Politics

(WASHINGTON) — The Senate is poised to vote on a measure aimed at averting a government shutdown and raising the federal debt limit Monday evening, but Republicans have promised to block it.

If Monday’s vote fails, as it is expected to, Congress will be left with just four days to cobble together a government funding bill.

The measure being considered by senators Monday would extend federal funding at the current levels through early December and provide billions in emergency relief funds for Afghan refugee resettlement and Hurricane Ida relief. It also includes raising the federal debt limit through December 2022.

The debt limit must be dealt with by mid-October if lawmakers hope to avert potential financial calamity. Experts warn that failure to act could lead to the stock market crashing, rising rates for mortgages, loans and credit cards, and businesses finding it more expensive to do basic business, leading to layoffs.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen put it in stark terms in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, saying, “In a matter of days, millions of Americans could be strapped for cash.”

“Nearly 50 million seniors could stop receiving Social Security checks for a time,” she wrote. “Troops could go unpaid. Millions of families who rely on the monthly child tax credit could see delays.”

But Republicans are nearly united in their resolve to block any hike to the debt limit from moving forward, though Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy may vote to advance it because he feels his state desperately needs the hurricane relief.

On Monday, Republicans are expected to deny Democrats the 60 votes necessary to move forward on a stopgap funding bill because it would raise the debt limit.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer scolded Republicans for signaling they won’t come together to vote yes on Monday’s continuing resolution, calling their refusal “unhinged” and “radical.”

“There is no scenario on God’s green Earth where it should be worth risking millions of jobs, trillions in household wealth, people’s social security checks, veterans benefits and another recession, just to score short-term meaningless political points,” Schumer said.

“We’re facing a parade of horrible that will hurt every single American in this country,” he added.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued Republicans have been transparent for weeks that they will not support a continuing resolution that raises the debt ceiling.

“We will support a clean continuing resolution that will prevent a government shutdown, get disaster relief to Louisiana, help properly vetted Afghan refugees who put themselves on the line for America and support the Iron Dome assistance for our ally, Israel,” McConnell said. “We will not provide Republican votes for raising the debt limit.”

McConnell has argued that Democrats can and should be responsible for raising the debt limit on their own to offset the cost of a not-yet-passed massive social spending bill that encompasses many of President Joe Biden’s agenda items.

That social spending bill is exempt from the normal 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Democrats can pass it without any GOP support, and a raise in the debt limit should be tied to that bill, Republicans argue.

“My advice to this Democratic government, the president, the House and the Senate: Don’t play Russian roulette with our economy. Step up and raise the debt ceiling to cover all that you’ve been engaged in all year long,” McConnell said last week. “This is a totally Democratic government. They have an obligation to raise the debt ceiling, and they will do it.”

But raising the debt limit is traditionally a bipartisan objective. Senate Democrats have cried foul, alleging that McConnell is being inconsistent in his position.

Democrats worked with Republicans under the Trump administration to raise the debt limit on multiple occasions, and the limit now needs to be raised largely to pay for legislation passed during the Trump presidency. New proposals from the Biden administration haven’t yet been factored in.

“For Republicans to suddenly throw their hands in the air and abscond from their responsibility to pay debt that they proudly supported is nothing short of a dine and dash of historic proportions,” Schumer said last week. “Republicans wracked trillions of dollars in debt under President Trump and are demanding American families foot the bill.”

It’s not clear exactly how the Senate might proceed in the coming days to stop a shutdown.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested last week that Congress would likely consider a stopgap funding measure that does not impact the debt limit, buying lawmakers more time to strategize on how to proceed. McConnell said Republicans would support this.

But the clock is ticking. Democrats must address both the debt limit and government funding in the coming weeks while simultaneously juggling the fate of many of Biden’s most ambitious domestic policy priorities.

Without the 60 votes necessary to advance a debt limit hike in the Senate, lawmakers will have little choice but to include it in their massive $3.5 trillion social spending bill — but that bill’s fate is anything but certain.

In the House, moderates are threatening to withhold votes unless a separate $1 trillion infrastructure bill that passed the Senate in August clears the lower chamber. The House is expected to vote on the bipartisan bill later this week, but progressives want to see more progression the larger social bill before they lend their support to it.

Biden addressed the big week on Capitol Hill while receiving his booster shot earlier Monday.

“We’ve got three things to do: the debt ceiling, continuing resolution and the two pieces of legislation. We do that, the country is going to be in great shape,” Biden told reporters.

Echoing the president at a briefing Monday afternoon, White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated congressional negotiations could stretch beyond this week.

“You said it could go into next week? That’s your expectations?” one reporter asked.

“We’ll see,” Psaki replied.

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(WASHINGTON) —

The TAKE with Rick Klein

There are three mammoth bills, two enormous deadlines and one big collective legacy to be defined – by a pair of veteran Democrats who need each other to make it happen.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is framing the high-stakes action coming to the House floor as an opportunity to enact “the vision of Joe Biden,” as he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday.

That and more is at stake this week, in what could be the biggest votes in the long careers of both the House speaker and the president. Pelosi and Biden need a nearly unanimous Democratic Party to cast risky votes that carry uncertain payoffs, with failure on all or part bringing potential calamity.

Already, the timeline and price tag of key components are slipping, as was inevitable, and the president said Sunday that action should “take the better part of the week.”

The long-promised Monday vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill is most likely getting pushed back, and a Senate vote to keep government funding flowing will almost certainly fail on Monday given complete GOP opposition.

Biden’s sliding approval rating and spotty direct involvement continue to be a factor. So does the mistrust between the moderate and progressive wings that Pelosi is struggling to unite.

There’s a lot of truth here: “Overwhelmingly, the entirety of our caucus – except for a few whose judgment I respect – support the vision of Joe Biden,” Pelosi said on “This Week.”

Biden and Pelosi have both been in a position where they need to respect all Democrats’ judgment, because the obvious alternative if failure. Their most potent argument from here is that failure is possible – one of the few things all Democrats definitely agree on at the moment.

The RUNDOWN with Averi Harper

An investigation of border patrol agents on horses appearing to whip migrants is ongoing, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is making his support for those agents clear.

“If [Biden] takes any action against them whatsoever, I have worked side-by-side with those border patrol agents, I want them to know something. If they are at risk of losing their job at a president who is abandoning his duty to secure the border, you have a job in the state of Texas,” said Abbott on Fox News Sunday. “I will hire you to help Texas secure our border.”

Abbott’s declaration comes after Biden denounced the actions taken by those border patrol agents.

“It’s outrageous, I promise you, those people will pay,” Biden told ABC News’ congressional correspondent, Rachel Scott.

If an investigation determines that the law enforcement officers in those controversial images acted inappropriately, Abbott’s commitment to employ them despite potential misconduct would undermine Biden’s attempt at holding them accountable.

The idea also highlights an aspect of police reform that Democrats hoped to address in the now-dead George Floyd Justice in Policing Act: handling law enforcement officers who are reprimanded or terminated by one agency only to be employed by another. The legislation aimed to create a national police misconduct registry.

The issue, along with so many other aspects of police reform, remains unaddressed after the breakdown of Senate negotiations.

The TIP with Alisa Wiersema

After Arizona’s so-called “audit” results only added votes to Biden’s 2020 winning margin, former President Donald Trump rallied supporters on Saturday by continuing to cling false allegations that Georgia’s elections also suffered from mass voter fraud.

The validity of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia has been backed by several investigations, a statewide hand recount, a statewide voting machine recount and a voter signature review in one of the state’s most populous counties. Still, former Trump continues to deny the evidence to the extent of endorsing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s Republican primary opponent, Rep. Jody Hice, who challenged November’s election results in Congress.

Trump’s adamance to oppose history also includes targeting Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, of Georgia, who refused to get involved in overturning the outcome of the election despite being pressured to do so by the former president last year. Trump’s apparent fixation on Kemp even caused him to go off-message at Saturday’s rally, which was meant to support pro-Trump Republican candidates in upcoming elections.

Instead, Trump said voting rights advocate and possible Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams would make a better executive than Kemp. “Having her, I think, might be better than having your existing governor. It might very well be better,” Trump said of his fellow Republican. Abrams is popularly credited with successfully mobilizing voters and turning Georgia blue.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News’ “Start Here” Podcast. Monday morning’s episode features a breakdown of this week’s key reconciliation and infrastructure votes for Democrats with ABC News White House Correspondent MaryAlice Parks. Then, a Florida school board member talks about spending a weekend knocking on hundreds of doors to find students still missing from school. And, ABC’s Britt Clennett tells us why world leaders are paying close attention to who will replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEKEND

• President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will receive the president’s daily brief in the Oval Office.
• Former President Barack Obama hosts a discussion with campaign alums ahead of the Obama Presidential Library groundbreaking on Tuesday.
• Virtual groundbreaking celebrations begin for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
• The House of Representatives, which convenes at noon for morning hour and at 2 p.m. for legislative business, will begin a floor debate on the bipartisan infrastructure framework.
• The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. and resumes consideration of the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act.

The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the day’s top stories in politics. Please check back Monday for the latest.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden vowed to implement a more humane approach to immigration than his predecessor, but now the Biden administration is facing backlash over its use of a Trump-era order to rapidly expel thousands of migrants, mostly Haitian nationals, without giving them a chance to apply for asylum within the United States.

The process is known as Title 42, a reference to part of a U.S. public health code, and according to advocates challenging the administration in court, its use violates U.S. asylum laws.

Despite a chorus of criticism from advocates and Democratic lawmakers over the handling of the crisis at the border in Del Rio, Texas, the administration is defending the use of Title 42 in court.

After more than a week of growing controversy, immigration authorities in Del Rio, Texas, on Friday finished clearing out an encampment of mostly Haitian migrants that at one point expanded to about 15,000 people.

So far, more than a dozen flights have taken about 2,000 people back to Haiti, according to the Department of Homeland Security. About 17,400 have been moved from the camp for processing or to initiate removal proceedings where they will have the chance to claim asylum. About 8,000 at the camp returned to Mexico, according to DHS.

What is Title 42?

Title 42 is a clause of the 1944 Public Health Services Law that “allows the government to prevent the introduction of individuals during certain public health emergencies,” said Olga Byrne, the immigration director at the International Rescue Committee.

Rarely used over the past few decades, the Trump administration used an interpretation of Title 42 to issue a public health order during the COVID-19 pandemic to rapidly expel migrants at the border, citing concerns over the spread of the virus, without giving them a chance to apply for asylum, Byrne said.

“U.S. law says that any person in the United States or at the border with the United States has a right to seek asylum,” said Byrne.

“The legal issue at hand [with the use of Title 42] is that there’s nothing in the law that allows the government to expel [migrants] without any due process,” she added.

Between October 2020 and August 2021, 938,045 migrants were expelled under Title 42, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Who is being deported under Title 42?

Nearly two week ago, thousands of migrants, mostly Haitian nationals, began arriving at the Texas-Mexico border in Del Rio. At one point, there were more than 14,000 migrants, with thousands sheltering under an international bridge.

The influx of migrants from Haiti came after civil unrest erupted this summer following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenal Moïse as well as a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation.

Many Haitian migrants have also been in South America for about a decade ever since the 2010 earthquake caused massive damage and social and economic instability throughout Haiti considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

“We are definitely seeing a high number of Black immigrants, Haitian immigrants in particular, immigrants from the African continent who are not even given the tiniest opportunity to explain their experiences and request asylum,” said Breanne Palmer, the policy and community advocacy counsel at the UndocuBlack Network, an advocacy group for undocumented Black individuals.

When asked last Friday what is being done to remediate the situation in Del Rio and what has caused the recent increase of migrants at that port of entry, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said DHS would continue to use Title 42 to its fullest extent to help expel individuals arriving at the border.

“…we have the authority to expel individuals under the laws that Centers for Disease control have,” Mayorkas told ABC News. “It is their public health authority under Title 42 and that is what we will bring to bear to address the situation in Del Rio, Texas.”

Byrne said that the Biden administration has chosen to deport Haitian migrants without screening them for coronavirus, despite the fact that COVID-19 testing is widely available as tourists and travelers have continued to flow into the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Title 42 is the most efficient tool at the government’s disposal for quick expulsions to quickly get people out of the U.S. without due process,” Byrne said.

The Biden administration has exempted unaccompanied minors from deportation under Title 42 but is defending in court its use of the public health order to deport families, arguing that lifting the public health order would lead to overcrowding at DHS facilities, and that an influx of migrants along with the delta variant surge, poses a public health risk.

The court battle and what’s next

The American Civil Liberties Union, joined by a group of civil rights organizations, filed a preliminary injunction in court, challenging the expulsion of families under the use of Title 42.

“Anybody who arrives at our border is supposed to be able to seek asylum if they claim a fear of persecution,” said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, the lead lawyer in the case.

“The Haitian situation is a dramatic and horrific illustration of the harms caused by the Title 42 policy,” he added. “… families are literally being pushed back into the arms of persecutors and cartels, without any hearing.”

On Sept. 16, a federal judge granted the injunction, blocking the use of Title 42 to expel families.

“The Title 42 Process is likely unlawful,” judge Emmitt Sullivan wrote in the ruling, referencing protections for asylum seekers in place under current U.S. immigration laws.

But the judge’s order, which was appealed by the Biden administration, does not apply to single adults and will not take effect for 14 days or Thursday, Sept. 30.

And according to Byrne, because the Biden administration has already applied for a stay of the injunction pending appeal, it is likely that the order will not go into effect on Thursday.

In the meantime, the expulsion of migrants has continued.

“The government is using those two weeks now, rather than to organize itself at the border … to quickly expel as many Haitians as it can,” Gelernt said.

ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — A former senior Department of Homeland Security official who once accused the Trump administration of politicizing intelligence said Sunday that a return of President Donald Trump to the White House in 2024 “would be a disaster” for the U.S. intelligence community.

“(Former President Trump) has denigrated the intelligence community, he puts out disinformation — and that’s an existential threat to democracy and he is one of the best at putting it out and hurting this country,” Brian Murphy, who once led the DHS intelligence branch, said Sunday in an exclusive interview on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos.

Murphy, a long-time federal law enforcement official, made headlines last year after filing a whistleblower complaint accusing Trump-appointed leaders of politicizing intelligence by withholding or downplaying threats that ran counter to Trump’s political messages.

The 24-page complaint, filed in September 2020, named former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former acting Secretary Chad Wolf as trying to “censor or manipulate” intelligence bulletins related to Russian meddling in the presidential election and the threat of domestic white supremacist groups.

“I became a whistleblower because when I arrived at DHS in 2018, from the outset, everything that I had stood for — you know, finding objective truth when I was in the FBI and serving in the Marines and serving the American public — was quickly told to me that’s no longer acceptable,” Murphy said Sunday.

In his complaint, Murphy further accused Nielsen, Wolf and other top officials of scrambling to gather and prepare intelligence reports that aligned with Trump’s public remarks in the months leading up to the 2020 election.

“There was intense pressure to try to take intelligence and fit a political narrative,” Murphy said Sunday. “When I got to DHS, it was all about politics.”

In one instance, Murphy wrote in his complaint that he was “instructed” by Wolf “to cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference in the United States, and instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran.”

On Sunday, Murphy said “there was a push-on across government at the senior levels — cabinet officials — to do everything possible to stifle anything” about Russia’s interference.

“They did not want the American public to know that the Russians were supporting Trump and denigrating what would soon be President Biden,” Murphy added.

Murphy also claimed Sunday that discussing white supremacy as a national security threat became a “third-rail issue” within the department after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“I disagreed with that, I made that known to my superiors,” Murphy said Sunday.

A DHS spokesperson said last year that the agency “flatly denies that there is any truth to the merits of Mr. Murphy’s claim.”

Wolf responded last September during a speech that any effort to “paint recent DHS actions as examples of mission drift or politicization … could not be more wrong.” James Wareham, Nielsen’s attorney, told ABC News at the time that Murphy’s allegations “would be laughable if they were not so defamatory.”

Murphy’s explosive claims nonetheless fueled concerns that Trump and his appointees had sought to politicize the intelligence process to more closely support the administration’s legislative and political agenda.

Shortly before filing his whistleblower complaint, Murphy was reassigned within the department after it was revealed that his intelligence unit had included reporters’ tweets in bulletins disseminated to law enforcement networks across the U.S. — a practice that experts said was out of the agency’s purview.

Questioned by Stephanopoulos about that, Murphy said Sunday he “understands why, at the time, the media reacted the way they did” to reports his branch collated public-source information about reporters, citing the alleged credibility gap between the White House and the American people.

Murphy added that “at no time was I aware or direct anybody in my organization to collect information on journalists.”

“People did not trust (the Trump administration). There was a war against the media and I wasn’t going to be a part of that,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s last day at DHS was Friday.

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(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., may not bring the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the House floor Monday as she previously committed to, she said Sunday.

“I’m never bringing to the floor a bill that doesn’t have the votes,” Pelosi told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos.

“You cannot choose the date,” Pelosi said. “You have to go when you have the votes in a reasonable time, and we will.”

Pelosi had previously agreed to put the bipartisan infrastructure bill on the floor to be considered by Sept. 27, after moderates in her caucus demanded a vote.

“It may be tomorrow,” Pelosi added Sunday.

On Saturday, the House Budget Committee approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution that calls for investments in climate change policy, childcare and other social programs.

Pelosi told her colleagues in a letter on Saturday they “must” pass the bill this week along with a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill.

“The next few days will be a time of intensity,” she wrote.

Pelosi also said on Sunday’s “This Week” that the price tag for the bill could drop in negotiations.

“That seems self-evident,” Pelosi said, acknowledging the $3.5 trillion topline number could be lowered.

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

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(DES MOISE, Iowa) — Iowa’s senior Republican senator, Chuck Grassley, announced in an early morning tweet Friday that, at age 88, he will seek reelection in 2022.

Grassley, who will be 89 by Election Day next year, is proud of his physical fitness, and not-so-subtly bragged about in a tweet announcing his run that showed him jogging before sunrise in Iowa.

“It’s 4 a.m. in Iowa so I’m running. I do that 6 days a week. Before I start the day I want you to know what Barbara and I have decided,” Grassley said the tweet. “I’m running for re-election—a lot more to do, for Iowa. We ask and will work for your support. Will you join us?”

The tweet included a clock turning to 4 a.m. and video of him jogging in the dark along a rural road.

It’s 4 a.m. in Iowa so I’m running. I do that 6 days a week. Before I start the day I want you to know what Barbara and I have decided.

I’m running for re-election—a lot more to do, for Iowa. We ask and will work for your support. Will you join us? #GrassleyRuns #GrassleyWorks pic.twitter.com/cwv8yu9wkx

— Grassley Works (@GrassleyWorks) September 24, 2021

Even getting close to 90, Grassley is currently only the second oldest member of the Senate, with California Democrat Dianne Feinstein besting him for the title by a matter of months.

His physique is a matter of legend on Capitol Hill.

He is frequently seen running or walking briskly through the Capitol hallways, and he’s known to challenge other senators to push-up contests. (He can do at least 21, perhaps more.)

But Grassley’s endurance can also be measured by his steady presence on Capitol Hill.

He began his career in Washington when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1975. He’s been a member of the Senate since 1980, and currently holds the record for the 10th longest Senate tenure.

Grassley currently serves as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He led the committee for a portion of the Trump administration and aided in the confirmation of Supreme Court nominees and many federal judges that cemented conservative sway of the judiciary. He also served as chair of the Senate Finance Committee for the later half of President Donald Trump’s term.

With Republicans hoping to retake the now evenly-divided Senate in 2022, Grassley’s seat, as well as those of other Republican incumbents up for reelection, will be closely watched. Several long-serving Republican senators are retiring in 2022.

Following the announcement of his intent to run, the Iowa Republican Party threw its weight behind the senator.

“The road to a Republican majority runs right through Iowa. Defending this seat should be a top priority for every Iowan looking to stop Joe Biden’s chaotic agenda,” the party said in a statement. “Sen. Grassley’s never-quit attitude has propelled him to be one of the most effective senators in our state’s history. Grassley is a lifelong family farmer who understands the value of hard work, community, education, and family.”

Grassley’s most likely opponent is former Democratic Iowa Representative Abby Finkenauer, who was narrowly defeated in her 2020 reelection bid for the House.

Recent polling be the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed Grassley leading Finkenauer by 18 percentage points among likely voters.

Finkenauer slammed Grassley in a statement, alleging that the senator has lost touch with Iowa during his lengthy Senate tenure.

“After 47 years in Washington, D.C., Chuck Grassley has changed from an Iowa farmer to just another coastal elite,” Finkenauer alleged.

Grassley’s Senate colleagues celebrated his announcement in tweets Friday, praising his work ethic and experience.

“Chuck is a ferocious advocate for the people of Iowa and the conservative cause,” GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a tweet. “I have served with Chuck my entire time in the Senate. He is one of the most hardworking, enthusiastic senators I have ever met with a wealth of experience and knowledge.”

ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan contributed to this report.

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(PHOENIX) — Nearly eleven months after Joe Biden was elected president, the GOP-led review of Arizona’s Maricopa County ballots has found no substantial deviation from the vote count reported by the county that helped clinch the win for Biden.

The review’s count was within a “few hundred” of the county’s total, according to Republican Senate President Karen Fann.

“That is a true statement. They were close. I find it ironic that our secretary of state, and a few others have called this a sham audit — that you can’t trust, that you can’t believe it. Well the interesting fact is: Truth is truth, numbers are numbers and we said that from day one,” Fann said. “And those numbers were close. Within a few hundred.”

“This has never been about overturning the election. It’s never been about decertifying,” she said.

Despite mandated post-election reviews and two private audits of the county’s results that showed no anomalies or election integrity issues, Republicans still forged ahead with court cases seeking to prove fraud in Maricopa County.

When those failed, the state Senate contracted a private company to conduct a review of its own, which has now ultimately found similar results to the vote counts reported by Maricopa County, officials said during their presentation.

Democrats disavowed the process in a statement Friday afternoon.

“This fake audit, which has cost Arizona taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, was never about increasing voter trust. It was about overturning the will of the voters, waging war against a fair and secure election and encouraging conspiracy theories to destabilize American democracy. The facts are this: Maricopa County performed multiple real audits of the election as required under state law,” Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Rios said. “At the end of the day, the American people elected Joe Biden in a free and fair election and Cyber Ninjas and Arizona Republicans can’t change that.”

Biden flipped the state blue with a 10,457 vote lead. Sen. Mark Kelly also ousted former Republican Sen. Martha McSally — winning that race by 78,806 votes.

Maricopa County Chairman Jack Sellers, a Republican who was critical of the partisan review process, said after a draft report began circulating Thursday night that the results were not surprising.

“You don’t have to dig deep into the draft copy of the Arizona Senate/Cyber Ninja audit report to confirm what I already knew – the candidates certified by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General – did, in fact, win,” Sellers said in a statement.

Despite the fact that the review reaffirmed Biden’s win, critics say it still contained misrepresentations about election procedures.

The process was also criticized for a lack of transparency. While the review was being conducted, it was difficult to discern who exactly was in charge. Far-right media outlets were typically given increased access to the review and its officials, according to local media.

Fann chose Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm with no experience working in elections, to conduct the review. She agreed to cover $150,000 of the cost with taxpayer money and approximately $6 million was donated by private groups, according to records released in response to a court order.

Only Fann and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee heard the presentation on Friday. There was no public comment or question period expected. Democrats are not allowed to participate in the presentation and were not expected to be able to ask questions, according to a spokesperson for Senate Democrats, who said the party had been “out of the loop.”

Since the beginning of the review, election experts have warned that the process was flawed and results would not be trustworthy given the unscientific manner the review was conducted. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican who took office in January, wrote a 38-page report to debunk common conspiracy theories and lies about the election results.

“I spent November and December willing to wait for a meritorious lawsuit, a scientific claim, or convincing data. But it never came because it didn’t exist. What is there, is data showing that Trump’s loss was built on disaffected Republican voters,” Richer wrote in his report. “And the maps of presidential votes in 2020 almost exactly match the Arizona map of 2016, except that it shifted slightly in favor of the Democrat.”

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat running for governor who fought to allow official election observers in to watch the review process, wrote a prebuttal of her own, saying the partisan review does not meet the standard definition of an “audit.”

“Moreover, it failed to satisfy the basic standards for election auditing. Because of these failures, any findings or report issued by Cyber Ninjas, or the state senate, based on the information collected using these faulty and inconsistently applied procedures and processes, should not be considered trustworthy or accurate,” she said.

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(NEW YORK) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview on “The View” on Friday was delayed after two co-hosts tested positive for COVID-19.

Harris, who was supposed to appear in-studio with the co-hosts of the show, instead appeared remotely from another room after Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin were said to have tested positive.

Speaking with the two remaining co-hosts, Joy Behar and Sara Haines, the vice president said the treatment of Haitian migrants on the southwest U.S. border was “horrible and deeply troubling.”

“Human beings shouldn’t be treated that way,” Harris said. “And as we all know, it also evoked images of some of the worst moments of our history, where that kind of behavior has been used against the indigenous people of our country, has been used against African Americans during times of slavery.”

The show began with the four co-hosts sitting at the host’s table for the start of the show; Navarro and Hostin were quickly ushered off the set before Harris’ intended appearance. The other co-hosts said Navarro and Hostin had been vaccinated against the virus.

“This is going to be a major news story in a minute now,” Behar said when she first announced the news. “Sunny and Ana apparently just tested positive for COVID.”

Harris’ deputy press secretary, Sabrina Singh, said in a statement that the vice president “did not have contact with the hosts before the show” and that Harris’s Friday schedule would “continue as planned.”

But the interview was delayed for much of the show as producers and the U.S. Secret Service took precautions to make sure the vice president would remain safe.

When Harris did appear for her interview, she noted the effectiveness of the vaccines since the anchors did not appear to have any noticeable, or severe, symptoms.

“Sunny and Ana are strong women and I know they’re fine,” Harris said. “But it really does speak to the fact that they’re vaccinated and vaccines really make all the difference…”

Harris also answered questions about COVID-19, Afghanistan and abortion access — with sharp words about Haitians at the border.

When asked about asylum applications from migrants, she said she and Biden believe the administration has to do more to support Haiti itself.

“Haiti is our neighbor,” Harris said. “The United States has to help and we have to do more and our administration feels strongly about that.”

On Friday morning, President Joe Biden told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that, as president, he took responsibility for the photos and videos coming from the border of mounted police units confronting Haitian migrants.

“It’s an embarrassment, beyond an embarrassment. It’s dangerous. It’s wrong,” Biden said. “It sends the wrong message around the world, sends the wrong message at home.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Border Patrol announced it would put a pause on agents on horseback.

The president earlier this year tasked Harris with serving as his point person on stemming the flow of migration from Central America to the United States.

Earlier in the week, the vice president had condemned the ways Border Patrol agents were shown to be treating migrants.

ABC News’ Molly Nagle contributed reporting.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday harshly criticized the action of some Border Patrol agents, mounted on horseback, who confronted Haitian migrants crossing the border into Texas, calling their actions “horrible.”

“It’s outrageous, I promise you, those people will pay,” Biden said.

Biden’s blunt statements came as the situation and the agents’ conduct are still under investigation and the agents have been placed on administrative leave. The use of horses has been suspended in the meantime.

Biden was responding to a question from ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, who asked, “You said on the campaign trail that you were going to restore the moral standing of the U.S., that you are going to immediately end Trump’s assault on the dignity of immigrant communities. Given what we saw at the border this week, have you failed in that promise? And this is happening under your watch–do you take responsibility for the chaos that’s unfolding?”

“Of course, I take responsibility,” Biden said, but he then quickly shifted to the controversial images of the agents on horseback. “I’m president but it was horrible to see what you saw to see people treat it like they did — horses family nearly running over people being strapped. It’s outrageous, I promise you, those people will pay. They will be — there is investigation underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences. It’s an embarrassment, beyond an embarrassment. It’s dangerous. It’s wrong, it sends the wrong message around the world, sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are,” he said.

Democrats, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have demanded an end to the Haitians being expelled and the ACLU and other migrant advocates have had the administration is illegally removing them through the use of Title 42, claiming they are justified in doing so for public health reasons because of the pandemic.

The U.S. special envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, has resigned in protest over the administration policy, calling the treatment of the Haitian migrants “inhumane.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The House on Friday passed a bill to uphold abortion rights for women, taking swift action in response to a new Texas law that bans nearly all abortions in the state.

The final tally was 218-211 with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing the vote.
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The House bill has little chance of becoming law and is largely symbolic given Republican opposition in the Senate.

The House bill would codify protections provided by the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized women’s right to an abortion.

The Texas law that passed in September prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and allows “any person, other than an officer or employee of state or local government,” to bring a civil suit against someone believed to have “aided or abetted” an unlawful abortion.

People who successfully sue an abortion provider under this law could be awarded at least $10,000.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the so-called “heartbeat ban” on May 19 and it went into effect on Sept. 1.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Sept. 1 to allow SB8 to take effect on procedural grounds, despite what the majority acknowledged as “serious questions” about constitutionality. The justices did not address those questions.

Pelosi has said taking congressional action would make a “tremendous difference” in Democrats’ efforts to maintain access to abortion rights. She called the Supreme Court’s decision “shameful.”

Ahead of Friday’s vote, Pelosi said the House legislation should “send a very positive message to the women of our country — but not just the women, to the women and their families, to everyone who values freedom, honors our Constitution and respects women.”

Since Texas’s abortion ban went into effect, lawmakers in 11 states, including Florida, have announced intentions or plans to model legislation after the state’s law, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a Mississippi abortion case in early December. The high court is expected to consider the legality of Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a law that is intended to challenge Roe v. Wade.

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