(NEW YORK) — Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who also served in Congress and as secretary of the Department of Energy in the Clinton administration, has died, according to the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the organization founded by Richardson to promote international peace and dialogue. He was 75.
Richardson died at his summer home in Chatham, Massachusetts, the organization said.
“Governor Richardson passed away peacefully in his sleep last night. He lived his entire life in the service of others – including both his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad,” Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center, said in a statement Saturday.
Richardson began his career as a congressional staffer, before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and running unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1982, he was elected to New Mexico’s newly formed Third Congressional District. Richardson served in the House until 1997 when he was appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He later served as Secretary of Energy from 1998 to 2000.
He was elected governor of New Mexico in 2002. His accomplishments as governor, according to the Richardson Center, included improving the state’s job numbers and boosting economic development by bringing the movie industry to New Mexico, which resulted in more than 140 major film and TV productions. He also built a light-rail system from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, and partnered with Virgin Galactic to build a commercial spaceport.
In 2008, he sought the Democratic nomination for president, dropping out after Iowa and New Hampshire.
After serving two terms as governor, Richardson turned his attention to global conflict resolution and prisoner release. The Richardson Center, founded in 2011, is credited with successfully negotiating the release of hostages and political prisoners in North Korea, Colombia, Sudan, Cuba and Iraq.
Richardson was involved with recent efforts to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner and U.S. Marine Trevor Reed.
For his work as a diplomat and prisoner negotiator, Richardson was nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Richardson also co-founded the Foundation to Preserve New Mexico Wildlife with actor Robert Redford.
“I’m sad to hear of former NM Gov Bill Richardson’s passing,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who previously served as a U.S. representative from New Mexico, said in a statement Saturday. “He was a champion for Tribes, elevating Indian Affairs to a cabinet level. He helped me ensure Native students received in-state tuition. He was true friend and one of our country’s valued diplomats.”
Richardson was born in Pasadena, California, and grew up in Mexico City and in Concord, Massachusetts. His parents were of Mexican descent. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and French from Tufts in 1970 and a master’s degree from Tuft’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1971.
Richardson is survived by his wife, Barbara, and a daughter.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Efforts to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment are gaining momentum as election officials in key states are preparing for or starting to respond to legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy.
The argument to disqualify Trump from appearing on primary or general election ballots in 2024 boils down to Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states that an elected official is not eligible to assume public office if that person “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States, or had “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.
Several advocacy groups have said that Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, fit that criteria — that he directly engaged in an insurrection. The legal theory has been pursued, unsuccessfully, against a few other elected Republicans; arguing their actions around Jan. 6 and support for overturning the 2020 election results amounted to the disqualifying behavior.
Trump has denied any involvement in the attack on the Capitol.
“Joe Biden, Democrats, and Never Trumpers are scared to death because they see polls showing President Trump winning in the general election,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Chung told ABC News in a statement. “The people who are pursuing this absurd conspiracy theory and political attack on President Trump are stretching the law beyond recognition much like the political prosecutors in New York, Georgia, and DC. There is no legal basis for this effort … “
The push to disqualify Trump under this constitutional clause gained more traction when two members of the conservative Federalist Society, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, recently supported the idea in the pages of the Pennsylvania Law Review. Following the Baude and Paulsen article, retired conservative federal appeals judge J. Michael Luttig and Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Laurence Tribe made the same argument in The Atlantic.
Now, threats of filings against Trump under this clause are gaining steam in a number of states, including New Hampshire and Arizona and in Michigan, a lawsuit to disqualify Trump was filed on Monday. Secretaries of state say they have started to take steps to prepare for the possibility of administering elections without the current GOP front-runner.
In an interview with ABC News, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said that she and other secretaries of state from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire and Maine started having conversations over a year ago about preparing for the legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy.
“I’m talking every day with colleagues about this, we’re all recognizing that our decisions that we make may in some cases be the first but won’t be the last and there may be multiple decision points throughout the course of the election cycle,” Benson said. “So, I think the public needs to be prepared for this to be an ongoing issue that is it has several resolution points and evolutions points throughout the cycle.”
But as conversations grow around the use of the 14th Amendment provision, some legal scholars and election officials are increasingly concerned about the practicality of the emerging lawsuits.
“The most difficult aspects of the litigation that the challenges to Trump’s eligibility will generate probably aren’t so much substantive as they are procedural,” Tribe wrote in an email to ABC News, noting that there is a lack of clarity about who has standing to bring the challenges.
“You can be sure that many secretaries of state, advised by many legal experts from across the ideological spectrum, are now studying the details of the legislative regimes in place in their respective states for dealing with challenges to the eligibility of candidates aspiring to become president,” he continued.
New Hampshire secretary of state conferring with attorney general
Bryant “Corky” Messner, a lawyer who lives in New Hampshire and was previously endorsed by Trump during his 2020 Senate run in the state, announced last week that he had begun the steps to challenge Trump’s eligibility to appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot.
New Hampshire’s Secretary of State Office confirmed to ABC News that Messner met with Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, last Friday to discuss Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The Secretary of State office also confirmed that it was flooded with calls from supporters of Trump on Monday, after conservative activist and host Charlie Kirk claimed that the state was trying to keep Trump off the ballot.
That office, and the attorney general’s, then released a joint statement clarifying that they have not taken any actions to prevent Trump from appearing on the primary ballot.
“Neither the Secretary of State’s Office nor the Attorney General’s Office has taken any position regarding the potential applicability of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to the upcoming presidential election cycle,” their statement reads.
The statement also said that Scanlan has asked the state’s attorney general to advise his office “regarding the meaning of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the provision’s potential applicability to the upcoming presidential election cycle.”
Michigan fields its first 14th Amendment lawsuit
Robert Davis — widely known in Michigan as a citizen activist who serially sues state politicians — on Monday filed a lawsuit that urges Secretary of State Benson to declare Trump is ineligible to run for office.
Davis asked Benson to make a decision on Trump’s candidacy within 14 days.
Asked by ABC News her thoughts on Davis’ lawsuit, Benson said her focus is on upholding the law and acknowledged her state’s position as a battleground will influence public narrative nation wide surrounding the issue.
“My commitment is to making sure that even in this very unprecedented uncharted territory we find ourselves in that we at all times proceed according to the law, both substantively and procedurally.”
Benson had said during an interview on a Michigan Information and Research Service News podcast that it was too soon to decide on whether Trump will appear on Michigan’s ballot.
“I have said for, really since 2020, that this presidential cycle in 2024, is, I believe, in many ways going to be the grand finale of all the bumps and the challenges we’ve seen and endured since the 2020 election cycle, maybe even 2016.”
Arizona’s secretary of state gathering clarification from legal counsel
In Arizona, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, said that he was planning for the possibility of challenges to Trump’s ballot eligibility but does not himself have the authority to explicitly bar Trump from appearing on the ballot.
Last year, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that there would be no way for his office to enforce the disqualification clause, only Congress would have the right to do so — a ruling Fontes called “dead wrong.”
“If that was the case, then no constitutional qualifier applies. So, a 23-year-old born in Poland, for example, who never became a citizen, could run for president in Arizona,” Fontes told ABC News.
Fontes said he doesn’t know of any specific individual or groups who have organized to file a lawsuit challenging Trump’s eligibility, but his office has gotten phone calls and notes objecting to the former president potentially appearing on the ballot.
For now, he’s “deciding on how to decide” how to proceed with who exactly appears on the 2024 ballot and gathering clarification from legal counsel.
“I cannot imagine a scenario where … a secretary of state allows Mr. Trump to be on the ballot and does not get sued. I can also not imagine a scenario where Mr. Trump is disallowed and does not get sued. I mean, this is this is this is where we are now. So I believe that we will be sued no matter what. I’ve still got to do my due diligence to get the job done,” Fontes said.
Fontes noted that he’s preparing so far in advance because he’s concerned about the toll these challenges and potential countersuits might pose to the voting process and election workers, especially in a state like Arizona, which has dealt with tedious and sometimes dangerous challenges surrounding election results over the past few cycles.
“Away from the political considerations This is an administrative issue. This is a ministerial point in time that cannot be avoided,” Fontes said. “We don’t have the luxury of waiting until next November. And anybody who’s misunderstanding the calendar and what it means to run an election has to sort of disabuse themselves of the notion that we have the comfort of time moving into this decision.”
“This is an active conversation. It is a national conversation. And I expect that we will end up eventually standing in front of nine judges in Washington, DC and they will decide,” he added.
Tribe, the Harvard law professor emeritus, also told ABC News that he expects the issue to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Donald Trump could indeed be on the primary ballot in some states and not in others, although it is entirely possible that whichever state’s situation is first to reach adjudication in a state trial court when a secretary of state either sues or is sued with respect to Trump’s inclusion or exclusion from the ballot will quickly climb the judicial ladder to a Supreme Court adjudication that could then set a uniform rule for subsequent state primaries,” Tribe wrote in an email to ABC News.
“The Supreme Court would need to get involved soon after one or more states have received authoritative directions from a state or federal court,” he said, noting that the case was “likely to move on an expedited schedule in light of the need to avoid confusion and uncertainty.”
Ohio’s secretary of state: ‘A fringe legal theory’
In Ohio, another state where threats of the challenge have circulated, Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office said in a statement that his office was “not aware of any litigation in Ohio” related to what they called a “fringe legal theory.”
There appear to be no attempts by LaRose, a Republican, to prepare for the possibility of any lawsuits challenging Trump’s eligibility.
“We do not anticipate being told to deny ballot access to any candidate who complies with Ohio law,” his office continued.
ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh and Laura Gersony contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Hardball politics is being played behind the scenes in Nevada, and the state Republicans’ intra-party drama is creating a scenario that many are concerned confuses and disenfranchises voters and gives former President Donald Trump an advantage to secure the party nomination.
The Nevada Republican Party recently announced plans to hold its own party-run presidential caucus on top of a state-sanctioned primary election in February, and potentially penalize any presidential campaigns that participate in the primary.
The Nevada GOP’s push to hold a caucus directly opposes a state law enacted in 2021 that mandates a new, presidential preference primary for either party if more than one candidate files for the ballot — which is a departure from the state’s historic use of a caucus.
While a Nevada District Court dismissed the state GOP’s lawsuit seeking to discard the primary, it ruled that the party does not have to bind their delegates to the state-run process, and did not outlaw a supplemental caucus.
In mid-August, the state party leadership went a step further, announcing its plan to allocate delegates only to presidential candidates that don’t participate in the state-run primary, though the details have not been formally voted on.
Sound confusing? This convoluted process could have wide-reaching impacts on how presidential nominees are selected.
Nevada’s nominating maneuvers come as the delegate selection process in several states is under scrutiny– some see changes among several allocation plans as skewing in Trump’s favor and potentially setting the former president up to gather the most delegates and easily glide into becoming the party nominee.
Some critics of these moves claim that the efforts to maintain the state’s caucus, were championed by Nevada GOP chair and Trump ally Michael McDonald and other high-ranking members of the party. They say the caucus–which are in-person gatherings where voters publicly disclose their preferred candidate in tidy groups–could be advantageous for Trump, who already has a deep network of vocal supporters and organizational power across Nevada.
State-run primary elections use individual, private ballots, which some believe could lend an advantage to a less outspoken or organized group of Republican voters.
‘Gaming of this whole arrangement’
Pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down founder Ken Cuccinelli is one of those who says he is suspicious of McDonald. He said that on its face, he doesn’t think that the party’s use of a caucus will have “much effect” on the governor as he’s confident in the DeSantis campaign’s “developed grassroots efforts.”
“What we’re worried about is the continued gaming of this whole arrangement by McDonald and the Nevada GOP to seek advantage for Trump,” said Cuccinelli, who himself has a history of allegedly helping to orchestrate Ted Cruz’s 2016 effort to leverage the delegate system and who later served in the Trump administration.
In recent weeks, Never Back Down has suspended its door-knocking operations in Nevada, California, Texas and North Carolina to invest some of those field resources into other early-voting states – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – citing the Nevada GOP leadership’s pro-Trump leaning and push for a caucus as part of the reason behind its move.
Members of the Nevada GOP leadership have rebuked allegations of collusion.
“Anybody who’s ever participated in trying to select the president in this state has gone through a caucus,” McDonald, the state’s GOP Chairman, told ABC News, referring to the history of Nevada using caucuses almost every presidential election since 1981. “So it’s not something that’s new to Nevada.”
“This is not about his campaign at all,” McDonald continued. “This is about the voters in Nevada… It’s bigger than Gov. DeSantis. It’s bigger than anybody that’s running for office.”
Nevada’s Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid echoed the sentiment, saying the “caucus actually provides the most transparent and even playing field in our opinion for all the candidates.”
“Which is one of the reasons why Nevada has always used the caucus, regardless of whether Trump was a potential candidate or not,” he told ABC News.
DeGraffenreid said the proposal to disqualify candidates who participate in the primary from winning delegates in the state is “an effort to avoid voter confusion,” and further discourage the GOP field from participating in the primaries.
The Trump team has also pushed back on allegations that by championing the use of a caucus, Nevada GOP leadership was in any way tilting the scales toward the former president.
“We have an edge in a lot of facets and a lot of different areas,” a Trump aide told ABC News. “All the moves and all the relationships we’ve developed in 2015 and 2016, even in the White House, holding events in Nevada and doing a lot of the organizational work, and then going into 2020 as well, developing those relationships, developing this massive organization, it just rolls into 2024 where it’s even bigger.”
Nevada Republicans, in a letter to presidential campaigns sent on Aug. 16, doubled down on a Federal Election Commission policy of separation between a campaign and a super PAC, saying their party can only interface or share data with official political campaigns. Their staunch compliance can be viewed as a direct swing at DeSantis’ bid, however, which relies heavily on its super PAC Never Back Down to boost campaign activity.
But other Republicans across the state say they are less convinced that there was not some level of coordination between the Nevada GOP and the Trump campaign.
One member of the Nevada Republican Party’s Central Committee, who spoke with ABC News under the condition of anonymity so as to speak candidly about internal party disputes, called the Nevada GOP leadership’s push to disregard results of the state-run presidential primary and only count the results of the party-run caucus process “outrageous,” claiming the push for caucuses will face strong opposition during a meeting with the state GOP central committee meeting next month, when Nevada Republicans will further discuss and vote on the matter. The caucus is expected to pass in that vote, DeGraffenreid said.
Nicol Herris, president of the Republican Women of Reno and the second vice president of the Nevada Federation of Republican Women, said she believes the state GOP leadership’s pro-Trump tendency is based on “natural alliances” that have been formed due to the state’s overwhelming support for the former president going back to past election cycles.
McDonald did not respond to several of ABC News’ requests for comment.
Tipping the delegate scales toward Trump in California, Michigan?
Nevada’s primary moves come on the heels of decisions out of states such as California and Michigan to adopt new GOP delegate selection processes that many say may be favorable for the former president.
Delegates are doled out to candidates through a variety of methods after each state votes in primaries or through caucuses. The candidate with the most delegates becomes the party nominee.
In July, California Republicans unanimously approved a delegate selection plan for 2024 that assigns convention delegates based on the statewide vote (that transitions into a winner-take-all system if one candidate gets 50% +1) instead of how it was formerly done, being divided proportionally based on wins in congressional districts. And under the proposed plan, if no one wins a majority, the delegates will be awarded proportionately based on each candidate’s share of the statewide vote.
DeSantis directly addressed his suspicions with the Trump team’s strategy following the California vote.
“I will say I mean, clearly, clearly there’s an effort with some of the state parties, you know, to bend it in one way,” DeSantis told ABC News.
California’s Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson, in a statement to ABC News, denounced the idea that their move was anything more than staying in compliance with Republican National Committee rules for states holding their caucuses or primaries before March 15 in order to protect their largest-in-the-nation delegate count. It was not about “empowering any one campaign over another,” she said.
For “early primary” states, the party requires the proportional allocation of delegates– California would be considered an early state as their primary date has been moved up to Super Tuesday on March 5.
“[The new plan] helps Trump but also specifically disadvantages DeSantis,” said Jon Fleischman, who was executive director of the California GOP in 2000.
“Let’s say Trump is at 49%, he gets 49% of the delegates, but all of the other delegates wouldn’t just go to DeSantis. They’d now be divided up amongst all the other candidates,” said Fleischman.
Similarly, in Michigan, Republican Party officials voted in June to pass a “resolution of intent” that would dole a portion of delegates on their primary election night, with the remaining delegates chosen through caucuses four days later, according to a draft of the proposal reviewed by ABC News. The process could benefit Trump by limiting selection of the majority of delegates to an especially involved group of caucus-goers that is expected to be friendly toward Trump.
But Michigan Republicans will have to change the plan their state committee approved in June to adhere to RNC rules, Michigan RNC Committeeman Rob Steele confirmed to ABC News. The details of a new delegate allocation/apportionment plan are being decided, he said.
‘I’m going to vote in every election that I can’
Some Nevada Republicans and voter-rights activists are concerned that the dueling primary and caucus processes could lead to confusion and disenfranchisement.
“There are people living outside the state, we have people who are disabled, we have the military … they can’t physically attend the caucuses,” the Nevada GOP central committee member who spoke with ABC News anonymously said. “Not to mention most Republicans are working late at night. Those who are working an evening shift at the casinos — they’re not going to go to a caucus site to vote in person.”
Emily Persuad-Zamora, executive director of voter rights group Silver State Voices, which advocated for the state legislation that established the state-run presidential preference primary, echoed those concerns, adding, “I’ve never seen something like that happen before.”
Bruce Parks, chairman of the Washoe County Republican Committee, said allegations that caucuses limit voter access is “patently untrue” and that the caucus is no more than a return to the process that has been used in Nevada for many years.
Herris, who said she has had firsthand experience with both primaries and caucuses, stressed that the Nevada Republican Party needs to come together to iron out a clear picture of how the delegate selection process is going to look come February.
“The only thing we can do now is educate [voters],” Herris said.
“I’m going to vote in every election that I can,” she said. “That is my right, and you do not know what’s going to happen … I don’t want my vote to not count.”
(ATLANTA) — Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said during a hearing Thursday that the court proceedings for the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others will be livestreamed and televised.
“We’ve been live streaming all of our major proceedings on a Fulton County provided YouTube channel, and our plan was to do that with this case as well,” McAfee said during the hearing.
McAfee previously approved two orders that allow still photography and video photography of the proceedings. While those orders are set to expire on Sept. 8, McAfee said he plans to extend the arrangement in six-month increments in order to cover the trial.
“We’ll have to iron all this out, and it sounds like we might get plenty of practice,” McAfee said of the arrangement.
In a separate order issued Thursday, McAfee also permitted the use of cellphones and laptops in the courtroom during the trial.
“It is hereby authorized that all parties and spectators are allowed to use recording devices … or non-recording purposes throughout the duration of this case,” the order said.
McAfee clarified that court attendees could use a phone or laptop to communicate in the courtroom. However, recording of the trial itself would be limited to the television coverage and the livestream.
Trump and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
The former president says his actions were not illegal and that the investigation is politically motivated.
(WASHINGTON) — It’s a moment those with student loans have been dreading — payments are one step closer to resuming.
After a three-year pause on federal student loan payments, Friday will mark the first significant step toward restarting the process: borrowers will once again see interest accrue on their loan balances.
The milestone comes one month ahead of the next major date for millions of American borrowers, Oct. 1, when payments will be due.
The two-step approach to restarting the student loan system is meant to give borrowers — and servicers — a slower on-ramp to dust off the cobwebs on a process that’s long been stalled because of the pandemic.
But the circumstances for restarting payments are far from what the Biden administration intended.
President Joe Biden’s debt cancellation policy was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this summer.
The administration has still attempted to create a softer landing by giving a yearlong grace period to borrowers, during which no one will default on their loans if they miss a payment, and rolling out a new payment plan that could lower monthly payments for people, depending on their incomes.
“We recognize that the return to repayment mandated by Congress may cause significant financial challenges for many borrowers, many of whose lives may have changed since the last time they made a student loan payment, or this may be the very first time making a payment,” a spokesperson from the Department of Education told ABC News.
“We are committed to making that process as smooth as possible by providing support and resources based on borrowers’ unique financial situation so each borrower can make the repayment decision that is right for them,” the spokesperson added.
Here’s what to look for starting Friday:
What does it mean that interest will start accruing again?
A federal policy that has kept interest rates on student loans frozen at 0% for more than three years is officially ending Friday.
As of Sept. 1, the Department of Education says that borrowers will once again be charged the interest rate they were paying before March 2020.
Interest rates on student loans range from an average of between 4.99% to 7.54%, according to the Education Data Initiative, an organization that gathers educational data and statistics. Interest rates often have a big impact on how much a borrower ultimately pays back.
For example, an average interest rate of 5.8% means the average American, with a student loan balance of $37,338, would spend about $24,833 in interest over the total life of his or her loan, according to Bankrate, a company focused on consumer financial services.
Ahead of Sept. 1 and the impending payment dates in October, borrowers can check their balances and interest rates through their servicers, and if they don’t know their servicer, they can check that through the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA).
When do borrowers have to start paying back their loans?
Broadly, the pause on payments ends in October — but the exact date that many borrowers will have to start paying off their loans again varies based on their loan servicers.
Borrowers should get a bill with a payment amount and due date at least 21 days before their due date, according to FSA. If they haven’t, the office recommends updating the contact information they have filed with both their servicer and FSA.
But borrowers should also be assured that the restart to payments will be a soft launch. The Biden administration has instituted a yearlong grace period as the ball gets rolling again, where late or missed payments will not be reported to credit agencies.
It’s not a pause, borrowers should be aware, as interest will continue to add up and payments will still be due, but it also spares the “worst consequences,” FSA says on its website.
“We will not report you as delinquent during the on-ramp, but we do not control how credit scoring companies factor in missed or delayed payments,” FSA says.
What else is the administration doing?
The administration is still fighting for debt cancellation on a broad scale, attempting a different path through the Higher Education Act of 1965 — which provides government-backed student loans and grants the U.S. Education Department the ability to “compromise, waive or release loans” – after the Supreme Court overturned the first policy. Yet it’s unclear who might receive debt relief through that new debt cancellation plan and when.
A more concrete change for borrowers is the new payment plan rolled out by the Department of Education this month, which intends to lower monthly payments and shorten the time people are required to pay on them.
It’s an income-driven repayment plan, which the department already offers in multiple forms, but the new plan, called SAVE, is the “most affordable plan ever created,” a Department of Education spokesperson said.
Under the SAVE Plan, a higher percentage of peoples’ discretionary income — the money leftover after basic necessities such as rent and food — will be shielded from loan payments, resulting in lower monthly bills.
And as is the case with other income-driven plans, once a borrower makes good on those payments for a set amount of time, usually between 20 and 25 years, the remaining loan is forgiven.
The new way that those payments are calculated under the SAVE Plan means that people earning less than $15 an hour will not owe loan payments, while borrowers earning more than that will save around $1,000 a year compared to the current income-driven repayment plans.
The plan also will bring major change to how interest accumulates for borrowers.
The SAVE Plan clears interest if a borrower is able to pay the monthly bill on the principal loan amount — eliminating the risk of a loan balance growing due to unpaid interest.
For example, FSA says, if a borrower has a $30 payment, but a balance of $50 including interest – when that $30 payment is made, the remaining $20 will be erased.
Each of those changes will take effect this summer, while two more changes will be implemented next summer. One will further reduce monthly payments, while another will decrease the payment period for people with smaller initial loans down to 10 years.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office on Thursday released a statement from the Capitol attending physician after an alarming episode Wednesday when he appeared to freeze for half a minute while answering reporter questions.
Dr. Brian P. Monahan said he consulted with McConnell and has also spoken with McConnell’s neurology team, and informed the Republican leader that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule. Monahan did not say he examined McConnell himself.
“After evaluating yesterday’s incident, I have informed Leader McConnell that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned,” Monahan said. “Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration.”
“Lightheadedness” is what McConnell’s office suggested was the cause shortly after Wednesday’s episode.
The release of the physician’s statement comes amid some calls for transparency after the second such incident in a matter of weeks.
McConnell suffered a concussion and a fractured rib after a fall earlier this year in Washington. He was hospitalized for several days and underwent inpatient rehabilitation before returning to the Senate.
On Wednesday, McConnell was at an event in his home state of Kentucky when he suddenly froze at the podium.
The Republican leader been asked about whether he would run for another term in 2026 when he stopped speaking and stared ahead for roughly 30 seconds. Aides then approached him, with one telling reporters they “needed a minute.”
It was the second time in as many months that the 81-year-old McConnell became temporarily unresponsive in front of the cameras. His office attributed the moments to lightheadedness and had said little else until Thursday’s statement from Monahan.
After the incident, an aide for McConnell said the senator felt fine and would consult a physician before his next event as a precaution.
McConnell on Wednesday went on to participate in a fundraiser with Republican Rep. Jim Banks. Banks posted a photograph of him and McConnell, stating they had a “wide-ranging discussion” about the country’s future.
Still, the episode raised questions and concerns about McConnell’s health. Doctors told ABC News that anyone who experiences similar symptoms should see a doctor immediately.
“Being unable to answer a common question and then not being aware even upon further prompting, is a red flag to warrant a thorough medical evaluation, including a neurologic work up,” said Dr. Ann Murray, who is the Movement Disorders division chief in the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) Department of Neurology at West Virginia University.
Neurologist Leah Croll told ABC News her main concern when it came to such episodes is safety and the potential for them to occur during a dangerous circumstance.
“For example, I worry about patients, say, crossing the street. Now, that may not be a concern specifically for Senator McConnell,” Croll said. “But the general idea is that the more frequently events are happening, the more I worry about serious consequences.”
President Joe Biden said he spoke to McConnell Thursday and that he was his “old self on the telephone.”
“Having a little understanding of dealing with neurosurgeons — one of the leading women on my staff, her husband’s a neurosurgeon as well — It’s not at all unusual to have a response that sometimes happens to Mitch when you’ve had a severe concussion,” Biden said. “As part of its part of the recovery. And so I’m confident he’s going to be back to his old self.”
When asked by ABC News if he had any concern about McConnell’s ability to fulfill his responsibilities in the Senate, Biden responded: “No, I don’t.”
(ATLANTA) — Hours after entering a plea of not guilty in the Georgia election interference case, former President Donald Trump has filed a motion to sever his case from other defendants who have requested a speedy trial.
The moves comes after a judge last week set a trial date of Oct. 23 for co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro, who had requested a speedy trial — prompting Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wiilis to reiterate her desire to try all of the case’s 19 defendants together.
In the filing on Thursday, Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow said that he “will not have sufficient time to prepare” for the case by Oct. 23.
“Respectfully, requiring less than two months preparation time to defend a 98-page indictment, charging 19 defendants, with 41 various charges including a RICO conspiracy charges with 161 Overt Acts … would violate President Trump’s federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law,” the filing said.
Defendant Sidney Powell has also filed for a speedy trail, with her attorneys saying in a filing Wednesday that Powell has “no substantive connection with any other defendant regarding the charges in the Indictment.”
Earlier Thursday, Trump entered a not guilty plea in the case and waived his right to appear at his arraignment.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Monday set the date of Sept. 6 for all 19 defendants to be arraigned on charges and enter their pleas in the case.
Several other defendants — including Powell, Trevian Kutti and Ray Smith III — have also entered not guilty pleas in order to avoid appearing at their scheduled arraignment.
The former president and the other 18 defendants were charged earlier this month in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Trump has said his actions were not illegal and that the investigation is politically motivated.
(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says he accepted five private jet flights from personal friend and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow last year, according to financial disclosure documents released Thursday.
On one trip in February 2022, Thomas reports accepting a return flight from Dallas, Texas, “due to unexpected ice storm.” On a separate occasion in May 2022, Thomas cited the recommendation of his security detail to take roundtrip noncommercial travel because of “increased security risk following the Dobbs opinion leak,” referring to the draft of the decision that would later overrule Roe v. Wade in June.
Last summer, Thomas says he was a guest at Crow’s upstate New York estate, accepting roundtrip transportation, meals and lodging from his friend.
The items are listed as “reimbursements” in Thomas’ 2022 Financial Disclosure Report, which federal law requires all federal officials to complete each year. It details sources of income, gifts, reimbursements, and investments.
Thomas said he consulted with the Supreme Court’s legal office, Judicial Conference Financial Disclosure Committee and his personal counsel in making sure he was in compliance with the guidelines and whether an amendments of past reports should be required.
The justice did not amend any past reports to list previously undisclosed private flights or hospitality from Crow, noting that only in March of this year did the federal judicial guidelines change to explicitly require judges to report “transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation.” Previously, the rules stated any “personal hospitality” did not need to be reported.
Thomas did, however, determine that some information was “inadvertently omitted” from past reports.
In an addendum, Thomas lists personal bank accounts and his wife Ginni Thomas’ life insurance which were left off reports from 2017 to 2021, and a real estate transaction with Crow first revealed earlier this year by the investigative news site ProPublica.
The outlet reported that Crow had purchased three Georgia properties from Thomas in 2014 — including the home that Thomas’ mother still lives in — in a transaction that was never publicly reported.
Thomas confirms the $133,000 deal in the new filing, explaining that he “inadvertently failed to realize” that the sale was reportable even though it “resulted in a capital loss.”
Controversy over Justice Thomas’ financial disclosure compliance has triggered intense scrutiny of the Supreme Court’s ethics practices and prompted Democrats in Congress to advance legislation aimed at tightening the rules and imposing independent oversight. Republicans say the focus on Thomas is a partisan smear aimed at discrediting the conservative majority.
In the new report, Thomas vows to comply with the federal judicial guidelines for disclosure, noting that going forward, all trips provided by Harlan Crow and other friends will be reported.
(ATLANTA) — Former President Donald Trump has entered a plea of not guilty in the Georgia election interference case and waived his right to appear at his arraignment, according to a filing this morning.
The former president and 18 others were charged earlier this month in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Trump has said his actions were not illegal and that the investigation is politically motivated.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Monday set the date of Sept. 6 for all 19 defendants to be arraigned on charges and enter their pleas in the case.
Several other defendants — including publicist Trevian Kutti, Georgia attorney Ray Smith III and former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell — have also entered not guilty pleas in order to avoid appearing at their scheduled arraignment.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump routinely overstated his net worth — sometimes by more than $2 billion — during years when the actual values of his real estate holdings were far less than he claimed, according to a court filing Wednesday by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The attorney general’s office included the numbers in a motion for summary judgement that asks the court to resolve a civil fraud claim before the AG’s $250 million civil suit against Trump goes to trial.
The former president, meanwhile, called his real estate portfolio “the Mona Lisa of properties” during an April deposition in the suit, according to a transcript of the deposition that was made public Wednesday.
“We have properties that make money, but you can sell for many, many times because of the quality of the property, like a Turnberry in Scotland,” Trump said, according to the transcript. “I could sell that. That’s like selling a painting. A painting on a wall that sells for $250 million and doesn’t make income. It just sits on a wall, but it sells for numbers.”
Unlike his first deposition with James, during which Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination hundreds of times, the former president in the April deposition answered questions for hours about his real estate holdings, which he suggested are worth far more than what appeared on property valuations.
“I have — literally, I have some of the greatest pieces of property in the world and they sell — as Mar-a-Lago, some of the things I own in Europe, some of the things I own in New York, even like at Trump Towers, 57th and Fifth, it’s the best location,” Trump said at the April 13 deposition at the attorney general’s office near Wall Street. “I have great assets.”
James last year brought a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his children and his company that accuses them of “grossly” inflating the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars and cheating lenders and others with false and misleading financial statements. Trump has insisted he has done nothing wrong and has attacked James, who is Black, as racist.
The trial is scheduled to begin in October.
In 2014, Trump claimed on his statements of financial condition to be holding $6.7 billion in assets — but the attorney general’s office said in Wednesday’s filing that figure overstated Trump’s actual net worth that year by more than $2.2 billion.
“Based on the undisputed evidence, no trial is required for the Court to determine that Defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values in the SFCs and then used those SFCs repeatedly in business transactions to defraud banks and insurers,” the filing said.
The attorney general’s filing Wednesday said Trump valued his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate “as if it could be sold as a private single family residence for amounts ranging between $347 million to $739 million.” The filing said those figures ignored limitations placed on how the property could be developed.
During that same period, the property was assessed by Palm Beach County as having a market value based on its restricted use as a social club ranging between $18 million to $27.6 million, the filing said.
The attorney general’s office also said Trump tacked on an extra 15-30% “brand premium” to the value of many of his golf clubs and inflated the value of unsold condominium units he owned at Trump Park Avenue in New York City. The filing said Trump valued rent stabilized apartments as if they were not rent stabilized, and valued other unsold units in excess of current market value.
Two apartments leased by Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, were valued at amounts two to three times the price at which she had the contractual option to purchase the units, the filing said.
Trump’s legal team is expected to oppose the motion for summary judgment.
In his April deposition released Wednesday, Trump said that as president, he turned over all but major business decisions to his adult children because he was too busy to run the company and he was concerned about potential conflicts. He said he instructed Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump not to do any new real estate deals — only run the company’s existing properties.
Trump boasted about his golf courses and other properties, and claimed to have $400 million in cash on hand, though he conceded during the deposition his legal bills were adding up.
“My biggest expense is probably legal fees, unfortunately. That’s OK. But we have a lot of cash. We have great assets. And we have a very valuable company,” Trump said.
