(MANCHESTER, N.H.) — ABC News, partnering with WMUR-TV, announced Thursday it will host a Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire next month, just days ahead of its first-in-the-nation GOP primary election.
Held in coordination with the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, the Thursday Jan. 18 debate will take place at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The broadcast will come just three days behind the Iowa caucuses, the first electoral test of the GOP primary field, which includes former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
The debate also comes five days ahead of the New Hampshire primary election.
More details about the debate, format, qualifications, moderators, as well as ABC News’ coverage will be announced at a later time.
“ABC News is excited to host this Republican debate with our partners in the nation’s first primary state of New Hampshire,” said ABC News President Kim Godwin in a statement. “Our powerhouse political team has been working hard on this debate to provide our audience with the opportunity to hear from the candidates at this decisive moment in the primary race.”
The first four debates, which aired on Fox, Fox Business, NBC News and NewsNation, were Republican National Committee-sanctioned debates. ABC News’ debate is “subject to RNC guidelines,” according to Chris Ager, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee.
“The New Hampshire Republican State Committee is looking forward to working with our partners at ABC News, WMUR and St. Anselm’s College for a New Hampshire Republican presidential primary debate subject to RNC guidelines,” said Ager in a statement.
CNN also announced on Thursday it will also host GOP presidential debates next month in New Hampshire, along with Iowa.
(NEW YORK) — Special counsel David Weiss leveled a nine-count indictment against Hunter Biden late Thursday, accusing President Joe Biden’s son of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020.
The charges, which carry a penalty of up to 17 years in prison, include six misdemeanor charges and three felonies, including alleged tax evasion and filing a false return.
The sprawling 56-page indictment alleges that Hunter Biden earned millions of dollars from foreign entities in Ukraine, Romania and China and “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle at the same time he chose not to pay his taxes.”
Prosecutors sought to demonstrate that Hunter Biden had the means to pay his taxes from 2016 to 2020, but instead chose to spend his money elsewhere, including $683,212 in “Payments — Various Women,” another $397,530 on “Clothing & Accessories,” and $188,960 on “Adult Entertainment.”
Hunter Biden “also used the business line of credit to make $27,316 in payments to an online pornography website, which in total accounted for one fifth of all of the business line of credit expenditures,” prosecutors wrote.
ABC News previously reported that Hunter Biden borrowed $2 million from his lawyer and confidant Kevin Morris to pay the IRS for back taxes, penalties and liens that he owed.
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, framed the indictment as including “no new evidence” and a result of Weiss “[bowing] to Republican pressure.”
“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,” Lowell said in a statement.
Prosecutors signaled their intention to bring tax-related charges against the president’s son months ago after plea negotiations broke down. A Los Angeles-based grand jury has since issued a subpoena to James Biden, the brother of President Biden, as part of their work investigating Hunter Biden, a source familiar with the matter said.
Weiss’ office filed a felony gun indictment against Biden in September. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
(WASHINGTON) — Entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy shared multiple conspiratorial or controversial claims at Wednesday night’s debate, amplifying them to a new level of prominence in the 2024 race.
Ramaswamy touted himself as an outsider willing to speak “truth” on stage. But most of his assertions on hot-button topics like Jan. 6, the 9/11 terror attacks and demographic changes in the U.S. were groundless or elevated ideas that have been repeatedly debunked.
He told ABC News at a campaign event the following day that he was “proud” of having stirred discussion of the issues, he said. He also said he didn’t believe the theories had, in fact, been debunked.
“I think it is important to speak to the hard truths and I would love to have a strong discussion on the merits of it,” he insisted.
Jan. 6, 2021, riot at Capitol wasn’t ‘inside job’
“Why am I the only person on this stage, at least, who can say that Jan. 6 now does look like it was an inside job?” Ramaswamy said at one point in the debate.
That baseless idea has become popular among fringes on the far-right and on social media, at times even winning support from lawmakers, including Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who last month claimed without evidence that there were “undercover federal agents disguised” in the crowd during the rioting at the U.S. Capitol, as Congress had gathered to certify Donald Trump’s election defeat.
More than 700 people have admitted to a variety of charges in connection with Jan. 6 — 210 of those people having pleaded to felonies — according to the Department of Justice; and more than 130 people have been convicted at trial.
In multiple hearings, convicted rioters have put forward a range of different excuses for their actions — with many pointing the finger at Trump and conservative media outlets who pushed lies about a stolen election while framing the Electoral College certification as the final opportunity to prevent Trump’s removal from office.
‘Great replacement theory’
Ramaswamy also boosted the “great replacement theory,” the white nationalist belief that immigration policies are designed specifically to dilute the political power of white Americans by making them a smaller share of the population.
The idea has been elevated by media figures like Tucker Carlson and inspired mass violence, including the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina, church massacre and the 2019 shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Ramaswamy alleged during the debate that the theory “is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.”
He subsequently said on CNN, “I don’t care about skin color … Do you share the ideals of this country?”
He also said that he did not to stir violence. “I want to be careful in the way that I speak about this,” he said.
But he added, “As a leader, it is important to give people the permission to say in public what they’ll otherwise say in private.”
While it is true that Democrats have historically adopted more liberal immigration policies and that the country’s demographics are becoming less white and more racially diverse over time, there is no evidence that those changes are being engineered by politicians to ensure they can win power with those voters.
More specifically, although non-white voters have favored Democrats in presidential elections, they do not all vote as a uniform bloc.
In fact, Trump made small but noticeable gains with Latino and Black voters from 2016 to 2020, according to exit polling; and other Republicans have seen major success with some of those voters, too.
In the 2022 race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won Latino voters over Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, exit polls showed.
Reviving claims over 9/11
Ramaswamy revived his claims about 9/11 terrorist attacks, carried out by al-Qaida, and the groups truly behind it. He argued Wednesday that “the government lied to us for 20 years about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 9/11.”
Unlike his other theories on the debate stage, Ramaswamy’s comment about Sept. 11 reflects — at least partially — well-known suspicions that were investigated by authorities. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists were Saudi citizens.
Families of 9/11 victims and 9/11 survivors have for years been embroiled in a legal battle against Saudi Arabia’s government, claiming it has some responsibility.
The kingdom, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, has long denied any involvement.
The 2004 the 9/11 Commission report reads, in part, “It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al Qaeda sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al Qaeda’s fundraising activities.”
“Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization. (This conclusion does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to al Qaeda),” the report goes on to say.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The House voted Thursday to censure Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York for falsely pulling a fire alarm in a House office building in September.
The final vote was 214-191 with five members voting present. Three Democrats voted with Republicans to censure Bowman.
After the vote, Bowman stood in the well of the House surrounded by a large group of Democrats.
The New York congressman was caught on video pulling the fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building on Sept. 30 — the day the House voted on funding the government. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for falsely triggering the alarm.
Thursday vote happened after a Democratic motion to table — or kill — the censure resolution failed by a vote of 201-216 Wednesday evening.
Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., introduced the censure resolution as privileged on Tuesday — giving the House two legislative days to vote on it.
Bowman is the fifth House member censured in the 21st century, joining Reps. Charles Rangel, Paul Gosar, Adam Schiff and — most recently — Rashida Tlaib. Bowman would become the 27th House member censured in U.S. history, according to the Office of the House Historian.
Historically, censuring a House member is rare, but has been more recently used as a political tool.
During fiery House floor debate on the censure resolution Wednesday evening, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries defended Rep. Jamaal Bowman and called the resolution “fraudulent and fictitious.”
“The behavior of the extreme MAGA Republicans – censuring member after member after member has brought disgrace to the institution. To the House of Representatives,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries said the House is “wasting time talking about fire alarms.”
Jeffries even dared House Republicans to censure him.
“Going after Democrats repeatedly week after week after week, because you have nothing better to do — then I volunteer. Censure me next. Censure me next. That’s how worthless your censure effort is. It has no credibility, no integrity, no legitimacy. Censure me next. And I’ll take that censure and I’ll wear it — next week, next month, next year — like a badge of honor,” Jeffries said.
(NEW YORK) — The House Rules Committee announced Thursday it will consider a resolution next week to formalize Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week that he believes that Republicans would get the votes they need to formalize their inquiry.
House Republicans have alleged, without proof, that Biden was directly involved in and benefited from his family’s business dealings. The White House has called the inquiry “extreme politics at its worst.”
Lawmakers have held one public hearing, which offered several contentious moments but no new evidence.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(TUSCALOOSA, Ala.) — Four Republican presidential candidates took the stage in Alabama on Wednesday night for one last chance to trade attacks and stake out policy positions before voting starts in the 2024 primary, in Iowa and New Hampshire, next month.
The debate, the smallest yet, featured former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Knives seemed to be out for Haley amid her continued rise in the primary polls. She and DeSantis stood center stage as they vied for a distant second place spot to former President Donald Trump — who once again skipped sparring with his challengers, spending the night fundraising in Florida instead as he remains the polling front-runner.
On the sidelines of the stage, Christie took on Trump while Ramaswamy took on everyone else.
Here are five takeaways from the latest Republican debate:
Haley takes brunt of attacks
Haley, who has earned high marks in past debates, according to polling, was the main target of the attacks on Wednesday night.
From the start, Ramaswamy and DeSantis took on the former ambassador for her stance on China, social media, transgender rights and more.
“She caves any time the left comes after her,” DeSantis said as he slammed her record. “Any time the media comes after her.”
Haley responded: “I love all of the attention fellas.”
One opponent on stage, however, took a moment to defend her from Ramaswamy’s personal digs at her foreign policy chops.
“He has insulted Nikki Haley’s basic intelligence. Not her positions, her basic intelligence,” Christie said, adding, “Look, if you want to disagree on issues, that’s fine. Nikki and I disagree on some issues. I’ve known her for 12 years … and while we disagree about some issues and we disagree about who should be president of the United States, what we don’t disagree on is this is a smart accomplished woman. You should stop insulting her.”
DeSantis defends record as campaign stagnates
The first question of the night went to DeSantis and it was about electability.
Moderator Megyn Kelly asked him for his response to voters who, according to the poll numbers that show his support his flatlined in second place, seem to be telling him: “Not no, but not now.”
Like he did throughout much of the night, DeSantis made the case that he’s got a list of conservative wins as governor compared with Trump’s past defeats.
“So we have a great idea in America that the voters actually make these decisions, not pundits or pollsters,” he responded. “I’m sick of hearing about these polls, ’cause I remember those polls in November of 2022. They said there was going to be a big red wave. It was going to be monumental, and that crashed and burned. The one place it didn’t crash and burn was in the state of Florida.”
“They weren’t predicting that I would win the way I did, and I won the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida,” he said, referring to his double-digit election in a famous swing state. “I’m looking forward to Iowa and New Hampshire. The voters are going to be able to speak and we’re going to earn this nomination.”
Christie takes on Trump: ‘An angry, bitter man’
Moderators frequently posed their Trump-related questions to Christie, who has built his campaign on attacking the former president, unlike the other candidates.
Some of his sharpest comments came when asked about Trump’s “dictator” comments to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night. Christie said the remarks were “completely predictable” and called Trump an “an angry, bitter man.”
“So do I think he was kidding when he said he was a dictator? All you have to do is look at the history, and that’s why failing to speak out against him, making excuses for him, pretending that somehow he’s a victim — empowers him,” Christie said.
“You want to know why those poll numbers are where they are? Because folks like these three guys on the stage make it seem like his conduct is acceptable. Let me make it clear. His conduct is unacceptable,” Christie said. “He’s unfit, and be careful what you’re gonna get if you ever got another Donald Trump term. He’s letting you know …. He will only be his own retribution. He doesn’t care for the American people, it’s Donald Trump first,” he said, drawing some boos.
Christie also called out DeSantis for not giving a straight answer when asked if Trump is “mentally fit” for office, accusing DeSantis of being “afraid to answer.”
Ramaswamy keeps up fiery antics
While Ramaswamy’s campaign has faded to the background as his polls remain at 5% nationally, the entrepreneur reprised his role as disruptor on the debate stage.
He was relentless as he went after everyone else. He again called Haley a female “Dick Cheney” and held up a sign that read “Nikki=Corrupt” as he questioned her authenticity. He was booed repeatedly.
At one point, Christie had enough.
“This is the fourth debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America,” Christie said as he pointed a finger at Ramaswamy in one of the most heated exchanges of the night. “So shut up for a little while.”
Narrow policy differences
Ramaswamy was a lone voice advocating for the U.S. to take a less prominent role in the Israel-Hamas war, calling his approach “pro-American” and “pro-Israel.”
“As your next president, my sole moral duty is to you, the people of this country,” he said.
Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he added, “That’s how I’m going to lead. So I’ll tell Bibi, ‘You smoke the terrorists on your southern border, you go ahead, and we’re rooting for you. We’re going to smoke the terrorists on our southern border,’ and that’s how I’m going to lead this country.”
Slight differences were also apparent when it came to immigration and border policies.
Haley didn’t endorse Trump’s plan to revive his ban on travel from majority-Muslim countries and said instead there should be a review of countries that have terrorist activity and represent a threat to the U.S. DeSantis hit back, saying he’d go further in imposing limits on immigration to countries “hostile” to America.
On transgender health care, Christie offered a divergent stance than his opponents, saying he believes gender-affirming care for minors should be decided by parents and not the government. The other candidates all voiced opposition to medical treatment for those under 18.
“I’m sorry, but as a father of four, I believe there is no one who loves my children more than me,” Christie said. “There is no one who loves my children more than my wife. There is no one who cares more about their success in health, in life than we do, not some government bureaucrat.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from his role by a faction of his own party earlier this year, will resign from Congress at the end of the month, he said on Wednesday.
“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” McCarthy wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal. “I know my work is only getting started.”
The announcement caps off McCarthy’s fall from GOP leadership after rising to the speakership in a historic 15-round vote earlier this year. Speculation over McCarthy’s future spiked after a band of eight Republican backbenchers engineered his historic ouster less than two months ago over personal and policy disputes. After his defeat, he sent conflicting messages over whether or not he would seek reelection, serve out the rest of his term set to end in January 2025 or leave the House early.
McCarthy insisted Wednesday that he’ll remain involved, helping recruit and fundraise for House Republican candidates — exercising one of his greatest strengths as a House leader.
“I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office. The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation of leaders,” he wrote in The Journal.
Still, his departure will again diminish the power of one of his party’s strongest fundraisers.
“Kevin McCarthy’s contributions to our country and to growing the House Republican majority are unparalleled. A razor-sharp political mind, Kevin personally raised hundreds of millions of dollars and recruited hundreds of diverse candidates that led us from deep in the minority to the majority. This devotion to building our party is born from a strong love of country and a heart for service that motivates Kevin at his core,” said Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., who chairs House Republicans’ campaign arm.
More immediately, his departure from Congress will shrink Republicans’ already slim margin, which shrank after former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was expelled from the House last week in the wake of a scathing ethics report and a slew of federal charges. Santos has pleaded not guilty and defended himself.
Speaker Mike Johnson will only be able to lose three GOP votes on each measure before falling below a simple majority.
Johnson downplayed the impact of McCarthy’s upcoming resignation, dismissing concerns that the former speaker’s looming exit weakens the GOP majority.
Asked by ABC News whether McCarthy’s resignation will have any adverse impact on his ability to run the House, Johnson said it wouldn’t.
“No,” Johnson said. “We’re going to keep moving forward and I’m optimistic about that.”
Johnson said he isn’t concerned about losing McCarthy’s vote and the potential that it could make it harder to pass votes.
“Our conference is working well together. And I’m confident in that,” Johnson said.
Johnson praised McCarthy for his leadership in a post on X Wednesday. He said McCarthy and his wife Judy “have served faithfully and sacrificed substantially for the good of our country and our cause.” Johnson told ABC News he is “sad to see [McCarthy] go.”
One of McCarthy’s rivals, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who brought the so-called motion to vacate McCarthy as speaker, celebrated the California congressman’s upcoming departure in a one-word post on X: “McLeavin’.”
President Joe Biden “appreciates” the work he did alongside McCarthy despite their differences, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
“The president wishes Speaker McCarthy well and congratulates him on a career of service. While they have important differences about policy, the president appreciates that they were able to work across the aisle on important priorities for the American people,” Jean-Pierre said in the White House press briefing.
McCarthy’s announcement before California’s Dec. 8 campaign filing deadline is likely to open the floodgates for candidates to run for his ruby red congressional district, which includes a large part of the state’s Central Valley. California Gov. Gavin Newsom will have to call a special election to replace McCarthy.
McCarthy is the third lawmaker who will resign from the 118th Congress rather than serve out the full two-year term. He joins Democrat Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Republican Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah, who both resigned earlier this year.
McCarthy’s resignation ends his 16-year career in the House. He was first elected to Congress in 2006 and about four years later was elected to majority whip. He served as majority leader and House Republican leader before his historic rise to the speakership earlier this year.
(TUSCALOOSA, Ala.) — Four Republican presidential candidates will face off in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Wednesday for the fourth debate of the 2024 primary.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will all appear on stage together for the last time before next month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
Former President Donald Trump, the heavyweight in the primary polls, will again skip the debate, this time hosting a fundraiser for his campaign.
Here are five things to watch on Wednesday:
Will a smaller stage make a difference?
Wednesday’s four-person stage will be the smallest yet, after past debate participants like former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum suspended their campaigns.
The most recent debate, last month, which featured Wednesday’s four as well as Scott, featured longer answers on policy and noticeably less arguing and crosstalk, though the event was still interrupted by clashes between some of the contenders, especially Ramaswamy. The focus on policy, which allows candidates more time to make their pitches to the public, could be even greater with a smaller field.
Still, it’s far from certain if voters’ opinions will change in the final weeks before the primary begins: So far this year, Trump has maintained his double-digit lead even since he started skipping the debates, over the objections of his rivals.
The former president held counter-programming events to all three debates before Wednesday and does not appear to have paid a price for it in the eyes of the GOP base.
What will the big policy topics of the night be?
The Israel-Hamas war is anticipated to again be a major topic of the night after a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal fell apart and fighting resumed in Gaza, now nearly two months since Hamas’ terror attack..
All of the candidates on stage Wednesday have voiced support for Israel, though Ramaswamy in the past has suggested ultimately curtailing the support Washington offers Jerusalem.
The debate also comes as Congress is still working to pass a sprawling bill proposed by the Biden administration that would provide funding for Israel, Ukraine, allies in the Indo-Pacific and beefed-up resources on the southern border.
The candidates are likely to be asked about health care, too, after Trump last week floated repealing the Affordable Care Act, an erstwhile Republican priority that the GOP largely forsook after multiple failed efforts to repeal the law, also known as Obamacare.
The remarks from the primary front-runner could spotlight how other candidates view the country’s health care system.
“Here’s what I will do: What I think they’re going to need to do is have a plan that will supersede Obamacare, that will lower prices for people so that they can afford health care while also making sure that people will preexisting conditions are protected. And we’re going to look at the big institutions that are causing prices to be high: Big Pharma, big insurance and big government,” DeSantis said Sunday on Meet the Press.
Do DeSantis and Haley target each other or Trump?
Haley has surged into a battle for distant second place with DeSantis in the wake of three straight debate performances that all polled well, though both she and DeSantis remain far behind Trump in most surveys.
The two have traded barbs in recent weeks as DeSantis has faced stagnating poll numbers and key turnover at the main super PAC supporting his campaign.
Still, it’s unclear if the two will aim more at each other on Wednesday to try to cement their hold on second place in the hopes of emerging as the chief Trump alternative or target Trump more directly to try and narrow the polling deficit both face.
DeSantis has called out Trump more directly, including over his absence from the past debates, while Haley has more obliquely referenced the “drama” of the Trump administration in which she served.
Christie squeaks in
Christie appears to have been the final candidate to qualify for the fourth debate, narrowly meeting the polling threshold with a last-minute survey that went into the field just before the Republican National Committee’s deadline.
The New Jersey Republican’s explicitly anti-Trump message is a stark difference from the other candidates and is thought to be likely resulting in a lower ceiling of support among the GOP primary electorate, with whom he has polled relatively poorly except in New Hampshire.
Christie is largely hinging his campaign on a strong showing in the primary there, with a group of voters who famously see themselves as more independent-minded.
Still, Haley has passed him, prompting calls from Republicans for him to drop out to try to consolidate support in the state, which holds its primary right before South Carolina, Haley’s home state.
Ramaswamy could reprise role as disruptor
On the debate stage so far, Ramaswamy has said he has embraced his role as a provocateur, calling out candidates and moderators alike — and often drawing sharp criticism as a result.
Clashes with Ramaswamy became personal at the last debate, when Haley accused him of being “scum” after he raised her daughter’s past use of TikTok.
Still, his disruptive style has failed to produce an ongoing level of voter support despite also ramping up his campaign infrastructure in Iowa.
(WASHINGTON) — Special counsel Jack Smith, in a court filing Tuesday, detailed additional evidence he plans to introduce at the trial of former President Donald Trump on charges of unlawfully trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including evidence of Trump’s alleged state of mind as his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“This evidence shows that the rioters’ disruption of the certification proceeding is exactly what the defendant intended on January 6,” Smith said in the filing.
Smith’s office, in the filing, provided notice of a range of information and testimony prosecutors hope to introduce at trial that — while not part of the actual charges against Trump — will speak to his “motive, intent, preparation, knowledge … and common plan,” they say.
The evidence, according to the filing, includes statements from Trump dating back to 2012 in which he leveled baseless allegations of voting fraud, which prosecutors say “demonstrate the defendant’s common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like.”
Prosecutors said they will also show the jury statements Trump made in the lead-up to both the 2016 and 2020 elections, where he refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power.
To support their allegation that Trump pressured state officials to overturn the election results, Smith’s office says it will present evidence of an unnamed Trump campaign employee who sought to obstruct the vote count in Michigan on Election Day.
Smith said his office has texts from the unnamed employee showing the employee was encouraging “rioting and other methods of obstruction” at the convention center in Detroit when votes in the state began trending in support of Joe Biden. As Trump’s supporters flooded the convention center to raise illegitimate challenges to votes being counted, Trump tweeted baseless allegations that there was illegal activity taking place there, further fueling the chaos, according to Smith.
Smith’s office also said it will introduce evidence of Trump and a co-conspirator’s efforts to retaliate against a former chief counsel of the Republican National Committee who publicly repudiated Trump’s claims of a stolen 2020 election.
Smith additionally plans to present evidence of Trump and his allies’ attacks against Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, whose defamation case against former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is set to go to trial next week. The evidence will include disparaging posts Trump made immediately after the pair’s testimony before the Jan. 6 select committee, where they detailed how Trump’s supporters targeted them with death threats after his false attacks.
Trump’s vocal support of Jan. 6 defendants and even specific members of the Proud Boys will also be used by Smith at trial, the filing says, to demonstrate what prosecutors say is Trump’s awareness of how his followers respond to his rallying cries and his ongoing approval of their actions at the Capitol. This will include Trump’s financial support to the so-called “Jan. 6 Prison Choir,” which includes Jan. 6 defendants who attacked police. Smith plans to play video at trial of the choir singing in a recording before Trump began speaking at a rally, as well as comments he has made pledging to pardon many rioters.
“Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6 — that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification,” Smith says in the filing.
“In addition, his statements in this time period agreeing that he then held, and still holds, enormous influence over his supporters’ actions is evidence of his knowledge and intent to obstruct the certification, as he chose not to exercise that influence to mitigate the violence on January 6,” the filing says, adding that “evidence of the defendant’s statements regarding possible pardons for January 6 offenders is admissible to help the jury assess the credibility and motives of trial witnesses, because through such comments, the defendant is publicly signaling that the law does not apply to those who act at his urging regardless of the legality of their actions.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote in a statement to ABC News that prosecutors are “getting so desperate to attack President Trump that they are perverting justice by trying to include claims that weren’t anywhere to be found in their dreamt up, fake indictment.”
Trump in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
The former president has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as “a persecution of a political opponent.”
The case is currently scheduled to go to trial on March 4.
(WASHINGTON) — A Republican governor running for president debated a Democratic governor who made clear he is not running for president — and Nikki Haley’s momentum on the trail continued with a key endorsement. Also, a look ahead to the fourth Republican primary debate, on Wednesday.
Here are the campaign updates you may have missed last week:
Florida Gov. DeSantis spars with California Gov. Gavin Newsom
In what was billed as “The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate,” Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom sparred over some of the most prominent issues in American politics during a debate Thursday on Fox News, with each of them touting their records running two of the country’s most populous blue and red states.
The faceoff was largely a demonstration of the deep differences between the two governors’ political perspectives and visions for the country — and their respective parties. However, in one of the more pointed attacks, Newsom noted that there is one thing that makes the two not-so-different.
“Neither of us will be our party’s nominee in 2024,” he said in a barely veiled jab at DeSantis’ current campaign for the White House.
Newsom, who has been accused by Republicans of running his own “shadow campaign” to succeed President Joe Biden, seemed intent on making it clear that he will not be the Democratic nominee in 2024. When asked directly by Fox News moderator Sean Hannity if he would unequivocally say he would not run in 2024, Newsom quickly replied, “Correct.”
Like he has been doing around the country, Newsom continued to pledge his support and boast about the Biden-Harris agenda and their accomplishments. DeSantis did the opposite, criticizing the White House’s handling of the border and the cost of living to explain why the country needs a Republican in charge.
The 90-minute debate was full of interruptions and crosstalk, with Hannity often cutting in to plead for the governors to let each other speak. Both camps claimed victory following the contest, and DeSantis’ campaign team deemed the debate “the biggest one yet” as he continues to push for a breakthrough in the primary race against front-runner Donald Trump.
Haley gets an anti-Trump boost
On Tuesday, Americans For Prosperity Action (AFP) — a prominent political organization backed by billionaire Charles Koch and other wealthy conservatives — endorsed former U.N. Ambassador Haley over Trump in the GOP primary.
The group’s backing comes as Haley continues her polling momentum, though she continues to trail Trump by double digits. Some experts said AFP Action’s support could be significant, given their substantial resources and commitment to trying to elevate an anti-Trump alternative.
In the group’s last public filing, they reported raising more than $70 million. AFP Action also quickly hit the ground following their endorsement. On Thursday, members were knocking on doors in Columbia, South Carolina, making their case for Haley to residents.
A memo from AFP Action described Haley as offering “the opportunity to turn the page on the current political era, to win the Republican primary and defeat Joe Biden next November.”
On Wednesday, Haley told Fox News in an interview that AFP Action is “the most conservative grassroots organization in the country,” responding to criticism from DeSantis, who has referred to her as part of the Republican establishment.
Trump also tried to downplay the value of the endorsement. In a post on social media, he called AFP Action “losers.”
“I was never in the running because I’m all about Making America, not the outside World, Great Again,” he wrote.
Preview of the fourth GOP primary debate
The fourth GOP primary debate is almost here: On Wednesday, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the shrinking GOP primary field will take the stage with the start of primary voting less than six weeks away.
DeSantis, Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are all likely to be on stage. However, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — who has hitherto qualified for every debate — still appears to be short of meeting the polling requirements set by the national party.
The candidates have until 48 hours before the debate to meet these requirements.
Trump will once again not participate in the debate, despite other candidates who have repeatedly criticized his absences. Instead, he will partake in a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity one day earlier and then attend a fundraiser on Wednesday.
