% next week, claiming in a social media post that the E.U. is “not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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