(WASHINGTON) — Hunter Biden is willing to testify before the House Oversight Committee — but only in public, according to a letter his attorney wrote to Republican lawmakers on Tuesday.
Chairman James Comer of the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena earlier this month to depose Hunter Biden on Dec. 13. In his letter, Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Biden, accused Comer of selectively leaking information from closed-door depositions with other witnesses in his ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
“We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public,” Lowell wrote to Comer. “We therefore propose opening the door.”
“Your empty investigation has gone on too long wasting too many better-used resources. It should come to an end,” Lowell continued. “Consequently, Mr. Biden will appear at such a public hearing on the date you noticed, December 13, or any date in December that we can arrange.”
Comer announced a slew of subpoenas on Nov. 8 targeting members of the president’s family, including Hunter Biden, brother James Biden, and former Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker, demanding they appear for depositions.
“The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes,” Comer said in a statement earlier this month. “Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence.”
Lowell called the subpoenas a “political stunt” at the time, adding, “Nevertheless, Hunter is eager to have the opportunity, in a public forum and at the right time, to discuss these matters with the Committee.”
Comer’s impeachment inquiry has been marked by criticism — even from some Republicans — claiming the nearly yearlong investigation into Biden has still not produced sufficient evidence for impeachment.
In a lengthy memo, the White House accused House Republicans of abusing their power to conduct a smear campaign against the president and his family, saying they are “throwing spaghetti” at the wall after failing to produce evidence to support their allegations.
(WASHINGTON) — Speaking with special counsel Jack Smith’s team earlier this year, former Vice President Mike Pence offered harrowing details about how, in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, then-President Donald Trump surrounded himself with “crank” attorneys, espoused “un-American” legal theories, and almost pushed the country toward a “constitutional crisis,” according to sources familiar with what Pence told investigators.
The sources said Pence also told investigators he’s “sure” that — in the days before Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob tried to stop Congress from certifying the election — he informed Trump he still hadn’t seen evidence of significant election fraud, but Trump was unmoved, continuing to claim the election was “stolen” and acting “recklessly” on that “tragic day.”
Pence is the highest-ranking current or former government official known to have spoken with the special counsel team investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election. What he allegedly told investigators, described exclusively to ABC News, sheds further light on the evidence Smith’s team has amassed as it prosecutes Trump for allegedly trying to unlawfully “remain in power” and “erode public faith” in democratic institutions.
Pence could take the stand against Trump should Smith’s election interference case go to trial, which is currently slated to occur in March.
As described to ABC News, much of what the former vice president told Smith’s investigators mirrored — and at times restated verbatim — comments he has previously made publicly. Questions from Smith’s team repeatedly focused on a book Pence published last year, with investigators apparently seeking to have Pence confirm — under oath — an array of post-election stories and opinions he included in the book.
But speaking with Smith’s team behind closed doors, Pence also offered previously-undisclosed anecdotes and details showing how his longtime friendship with Trump unraveled in the final weeks of their time in the White House, including Pence’s repeated warnings to Trump about the then-president’s push to overturn the election results.
Sources said that in at least one interview with Pence, Smith’s investigators pressed the former vice president on personal notes he took after meetings with Trump and others, which investigators obtained from the National Archives.
According to sources, one of Pence’s notes obtained by Smith’s team shows that, days before Pence was set to preside over Congress certifying the election results on Jan. 6, 2021, he momentarily decided that he would skip the proceedings altogether, writing in the note that there were “too many questions” and it would otherwise be “too hurtful to my friend.” But he ultimately concluded he had a duty to show up.
Speaking with Smith’s team, Pence insisted his loyalty to President Trump at the time never faltered — “My only higher loyalty was to God and the Constitution,” sources described Pence as telling them.
Sources said that investigators’ questioning became so granular at times that they pressed Pence over the placement of a comma in his book: When recounting a phone call with Trump on Christmas Day 2020, Pence wrote in his book that he told Trump, “You know, I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome” of the election on Jan. 6.
But Pence allegedly told Smith’s investigators that the comma should have never been placed there. According to sources, Pence told Smith’s investigators that he actually meant to write in his book that he admonished Trump, “You know I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome,” suggesting Trump was well aware of the limitations of Pence’s authority days before Jan. 6 — a line Smith includes in his indictment.
In April, ABC News reported that Pence had just testified before a federal grand jury in Washington. Two months later, in June, Pence launched a bid to challenge Trump as the Republican Party’s next presidential candidate — but Pence’s campaign lasted only four months.
‘Accept the results’
Sources said Pence acknowledged to Smith’s team that even before Election Day on Nov. 3, 2020, he was aware that the Trump-Pence ticket was expected to take a big early lead in the polls that would then gradually fade as more mail-in ballots were counted.
In the first few days after the election, Pence never saw any “significant allegations of fraud,” according to what he told Smith’s team, sources said. But Trump still declared victory — and claimed there was “a major fraud in our nation” — within hours of polls closing, though Pence allegedly told investigators he believes Trump was speaking “in very general terms,” not about specific instances of fraud.
At the same time, Trump privately instructed Pence to dig into any potential fraud or “irregularities” in the election, telling Pence their campaign “was going to fight,” in court and elsewhere, Pence allegedly told Smith’s team.
However, sources told ABC News, Pence said he grew concerned when, within days of the election, Trump began ignoring the advice of credible and experienced attorneys inside the White House, instead relying on outside attorneys like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who pushed notions of widespread election fraud and, as Pence allegedly told Smith’s team, “did a great disservice to the president and a great disservice to the country.”
There is “no doubt” that Trump “knew what I thought of those attorneys,” but he still listened to them, Pence told Smith’s investigators, according to sources.
In his interviews with Smith’s team, Pence recalled a meeting he had alone with Trump inside the Oval Office on Dec. 21, 2020, as the campaign’s legal challenges across the country were failing but Trump was continuing to claim the election was stolen and had begun urging supporters to gather in Washington, D.C., for a “big protest” on Jan. 6, 2021.
When Trump privately asked Pence what they should do, Pence said he told the then-president that if nothing changed, “[you] should simply accept the results,” “you should take a bow,” travel the country to thank supporters, “and then run again if you want.”
“And I’ll never forget, he pointed at me … as if to say, ‘That’s worth thinking about.’ And he walked [away],” Pence recalled to investigators, sources said.
However, two days later — as noted in Smith’s election interference-related indictment against Trump — Trump “re-tweeted a memo titled ‘Operation PENCE CARD,’ which falsely asserted that the Vice President could, among other things, unilaterally disqualify legitimate electors from six targeted states.”
When Pence, on his way to Colorado for Christmas vacation, saw Trump’s post, he turned to his wife and said, “Here we go,” he recalled to Smith’s investigators, sources said.
‘No idea more un-American’
As Pence described it to investigators, according to sources, he understood by late December 2020 that the Trump campaign had run out of legal options in its fight to remain in power — but he urged lawmakers to raise potentially credible allegations of fraud during the upcoming proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021, when Pence would be presiding over Congress to certify the election results and decide whether to reject any votes.
In a meeting at the White House in late December 2020, as many as 20 House Republicans erupted in applause after Pence told them to “get your evidence together” and assured them “we [will] get our day in Congress,” with an opportunity for all of the evidence to be heard before the election would be certified, sources said he told Smith’s team.
Pence told investigators he was then still “very open to the possibility that there was voter fraud” in the election, and he was focused on following the facts and the law, according to the sources.
At the same time, Trump was privately pressing Pence to reject certain votes at the Jan. 6 proceedings and block certification of the election — and Trump even suggested to Pence that perhaps he should skip the session altogether, Pence allegedly told Smith’s team. But, according to sources, Pence told investigators that he “clearly and repeatedly” emphasized to Trump that rejecting certain votes would violate the Constitution.
“I told him I thought there was no idea more un-American than the idea that any one person could decide what electoral votes to count,” Pence allegedly told Smith’s team, echoing what he has said before in his book and other public forums. “I made it very plain to him that it was inconsistent with our history and tradition.”
Pence insisted that in America, under the Constitution establishing three co-equal branches of government, election disputes are resolved by courts and elected lawmakers, sources said.
But, the sources said, with the pressure on Pence mounting, he concluded on Christmas Eve — just for a moment — that he would follow Trump’s suggestion and let someone else preside over the proceedings on Jan. 6, writing in his notes that doing otherwise would be “too hurtful to my friend.”
“Not feeling like I should attend electoral count,” Pence wrote in his notes in late December. “Too many questions, too many doubts, too hurtful to my friend. Therefore I’m not going to participate in certification of election.”
Then, sitting across the table from his son, a Marine, while on vacation in Colorado, his son said to him, “Dad, you took the same oath I took” — it was “an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” Pence recalled to Smith’s investigators, sources said.
That’s when Pence decided he would be at the Capitol on Jan. 6 after all, according to the sources.
Trump ‘acted recklessly’
Smith’s federal indictment against Trump, filed in August, repeatedly refers to Pence, including Trump’s unsuccessful efforts “to enlist” him.
The indictment says Trump’s claims of outcome-determinative fraud in the election “were false, and [Trump] knew that they were false,” in part because Pence, “who personally stood to gain by remaining in office,” already told Trump “he had seen no evidence of outcome-determinative fraud.”
Senior White House attorneys, senior Justice Department officials, senior staffers on Trump’s campaign, officials at the Department of Homeland Security, and state and federal courts across the country had offered similar assessments to Trump, the indictment notes.
But Trump repeated claims of widespread election fraud anyway to, among other things, “create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger,” according to the indictment. And in his public statements on the morning of Jan. 6, Trump “directed” supporters to the Capitol “to obstruct the certification proceeding and exert pressure” on Pence, the indictment alleges.
“After it became public on the afternoon of January 6 that the Vice President would not fraudulently alter the election results, a large and angry crowd — including many individuals whom the Defendant had deceived into believing the Vice President could and might change the election results — violently attacked the Capitol and halted the proceeding,” the indictment says.
According to sources, when Pence spoke with Smith’s team earlier this year, he said Trump’s words that morning “didn’t help,” and he said Trump “acted recklessly” as the Capitol was under siege. But Pence also said he will “never believe” Trump meant for Jan. 6 to become violent.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case and denied any wrongdoing. He recently accused Pence of “mak[ing] up stories about me, which are absolutely false.”
“I never said for him to put me before the Constitution,” Trump posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, in September. “Mike failed badly on calling out Voter Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election.”
A spokesperson for Trump told ABC News, “Tens of millions of Americans, including Vice President Pence, as he repeatedly stated himself, have had grave and serious concerns about the legitimacy of the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election, further proving that the lawless indictment against President Trump should be summarily dismissed.”
Pence has never described the election as “stolen,” and in his public statements — as well as what sources said he told Smith’s investigators — he has said he didn’t have concerns about widespread fraud, but instead about “irregularities” in how elections were managed.
A spokesperson for Smith and a spokesperson for Pence both declined to comment to ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — Lawmakers returned from their Thanksgiving break Monday with much work to accomplish and relatively little time to accomplish it in.
Here are five things to watch for as Congress rolls back to Washington for the end-of-the-year legislative sprint:
Ukraine funding faces its toughest test yet
Congress has gone nearly a year without rubber-stamping additional aid to Ukraine, and there’s a growing sense from lawmakers on both sides that the window of opportunity to approve more funds to assist the country’s ongoing fight against Russian aggression is closing.
Lawmakers will aim to pass some sort of emergency funding supplemental between now and the December holiday recess. If they fail to get it done in time, some lawmakers are projecting it could be the end of the road for any sort of Ukraine aid. In a letter to his colleagues outlining priorities for this upcoming period of session, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he could put the president’s $106 billion national security package, which includes aid for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the southern border, on the Senate floor for a vote as soon as the week of Dec. 4.
But what that package is going to look like is increasingly difficult to pin down. Republicans in both chambers have been emphatic that Ukraine aid won’t pass without policy changes impacting migration at the southern border. But negotiations over asylum and parole policies have vexed bipartisan negotiators.
A bipartisan group of senators continued talking over the recess to try to reach a consensus opinion on what sort of border provisions could appease Republicans’ demands for policy changes while simultaneously passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. Schumer has urged his colleagues to continue those conversations.
President Joe Biden and Senate leaders from both parties remain hopeful that aid to Israel will ride on whatever border and Ukraine agreement can be reached. But there’s a growing contingent of Republicans who’d like Israel aid approved on its own, as the House has already done.
Debate over this nebulous package is expected to suck up much of the oxygen the remaining weeks of this year.
GOP Rep. George Santos faces expulsion after explosive ethics report
George Santos’ days in Congress could be numbered. Another vote to expel him is likely to take place on the House floor later this week, but the threshold is high to expel a member — two thirds of the chamber would have to vote in favor of removal. However, a growing number of Republicans want to see Santos expelled.
Will there be enough to remove him? That’s still to be determined. On X Spaces last Friday, Santos himself acknowledged he will likely be removed and will “wear it like a badge of honor.”
A House Ethics Committee’s report contained damning details about how he allegedly used campaign dollars for his own personal enrichment — including things such as Botox treatments, trips to Atlantic City, designer goods and purchases on the website OnlyFans, known for its adult content. Investigators said their monthslong probe of the New York congressman, who is also facing separate federal charges, revealed a “complex web of unlawful activity.”
In a rare move earlier this month, Rep. Michael Guest, the Republican chairman of the committee, filed a resolution to expel Santos from Congress — which formally jump-started the process to remove the embattled congressman from office.
A growing number of House Republicans who did not vote to remove Santos earlier this month say they want him expelled following the scathing report from the House Ethics Committee.
A spokesman for Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that the Santos report had “very troubling findings” but “encourages all involved to consider the best interests of the institution as this matter is addressed further.”
Santos has already pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges. He called the bipartisan report a “politicized smear” and has said he will not run for reelection in 2024, but plans to finish out the rest of his term.
Angst over military promotion blockade could reach a fever pitch
Sen. Tommy Tuberville will face even more pressure to relent on his blockade on confirmation of all military nominees as the Senate returns from Thanksgiving break.
Tuberville has been blocking the promotions of almost all military nominees for 10 months in objection to a Department of Defense policy that reimburses military members who travel out of state to obtain abortions.
Just before the Senate left for recess, tensions over the hold were reaching a new high. Republicans tried and failed twice on the floor to get around Tuberville, asking for his consent to confirm dozens of individual nominees. Tuberville blocked every single one of them.
Democrats, fed up with Tuberville’s blockade, took the early steps of moving to get around Tuberville in mid-November, passing a resolution out of the Senate Rules Committee that would allow the Senate to temporarily side-step Tuberville’s hold. It passed out of committee, but not with the backing of a single Republican.
The Senate now returns with Schumer promising a vote on that resolution before the year is out if Tuberville doesn’t stand down.
It’s not clear if Republicans will lend the nine necessary votes to get that resolution passed. There’s growing frustration within the GOP about what Tuberville has been doing, but many Republicans remain reluctant to do anything that could give the appearance of curbing the power of a single senator.
What we do know is that tension is mounting. Could it be enough to pass this temporary maneuver to get around Tuberville?
Giant defense policy bill prepares for a showdown
Tuberville’s military holds will no doubt also be a part of the looming showdown over the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass military spending policy bill that presidents have signed before the new year for over six decades.
In order to get the government funded just before the Senate recess, Schumer acquiesced to demands from the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee that representatives from the House and Senate hold formalized meetings to try to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the massive bill.
Conference meetings will have to happen in haste if lawmakers hope to pass the defense authorization bill by the end of the year. A public conference is going to thrust several controversial provisions that the House and Senate are at loggerheads over into the spotlight.
Of chief focus: the House bill includes language that would end the DoD abortion travel policy that Tuberville so opposes. Ending the policy through use of the National Defense Authorization Act would be one way to get around Tuberville’s objection, but it’s one Senate Democrats are grossly opposed to.
The conference will also force lawmakers to publicly duke it out over policies that curb transgender medical care and diversity, and end equity and inclusion programs. These provisions were added to the House version of the bill in amendment votes that were a win for House Freedom Conference members.
All of it will have to be worked out before lawmakers leave for the end of the year.
First government funding deadline looms, setting up a test for Speaker Johnson
Any victory lap that lawmakers were taking for temporarily funding the government before Thanksgiving is coming to its short-lived end.
Now that they’re back, lawmakers are back on the clock to try to come to a longer-term government funding solution before the first tranche of short-term funding, which funds six of the 12 annual appropriations bills, runs out on Jan. 19. With the Christmas holiday looming, there’s not a lot of time left.
Both chambers still have work to do on passing their own separate appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024, which began in October. Even if they manage to pass them, the House and Senate have some major disagreements about what should be in those bills, and about how much they should cost. There’s still disagreement about top-line spending, and lawmakers will need to quickly get on the same page if they hope to get bills passed.
House Republicans want to extract some sizable government cuts in these bills. It’ll be a herculean task for newly-minted Speaker Johnson to wrangle his slim majority to get behind conferenced spending bills.
But Johnson made clear he will pass no more short-term continuing resolutions to fund the government. So lawmakers will need to get to work, or risk a partial shutdown on their hands in January.
(WASHINGTON) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will meet this week with high-dollar Republicans to try to cement their support for the newest political action committee supporting his presidential bid, his campaign manager, James Uthmeier, wrote in a memo on Monday morning.
Fight Right, Inc. was formed this month to supplement the efforts of Never Back Down, the super PAC which has bankrolled much of DeSantis’ sprawling ground work in early voting states like Iowa and has hosted the governor for dozens of events there.
The Tallahassee-based super PAC, which has ties to DeSantis allies Jeff Aaron, David Dewhirst and Scott Ross, will focus solely on TV advertising attacking DeSantis’ primary opponents.
“Fight Right exists for one purpose: to shed light on the failed records and leadership of Governor DeSantis’ opponents,” its website states.
The development comes as DeSantis, who entered the 2024 race with widespread popularity in the GOP, has grappled with stagnant poll numbers as many voters continue to embrace rival Donald Trump, despite Trump’s challengers hoping he would be weakened by his extensive legal troubles. (He denies wrongdoing.)
Never Back Down has also had a turbulent past few weeks, with infighting between members of leadership and the resignation of the group’s chief executive.
Sources have said tensions flared within the political operation over how to stop former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s momentum in the polls as she pushes to be the main Trump alternative in the field.
In a fraught moment earlier this month that was first reported by NBC News, two board members from Never Back Down nearly got into a physical fight during a private meeting between senior staff and board members.
Never Back Down’s chief executive officer resigned a week after the heated exchange, though it’s not clear why.
Fight Right Inc. filed with the state of Florida shortly after that argument.
In the memo on Monday, which was obtained by ABC News, Uthmeier wrote that he “welcomes the independent efforts” of the new super PAC to offer “welcomed air support.”
The group has already hit Iowa’s airwaves with a 30-second spot slamming Haley and has spent nearly $970,000 against her, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. (Haley, for her part, has tried to brush off DeSantis’ attacks.)
The governor’s meeting with prospective Fight Right donors — set to take place in Palm Beach, Florida, according to someone familiar with the gathering — comes at a potentially critical point in his campaign, with primary voting set to begin in less than two months.
The governor continues to lose ground while Haley has seen a steady rise in both national and state polls since the summer, leading the two to battle it out for a distant second place behind Trump.
According to 538’s latest national polling average, DeSantis leads Haley, roughly 12% to 10%.
In Iowa, according to 538’s averages, DeSantis narrowly edges out Haley for second place while in New Hampshire, he has faded to fourth behind Trump, Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
In the memo, Uthmeier laid out an ideal scenario for the final two months before voting starts: The campaign and Never Back Down work the ground, while Fight Right takes the airwaves.
That vision statement seems to serve as a direct message to the groups about how they can support the efforts of the campaign, which cannot legally coordinate with them.
Uthmeier has also boasted to donors about Never Back Down’s field organizing, calling the PAC “the largest Iowa turnout machine in history.”
(AMERICUS, Ga.) — Former first lady Rosalynn Carter will be memorialized over several days this week in Georgia, starting Monday.
Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at 96, will be remembered with events and a funeral service after a family motorcade on Monday carries her remains to Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, her alma mater, where wreaths will be laid in front of a statue of her, according to details released by The Carter Center.
Carter family members will be in the motorcade as it heads from Plains to Americus to retrieve her body; some of her U.S. Secret Service protection detail will be honorary pallbearers.
The motorcade will continue from Georgia Southwestern State University to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, where she will lie in repose.
The public will be able to pay its respects at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and is also able to watch the motorcade on its journey.
The Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University in Atlanta will then hold a memorial service for Carter on Tuesday, and her funeral will be held on Wednesday at Maranatha Baptist Church back in Plains, her and former President Jimmy Carter’s hometown, where he used to teach Sunday school.
She will be buried at her home in Plains.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Georgia on Tuesday for the memorial service. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will also attend.
To honor Rosalynn Carter’s legacy, the White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.
“First Lady Rosalynn Carter walked her own path, inspiring a nation and the world along the way,” the Bidens said in a statement the day she died.
“Throughout her incredible life as First Lady of Georgia and the First Lady of the United States, Rosalynn did so much to address many of society’s greatest needs,” the Bidens said. “She was a champion for equal rights and opportunities for women and girls; an advocate for mental health and wellness for every person; and a supporter of the often unseen and uncompensated caregivers of our children, aging loved ones, and people with disabilities.”
Rosalynn Carter — much Jimmy Carter, her husband of over 77 years — built a legacy around mental health advocacy and humanitarian work through The Carter Center, which the couple founded after they left the White House.
Jimmy Carter, 99, is currently in hospice care.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” he said in a statement announcing her death. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
Jason Carter, the former first couple’s grandson and the chair of the board of The Carter Center, said the institution’s work will continue.
“We are going to be able at the center to continue on with all the programming that we do without my grandparents’ active involvement. But, as you can imagine, for the last 20 years, we’ve been planning and talking about what is going to happen when they’re no longer active,” Jason Carter said on the “Politically Georgia” podcast last week.
In that appearance, Jason Carter, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate, called his grandmother “by far the best politician in our family.”
“She was such a glue for our family,” Jason Carter said. “She was the personal caretaker in so many ways for so many of us, including me personally, at many different times in my life.”
As the family has grieved, they’re also celebrating Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s work, their grandson said.
“It is so much easier for me to talk about her and him as sort of global leaders, as people who’ve done amazing things, than it is for me to process the personal side of this for right now,” he said.
ABC News’ Janice McDonald contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump and his allies are ramping up high-dollar fundraising efforts with less than two months to go until the Iowa caucus begins the 2024 Republican primary, as several major donors show signs of returning to the former president — including those who once called on him to exit the race.
Some observers say the changing view of big financial backers shows a recognition that because Republican voters are sticking with Trump amid his continued controversy and legal troubles, he remains a very real contender for the White House.
Trump is battling a slew of unprecedented criminal charges — all of which he denies — but remains the front-runner in polling.
At the same time, anti-Trump Republican donors have spent millions while scrambling to coalesce behind an alternative candidate to take on the former president and anti-Trump voters remain divided between a handful of challengers.
Charlie Kolean, a GOP strategist who raises money for the Trump campaign, said that “while Trump may have not been some Republicans’ first choice for 2024, many are coming back on board because the risk of Joe Biden being a two-term president is just too high.”
“His lead in the polls is unparalleled and barring any legal action, there is nothing politically that could stop him from becoming the nominee,” Kolean said.
Later this week, the former president and his campaign are hosting a fundraiser at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, with ticket prices ranging from $11,600 per person for general attendance to $23,200 for attendance and a photo opportunity.
The following week, real estate executives Steven Witkoff and Howard Lorber are co-hosting a fundraiser for the former president in Hallandale Beach, Florida, for a $23,200-per-person ticket that includes a photo opportunity.
Both Witkoff and Lorber are longtime friends of Trump, and Witkoff testified as the first witness for Trump’s defense team in a New York civil trial in which Trump is accused of inflating the values of his properties. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
But other Republican donors who had shown reservations about Trump after the 2020 election or had been sitting on the sidelines are now gradually coming out in support of him, too.
Over the last couple of years, a number of the GOP’s big backers — from financiers like Ken Griffin, Thomas Peterffy and Stephen Schwarzman to cosmetics executive Ronald Lauder and oil and gas mogul Harold Hamm — turned their backs on Trump or expressed reservations about him.
Some cited the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and some blamed Trump for Republican disappointments during the 2022 midterms. Others said the party needed a new generation of leaders.
Several bundlers and fundraisers that raised money for Trump had also moved on to raise money for his 2024 rivals.
Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus was among the major donors that had declined to weigh in on the 2024 presidential election before he announced a surprise endorsement of Trump in an op-ed published on the website Real Clear Politics in early November, saying the “stakes are just too high” and the “choice is simple.”
“I understand the frustration of some of my Republican friends who do not like or are offended by things Donald Trump does and says,” Marcus wrote. “I, too, have been frustrated at times, but we cannot let his brash style be the reason we walk away from his otherwise excellent stewardship of the United States during his first term in office.”
“I endorse him not only because he has the best chance of winning the general election but because he is the best person to take on and dismantle the administrative state that is strangling America,” Marcus argued.
A top GOP donor, Marcus has been one of Trump’s most loyal political benefactors over the years, giving millions of dollars to his campaign and various other fundraising vehicles supporting him.
In March, however, Marcus donated $16,000 to South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s federal joint fundraising committee soon after she announced her presidential bid.
Hamm, the energy magnate, followed a similar pattern.
He was one of Trump’s biggest donors during Trump’s first presidential bid and throughout Trump’s presidency but called for Trump to drop out of the race earlier this summer.
Hamm also told the Financial Times earlier this summer that “Jan. 6 separated a lot of people” in the GOP and that the party needed a chaos-free candidate in 2024.
Hamm told the Financial Times that Trump should become a Republican “kingmaker” instead of running for the presidency again.
Hamm donated $16,000 to Haley’s joint fundraising committee after she announced her presidential bid and gave $6,600 to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign after he announced.
Later, in August, Hamm gave $3,300 to the Trump campaign. Last month, Hamm had a private meeting with the former president at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, with a $200,000 check for a pro-Trump super PAC, according to The Washington Post.
Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor who supports and raises money for DeSantis but had previously supported Trump, wasn’t surprised.
“He’s saying the quiet part out loud,” Eberhart said, describing his own thoughts on Hamm’s moves. “Even for the people that don’t really prefer Trump, it’s about time to come home, rally around Trump, and he recognizes that.” (Multiple efforts to reach Hamm for comment were unsuccessful.)
Eberhart said there appeared to be an emerging consensus that Trump may not be able to be toppled — but he’s not so sure.
“I’m still firmly with DeSantis, but look, again, the quiet part out loud: At some point, I’m gonna have to make a switch if he doesn’t win the nomination,” Eberhart said.
Emphasizing his continued support for DeSantis, saying Trump “lacks discipline,” appears tired and is almost as old and slow as President Joe Biden, Eberhart said he’s still waiting for DeSantis’ momentum and for Trump to “trip himself up.” But he added: “I don’t think anything DeSantis or Haley does is going to make them gain 20 points overnight.”
“If Trump wins Iowa, I think he hits escape velocity,” Eberhart said. “And there’s a sense of inevitability to a certain extent. The media and people like me are just pretending there’s a race going.”
He noted DeSantis has had momentum in Iowa recently with endorsements from Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats but wondered: “Is it enough? I hope so, but we will see.”
Bill White, a longtime friend of Trump who also bundles donations for the campaign and the pro-Trump super political action committee Make America Great Again Inc., told ABC News that several donors in his circle have recently returned to Trump, especially after a large-scale fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago last month in which organizers announced they raised $6 million.
“One couple from Chicago was just on the fence, just waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,” White said. “But they gave after the speech,” he added. “They said, ‘Look, I went online and donated the max. It looks like he’s gonna be the nominee.'”
Republican donor Don Tapia — a U.S. ambassador to Jamaica in the Trump administration — also doubled down on his support for Trump after having a “question mark” about him in the wake of the 2020 election.
“Complaining every day, every month, every week about the election being stolen … you can say it was stolen, you might not like the outcome, but the proof’s in the pudding. Get over it. Let’s move on and look to 2024,” Tapia said of his thoughts after the last presidential race. He said that he also does not like Trump’s demeanor, though he believes a strong personality is a necessity in the New York business world.
He said he was “sitting back to see how the national platform would fill itself out” before he decided again that Trump is the best option for the Republican Party.
“When I looked there [at the other candidates], it was only a training session for the people that’s on that platform right now,” Tapia said.
He recently hosted a fundraiser for Haley at his home at the request of a friend and said he found the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. “very impressive.”
“She has a good donor base and she covered issues extremely well,” he said.
Nonetheless, he said he sees her as a potential leader of the next generation of the Republican Party — not 2024 material.
“If I were asked to host Donald Trump, my home is open,” he said.
Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Sunday sought to play down the potential consequences if rival Donald Trump loses the 2024 primary race but refuses to concede — or even keeps running as a third-party candidate.
“No one will expect him to concede. He hasn’t conceded the 2020 election. Who cares,” Christie, a former governor of New Jersey and a Trump supporter-turned-critic, told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
While Trump maintains a huge lead in national polling of Republican primary voters, he is in a slightly weaker front-runner position according to surveys in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote, where Christie and other challengers are hoping for an upset.
Pressed by Karl on how Trump’s continued presence in the race could be an ongoing problem if he loses — like if he contests the results or runs third-party — Christie dismissed that notion, arguing that at that point, “the public en masse will begin to ignore” the former president because of his repeated defeats at the ballot box.
“I think he’ll go back to Mar-a-Lago. He’ll continue to carp and moan and complain and say we don’t deserve him,” Christie said. “Anything that gets him out of this race and keeps him out of the White House is fine by me.”
Christe’s reaction comes as ABC News has learned Americans for Prosperity Action — an advocacy organization backed by Republican billionaire Charles Koch and his allies — has plans to endorse an alternative candidate to Trump with the Jan. 15 Iowa caucus now just 50 days away.
With an estimated $70 million on hand to pour into the effort to defeat the former president, Americans for Prosperity also has research that suggests “as many as 75% of Republicans just might be open to a Trump alternative if they think that that person can win,” ABC News Political Director Rick Klein told Karl on Sunday.
Trump has so far commanded the Republican field, but Klein said his comparatively weaker early state polling could give other candidates hope that “once people start to engage,” there’s a chance of eating into his lead.
Christie echoed those sentiments on Sunday, telling Karl that he believes he will be the candidate “who surprises everybody” in New Hampshire, where he has spent significant time campaigning.
Christe’s reaction comes as ABC News has learned Americans for Prosperity Action — an advocacy organization backed by Republican billionaire Charles Koch and his allies — has plans to endorse an alternative candidate to Trump with the Jan. 15 Iowa caucus now just 50 days away.
With an estimated $70 million on hand to pour into the effort to defeat the former president, Americans for Prosperity also has research that suggests “as many as 75% of Republicans just might be open to a Trump alternative if they think that that person can win,” ABC News Political Director Rick Klein told Karl on Sunday.
Trump has so far commanded the Republican field, but Klein said his comparatively weaker early state polling could give other candidates hope that “once people start to engage,” there’s a chance of eating into his lead.
Christie echoed those sentiments on Sunday, telling Karl that he believes he will be the candidate “who surprises everybody” in New Hampshire, where he has spent significant time campaigning.
Christie has pitched himself as the loudest Trump detractor in the GOP primary field. Trump has fired back at Christie, labeling him a “failed” candidate and governor
Christie said on “This Week” that he expects to expand his campaign to South Carolina and Michigan, two of the next voting states in the primary, where he believes he could do “quite well” even as polling shows he has yet to breakthrough in either place.
“Right now, with 58 days to go until the New Hampshire primary, we are going to focus most of our time and energy on the state of New Hampshire,” he said.
But with other contenders still in the race, including former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Karl asked if this environment is “exactly how Trump wins,” by splitting the vote among his opposition.
Christie said that instead of attacking each other, the remaining candidates should all be focusing their fire on Trump.
“If all three of us would go after Donald Trump, well then the most credible amongst the three of us in terms of those critiques would wind up winning this primary, I believe,” Christie said.
“I think we need to focus on who’s in front here, who’s bad for our party, and who would be bad for this country,” he continued. “And in my view, that’s Donald Trump and we need to go directly at him.”
Just hours before 4-year-old American hostage Abigail Idan was confirmed to be have been released by Hamas in Gaza, a top White House adviser said they were optimistic she would soon have “a moment of joy” and be reunited with loved ones.
“That’s what we are waiting for as we speak,” the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
Shortly after Sullivan’s interview, Israeli officials confirmed that another 17 hostages had been let out of Gaza as part of an ongoing cease-fire and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack.
Abigail is the first American freed out of 10 who are thought to be Hamas captives. The others include two women and seven men; one of them is a lawful permanent resident, or green card holder, according to Sullivan.
Abigail’s parents were killed in front of her during the October attack in southern Israel, Sullivan said on “This Week” — describing what she endured as “unspeakable.” She marked her most recent birthday just two days ago.
“Our hope is that [Abigail] gets out, gets into the hands of her family — or into the loving arms of her family and that they can help the long, slow process of allowing her to heal and to find the love that she so badly deserves,” Sullivan said on Sunday morning.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said in his own interview on “This Week” that he had recently met with Abigail’s aunt.
“She was not focused on the brutal murder of her family. She was focused on Abigail, getting her out. Such resilience,” he said.
The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas could be extended in exchange for Hamas freeing more of the 200-plus people who are thought to be held captive in Gaza, Sullivan said.
“The ball is in Hamas’ court on that because what Israel has said is that it is prepared to pause another day of fighting for every 10 hostages that Hamas releases. … If the pause stops, responsibility for that rests on the shoulders of Hamas, not on the shoulders of Israel,” Sullivan said.
Israel and Hamas are currently in the middle of a tenuous, four-day truce during which Israel plans to release 150 Palestinians and Hamas will release 50 hostages. Large amounts of humanitarian aid are also supposed to be allowed into Gaza, which has been bombarded by Israel’s retaliatory military operations.
The first set of captives in Gaza were released on Friday.
After the cease-fire ultimately ends, intense fighting in Gaza is anticipated to resume.
“Ultimately, Israel is going to want to continue to conduct military operations against Hamas, particularly the leadership of Hamas that were the architects of this brutal, bloody massacre,” Sullivan said.
More than 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials.
At the same time, Israel has faced ongoing outcry from outside humanitarian groups and others over the death toll in Gaza and the danger to civilians.
More than 14,000 people have been killed there, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The conflict has divided Democrats between those who fully support Israel’s response and others calling for an end to the fighting, in light of the Gaza casualties.
Khanna told Karl he had changed his own opinion on the issue and is now advocating for a “lasting cease-fire.”
“First, we need more of the hostages to be released, and we’ve seen now that it’s working. Second, there’s still Americans in Gaza. We need those Americans and American families to be released,” he said. “The third point is, Israel has diminished Hamas’ military capability. They now have troops to prevent another Oct. 7 attack.”
Asked if he shared the view of Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who recently said there should be “conditions” on aid to Israel, such as making sure it followed international law, Khanna indicated he largely agreed — but said that rule shouldn’t be applied just to Israel, which insists it takes steps to protect civilians amid the war.
“Any aid to the United States needs to be consistent with human rights law. I support the aid for the Iron Dome [an Israeli anti-missile system] and defensive equipment for Israel, for equipment Israel may need to deter Iran, but we need to make sure, and our State Department needs to make sure, that any of our aid isn’t used in a way that violates human rights,” Khanna said. “That’s not just for Israel, that’s around the world.”
Khanna said the broader solution to the violence must be diplomatic.
“Here’s the reality on the ground: There are 40,000 Hamas fighters — 40,000. Israel has killed 2,000. It is unrealistic that they’re going to be able to kill 40,000 Hamas fighters, let alone undermine the political and cultural influence of Hamas. So,we need a real solution,” he said. “And that needs to be a Palestinian state with an Israel state.”
The so-called two-state solution has been a goal of American diplomacy for decades, but such efforts have repeatedly failed.
Khanna said that it must be a priority, with the U.S. directly involved — while excluding Hamas, whom he said was a terrorist organization.
“There is not going to be peace or security in that region, and America needs to show leadership. I believe our Gulf allies will help us if we bring the diverse Palestinian voices to the table,” he said. “There needs to be one condition: Any Palestinian voice at that table needs to recognize the state of Israel, and then we need to work towards an independent Palestinian state.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said the two-dozen hostages freed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Friday is “only a start,” with more hostages expected to be released soon — with hopes that some of the missing Americans are among them.
Early Friday, 24 hostages were freed by Hamas as part of a temporary truce with Israel after the militant group’s surprise terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s retaliatory strikes in Gaza. More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the initial terror attack, according to Israeli officials. More than 14,000 people have been killed in retaliatory operations in Gaza since, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
“All of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal, and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” he said in an address from Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with his family. “Today has been a product of a lot of hard work and weeks of personal engagement.”
The Israeli government approved a deal Tuesday night that allowed for the release during a four-day pause in hostilities of at least 50 women and children held hostage. Among the hostages released Friday are women and children — some of whom are younger than 6 years old.
“The teddy bears waiting to greet those children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have been through at such a very young age,” Biden said.
Biden said two American women and 3-year-old Abigail Edan remain among those “missing.” A senior administration official had previously said that they are expected to be released in this group of 50 hostages released.
He said that Friday’s release is only the start of a process, and that more hostages are expected to be released in the coming days.
“We also will not stop until we get these hostages brought home and an answer to their whereabouts,” Biden said.
He said the U.S. does not know when the missing Americans will be among those that are released nor does he know their conditions at this time. But Biden said he expects them to be released and that it’s his “hope and expectation” that it “will be soon.”
The four-day cease-fire facilitated the hostages’ release. Biden said the “chances are real” for a truce to be extended further.
When fighting continues, Biden said he has “encouraged” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to focus on trying to reduce” the number of civilian casualties, while trying to “eliminate Hamas,” calling that a “legitimate objective.” The U.S. has designated Hamas a terrorist organization.
The Biden administration has faced increasing pressure, including from fellow Democrats to urge Israel to curb civilian casualties in Gaza as international organizations have highlighted the unfolding humanitarian crisis there.
And as he focuses on securing the release of hostages, Biden also highlighted efforts to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza to help civilians “who are suffering greatly because of this war that Hamas has unleashed.”
“Hamas doesn’t give a damn about them,” he said.
Biden emphasized the weeks of work that went into getting this deal done and personally thanked the Emir of Qatar, Egyptian president and Israeli prime minister. He said he’d continue to be in contact with them “to make sure this stays on track and every aspect of the deal is implemented.”
ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin’s announcement earlier this month that he won’t seek reelection tilted next year’s Senate map even further away from Democrats’ narrow majority, political analysts say — and underscored how such a victory hinges on Trump country.
Manchin’s seat is one of three that his party is defending in states that Donald Trump won over Joe Biden in 2020. By declaring his retirement, the long-serving moderate West Virginian, who had continued to win even as his state continued to become more conservative, drastically lowered his party’s chances of success there next year, according to the analysts and experts who spoke with ABC News.
Whoever controls the Senate can influence not just the government spending and other legislation out of Congress but also which Cabinet secretaries and judges — and Supreme Court justices — get approved.
Now, the easiest path for Democrats to maintain their 51-seat majority, the experts said, goes through Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana.
If Democrats hang onto those pair of seats while President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are reelected, with Harris being able to vote in Senate to break 50-50 ties, they will hold the chamber. But that will likely come with a costly and fierce election cycle, according to experts.
“Because West Virginia is a near-certain Republican pickup, the starting point is now a 50-50 Senate rather than a 51-49 Democratic majority,” explained Nathaniel Rakich, a senior elections analyst for 538.
Democrats could potentially lose in Montana or Ohio, but then “they’re going to have to pick off a Republican seat in hostile territory like Florida or Texas, which is going to be an even bigger challenge,” Rakich said, referring to Sens. Rick Scott and Ted Cruz.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is publicly boastful of its strategy, insisting they “have multiple pathways” to win.
This thinking was detailed in a recent DSCC memo by the group’s executive director, Christie Roberts. The assessment is based in part on “flawed” rather than mainstream Republican candidates possibly being nominated while Democrats campaign on issues like abortion access, which have been key for voters in some states, like Michigan, in past elections.
Democrats also signaled they’d reallocate focus and resources on trying to flip Cruz’s Texas seat and Scott’s Florida one. Both incumbents only narrowly won the last time they were up for election.
“We’re going to hold our Democratic seats, put Republicans on defense in places like Texas and Florida, and keep taking nothing for granted – that’s the mentality we brought to winning last cycle, and that’s what’s going to lead us to victory in 2024,” the DSCC chair, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, said in a statement to ABC News.
Senate Republicans have indicated they are not drastically changing their own elections strategy despite the presumptive West Virginia pickup.
Their focus will continue to be on the fight in Montana and Ohio while also flipping seats in five presidential battleground states: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
They’ve also said they are seeking to recruit candidates who will be palatable to swing state voters and avoid the type of high-profile, messy primaries that occurred during the 2022 midterm cycle, which saw protracted fights for the party’s nomination in states like Georgia and Pennsylvania, both places where the GOP candidate went on to lose.
“With Manchin on his way out the door, we like our odds in West Virginia,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesperson Tate Mitchell told ABC News. “The NRSC is going to keep working hard to recruit candidates who can win primaries and general elections and deliver a lasting majority for Republicans next year.”
Republicans see opportunity in Ohio and Montana, too.
“Every statewide official in Montana and Ohio is a Republican except for Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown. It’s going to be very difficult for those two to win re-election because they have voted for Joe Biden’s policies,” NRSC Chairman Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said in a statement to ABC News.
Tester and Brown have acknowledged that their races are likely to be close, releasing a joint fundraising email this week that previewed their pitch to voters.
“We’re not the typical politicians you’d expect to see every day in the Senate. One of us is a seven-fingered dirt farmer. The other has been called disheveled, wrinkled, and rumpled … We’re facing the toughest reelection fight of our careers,” they wrote.
In Ohio, a three-way Senate primary has been brewing for months on the GOP side, with current Secretary of State Frank LaRose struggling to catch up financially with Bernie Moreno and Matt Dolan, his two independently wealthy primary opponents.
A spokesperson for the Moreno campaign pointed to the candidate’s ability to self-fund as a benefit to his election strategy.
“It’s vital that Republicans nominate someone like Bernie who has both the financial firepower and the right message to defeat Sherrod Brown. In addition to being personally wealthy, Bernie has raised more money from donors than any non-incumbent GOP Senate candidate in the country this cycle,” Conor McGuinness told ABC News.
LaRose entered the GOP primary in July, after Moreno and Dolan. As the state’s top elections official, he also spearheaded two high-profile and ultimately unsuccessful attempts at blocking abortion protections from becoming enshrined in the state’s constitution.
Still, the former state senator, who has endorsed Trump, has cited his background as a leader in Ohio as his leading attribute.
“This was always going to be a high stakes race and that’s why it’s vital that we have a battle-tested conservative like Frank LaRose to face Sherrod Brown in November. Frank is the best positioned to take help Republicans retake the Senate and help President Trump retake the White House,” LaRose spokesperson Ben Kindel told ABC News.
In Montana, NRSC-endorsed Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and another independently wealthy business owner, has also campaigned as a Trump ally, though the former president has not yet endorsed.
“The Trump-Sheehy ticket will lead Montana to victory in 2024,” a spokesperson for the Sheehy campaign said.
Observers have warned of a potential twist, though: Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale has been urged by some in the party to run again against Tester after losing to him in 2018.
