Politics

(WASHINGTON) — In another sign that Democrats are focusing some of their attacks on former President Donald Trump one year out from the 2024 race, the Democratic National Committee is trying to call out Trump’s record on abortion ahead of his visit to campaign in Iowa along with other GOP candidates.

The billboards, paid for by the Democratic National Committee, will run around the Des Moines area on Friday and Saturday and read “Trump’s America 2025: Impose a National Abortion Ban.”

The DNC will also run another billboard grouping Republican primary candidates Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley — all of whom support abortion restrictions of various kinds, though only DeSantis embraces a national ban — with the banner “MAGA’s America 2025: Extreme Abortion Bans.”

“It’s important that voters know what Donald Trump and members of the MAGA GOP field have promised on the campaign trail: if elected, they’ll push to pass extreme abortion bans and rip away reproductive freedom from women across the country,” DNC spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika told ABC News.

Despite what the Democratic billboard claims, Trump has remained noncommittal on whether he’d support a federal abortion ban, saying in September, “It could be state or it could be federal. I don’t frankly care,” though he added it was “probably better” at the state level.

On the campaign trail, however, Trump often touts how his naming three conservatives justices to the Supreme Court led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade’s abortion access protections as well as run ads on the issue.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement responding to the billboards: “Joe Biden doesn’t know where he is or what’s going on for most of the day.” He added, “This is another desperate attempt by a flailing campaign who can’t even keep their own coalition together.”

Ramaswamy’s campaign responded to the planned billboards with this comment: “We never turn down free advertising.”

The Iowa billboard campaign is part of a larger effort by Biden’s reelection strategy to ramp up attacks on Trump and other Republicans, seeking to contrast them with Biden on issues like abortion, infrastructure and immigration, at the same time that polls show the public broadly disapproves of Biden and Trump is hypothetically running ahead of him in some swing states.

Biden has stepped up his direct criticism of Trump in recent weeks as he gears up for their potential rematch in 2024.

“Now Trump’s running for president bragging about how he killed Roe v. Wade, quote. But he’s trying to change that now too, you know. Now let’s be absolutely clear what Trump’s bragging about. The only reason there is an abortion ban in America is because of Donald Trump,” Biden said at a fundraiser on Tuesday night in San Francisco.

Biden’s messaging on Trump comes in the wake of internal polling from progressive-aligned groups that, these groups say, shows Biden is in trouble if he doesn’t make more pointed attacks on Republicans.

“The only reason that fundamental [abortion] right was stripped away from American people for the first time in American history is because of Donald Trump. And just as all his Republican friends have found out about the power of women in America, Donald Trump is about to find out about the power of women,” Biden said Tuesday in what’s becoming a stump line.

Republicans have struggled to navigate talking about abortion after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision striking down Roe, with some presidential candidates saying they’d support a 15-week federal ban while others dodge the question by saying they don’t think it would pass through Congress.

Voters have repeatedly supported abortion rights in elections last year and this year; in some battlegrounds, like Michigan, exit polling showed abortion access was a major issue.

Democrats have credited their support for abortion rights with helping aid those wins, including last week in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia — as they argue the issue is indirectly on the ballot for 2024.

“Voters have repeatedly rejected their radical anti-abortion agenda at the ballot box, but Trump and his MAGA minions are still ramping up their crusade against women’s right to make their own health care decisions – and Americans will hold them accountable yet again in 2024,” said Chitika.

ABC News’ Kendall Ross contributed to this report.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Special counsel David Weiss is using a Los Angeles-based federal grand jury to pursue its yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax affairs, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.

The grand jury in recent weeks issued a subpoena to James Biden, the brother of President Joe Biden, as part of their work investigating Hunter Biden, a source familiar with the matter said.

News of the grand jury’s activities comes three months after Weiss’ prosecutors withdrew two misdemeanor tax charges brought in Delaware after a plea deal with the president’s son fell apart.

The special counsel’s team wrote at the time that “any other related tax offenses lies either in the Central District of California or in the District of Columbia,” and added that “the government now believes that the case will not resolve short of a trial.”

A spokesperson for Weiss’ office declined to comment. A spokesperson for Hunter Biden could not immediately be reached for comment.

CNN was first to report news of the grand jury.

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(WASHINGTON) — As pressure grows on the Israeli military to justify its ongoing raid of Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, the White House is standing behind its assertion that U.S. intelligence shows Hamas was using the complex to shield a key command center and carry out its military activities.

“We have our own intelligence that convinces us that Hamas was using Al-Shifa as a command-and-control node and most likely as well as a storage facility,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.

“They were sheltering themselves in a hospital, using the hospital as a shield against military action and placing the patients and medical staff at a greater risk,” he continued. “We are still convinced of the soundness of that intelligence.”

Kirby declined to answer questions on whether Israel had shared any new intelligence with the U.S. gathered from its sweep of the hospital, which is now in its second day.

“I’m not going to talk about specific intelligence that may pass between the two of us,” he said.

So far, the Israel Defense Forces have shared video and images showing a small number of assault rifles, grenades, other military equipment and Hamas uniforms it says were found inside the hospital but have not offered evidence to prove that it was used by Hamas as a command center. The terrorist group and staff at the hospital denied Hamas is using the hospital as a command center.

U.S. officials have also not shared any specific pieces of intelligence to support their assessment.

Israel and the U.S. have asserted a network of tunnels under Al-Shifa link the structure to other Hamas outposts — something Israel’s raid has not demonstrated.

But officials and analysts say Israeli troops may still only be scratching the surface at this point.

“There is, as I understand it, an ongoing discussion about breaching deeper below ground and whether this would put troops in harm’s way in ways that the Israelis aren’t comfortable [with] yet,” said Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the senior vice president for research at the non-profit think tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “We haven’t seen what lies deep beneath.”

Schanzer also stressed that while computers may not appear as menacing as massive stockpiles of weapons, they may hold evidence of Hamas’ activities — potentially shedding light on the group’s coordination ahead of its Oct. 7 surprise terror attacks on Israel and connections to its financial sponsors.

Hospitals are generally protected by international humanitarian law, but they can become legitimate targets if used for military activities that are deemed “harmful to the enemy,” according to the Geneva Conventions.

“It is important to emphasize that from the moment the IDF publicly exposed the use of hospitals for terrorist activity a few weeks ago, Hamas has persistently worked to conceal infrastructure and cover up evidence,” one IDF official said. “This operation is complex and ongoing, with new information coming to light continuously.”

The official also claimed the methodical pace of Israeli troops’ sweep through the hospital was shaped by Israel’s understanding that there is “well-hidden terrorist infrastructure” embedded inside the hospital and that the IDF had already uncovered advanced communication and military equipment, as well as “information and footage” related to the scores of hostages detained by Hamas and other militant groups.

The IDF announced in a statement on Thursday that it had uncovered the remains of a 65-year-old woman abducted on Oct. 7 in a structure near Al-Shifa, but it was not clear whether that discovery is linked to the ongoing operation inside the complex.

As Israeli troops’ search presses on, the humanitarian conditions inside the hospital are growing even more dire, according to its director, Muhammad Abu Salamiya.

In a televised interview on Thursday, Abu Salamiya said that the hospital had run out of food and water, as well as supplemental oxygen for its patients.

Abu Salamiya also said that Al-Shifa’s staff, already overwhelmed with handling the bodies of the dead, were now prohibited from leaving the hospital and forced let the corpses pile up inside its walls.

“We are waiting for slow death,” Abu Salamiya said.

ABC News’ Becky Perlow and Nasser Atta contributed to this report.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held their first face-face meeting in more than a year amid tensions in the U.S.-China relationship.

For security reasons, the two leaders held the talks at a private location — the historic Filoli Estate in Woodside, California, outside San Francisco — near where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is being held this week.

The two men smiled and shook hands after Biden walked out to greet his Chinese counterpart and then the leaders immediately walked inside.

With the delegations seated around a large conference table, Biden said, “I value our conversation because I think it’s paramount that you understand each other clearly, leader-to-leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication. We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.”

Noting their personal history, Biden expressed his appreciation for their “straightforward and frank” discussions in the past.

“We haven’t always agreed, which was not a surprise to anyone, but our meetings have always been candid, straightforward and useful. I’ve never doubted what you’ve told me in terms of your candid nature in which you speak,” Biden said.

He ended his remarks by telling Xi, “Welcome back.”

“For two large countries like China and United States, turning our back on each other is not an option,” Xi, speaking in Mandarin, told Biden in return, according to a translation.

“It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides,” Xi continued, according to translation.

“It is an objective fact that China and the United States are different in history, culture, social system and development paths,” he said. “However, as long as they respect each other, coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation, they will be fully capable of rising above differences and find the right way for the two major countries to get along with each other. I firmly believe in a promising future of the bilateral relationship.”

“I look forward to having an in-depth exchange of views,” Xi said.

Just before cameras and reporters were then led out of the room, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang asked Xi several times in Mandarin: “President Xi, do you trust Biden?”

Xi took out his translation earpiece to hear her question, looked at her and smiled slightly, but did not respond. She then asked both leaders in English: “Do you trust each other?”

Neither answered and Xi does not normally engage with the press.

Later, he and Biden took a walk around the estate after their working lunch.

Biden told Selina Wang that his meeting with Xi was going “well” when she asked.

Details of four-hour meeting

Fentanyl, artificial intelligence, climate change, the Middle East and Taiwan were among the topics discussed in Biden’s four-hour meeting with Xi, according to a senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters afterward.

On fentanyl, an ultra-deadly synthetic opioid that has become pervasive in parts of the U.S., “The president basically said, ‘Look, this is one of the worst drug problems the United States has ever faced,'” the official said.

A plan has been drafted between the U.S. and China in order to curb Chinese companies who produce “precursors” to fentanyl and to restrict access to necessary supplies, the official said.

The official noted that the U.S. will continue to monitor China’s follow-through on these measures but touted them as important.

The official also said China has agreed to a series of steps that would allow for better communication about each country’s armed forces, including what is likely to be contact between senior commanders on both sides.

Biden was very direct with Xi, according to the administration official, and Xi responded with his own concerns, such as what he called undue negativity surrounding China’s ruling Communist Party.

The official described the meeting as more personal than the two leaders’ previous sit-down, with time for each of them to talk about their spouses — and a moment where Biden reminded Xi about Xi’s wife having an upcoming birthday, since she and Biden have the same one.

Taiwan, the administration official said, is seen by Xi as potentially the biggest and most dangerous issue that could undermine China’s relationship with the U.S.

China regards Taiwan, a self-governing island, as a breakaway province.

The official said that Biden told Xi the U.S. is committed to the status quo and asked China to respect Taiwan’s election process, but Xi signaled that some larger resolution was needed.

As the administration official described it, Xi indicated that China was not preparing to invade Taiwan despite its ongoing military preparations. The U.S. is focused on deterrence, the official said.

Chinese officials, in their own readout of the Xi-Biden meeting, said that Xi stressed that the two countries could either pursue cooperation in order to promote global order — or could focus on their own interests over the other.

Xi also detailed how he sees China’s ongoing development and modernization. According to the Chinese readout, the two countries should focus on cooperation and managing their differences rather than descending into conflict.

Xi criticized what he called U.S. efforts to suppress Chinese development, including through economic restrictions.

In a news conference after the meeting, Biden said, “I welcome the positive steps we’ve taken today.”

“I believe they’re some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had,” he said.

Biden stressed how the U.S. and China want to find areas in which to cooperate while noting that major differences remain — but a goal for both countries continues to be to avoid outright antagonism.

At the top of his remarks, he highlighted agreements on dealing with fentanyl and resuming military contact.

“We’re taking action to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pill presses from China to the Western Hemisphere. It’s going to save lives,” Biden said, “and I appreciate president Xi’s commitment on this issue.”

“Secondly — and this is critically important — we’re resuming military-to-military contact, direct contacts. As a lot of you press know who follow this, it’s been cut off,” Biden continued. “That’s been worrisome. That’s how accidents happen, misunderstandings.”

Going forward, Biden and Xi will “preserve and pursue high-level diplomacy … in both directions,” Biden said.

“I think I know the man, I know his modus operandi,” Biden said of Xi. “He has been — we have disagreements, he has a different view than I have on a lot of things. But he’s been straight. I don’t mean that as good, bad or indifferent. He’s just been straight.”

Pressed by reporters about whether he trusted Xi in light of China’s commitment to take steps to limit fentanyl production, Biden said: “‘Trust but verify,’ as the old saying goes. That’s where I am.” (He was quoting what’s known as a Russian proverb made popular in the U.S. by President Ronald Reagan.)

Biden also said he does not expect any Chinese interference in Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election, saying the pair discussed the matter as Xi was leaving the summit.

Asked as well about the unfolding Israel-Hamas war in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack, he said he was committed to seeking to free hostages that are thought to be held by Hamas and said he doesn’t want Israel to re-occupy the Gaza strip, the Palestinian territory currently controlled by Hamas and under siege by Israel.

Before leaving Washington, Biden had said his goal was “to get back on a normal course of corresponding, being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another when there’s another crisis, being able to make sure our militaries still have contact with one another.”

Officials have said a key objective was to restore military-to-military communication that the Pentagon said essentially stopped amid incidents involving the two nations’ ships and planes, with tensions around Taiwan especially concerning.

Other items on the summit agenda, U.S. officials had said, included Biden being expected to press China to use its leverage with Iran to persuade Tehran to stop its proxies from attacking U.S. forces in the Middle East and escalating the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Biden has also called on China not to supply weapons to Russia to aid in its invasion of Ukraine — and to press North Korea not to do so.

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(WASHINGTON) — Senate leaders voted Wednesday night in favor of the short-term government funding bill the House passed Tuesday night ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline.

House Speaker Mike Johnson pitched a two-step plan that he described as a “laddered CR” — or continuing resolution — that will keep the government funded at 2023 levels. The bill extends government funding until Jan. 19 for the Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Energy departments, as well as for military construction. The rest of the government is funded until Feb. 2.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer previously announced that the upper chamber intended to work with Republicans to pass the bill as early as Wednesday.

While Senate bills typically take a long, winding path before they reach a final vote on the floor, Schumer previously said he planned to work with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to see if they could expedite it.

“If both sides cooperate, there’s no reason we can’t finish this bill even as soon as today, but we’re going to keep working to see what’s possible,” Schumer said earlier in the day.

The government was set to shut down at the end of the day Friday, but since there was zero appetite for a shutdown ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, movement was expected to progress faster than usual.

The White House had originally dismissed the GOP proposal as “unserious,” but a White House official said earlier on Wednesday that President Joe Biden would sign the short-term funding bill if it passed in the Senate.

The White House official had called on the GOP to “stop wasting time on extreme, partisan appropriations bills” and pass the president’s supplemental aid request for Israel, Ukraine, border security, humanitarian assistance and other priorities. The House-approved bill does not include that supplemental aid for Israel or Ukraine.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump is gradually shaking off attempts to bar him from individual states’ 2024 ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a constitutional clause which disqualifies people from running for office if they previously held office, swore an oath to the Constitution and then engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S.

Judges in Michigan and Minnesota over the past two weeks have ruled that Trump, the 2024 Republican primary front-runner, can be on the ballot in both states, dismissing lawsuits filed by citizens and watchdog organizations that claimed the former president should be barred because of his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss.

Trump’s team has rejected that argument, claiming it is undemocratic and a fringe theory. He has denied all wrongdoing related to Jan. 6.

The remaining major lawsuit seeking to disqualify Trump under Section 3, in Colorado, could be decided by the end of the week.

Trump’s challenge from six Republican and unaffiliated voters in Colorado, represented by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), will wrap up on Wednesday evening with closing arguments in Denver.

No ruling is expected directly afterwards, but District Judge Sarah B. Wallace has said she would likely make a decision on the suit within 48 hours and definitely before Thanksgiving.

Wallace uniformly ruled against a number of Trump and the Colorado Republican Party’s motions to dismiss the lawsuit ahead of a historic five-day evidentiary hearing at the beginning of November.

She also denied their motion for a directed verdict to dismiss the case on day two of the hearing, when they argued after the petitioners’ slate of witnesses that Trump’s speech on Jan. 6 before the attack did not disqualify him from candidacy due to the First Amendment.

The Trump campaign on Wednesday issued a statement again calling for the case to be dismissed.

At the evidentiary hearing, CREW brought in expert witnesses to discuss political extremism and testify about the phrase “insurrection” and the history and meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

CREW also called two police officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and California Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who was inside.

Among the witnesses that Trump’s attorneys called were former Trump administration official Kash Patel, former Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson and another organizer of the event near the White House on the morning of Jan. 6 where Trump spoke to supporters before some of them marched to the Capitol.

His attorneys also called retiring Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican who has spoken out against 2020 election denialism but also criticized the work of a House committee that investigated Jan. 6 — efforts that were largely similar to CREW’s new case.

On Tuesday the Michigan Court of Claims dismissed two 14th Amendment lawsuits against Trump which challenged his eligibility to appear on the state’s primary election ballot in 2024.

A third lawsuit, which Trump’s team filed, asked Judge James Robert Redford to declare that Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, does not have the authority to determine whether a candidate can be disqualified from the state’s primary ballot.

Redford granted that request on Tuesday, finding that it was Congress’ role, not the judicial branch, to decide on the matters of Trump’s eligibility.

The judge also ruled that under state law, he did not have the power to order election officials to examine Trump’s eligibility based on the 14th Amendment.

Free Speech For People (FSFP), one of the groups behind the 14th Amendment challenges, argued one of the cases against Trump in Michigan. The group told ABC News in a statement that they will file an immediate appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals and will ask the Michigan Supreme Court to take up their case directly.

Activist Robert Davis, who filed the second lawsuit in Michigan, has also said he plans to file an emergency stay to pause the lower court ruling.

Experts have said that an appeal for any of these disqualification cases could make its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The orders in Michigan follow a ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court on another FSFP lawsuit last week that found Trump is allowed to remain on the state’s primary ballot but did not rule on the petitioners’ constitutional argument that Trump’s actions ahead of Jan. 6 amounted to him “engaging in insurrection.”

The Minnesota order also did not stop the challengers from “bringing a petition raising their claims” as it relates to the general election rather than just the Republican primary.

FSFP has not made clear if they will file an appeal in Minnesota.

The former president’s campaign responded to the dismissals out of Michigan and Minnesota, claiming the courts’ rulings validated their arguments that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is being used to interfere with the election.

“Each and every one of these ridiculous cases have LOST because they are all un-Constitutional left-wing fantasies … seeking to turn the election over to the courts and deny the American people the right to choose their next president,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.

“While the Trump Campaign welcomes these dismissals in Michigan and anticipates the future dismissals of the other 14th Amendment cases, we are most focused on once again winning the great state of Michigan and the re-election of President Trump next year,” he continued.

While Trump won Michigan in 2016, over Hillary Clinton, he narrowly lost it to Joe Biden in 2020.

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Senate leaders on Wednesday were hoping to take up the short-term government funding bill the House passed Tuesday night — saying they’ll work to get the bill over the finish line as soon as possible ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline.

Speaker Mike Johnson pitched a two-step plan that he described as a “laddered CR” — or continuing resolution — that will keep the government funded at 2023 levels. The bill extends government funding until Jan. 19 for the Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Energy departments, as well as for military construction. The rest of the government is funded until Feb. 2.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the upper chamber intends to work with Republicans to pass the bill as early as Wednesday. Lawmakers are working behind the scenes to see whether they can get unanimous agreement to move forward with a plan that would allow the bill to be swiftly considered.

While Senate bills typically take a long, winding path before they reach a final vote on the floor, Schumer said he plans to work with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to see if they can expedite it.

“If both sides cooperate, there’s no reason we can’t finish this bill even as soon as today, but we’re going to keep working to see what’s possible,” Schumer said Wednesday.

The government is set to shut down at the end of the day Friday, but given that there is zero appetite for a shutdown ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, movement is expected to progress faster than usual.

The White House had originally dismissed the GOP proposal as “unserious” — but President Joe Biden will sign the short-term funding bill if it passes in the Senate, a White House official said Wednesday.

The White House official also called on the GOP to “stop wasting time on extreme, partisan appropriations bills,” and pass the president’s supplemental aid request for Israel, Ukraine, border security, humanitarian assistance and other priorities. The House-approved bill does not include that supplemental aid for Israel or Ukraine.

A win for Speaker Johnson?

More Democrats than Republicans voted for Johnson’s plan to avert a government shutdown — 209 to 127, respectively. Yet the passage of his stopgap spending bill is considered a victory compared to his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who forged a similar path and was removed in part for reaching across the aisle to keep the government open.

Johnson’s financial plan was his first major test as speaker since he was elected last month after McCarthy’s historic ouster. Johnson faced a similar challenge as McCarthy: passing a clean CR while carefully maneuvering between moderates and hard-liners in his conference. He also found himself, like McCarthy, needing Democratic votes to help keep the government open.

It’s possible Johnson won’t face the same fate as McCarthy as Republicans have repeatedly said they hope to give Johnson some leeway to find his footing.

Johnson has come up with a plan that has not only funded the government, but it has also removed the threat of a Christmas shutdown, which is celebrated by many on the Hill.

McCarthy commented briefly about the motion-to-vacate, which led to his ouster, and if he thought there was a double standard.

“No. I just see the same people, eight people, those eight people,” McCarthy said in reference to the Republicans who supported his removal as speaker. “They’re gonna say I did something that I didn’t do.”

Still, Johnson’s work is not done. He needs to pass individual spending bills that have stalled in the House.

“I’m not frustrated. This is part of the process. I’ve been on the job for less than three weeks, so I think we’ve got a great run and looking forward to the days ahead,” Johnson said Wednesday.

The House has canceled votes for the week and will not return until after Thanksgiving, according to a notice from Whip Tom Emmer. The chamber has been in session for 10 weeks straight.

Since Johnson took the gavel, he has struggled to move funding bills forward. GOP leadership pulled floor votes for two funding bills last week: transportation, housing, and urban development bill as well as financial services bill. On Wednesday, a group of 19 Republicans voted to kill a procedural motion to advance the Commerce, Justice, and Science funding bill.

ABC News’ John Parkinson, Justin Gomez and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House Ethics Committee will not recommend any punishment for embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos in a public report it plans to release later this week after a monthslong investigation, Chairman Michael Guest said Wednesday.

Instead, the panel will release its evidence and details of its work for members to review and make their own conclusion about whether Santos should be removed from Congress, Guest, a Mississippi Republican, said.

An investigative subcommittee has contacted at least 40 witnesses, reviewed 170,000 pages of documents and authorized more than three dozen subpoenas as part of its investigation into whether Santos “engaged in unlawful activity” in his 2022 House campaign.

In rare public comments about his committee’s work, Guest said that recommending action against Santos — such as expulsion — would’ve required a “much longer process.”

“The investigative subcommittee decided that they were going to compile the report, they would release the report to the, to the members, into the public, and based upon that, then our members can take whatever action that they felt necessary,” Guest said.

Ahead of the report’s expected release, Santos sounded defiant and reiterated to ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that he isn’t stepping down, having previously survived a vote for his expulsion.

“Like I said before, I’m staying in office for sure,” he said. “I will take whatever comes my way, the way it comes.”

Santos pleaded not guilty last month to a 23-count federal indictment including identity theft, wire fraud and lying to federal election officials.

He has separately been at the center of a string of controversies over exaggerations and lies he told about his background, though he has characterized those as more routine embellishments. He has also denied some of the claims, such as being accused of misappropriating money raised for a veteran’s sick dog.

Several other New York Republican members, having led the charge to remove Santos from Congress earlier this month, said Wednesday that they plan to push for his ouster once against when the House returns from the Thanksgiving recess.

“The substance in the report will drive other members to get to yes,” Rep. Nick LaLota told Scott.

Said Rep. Marc Molinaro: “The report is going to affirm and confirm what we already know: George Santos is a fraud; he should not be a member of Congress.”

In a speech defending himself ahead of the expulsion vote in early November, Santos said, “I’m fighting tooth and nail to clear my name in front of the entire world, Mr. Speaker. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m fighting by God’s grace.”

ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping on Wednesday were holding their first face-face meeting in more than a year amid tensions in the U.S.-China relationship.

Fort security reasons, the two leaders were holding talks at a private location in the San Francisco area near where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is being held this week.

The two men smiled and shook hands after Biden walked out to greet his Chinese counterpart and then the leaders immediately walked inside.

With the delegations seated around a large conference table, Biden said, “I value our conversation because I think it’s paramount that you understand each other clearly leader-to-leader with no misconceptions or miscommunication. We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.”

Noting their personal history, Biden expressed his appreciation for their “straightforward and frank” discussions in the past.

“We haven’t always agreed, which was not a surprise to anyone, but our meetings have always been candid, straightforward and useful. I’ve never doubted what you’ve told me in terms of your candid nature in which you speak,” Biden said.

He ended his remarks by telling Xi, “Welcome back.”

“For two large countries like China and United States, Turning our back on each other is not an option,” Xi told Biden in return, according to translation. “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides,” Xi continued, according to translation.

“It is an objective fact that China and the United States are different in history, culture, social system, and development paths,” he said. “However, as long as they respect each other, coexist in peace, and pursue win-win cooperation they will be fully capable of rising above differences, and find the right way for the two major countries to get along with each other. I firmly believe in a promising future of the bilateral relationship.”

“I look forward to to an in-depth exchange of views,” Xi said.

Cameras and reporters were then led out of the room.

Before leaving Washington, Biden said his goal was “to get back on a normal course of corresponding, being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another when there’s another crisis, being able to make sure our militaries still have contact with one another.”

Officials have said a key objective was to restore military-to-military communication that the Pentagon has said has essentially stopped amid incidents involving the nations’ ships and planes, with tensions around Taiwan especially concerning.

Other items on the summit agenda, U.S. officials say, include Biden expected to press China to use its leverage with Iran to persuade Tehran to stop its proxies from attacking U.S. forces in the Middle East and escalating the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Biden has also called on China not to supply weapons to Russia to aid in its invasion of Ukraine — and to press North Korea not to do so.

The talks, officials say, also may yield promises of cooperation in areas such as climate change and combatting the fentanyl trade.

President Biden was scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. EST after the meeting ends.

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

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(WASHINGTON) — When National Archives officials approached attorneys for President Joe Biden in the fall of 2022 seeking access to government records he still had in his possession — some of which, they had learned, might contain classified information — the archivists appeared to face little resistance.

“In terms of taking custody to any papers, yes, we are prepared to facilitate whatever access you need to accomplish NARA taking custody of whatever materials it seems appropriate,” wrote Patrick Moore, a onetime personal attorney for the president, at the time.

Other correspondence between Biden’s lawyers and the National Archives in November 2022 includes equally cooperative sentiments: Moore repeatedly used expressions such as “at your convenience,” and “I can be reached any time on my cell.”

Moore facilitated a search of the Washington, D.C.-based Penn Biden Center for National Archives staff, according to emails. He even helped them secure entry and parking at the facility.

“We can have access to the Penn Biden Center at your convenience tomorrow from just after 9 am through 4 pm or so (though we may ask the Center to facilitate access beyond that time if needed — these were just the times initially communicated to me),” Moore wrote in a Nov. 8, 2022, email to National Archives officials. “If Wednesday is preferred, we can facilitate that, too.”

The same day, emails show, Moore helped coordinate the transportation of nine additional boxes from his Boston law office to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library for safekeeping.

Those messages and others emerged Monday as part of a new batch of records related to the government’s earliest efforts to determine whether Biden had inappropriately retained classified information when he left the vice presidency in 2017.

The National Archives’ efforts later evolved into a special counsel investigation led by former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur, which remains ongoing. ABC News previously reported that Hur has interviewed as many as 100 witnesses in the probe, including President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The newly released records further demonstrate the contrast in how Biden’s team handled inquiries from the archivists compared to his predecessor, Donald Trump, who allegedly resisted government efforts to retrieve documents that could include closely guarded national secrets.

Federal prosecutors have accused Trump of deliberately withholding records he knew to be classified from investigators with the National Archives and later the FBI. Special counsel Jack Smith in June filed a 37-count indictment against Trump related to the matter, to which Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Trump has sought to link his circumstances to Biden’s by trying to draw an equivalence between their conduct and calling his prosecution the result of a justice system improperly targeting Republicans.

But the records released Monday by the National Archives add to a growing body of evidence showing that the former president and the current president handled government outreach in completely different manners.

Sarah Isgur, a former Department of Justice spokesperson, said “one big difference” between Trump’s and Biden’s legal situation has to do with the discrepancy in their cooperation.

“There would be no classified documents probe if Trump had simply given back the documents after they were discovered at Mar-a-Lago,” said Isgur, now an ABC News contributor.

“Biden’s team clearly hopes cooperation will bolster their defense that this was all inadvertent,” Isgur said. “But for Trump, it’s part of his political and legal strategy at this point to fight back on all fronts. Cooperation may have been legally wise a year ago, but at this point, the cake is baked.”

The government’s efforts to retrieve the documents held by Trump began in early 2022 when officials with the National Archives said they had retrieved 15 boxes of presidential records that Trump had “improperly” taken to his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House.

The former president had allegedly refused to give back some additional boxes to the Archives, according to an indictment filed by the special counsel, and at least on one occasion allegedly asked staff to not look for any classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump was then subpoenaed for the return of additional documents authorities said he still possessed, but prosecutors say that he rebuffed those overtures.

In June 2022, federal agents visited Mar-a-Lago to search for additional materials, after which prosecutors said an attorney for Trump signed a statement attesting that all classified documents at Mar-a-Lago had been turned over to federal investigators.

Two months later, FBI agents raided the South Florida estate and found more than 100 additional documents with classified markings that had not been turned over.

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