Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said on Monday he had told Israel he had concerns about conditions at and around the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza where its forces are fighting with Hamas.

“I have not been reluctant in expressing my concerns about what’s going on and it’s my hope and expectation that it will be less intrusive action relative to the hospital,” Biden said.

“So, I remain somewhat hopeful but the hospital must be protected,” he said.

On Monday morning, a Doctors Without Borders surgeon working at Gaza’s largest hospital said when an ambulance was sent outside the hospital gate to bring in patients, the ambulance was attacked.

The U.S. and Israel have said Hamas is using Gaza hospitals as command posts.

Expanding on Biden’s comments at the daily White House press briefing, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, despite the growing concerns in Gaza, the U.S. is confident from conversations with Israel that they “hold similar positions.”

He specifically said both countries agree that there should be no “firefights” in hospitals.

“What the president has just said, and what I’ve said, is that we do not want to see firefights in hospitals. We want to see patients protected, we want to see hospitals protected. We have spoken with Israeli government about this, and they have said they share that view, that they do not want to see firefights in hospitals, and you’ve heard, from IDF (Israel Defense Forces) spokespeople stating things along those lines,” Sullivan said.

He also said the U.S. is continuing to work on getting fuel to hospitals and allowing evacuations from hospitals, if patients are in danger. All of those positions have been echoed by Israel, Sullivan said.

“So, these are positions that, for us, are straightforward, they are clear. We have a constructive discussion with the Israeli government on this and I believe that they have indicated they hold similar positions on these issues,” he said.

But he allowed for the possibility that what plays out on the ground is different.

“Now, as for what happens on the ground, you know, in a given hour, on a given day, we can’t react to every individual report, we can simply continue to state our position and continue to consult with the Israeli government to ensure that they are doing their best to fulfill their stated position on this,” he said.

While the White House is emphasizing the need to protect civilians in and around Gaza’s hospitals, two administration officials said the U.S. has intelligence supporting Israel’s assessment that Hamas is using Al-Shifa to shelter a command center under the medical complex — further complicating the situation on the ground.

Like other administration officials, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller declined to weigh in on Hamas’ operations surrounding Al-Shifa specifically and underscored that regardless of the terror groups’ activities, these centers were still serving vital civilian needs and must be safeguarded.

“We don’t want to see hospitals be the subject of crossfire. We want to see the civilians who are sheltering in hospitals, the civilians who are being treated in hospitals, including babies in hospitals, be protected. Hospitals are legitimate civilian infrastructure; they should be protected. At the same time, I would say Hamas continues to use hospitals as locations for its command posts,” Miller said. “This is a very difficult issue.”

Miller also stressed that Hamas bore responsibility for the suffering at hospitals.

“We would love to see Hamas vacate the hospitals it’s using [as] command posts immediately. We would love to see all the people that are calling for Israel to take steps to protect hospitals call for Hamas to vacate the hospitals and stop using civilians as human shields. We would love to see Hamas take some of the fuel reserves it’s sitting on and use that to supply hospitals in northern Gaza. We would love to see Hamas have taken the fuel that Israel offered it yesterday that they declined for use at Al Shifa Hospital,” he said.

Since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Oct. 7, more than 1,200 have been killed in Israel, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. And more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump vowed this weekend to “root out” his political opponents, who he said “live like vermin” as he warned supporters that America’s greatest threats come “from within” — extreme rhetoric that echoes the words of fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, experts and Trump’s critics said.

A Trump campaign spokesman dismissed the backlash to his speech, at a Veterans Day rally in New Hampshire, but some historians said the parallels were alarming.

“To call your opponent ‘vermin,’ to dehumanize them, is to not only open the door but to walk through the door toward the most ghastly kinds of crimes,” writer and historian Jon Meacham said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Speaking to a packed crowd inside Stevens High School auditorium in Claremont, New Hampshire, on Saturday, Trump, who is seeking a second term in the White House, said: “We will put America first and today, especially in honor of our great veterans on Veterans Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

He accused these groups of doing anything “to destroy America and to destroy the American dream” and he went on to repeat his baseless claims of election fraud.

A major theme of the rally was “peace through strength,” and Trump boasted of his own leadership on the world stage in comparison to President Joe Biden.

“The real threat is not from the radical right. The real threat is from the radical left,” he told attendees, drawing shouts of agreement. “It’s growing every day, every single day. The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within. Because if you have a capable, competent, smart, tough leader — Russia, China, North Korea, they’re not gonna want to play with us.”

Just before he took the stage on Saturday afternoon, Trump posted a similar message on his social media platform.

The comments received immediate pushback, both from critics who have long challenged Trump’s habit of attacking others with hyperbolic insults and from historians who said his latest remarks had an unsettling resemblance to those of infamous authoritarians.

“Please tell us if this reminds you of any earlier historical figure,” NBC’s presidential historian Michael Beschloss wrote on X.

“It doesn’t echo ‘Mein Kampf.’ This is textbook ‘Mein Kampf,'” Yale University professor Jason Stanley, author of “How Fascism Works,” said about Trump’s comments on MSNBC. Stanley was referring to a book published by Hitler before his rise to power.

“Trump’s comments are remarkably evocative particularly of Hitler’s rants against Marxists and socialists — Hitler also decried pro-democratic forces as Marxist,” Stanley told ABC News.

“In another regard, this is worse than Nazi propaganda,” he said. “Bear in mind that there was actually a communist anti-democratic threat in Europe in the 1920s and ’30s, and there is none in America today.”

In a statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung rejected the comparisons to Hitler and Mussolini.

“Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House,” Cheung said.

At the Veterans Day rally, while talking about legal challenges he’s facing, Trump also floated the possibility of retribution against his political enemies if he returns to the White House, though he said, “I don’t want to do that.”

He again suggested that the charges he faces in four criminal cases were brought for political reasons, though prosecutors have defended their work. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies all wrongdoing.

The Biden campaign, which has been ramping up their responses to Trump’s campaign trail activities, slammed his “vermin” rhetoric as championing “un-American ideas.”

“On a weekend when most Americans were honoring our nation’s heroes, Donald Trump parroted the autocratic language of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini – two dictators many U.S. veterans gave their lives fighting, in order to defeat exactly the kind of un-American ideas Trump now champions,” said campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa.

“Donald Trump thinks he can win by dividing our country. He’s wrong, and he’ll find out just how wrong next November,” Moussa said.

Last month, Trump faced outcry from critics when he said during an interview with The National Pulse, a right-wing website, that immigrants who are in the country without documentation are “poisoning the blood” of America. He repeated his longstanding claim that terrorists, criminals and those with mental illness are coming in through the borders.

A White House spokesperson in a statement to The Daily Beast at the time called the comment “abhorrent” and “dangerous,” saying, “The role of leaders is to bring people together; never to turn them against one another with divisive, self-serving poison.”

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel repeatedly refused to weigh in on Trump’s “vermin” comments when asked during her appearances on NBC and CNN’s Sunday news shows.

“I will say this: I know President Trump supports our veterans,” McDaniel said on “Meet the Press.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Some of the major Republican candidates not named Trump saw an opportunity in their party’s poor election performances last week: Blame the former president, their biggest rival in the 2024 race.

Elsewhere on the trail, Joe Biden sought to build some reelection buzz in South Carolina and Tim Scott brought his girlfriend, briefly, into the spotlight — and then promptly ended his White House bid.

Here are the campaign updates you may have missed.

GOP primary candidates weigh in on abortion, Tuesday’s results

Tuesday’s elections proved largely dismal for Republicans, continuing an off-year trend for conservatives since the Supreme Court struck down the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade. As Democrats won big in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Republican candidates for president sought to explain why.

For a few of them, there was one answer.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was frank in her assessment. Her campaign released a memo on Wednesday that rattled off the defeats and then concluded, in part: “Trump is a loser.”

Unsurprisingly, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, perhaps the primary’s loudest Trump critic, shared this sentiment. He blamed the GOP loss in the Kentucky gubernatorial race solely on Trump, insisting that state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the GOP candidate, was a “rising star” until he embraced the former president.

“Let’s face it, Donald Trump is political and electoral poison down-ballot,” Christie said on CNN.

“And the voters of Kentucky — very red state as you noted — gave their verdict on politicians who sell their soul to Donald Trump,” he said.

Trump, who has long boasted about the power of his endorsement, tried to distance himself from Cameron following the loss to Gov. Andy Beshear.

“Daniel Cameron lost because he couldn’t alleviate the stench of Mitch McConnell,” he posted on social media, referring to the Senate minority leader, who is not close with Trump.

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats and advocates were saying that abortion rights were fueling Republicans’ continued losses. Some GOP candidates agreed, though for a different reason.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at Wednesday’s primary debate that Republicans have not been effectively handling referenda in various states on abortion.

“You’ve got to be strategic about how you’re doing it, know the landscape that you’re dealing with,” he told NBC News in a post-debate interview. “But they’ve been getting their clock cleaned on the referenda. I think that’s a big problem.”

Haley, for her part, has reiterated that she is anti-abortion but has tried to offer what she calls a more pragmatic approach on the issue, acknowledging a federal ban is unlikely to pass Congress and that there should be compromise rather than division between the anti- and pro-abortion access sides.

Minn. Supreme Court dismisses Trump eligibility challenge

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Trump can remain on the state’s primary ballot after his eligibility was challenged under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

In the ruling, the court wrote: “We reach a different conclusion regarding petitioners’ claim that it would be error for the Secretary of State to place former President Trump’s name on the ballot for the 2024 general election ballot. That claim is neither ripe, nor is it ‘about to occur’ as section 204B.44(a) requires.”

The former president has harshly criticized the push by some advocates and voters to bar him from the 2024 election because of the 14th Amendment. Supporters of that theory claim he violated Section 3 of the amendment because of his actions around Jan. 6 and in attacking the 2020 election results. He denies all wrongdoing.

Trump’s campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, released a statement following the court’s ruling, calling it “further validation of the Trump Campaign’s consistent argument that the 14th Amendment ballot challenges are nothing more than strategic, un-Constitutional attempts to interfere with the election by desperate Democrats who see the writing on the wall: President Trump is dominating the polls and has never been in a stronger position to end the failed Biden presidency next November.”

Sen. Tim Scott’s mystery girlfriend revealed at GOP debate

Sen. Scott spent part of his presidential campaign fielding questions on his relationship status, given that he was the only unmarried candidate in the race and would have been the first never-married president in nearly 150 years.

In September, he opened up — a bit — about the “smart, Christian woman” he has been dating, whom he said was introduced through a friend.

But Scott was also vocal about his reluctance to bringing his girlfriend on the campaign with him. He told The Washington Post in September that he wouldn’t want to take her on the trail “unless I have the intention of marrying her.”

However, on Wednesday night, immediately following the debate, there she was: Scott’s girlfriend, Mindy Noce, appeared alongside him on stage. He said that the two have been dating for about a year.

The relatively silly headlines she made were soon dwarfed by more serious news: On Sunday, in a move that surprised even some of his campaign staffers, Scott said on Fox News that he was leaving the 2024 race. “I think I was called to run. I was not called to win,” he said.

The well-liked South Carolina senator had been struggling and he was last in 538’s average of national polls among the five people at the Wednesday debate, for which he barely qualified despite his high profile in his party and a significant amount of money raised.

With Scott’s exit, there are now four major candidates vying to be the Trump alternative.

On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to file on President Biden’s behalf for the Democrats’ first-in-the nation 2024 primary.

Harris spoke to voters alongside South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, whose endorsement of Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary is seen as having helped change the course of that race because Biden rallied to win a decisive victory in the state.

In her remarks, Harris emphasized the role of South Carolina in helping choose Biden as the party’s nominee the first time and encouraged the state to stick with him. He currently faces two long shot primary challengers, including Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, a former member of Democratic leadership, who has vowed to mount a serious run against the president.

“We have momentum. The wind is at our back,” Harris told attendees on Friday. “And so let us continue to do what we know how to do. This is a fight for, not against, and it is a fight born out of our sincere and deep love for our country and understanding what is at stake.”

The Democratic National Committee previously approved a new primary schedule for this election, making South Carolina the first election in the country — over New Hampshire, sparking controversy there — in an effort, officials said, to spotlight parts of the country that are more representative of their diverse base.

ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Libby Cathey, Julia Cherner Abby Cruz, Hannah Demissie, Fritz Farrow, Lalee Ibssa, Nicholas Kerr, Soo Rin Kim, Will McDuffie and Kendall Ross contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House is set to vote Tuesday on a plan newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson has pitched to avert a looming government shutdown — yet enough of his Republican hard-liners have now said they’ll oppose the funding measure that he’ll have to rely on Democratic votes to pass it.

Johnson told his GOP conference over the weekend that he is moving forward with a two-step government plan that he has described as a “laddered CR” or continuing resolution that would keep the government funded at 2023 levels.

Now it looks as if Johnson will have to look across the aisle to pass his plan since six Republicans have publicly said they won’t vote for it. Reps. Bob Good of Virginia, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Chip Roy of Texas, George Santos of New York and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania have all indicated they will not support Johnson’s plan on the floor.

With a slim GOP majority, Johnson can afford to lose only a handful of Republican votes if all members are present. Democratic leaders are not taking an official position just yet on Johnson’s government funding plan, saying in a letter Monday that they are “carefully evaluating” it.

On Monday, Senate leadership seemed to back Johnson’s short-term funding plan. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the floor in separate but similar speeches about Johnson’s proposal.

“For now, I am pleased that Speaker Johnson seems to be moving in our direction by advancing a CR that does not include the highly partisan cuts that Democrats have warned against,” Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. “The speaker’s proposal is far from perfect, but the most important thing is that it refrains from making steep cuts, while also extending funding for defense in the second tranche of bills.”

Schumer warned Johnson to hold firm against conservatives in his conference who will surely complain that the short-term funding bill does not include budget cuts.

“I hope Speaker Johnson recognizes that he will need support from Democrats in both chambers if he wants to … avoid causing a shutdown. He needs to stay away from poison pills and steep hard right cuts for that to happen,” Schumer added.

McConnell also spoke on the Senate floor, saying he backs the proposal and will urge his Republican colleagues to vote for it.

“House Republicans have produced a responsible measure that will keep the lights on, avoid harmful left in government funding, and provide the time and space to finish their important work. I’ll support their continuing resolution and encourage my colleagues to do the same,” McConnell said.

Johnson’s financial plan is his first major test as speaker since he was elected last month after the historic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Johnson is facing a similar challenge as McCarthy: working to pass a clean CR while carefully maneuvering between moderates and hard-liners in his conference. He also finds 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.

The laddered CR has two different deadlines to keep different parts of the government functioning: Jan. 19 and Feb. 2. If the House passes the plan, the Senate would then have to act by Friday night to avert a shutdown.

“The bill will stop the absurd holiday-season omnibus tradition of massive, loaded up spending bills introduced right before the Christmas recess,” Johnson said in a statement. “Separating out the CR from the supplemental funding debates places our conference in the best position to fight for fiscal responsibility, oversight over Ukraine aid, and meaningful policy changes at our Southern border.”

The proposal has been panned by several from his own party.

“I am opposed to the CR that has been proposed, because it contains no spending reductions, no border security, & no policy wins for the American people,” Good posted to X.
Davidson said the plan Johnson proposed has “status quo policies, and status quo funding levels.”

“Disappointing is as polite as I can muster. I will be voting NO,” Davidson posted to X. “Hopefully, the consensus will result in a more reasonable bill.”

Several Democrats — including Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut — have indicated they will vote no on Johnson’s plan. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has not yet said how the conference is being instructed to vote.

A letter from Democratic leaders, Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar on Monday said House Democrats have reservations about the laddered CR.

“While House Republicans have abandoned a laddered funding approach with multiple expiration dates, we remain concerned with the bifurcation of the continuing resolution in January and February 2024,” the letter states.

“We will proceed this week through the lens of making progress for everyday Americans by continuing to put people over politics,” the leaders continued in the letter.

Last week, Jeffries threw cold water on the idea of laddered CR, but has made it clear the government shutdown must be averted.

“We must keep the government open and stop the extremists from hurting America’s economy,” Jeffries posted to X on Friday.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday released a formal “Code of Conduct” for the justices, responding to years of criticism that the nation’s highest court does not have transparent or enforceable ethics guidelines.

The 8-page code, which significantly mirrors a code of conduct for lower federal court judges, details the expectations that justices should “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety” in their actions on and off the bench.

All nine current justices signed the code.

In a statement accompanying the code, the court said it was aimed at dispelling a “misunderstanding” that the justices have long been operating “unrestricted” by any rules.

Chief Justice John Roberts has asked court officials to review internal oversight mechanisms that ensure compliance with the code and determine whether additional steps need to be taken.

“For example, some district courts and courts of appeals have deployed software to run automated recusal checks on newcase filings,” a commentary attached to the code explained. “The Court will assess whether it needs additional resources in its Clerk’s Office or Office of Legal Counsel to perform initial and ongoing review of recusal and other ethics issues.”

Financial disclosure compliance by the justices will continue to be overseen by the Court’s Office of Legal Counsel and the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts’ Financial Disclosure Committee.

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

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(NEW YORK) — Republican Tim Scott said Sunday night he is suspending his presidential campaign.

Scott made the announcement on “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy” on Fox News.

“When I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign. I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that — they’re telling me, ‘Not now, Tim,'” Scott said.

Scott’s campaign canceled his entire Iowa swing over the weekend due to flu, but they seemed to remain positive over the pursuit to get him the GOP nomination for president. Earlier Sunday, the campaign had confirmed to ABC News that Scott would attend Bob Vander Plaats’ Family Leader Thanksgiving Forum later in the week.

Scott started the interview with Gowdy on Sunday night, telling the host he was getting better after “drinking a lot of water” the past few days.

“But I was looking forward to getting back on the campaign trail without any questions,” he said, adding, “I love America more today than I did on May 22,” before making the announcement.

Scott went on to say he respected the voters’ decision at present.

“And I’m gonna hold on and keep working really hard and look forward to another opportunity,” he added.

Scott began his campaign on May 22 at his alma mater, Charleston Southern University in South Carolina, with nearly $22 million left over from his Senate campaign and endorsements from Sens. Mike Rounds and John Thune. He launched the campaign on what he said was an “optimistic message.”

Raised in poverty in North Charleston, South Carolina, Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, often talked about how his grandfather picked cotton to get by. “From cotton to Congress” is what he called his rise through politics. He would ultimately become a senator after spending two years in the House of Representatives before being appointed to the Senate by current GOP presidential candidate and former Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley. Scott has said he believes his story disproved “the lies of the radical left.”

During his presidential campaign, Scott attracted big donors over the summer during a six-state fundraising swing, which culminated in his super PAC, Trust in the Mission, announcing an impressive $40 million ad-buy for the fall.

But during the first debate in Milwaukee, Scott ultimately missed his moment – often fading into the background without being able to get a word in between the other candidates. He wasn’t able to stand out, and voters noticed.

This was perhaps the beginning of the end for Scott’s campaign. Questions began to arise from political pundits and voters alike on whether or not he was “too nice” to become president.

As a result, Scott began to work on his image. He went after former President Donald Trump, Gov. DeSantis and Haley for their stances on abortion. But he still was unable to gain traction. Scott began to fall even lower in national polls according to 538’s average in September.

Scott managed to somewhat improve his debate performance, but it wasn’t enough. On Oct. 7, after Hamas attacked Israel, his campaign found it hard to break through the news. Although he had some of the strongest language against the attack out of his fellow candidates, Scott’s message remained unheard. His polling numbers began hovering below 2%.

His super PAC announced they were pulling his fall ad buys on Oct. 16, and his campaign announced they were pulling all of his resources from South Carolina and New Hampshire to go “all in” on Iowa.

“No candidate other than Tim Scott has the resources, the foundation of support and the message to be successful in the Hawkeye State. We’re all in on Iowa as an important first step on the road to winning the nomination,” campaign manager Jennifer DeCasper previously said in a statement.

They began doubling their staff and rented a new office in West Des Moines, Iowa. But the momentum never came. Their campaign was plagued with rumors that they would not make the third debate. They had sent out a letter to the Republican National Committee requesting leaders of the organization change how they determine who takes center stage and what qualifications were considered to make it to the third debate.

“Given the substantial focus on ‘carve out’ states, the polling data from these states more accurately reflects how well candidates resonate with voters compared to national polling. Consequently, Republican debates should more fairly reward and represent early state efforts,” wrote DeCasper.

Although Scott was polling in the single digits nationally, at the time, he was in third place in Iowa and South Carolina.

The junior senator barely made it to the debate in Miami, and although Scott managed to have the most speaking time, he didn’t make new inroads with voters. According to 538, Scott had the third-worst performance of the night. His most memorable moment was the introduction of his much-talked-about girlfriend, Mindy Noce.

Although he barely made it to the third debate, Scott’s path to the fourth one in Alabama seemed highly unlikely. He needed to be at 6% to meet the RNC’s polling threshold.

But initially, the campaign trudged on – announcing a swing of six events in Iowa as a part of his plan to visit the state every week until the caucus in January. The only event he would make it to, however, was a dinner with the Real Estate Developers Association in Des Moines, where only four attendees asked the South Carolina Senator questions.

His campaign would ultimately cancel their full swing of events just two hours before the first one was set to begin. It’s worth noting that the first event, a meet-and-greet at Pizza Ranch in Carroll, Iowa, was two hours away from Des Moines, where most reporters were coming from, leaving reporters to make the two-hour drive without notice of its cancelation. It was a telltale sign of the end.

Scott remained quiet over the weekend, but ultimately, to the surprise of Sunday night Fox News host Trey Gowdy, he suspended his campaign. Scott’s inability to find and seize his moment ultimately halted what began as a campaign flush with cash and full of optimism.

Ironically just eight minutes before he appeared on Gowdy, Scott’s campaign sent out a fundraising email with a subject line that read “One last chance.”

Scott did not indicate who he would endorse. He has said he will not run for another term in the Senate. Scott also told Gowdy he has no plans to be someone’s vice president. He didn’t rule out running when he had “another opportunity,” though.

“I believe that I could have taken this country to new heights with a great unity on conservative principles. Optimism comes from being tough,” he said. “I think I was called to run. I was not called to win.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. remains committed to “ongoing negotiations” for the release of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza as officials work to find nine Americans still missing in the wake of the extremist group’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, the White House’s national security adviser said on Sunday.

“There are ongoing negotiations involving the Israelis, the Qataris, and we, the United States, are actively engaged in this as well because we want to make sure that we bring home those Americans who have been taken hostage as well as all of the other hostages,” Jake Sullivan told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.

Pressed by Karl on the total number of hostages, Sullivan said America doesn’t have a “precise number.”

“We know the number of missing and that’s the number the Israelis have given. But we don’t know how many of those are still alive,” Sullivan said. “As far as the Americans are concerned, there are nine missing American citizens as well as a missing legal permanent [resident], a green card holder.”

Sullivan continued: “That’s the number that we are trying to ensure the safe return of, and we have been engaging with the families. In fact, I will personally be seeing family members of the American hostages this coming week.”

Karl also asked Sullivan if the U.S. believes Hamas’ claim that a number of hostages were killed in Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza.

“Well, first, we don’t take anything Hamas says at face value, but we have no information that can either corroborate or counteract that,” Sullivan replied. “So as I said before, we simply don’t know how many of the hostages are still alive, how many have been mistreated, how many Hamas itself has killed just as it slaughtered hundreds and hundreds of people when it conducted those gruesome and horrific terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.”

According to the Associated Press, Israeli officials said Saturday that “around 1,200” were killed by Hamas militants in the terrorist attack just over a month ago. That total was revised from an earlier figure of about 1,400.

In a separate appearance on “This Week,” Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., spoke about their recent trip to Israel, where they met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to the interview.

“We engaged in a very thoughtful conversation about the need for Congress to pass aid to Israel and our support and our commitment to our closest ally in the region,” Lawler said.

Moskowitz also touched on the efforts to find the captives in Gaza. “There are not a lot of good options. The hostages are in a number of places, some are in the tunnels, some are not in the tunnels,” he said, later adding, “They’re working on several plans to locate the hostages. I don’t want to go into details of that, but obviously, that is a top priority.”

Sullivan, in his interview, was asked if medical facilities in Gaza, like the Al-Shifa hospital now at the center of some of the fighting, have become legitimate military targets considering Israel says Hamas has built tunnels underneath them in order to operate.

Sullivan said the U.S. does not want to see a “firefight” break out at any hospital but he stressed that there are many publicly available indications that Hamas uses civilian areas “to store weapons, for command and control, to house its fighters.”

He called that “a violation of the laws of war.”

Nonetheless, Sullivan said the United States doesn’t want a situation “where innocent people, helpless people, people seeking medical care are caught in the crossfire.”

“This just points [to] how difficult this military operation is, because Israel has an added burden given the way that Hamas operates — but it does not lessen their responsibility to protect civilians,” he added.

Israeli military officials have maintained that they do not target hospitals and have said they’re taking steps to help patients leave Al-Shifa.

More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the death toll was already too high

“Far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks, and we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them,” Blinken said after a multi-day trip to the region. “To that end, we’ll be continuing to discuss with Israel concrete steps that can be taken to advance these objectives.”

Sullivan on Sunday was pressed by Karl on whether Israel was doing enough to prevent civilian casualties, referencing Blinken’s comments. Sullivan reiterated that concerns for civilians have been impressed upon the Israelis by President Joe Biden, Blinken and himself.

“The loss of a single innocent life is a tragedy, whether it’s Palestinian or Israeli or anyone and we grieve for every lost innocent,” Sullivan told Karl. “We believe in the sanctity of life.”

“And so they are taking measures to try to go after the terrorists. It’s their obligation to do so in a way that separates the terrorists from innocent Palestinian civilians,” Sullivan said.

Moskowitz and Lawler, in their own interview, said that Israel had a right to defend itself against Hamas. While Lawler said humanitarian relief should be provided, he supported Israel’s expansive military operations in Gaza against Hamas.

“For those calling for a cease-fire, they totally misunderstand the situation here,” he said. “Hamas is not someone, some organization that is going to abide by a cease-fire. They are hell-bent on eradicating the state of Israel.”

Looking to the future, however, Sullivan said the conflict should not end with an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza.

“We will work with all of our partners, with the Israelis, with countries in the Arab world and especially with the Palestinians, so that they can have a voice in what the future governance of both the West Bank and Gaza look like,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Despite losing the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump came to believe a fringe conspiracy theory that he could be reinstated long after leaving office and before the next election, a new book by ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl reveals.

Trump has long publicly aired his grievances over the last presidential election, frequently repeating false claims that it was “stolen.” But as Karl reports in his new book, “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party,” Trump became fixated on a far-right theory that he could actually replace President Joe Biden.

The idea was not based in law and was clearly unconstitutional, but it was supported by some of Trump’s most devout followers, MyPillow CEO Michael Lindell chief among them.

Lindell had claimed that Trump would be able to move back into the White House on Aug. 13, 2021. He promised to reveal terabytes of “evidence” during a three-day symposium he hosted in South Dakota in the lead-up to that deadline. He said the “evidence” would prove mass vote-flipping executed by Chinese hackers.

The evidence, however, did not exist. But Trump was enthralled.

In June of 2021, the former president put out an otherwise typical statement that included the phrase “2024 or before!” at the end.

In a phone call the next month, Karl pressed Trump on what he meant by that.

“You don’t really think there’s a way you would get reinstated before the next election?” Karl asked Trump.

“I’m not going to explain it to you, Jonathan, because you wouldn’t — you wouldn’t either understand it or write it,” Trump said, according to audio of the call.

Karl learned while reporting for his new book that Trump was talking in private a lot about the baseless notion of being reinstated — so much so that some of his advisers were concerned he actually believed he could somehow force Biden out of the White House before the next election.

Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, who in October pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case for making false statements about election fraud, publicly refuted the idea in May 2021.

She tweeted: “The Constitution has only one process for removal of a sitting president: impeachment and conviction. No, President Trump is not going to be ‘reinstated.'”

The theory was even too much for one of Trump’s staunchest congressional allies.

Former Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., was the first lawmaker in December 2020 to announce plans to challenge the congressional certification of Biden’s victory and spoke — while donning body armor — at Trump’s rally immediately preceding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

His steadfast support of the 2020 election lies earned Brooks Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 Alabama Senate Republican primary.

However, by the summer of 2021, Brooks changed his tune and encouraged Trump supporters to move past the 2020 election fraud claims.

“There are some people who are despondent about the voter fraud and election theft in 2020. Folks, put that behind you. Put that behind you,” he said in August 2021, prompting boos — and chants of “fix it now!” — from a hometown crowd in Cullman, Alabama.

Months after Brooks suggested voters move on from the election fraud claims, Trump called him with multiple election-related demands, Brooks told Karl earlier this year. Among them: “He asked me to publicly state that Donald Trump should be allowed to move back into the White House, reinstated as president.”

Brooks said he refused and that his refusal led to Trump retaliating by rescinding his endorsement of Brooks the same month. Brooks went on to lose the primary to now-Sen. Katie Britt.

Karl asked Brooks if he thought Trump really believed he could be reinstated.

“I sure hope not,” Brooks told Karl. “Because if he truly believed that, then he was way outside the bounds of reality.”

Karl’s “Tired of Winning” will be published Tuesday.

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(WASHINGTON) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Sunday urged West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a fellow Democrat, not to run for president as a third-party candidate next year, claiming such a bid has no chance of succeeding.

“My message to Joe Manchin is I thank him for his service. I think he’s had a career of distinguished service,” Moore told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, adding, “I would urge him not to mar his legacy by getting involved in something so foolish.”

On Thursday, Manchin announced he would not seek another term in the Senate but would remain involved in politics, including by “traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle.”

That has only fueled speculation he might join the group No Labels as it considers mounting a bipartisan “unity” ticket in the 2024 presidential race.

Manchin has not publicly ruled out a White House bid and a source close to him recently told ABC News that “nothing is off the table.” No Labels said in its own statement that the group was “gathering input from our members across the country” and would decide by early next year on whether to mount a campaign.

Moore, on “This Week,” had sharp words for that plan.

“No Labels … has no path, has no policy platform. They don’t even have a candidate,” he said.

“What No Labels is, it’s a configuration made up of dark money that won’t disclose its donors but is, frankly, just going to simply hand an election off by being able to not actually come up with solutions, which is continuing to throw wood into this flame of disillusionment,” he said. (No Labels has said it doesn’t share its donors because of concerns they could face unnecessary attacks.)

Manchin, Senate Democrats’ most conservative member, emerged as a key dealmaker with President Joe Biden while their party held a 50-seat majority in the chamber. His retirement all but guarantees Republicans will flip his seat, given West Virginia’s political leanings.

But the mounting chatter about Manchin’s future outside the Senate comes amid Democratic handwringing over Biden’s poor ratings with the public, with a spate of polls released last week showing him trailing former President Donald Trump in several swing states.

Surveys have also consistently shown Americans feel Biden is too old for another term.

Moore was asked by Karl about the concerns over Biden’s age, but he played them down. He boosted the president instead, touting Biden’s record on infrastructure and cautioning that the election is still 12 months away.

“I think when you’re looking at polls a year out, they aren’t worth the paper that they are written on,” the governor said.

“We are actually rebuilding things in a bipartisan way. And when you think about what people are asking for, bipartisan leadership that can get things … that’s President Biden, and I think that will show up in the election for next year,” Moore contended.

“This is about performance, not personalities,” Moore said of Biden, “and that’s why his performance is the reason that I believe deeply that the American people will give him a second term.”

Moore also pointed to Tuesday’s election results across the country, when Democrats won key races in Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia and elsewhere — despite Biden’s widespread unpopularity — because voters are “motivated by the issues of actually things getting done in a bipartisan way.”

In particular, Democratic wins in Virginia’s legislative races were a “complete repudiation” of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Moore said, referencing Youngkin’s heavy involvement and push for a 15-week abortion ban with exceptions.

Karl pressed Moore on whether he worried about any other third-party candidates running against Biden, including Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Robert Kennedy Jr., who recently left the Democratic Party, and Cornel West.

Moore insisted he wasn’t bothered.

“I think what President Biden is going to continue to show is that results do matter. It’s one thing to say we’re going to rail against the system and it’s another thing to actually work to make systems better,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — With just six days until a government shutdown, newly-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson is pitching Republicans Saturday on his plan to avert a shutdown.

Johnson told the Republican lawmakers on a conference call that he is moving forward with a two-step government funding plan in what Johnson described as a “laddered CR” or continuing resolution, multiple sources tell ABC News. Notably, funding for Israel, Ukraine or border security are not attached to the must-pass legislation.

“This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories. The bill will stop the absurd holiday-season omnibus tradition of massive, loaded up spending bills introduced right before the Christmas recess. Separating out the CR from the supplemental funding debates places our conference in the best position to fight for fiscal responsibility, oversight over Ukraine aid, and meaningful policy changes at our Southern border,” Johnson said in a statement.

How the bill would work, however, is a bit complicated.

Congress often passes a short-term funding bill or stopgap measure, known as a CR, to keep the government open at current spending levels. This is the option that Congress used just a few weeks ago to avoid a shutdown.

But Johnson says that’s not on the table.

Instead, he’s pushing a plan that would set two different deadlines to keep different parts of the government functioning, sources on the call told ABC News. The legislative text obtained by ABC News confirms two separate extensions for different chunks of the federal government just two weeks apart — Jan. 19 and Feb. 2.

When pitching this plan, Johnson mentioned he has only been on the job for a few weeks, adding he wasn’t the “architect of the mess we’re in,” sources familiar with the appeal said.

Johnson is in the same boat that sunk former Speaker Kevin McCarthy — with a narrow majority that tests his leadership at every corridor of the Capitol. Absent a far-right revolt, a vote in the House could occur as soon as Tuesday, maximizing pressure on the Senate to act ahead of the Nov. 17 deadline.

Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries have insisted that Republicans move forward with a so-called “clean CR,” funding government at fiscal year 2022 spending levels set before Democrats lost control of the House.

This measure does not challenge that spending level, which has already upset Republicans like Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who is signaling his opposition on X.

“My opposition to the clean CR just announced by the Speaker to the CR cannot be overstated,” Roy posted. “Funding Pelosi level spending & policies for 75 days – for future ‘promises.'”

The package also includes a one-year extension of the Farm Bill.

Johnson signaled Saturday that he is content moving other policies forward with standalone votes. House Republicans passed a $14.3 billion package to aide Israel earlier this month, but President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats have scoffed at the lower chamber’s proposed cuts to the IRS.

The current deadline to pass a plan is the end of the day next Friday, Nov. 17. The House left for the week on Thursday — leaving just a few days for deals to be made when House lawmakers return on Monday.

The House Rules Committee will meet at 4 p.m. to set up a floor debate and a potential vote as soon as Tuesday.

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