Sen. Chuck Grassley is seen during votes in the Capitol, Dec. 5, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Chuck Grassley, the oldest serving member of the United States Senate, is receiving antibiotic infusions at a hospital to treat an infection, according to a statement from his office.
The Iowa Republican is 90 years old.
His office says the senator is in good spirits and will return to work “as soon as possible following doctors’ orders.”
Intravenous infusions of antibiotics are usually used for a serious infection or one that can’t be or was not successfully treated with oral antibiotics.
(WASHINGTON) — ABC News has obtained a copy of the 911 call requesting an ambulance for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was transported from his Virginia home to Walter Reed Hospital after suffering complications from a surgery to treat prostate cancer.
In the call, placed on Jan. 1 and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, a federal employee working for Austin asks the operator for the ambulance to be discreet.
“Can I ask — that the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens? We’re trying to remain a little subtle,” the employee said.
According to local law, ambulances are required to run sirens and lights on primary roads but on secondary roads aren’t mandated to do so.
During the 911 call, made at 7:15 p.m. from Austin’s home, he was described as awake, alert and oriented. An ambulance arrived seven minutes later at 7:22 p.m.
Austin, who underwent elective surgery on Dec. 22, but was hospitalized New Year’s Day due to complications, was released from the hospital on Monday after a two-week stay.
The secretary and his department faced extensive criticism for their handling of his hospitalization — keeping the nation in the dark about it for several days. Austin also did not immediately disclose the hospitalization to President Joe Biden, whose Republican rivals have used the lapse in judgment as ammunition against the White House.
In a statement announcing Austin’s release from the hospital, the Department of Defense said “The Secretary continues to recover well and, on the advice of doctors, will recuperate and perform his duties remotely for a period of time before returning full-time to the Pentagon.”
“He has full access to required secure communications capabilities,” it continued.
Austin, in his own statement, said he will continue to “recuperate and perform my duties from home” and looked forward to returning to the Pentagon as quickly as possible.
ABC News’ Brittany Gaddy and Shannon K. Crawford contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A new, bipartisan tax framework unveiled by lawmakers Tuesday would enhance the popular Child Tax Credit to benefit millions of American families.
The proposal, released by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Rep. Jason Smith, would boost the refundable portion of the credit people can claim, allow low-income families with multiple children to receive more of the benefit and adjust the credit for inflation.
“Fifteen million kids from low-income families will be better off as a result of this plan, and given today’s miserable political climate, it’s a big deal to have this opportunity to pass pro-family policy that helps so many kids get ahead,” Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.
The tax package also includes new low-income housing tax credits, disaster tax relief and tax benefits for Taiwan.
Smith, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, called the proposal a “common-sense tax package that will strengthen Main Street businesses, rebuild communities, support American families, and boost our competitiveness with China.”
The legislation’s fate in Congress, however, is unclear.
Lawmakers are already struggling to coalesce on spending measures to keep the government open and operating before Friday’s partial shutdown deadline.
Also, notably absent from Tuesday’s announcement of the tax agreement was Mike Crapo, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Wyden said it was his goal to pass the package before the start of tax season, which is Jan. 29.
Past impact of the expanded Child Tax Credit
The changes to the federal Child Tax Credit enacted in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan had a significant impact on families.
According to Census Bureau data, 3 million children were lifted out of poverty because of the expanded credit. The child poverty rate in 2021 dropped to a record low.
The policy significantly increased the dollar amount that families with children received from $2,000 to $3,600 per year for kids under the age of 6 and $3,000 per year for kids between 6 and 18 years old. Checks were sent out monthly instead of once a year, which helped many households meet day-to-day expenses.
The expanded credit expired at the end of 2021 amid opposition to its price tag from Republicans and notably Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The cost of the one-year expanded credit was estimated to be about $105 billion.
After it ended, the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022.
Since then, Democrats have advocated for renewing the policy. President Joe Biden included an enhanced Child Tax Credit in his 2024 budget proposal, which was dead-on-arrival in Congress largely due to its tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations.
The White House said Tuesday Biden “remains committed to fighting for the full expanded Child Tax Credit” in their response to the proposed tax deal.
“We appreciate Chairman Wyden and Chairman Smith’s work toward increasing the Child Tax Credit for millions of families and supporting hundreds of thousands of additional affordable homes, and look forward to reviewing the full details of their agreement,” said White House spokesperson Michael Kikukawa.
What’s in the new proposal
While the proposal is not a return to the expanded Child Tax Credit implemented by Biden in 2021, lawmakers say it would make the program more generous — especially for low-income households.
According to the framework, the maximum refundable portion of Child Tax Credit would increase from the current level of $1,600 per child to $1,800 in tax year 2023, $1,900 in tax year 2024, and $2,000 in tax year 2025.
It would also change the way the credit is phased in to ensure benefits are “applied fairly to families with multiple children.”
Other changes include adjusting the credit for inflation starting in 2024, and allowing parents to use current or prior-year income to calculate their credit.
The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in a report released Tuesday, said the changes would allow a single parent with two children who earns $13,000 to see their credit double in the first year, or a married couple earning $32,000 to see a $975 gain.
The CBPP estimated overall the change could lift as many as 400,000 children above the poverty line in its first year, and 500,000 children or more when fully in effect.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will host top lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday to discuss his national security supplemental funding request, which includes urgent aid for Ukraine and Israel.
The $106 billion request made by Biden in October has been stalled amid fierce debate on immigration policy, with Republicans demanding stricter protocols on asylum and parole.
“President Biden will host congressional leaders from the Senate and the House along with key committee leaders and ranking members at the White House to discuss the critical importance of his national security supplemental request,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all received invitations to attend, sources told ABC News.
Biden’s supplemental aid request sets aside $14 billion for border enforcement, including the hiring of more than a 1,000 additional border patrol agents and asylum officers. It also includes $1.2 billion to combat the flow of fentanyl.
But Republicans are demanding more sweeping changes to U.S. immigration policy, pointing to the influx of migrants at the southwest border.
Jean-Pierre, speaking to reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing, said they believed ongoing border talks are “headed in the right direction” despite the inability for both sides to come to an agreement.
Negotiations have been going on for months, and were carried on throughout the holiday recess by a bipartisan group of senators, but so far to no avail.
House Speaker Johnson has grown more insistent that the House should not accept the Senate’s work, and should instead continue to insist upon H.R. 2, a House-Republican backed bill filled with border policies the Democratic-controlled Senate wouldn’t support and that the White House would likely veto.
“We’re gonna continue to say Congress should act, they should act quickly,” Jean-Pierre said. “You know, this is about securing our border. This is about our national security and the consequences of congressional inaction would be severe. So, the president is going to have this all-important conversation.”
The debate has resulted in continued delay in aid to Ukraine in it war against Russian invaders. It’s been over a year since Congress approved major funding for the Eastern European nation, and the administration has said it is quickly running out of funds to continue providing aid to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a visit to Washington in mid-December to push for the aid, telling lawmakers he was fighting “our freedom and yours.”
Congress will spend this week working through a short-term funding bill aimed at buying lawmakers more time to keep the government open and avert a shutdown. But neither the short-term funding bill nor the longer-term appropriations bills lawmakers hope to complete by March are slated to include any funding for Ukraine or Israel.
The supplemental aid package would include $61 billion for Ukraine and $14.3 billion for Israel.
Schumer and McConnell, in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday, discussed the need to provide the aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“At stake is the security of our country the security of our friends abroad including Ukraine and Israel and nothing less than the future of Western Democracy,” Schumer said. “We cannot afford to let these issues go unaddressed.”
McConnell called the package “our chance to expand our capacity to meet the national security challenges we face.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a caucus night watch party in West Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Rachel Mummey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — ABC News and WMUR are canceling their planned Republican primary debate in New Hampshire on Thursday, citing a lack of candidate participation.
“Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement. “As a result, while our robust election coverage will continue, ABC News and WMUR-TV will not be moving forward with Thursday’s Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire.”
The decision comes shortly after a deadline set by ABC News and New Hampshire TV station WMUR for both former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to respond to their invitations to the debate by Tuesday afternoon.
Neither campaign confirmed they would attend.
Four Republicans had qualified for the debate under previously announced criteria. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie previously confirmed participation — then Christie left the race last week.
Earlier on Tuesday, in the wake of Trump dominating the Iowa caucuses, Haley said in a statement that she would debate only Trump or President Joe Biden — suggesting she would skip a showdown with rival DeSantis in New Hampshire ahead of its Jan. 23 primary.
“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign,” the former South Carolina governor said. “Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”
Haley’s statement came after a third-place showing in Iowa’s caucuses where she got 19% of the vote — behind DeSantis with 21% and Trump with 51%.
MORE: Trump dominates with Republicans, and 5 other takeaways from Iowa caucuses
After Haley’s statement, DeSantis fired back, posting on X that Haley “is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions.”
“The reality is that she is not running for the nomination, she’s running to be Trump’s VP,” DeSantis wrote.
Appearing on CNN later on Tuesday, Haley echoed her statement. “If he’s [Trump] on that stage, I’m there.”
Trump has not participated in any of the GOP debates so far, saying he saw no point given his large polling lead.
“President Trump’s statement was that he would not attend the debates,” adviser Chris LaCivita said after the second GOP debate. “Plural … And that’s his position until it’s not.”
Instead, Trump has favored counterprogramming events such as rallies or televised interviews.
The South Carolina Republican has seen a consistent bump in polling since September, including recent polls that showed her narrowly ahead of DeSantis in Iowa and one that had her closing the gap with Trump in New Hampshire.
The narrow divide in Monday’s caucus results between her and DeSantis means that no candidate can claim the clear mantle of Trump alternative.
Haley has turned her focus to New Hampshire, where the GOP primary is set for Jan. 23. Haley’s campaign is betting big on a performance next Tuesday that could propel her campaign forward.
Both Haley and DeSantis vowed to carry on after losing to Trump in the Iowa caucuses.
“We’re gonna make you proud, and we’re off to New Hampshire,” Haley told supporters Monday night.
On Monday night, Haley’s campaign released a memo that said she would take on Trump and Biden and “go the distance in a long campaign.”
“The Iowa results and the New Hampshire polls show Donald Trump is more vulnerable than commonly believed. He is the polarizing figure he has long been,” campaign manager Betsy Ankeny wrote in the memo. “Trump and Biden are the two most disliked politicians in America.”
ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The snowstorms pummeling much of the country — including D.C. — will keep the majority of the federal government at home Tuesday, but not the Senate, whose members are expected to brave the weather to cast the first in a series of votes that they hope will stave off a partial government shutdown at week’s end.
Though travel delays may prevent many senators from participating in Tuesday night’s vote, time is not a luxury this Congress has as the shutdown looms — meaning many will have to lace up their snow boots.
The procedural vote the Senate will take Tuesday night will be on a stopgap funding bill that lawmakers hope will buy them more time to complete work on yearlong appropriations. It comes just three days before funding for four of the 12 bills that fund the government are slated to run out.
Details of the short-term plan were announced jointly by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday.
The short-term bill, if passed, will move the deadlines to fund the government by more than a month: the four funding bills that were set to expire this Friday would run out of funding on March 1; the remaining eight bills currently set to expire on Feb. 2 would run out on March 8.
This stopgap spending bill should have relatively little trouble clearing the Senate, where it’s expected to receive bipartisan support. Still, things could potentially come down to the wire in the Senate where passage of bills can require multiple procedural votes and multiple days of work.
Passing the stopgap bill before funding partially runs out on Friday night will require the cooperation of all senators. The objection of any one senator to expediting passage of the bill could cause a final vote to potentially bleed into the weekend. That’s why the Senate can’t afford a snow day.
Johnson will need Democrats’ help
In the House, the short-term extension should also sail to passage relatively easily once it’s brought up for a vote. However, Johnson will be in the unenviable position of having to rely on the votes of Democrats to pass it, a move that leaves him vulnerable to his right flank.
Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted from his role as speaker for relying on Democrats to pass a similar short-term extension of government funding. While there’s been less of a groundswell of Republicans threatening to oust Johnson so far, he’ll likely have some hell to pay with hard-right Republicans.
Unlike the Senate, the House leaders called off votes in the lower chamber Tuesday night because of the storms. The House will need to wait for the Senate to complete its work on the short-term bill before its members can consider it.
This is the third time Congress will seek to kick the can on funding this fiscal year.
Congressional leaders hope this latest deadline extension will buy lawmakers the time they need to finally complete their work on and pass annual appropriations bills that will fund the government through the end of September.
The top-line spending deal reached by Schumer and Johnson last weekend was a major step forward toward finalizing those spending bills, but leaders are calling for this short-term funding bill to buy them a bit more time to finalize legislative text based on that deal.
That agreement holds constant spending levels previously agreed to by President Joe Biden and then-Speaker McCarthy during negotiations that raised the federal debt limit.
“The bipartisan topline funding agreement reached ensures that America will be able to address many of the major challenges our country faces at home and abroad,” Schumer said in a statement. “It is clear that a Continuing Resolution is necessary to give the Appropriations Committee additional time to finish drafting their bills to reflect the new agreement.”
Johnson, while touting the $6 billion in COVID funds and expediting a $10 billion cut in funding to the IRS in the top-line spending deal, also said the stopgap spending bill that the Senate will work to advance Tuesday would be necessary.
“Because the completion deadlines are upon us, a short continuing resolution is required to complete what House Republicans are working hard to achieve: an end to governance by omnibus, meaningful policy wins, and better stewardship of American tax dollars,” Johnson said in the statement.
Johnson has previously said he would not take up any additional short-term bills, and many in his right flank are angry about the underlying top-line deal Johnson struck, contending it does not do enough to secure steep cuts they wanted.
The House Freedom Caucus took only moments to make their objection to the stopgap funding bill known.
“This is what surrender looks like,” the House Freedom Caucus posted on X moments after Schumer and Johnson announced their intent to hold votes to move the funding deadlines.
ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
Yemeni protestors loyal to the Houthi movement march as they participate in a protest held against Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. CREDIT: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. has carried out another airstrike targeting a Houthi missile facility in Yemen, according to a U.S. official.
Tomahawk missiles were used to strike at the site that housed anti-ship missile cruise missiles being used in the Houthis attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the official said.
On Thursday night, the U.S. and United Kingdom used Tomahawk missiles and fighter aircraft to strike at nearly 30 Houthi locations associated with the Houthi drone and missile attacks on commercial shipping.
The U.S. carried out a second night of retaliatory strikes on Friday night following a Houthi missile attack on a commercial that failed after the missile landed in the ocean.
News of the new airstrike was first reported by Reuters.
This is a developing story, Please check back for updates.
A dhow was identified, Jan. 10, 2024, and an assessment was made that the dhow was in the process of smuggling. CREDIT: USCENTCOM
(NEW YORK) — The two U.S. Navy SEALs missing in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia were on a mission to board a dhow that led to the seizure of Iranian-made ballistic and cruise missile components headed to Houthi militants in Yemen, according to U.S. Central Command.
The risky nighttime mission last Thursday to board the dhow in rough waters continued even after one of the SEALs fell into the water and the second SEAL, following protocol, jumped into the water to rescue his teammate.
Search and rescue operations for the two missing SEALs are continuing in the Gulf of Aden with U.S. Navy aircraft and ships participating in the search.
For years the U.S. Navy has intercepted dhows, the name for small fishing or cargo vessels used in the region, believed to be carrying Iranian-made weapons to the Houthis.
During these missions, boarding teams typically pull aside the dhows to undertake a “flag verification” mission if the dhow is unflagged or has replaced its flag to mask their smuggling mission.
This latest seizure was the first since the Houthis began to carry out the more than 30 drone and missile attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, most of which have been repelled by U.S., French, and British warships.
On Thursday, Jan. 11 “Navy forces conducted a night-time seizure of a dhow conducting illegal transport of advanced lethal aid from Iran to resupply Houthi forces in Yemen as part of the Houthis’ ongoing campaign of attacks against international merchant shipping,” said a CENTCOM statement.
The SEALs were operating from the expeditionary sea base USS Lewis B Puller (ESB 3), a converted freighter topped with landing decks for helicopters and capable of releasing small watercraft used by SEALs when they approached the dhow.
With helicopters and drones flying overhead they “executed a complex boarding of the dhow near the coast of Somalia in international waters of the Arabian Sea seizing Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components.”
They included components for propulsion, guidance, and warheads for Houthi medium range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, as well as air defense associated components.
“Initial analysis indicates these same weapons have been employed by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent mariners on international merchant ships transiting in the Red Sea,” said CENTCOM.
The seizure marked the first time since November, 2019 that the U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missile components headed for the Houthis.
Nighttime ship boardings by boat, carried out in pitch black, are some of the most difficult missions that a SEAL can undertake and require constant training according to a retired SEAL commander
“You have the the risk of of your boat capsizing in close proximity to larger vessels, you have to establish a solid ladder point, you have to climb a ladder at night over the open ocean between two ships, they’re smashing into each other, and then get on board,” said Eric Oehlerich, an ABC News contributor.
“And then your problem starts with what you’re going to do it with whomever is on board that boat,” he added.
Oehlerich said the risk to SEALs undertaking these missions in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin increases during this time of year when ocean waves are especially high.
“In the wintertime, the sea state is typically eight to 12 feet,” said Oehlerich. “The horizon is flat, so 8-12 feet is eight feet above the flat horizon, and then eight feet, it’s like a 16 foot wave.”
After the dhow’s seizure it was deemed unsafe and sunk by U.S. naval forces, the fate of the 14 crewmembers is still to be determined.
“It is clear that Iran continues shipment of advanced lethal aid to the Houthis. This is yet another example of how Iran actively sows instability throughout the region in direct violation of U.N. Security Resolution 2216 and international law,” said CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla,
“We will continue to work with regional and international partners to expose and interdict these efforts, and ultimately to reestablish freedom of navigation,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is ending his 2024 race for president after a dismal sixth-place showing in the Iowa caucuses underscored how little he had been embraced by Republican voters.
With 99% of the expected results in, Hutchinson secured just 191 votes in the Iowa caucuses and zero pledged delegates as of Tuesday morning, appearing to underperform his .07% polling average in the Hawkeye State and trailing little-known pastor Ryan Binkley, who has no national profile to speak of.
“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front runner did not sell in Iowa,” Hutchinson said in a statement, referring to Donald Trump. “I stand by the campaign I ran. I answered every question, sounded the warning to the GOP about the risks in 2024 and presented hope for our country’s future.”
Hutchinson said he had congratulated Trump on the latter’s victory in Iowa and added, “[My wife] Susan and I are blessed beyond measure, and we are grateful for the opportunity to have fought in the political arena for America.”
Heading into Iowa’s contest, Hutchinson had wanted to make it into the top four and beat businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who has since dropped out.
Since launching his campaign in April 2023, Hutchinson never managed to build significant momentum in the polls or with donors and he failed to meet the requirements for each of the Republican primary debates following the first stage last August.
He initially vowed to stay in the race through Thanksgiving, testing to see whether he would break 4% in an early voting state, a goal he did not meet.
But he kept his bid going well beyond that self-imposed deadline — holding dozens of Iowa meet-and-greets in what he called a “Return to Normal” tour during what would be his campaign’s final weeks.
“It’s important to have an alternative voice,” he told ABC News at a diner in Des Moines on Monday. “There’s storm clouds that are gathering over a Trump candidacy — and we need to be forewarned about that could lead us to disaster up and down the ticket later this year.”
Hutchinson was the first GOP candidate to call for former President Trump to step aside, arguing Trump’s campaign and his many legal issues distract from the issues facing Americans. (Trump denies all wrongdoing.) Hutchinson ultimately outlasted former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had a similar message to conservative voters and similarly failed to persuade many of them.
“We don’t need to go down the path of Donald Trump for another four years. It will destroy the party,” Hutchinson told reporters in September in New Hampshire, faced with questions on whether he’d drop out. “I’m fighting for things that are important to me and to our country — things I fought for for 40 years — and so you don’t give up on that lightly.”
Lacking the name recognition of some of his rivals, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Hutchinson campaigned as what he called a “consistent conservative.” But crowds did not flock to him: Campaign events across key early-voting states might see a dozen attendees, or as little as two.
“Even if you find six people there, I enjoy it, because you have a question and answer, you get to know them,” he said at a press conference over the summer in Washington, D.C.
Hutchinson was hoping to outlast Trump — whom he supported while governor of Arkansas but broke from after Jan. 6, 2021 — betting that, between multiple criminal indictments and other baggage, the former president would be toppled by external forces or sour with voters.
But with Trump winning the Iowa caucuses and Hutchinson failing to receive any delegates, he finally called it quits.
“If [Hutchinson] had asked me, I would have advised him not to run,” said Layne Provine, a political consultant to Republicans across the South. “It’s not anything against him personally, it’s just that his politics don’t match the politics of the moment. It’s not where the Republican voters are now.”
Branding his ‘breadth of experience’
On the trail, towering but soft-spoken, often in a suit or, sometimes, a white “Asa for America” baseball cap, Hutchinson would humbly introduce himself to dinergoers and festival-attendees in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire who did not recognize him — or had never heard of him before.
He would tell them his presidential bid brings “a breadth of experience unmatched in this race” and recall he began his career in public service when President Ronald Reagan appointed him the youngest U.S. attorney in the nation.
He would not mention his failed bid to the U.S. Senate — a campaign he began from the same steps in Arkansas where he launched his presidential run — but he’d talk about his three terms in the U.S. House, before then-President George W. Bush. appointed him to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, and later, to serve as the nation’s first undersecretary of homeland security for border protection.
But resumes don’t always resonate with voters, and Hutchinson’s traditional experience and approach seemed out of step with where the party’s base wants to go, some observers said.
“I don’t think there’s anything he could have done,” said Barry Bennett, Ben Carson’s 2016 presidential campaign manager and later an outside adviser to Trump. “I don’t think he made any mistakes. The electorate is just really angry, especially with Washington, and they’re looking for a fight. And that’s just not Asa’s nature.”
‘Too normal’ to be running?
Hutchinson stuck to familiar conservative policies — building a strong national defense, lowering the deficit, securing the border and increasing U.S. energy production — as opposed to feeding on culture war issues.
In his campaign launch, he promised to create an independent commission to study the future of Social Security and Medicare and to lift penalties for people who continue working after the age of 62, insisting the programs need reform. He also vowed to reduce the federal civilian workforce by 10% and to expand computer science education into every grade school, initiatives he pushed as governor, too.
He released several policy initiatives on the trail: One was a plan to overhaul federal law enforcement through restructuring, to increase transparency, and another was to allow states to implement work-visa programs to aid with the flow of legal immigration.
Hutchinson also denounced voices within the GOP calling to defund federal law enforcement and to impeach President Joe Biden, unpopular positions among those in the party’s “MAGA” base claiming a “two-tiered justice system” in light of Trump’s prosecutions.
“The GOP is under threat today,” he told Iowans at an event last July. “As it stands right now, you will be voting in Iowa while multiple criminal cases are pending against former President Trump. Iowa has an opportunity to say, ‘We as a party, we need a new direction for America and for the GOP.'”
That wasn’t the only time he gave such a warning — and not the only time he was booed for it, either.
“As someone who has been in the courtroom for over 25 years as a federal prosecutor and also in defending some of the most serious federal criminal cases, I can say that there is a significant likelihood that Donald Trump will be found guilty by a jury on a felony offense next year,” he said in Orlando in November.
“As a party, we must support the rule of law. We cannot win as a country without the integrity of the White House,” he said. “And while some will ignore the destructive behavior of the former president, I assure you we ignore it at our own peril.”
He’d often tell a story in his stump speech about a voter telling him he seemed “too normal” to be running for president, inspiring the name of his final campaign tour, but potentially also the reason he didn’t catch on, some said.
“It’s not only what people are looking for, but we are, in essence, running with an incumbent president inside the primary,” said Ed Brookover, a Republican consultant who advised Carson and Trump’s campaigns in the 2016 cycle. “I think that many Republican candidates for president misread the strength of [former] President Trump in this primary.”
“If it had been more of an open seat, Governor Hutchinson may have had a better opportunity at that,” he added.
It’s unclear whether this will be the end of Hutchinson’s career in public service — or if he’ll endorse another candidate for president.
“The one thing about running for president is there is no losing,” Bennett, the former Carson campaign manager, told ABC News. “He may not have succeeded, but he’s better known, better liked and better positioned for whatever he wants to do next.”
ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a caucus night watch party in West Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Rachel Mummey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — After former President Donald Trump dominated the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said in a statement Tuesday that she will only debate Trump or President Joe Biden.
“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign,” Haley said in the statement. “Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”
Haley’s statement came after a disappointing defeat in Iowa’s caucuses where she came in third with about 19% of the vote — behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 21% and Trump with 51%.
Trump has not participated in any of the GOP debates so far.
