(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Monday approved a protective order sought by special counsel Jack Smith to keep former President Donald Trump from disclosing sensitive information in his classified documents case.
Smith sought the order to ensure that neither Trump nor codefendant Walt Nauta, Trump’s presidential valet, disclose sensitive information obtained during the discovery process, where prosecutors will show the defense what evidence it has amassed during their investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents since leaving office.
Trump was charged last week with 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities.
The protective order said Trump and Nauta “shall not disclose the Discovery Materials or their contents directly or indirectly to any person or entity other than persons employed to assist in the defense, persons who are interviewed as potential witnesses, counsel for potential witnesses, and other persons to whom the Court may authorize disclosure.”
In seeking the order on Friday, prosecutors said the materials include “sensitive and confidential information,” including personal identifiable information, information that reveals investigative techniques, non-public information relating to potential witnesses, and personal information contained on electronic devices and accounts.
Notably, the special counsel also said the materials include “information pertaining to ongoing investigations, the disclosure of which could compromise those investigations and identify uncharged individuals.”
Violations of the protective order “may result in contempt of court or other civil or criminal sanctions,” the judge’s order said.
A similar protective order was sought and issued last month in New York City, where prosecutors said they were concerned that Trump would post to social media evidence in a separate case involving a hush payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
(WASHINGTON) — As the country commemorated Juneteenth, thousands of people lined up outside the National Archives in Washington on Monday to see rarely exhibited original versions of the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3.
The former is President Abraham Lincoln’s order freeing America’s slaves in 1863, amid the Civil War; the latter is from 1865 when a Union general informed Texas that slaves were now free — on the day that later became Juneteenth.
Both documents, while foundational to the United States and the end of slavery, are very fragile and normally kept in a secure climate-controlled vault with limited light exposure to ensure their preservation.
However, the National Archives intends to place the Emancipation Proclamation on permanent display, with select pages rotated to limit exposure.
“I am proud that the National Archives will enshrine this seminal document for public display adjacent to our nation’s founding documents,” the nation’s archivist, Colleen Shogan, said in a statement on Saturday announcing the planned permanent display alongside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Visitors to the National Archives on Monday told ABC News that viewing the documents was impactful and an important way for everyone to recognize history, including the next generation. Juneteenth was designated by President Joe Biden as a federal holiday in 2021.
Ashley Witfield brought her mother and three sons to the archives.
“It’s really important to me that my children know the history of the country and that they understand that our ancestors really were an integral part to building it,” Witfield said. “One thing that my son did say is, ‘You’re going to see the paper of justice,’ and I thought that that really sums it up well. So it was really special to be able to share that with them.”
Washington resident Shawna brought her young son, John, for the first time and said she hoped Juneteenth does not become synonymous merely with a day off of work — but rather “to actually understand the purpose of it and why is it important to us.”
Another pair of visitors, Priscilla and Warren, said that Monday’s celebration was a long time coming and that the holiday needed more promotion.
“When you hear Fourth of July, you think of fireworks sales, holiday, people cooking out. Here’s June the 19th, and you have to advertise it,” Warren said.
“It should be celebrated by all, not just people of color, not just by Black people,” Priscilla said, “because otherwise, we’re going to continue to be a nation that’s fractured.”
For Virginia resident Ashley, seeing the documents up close with her husband and daughter was a transporting experience.
“It makes it less of a story and more of a real,” she said. “These are real lives and real people that were directly impacted by that signature.”
(WASHINGTON) — Despite what prosecutors claim in an unprecedented indictment against him, including an alleged recording of him saying otherwise, Donald Trump insisted on Monday that he hadn’t shown a classified document to someone else after leaving the White House.
The former president was interviewed by Fox News’ Bret Baier, who pressed Trump on one of the most notable parts of the indictment that outlines the 37 federal charges against him.
Prosecutors wrote in the indictment that on July 21, 2021, Trump allegedly showed what he called “secret information” to other people at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and acknowledged it was still classified and “highly confidential.”
According to the indictment, Trump allegedly said the information was “done by the military and given to me” and appeared to indicate it was related to plans for attacking a foreign country.
The alleged exchange was recorded, prosecutors wrote.
On Fox News on Monday, however, Trump pushed back when Baier cited that part of the indictment.
“It wasn’t a document, OK? I had lots of paper — I had copies of newspaper articles, I had copies of magazines,” he said.
“There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things. And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document,” Trump said. “I didn’t have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”
ABC News previously reported that the recording was made during part of a book interview Trump gave and was subsequently obtained by federal prosecutors.
ABC News also reported earlier this month that Trump’s attorneys had not located the material Trump was referencing in the recording from 2021.
Trump has been indicted by federal prosecutors in Florida related to his alleged mishandling of government secrets after leaving the White House. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In a speech to supporters after being arraigned, he maintained that he “did everything right” and “I had every right to have these documents,” an argument which has been disputed by outside legal experts.
Elsewhere in his interview on Fox News, Trump claimed to have no more classified records and falsely cited the Presidential Records Act as giving him permission to take the government records with him when he left office.
He said he took the documents because he was rushing during his move from the White House and wanted to go through his personal items.
“So, like every other president, I take things out. And in my case, I took it out pretty much in a hurry, but people packed it up and we left and I had clothing in there. I had all sorts of personal items,” he said.
“Because I had boxes — I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out,” he said.
He told Baier that he was running for president again “because I want to make America great again. We had great — we were respected all over the world. Very simple.”
He also said he wouldn’t want his children to be in his administration if he is reelected. Daughter Ivanka served as a senior adviser during his first term alongside her husband, Jared Kushner.
“It’s too painful for the family,” he said.
Should he win another term, he said that he wants to be “less combative.”
“I would like to be less combative, but I find the press is extremely dishonest,” he said. “And if I’m not combative, I don’t get my word across. If I’m not combative, I don’t know. I don’t think you could win.”
During the interview, Trump criticized the Biden administration — including on the economy and foreign policy — and labeled the case against him as “weaponization” of the Department of Justice by the White House.
Special counsel Jack Smith, an independent prosecutor named last year by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the DOJ investigations of Trump, has defended the indictment.
“This indictment was voted by a grand jury of citizens in the Southern District of Florida,” he said earlier this month, “and I invite everyone to read it in full to understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged.”
(WASHINGTON) — As he prepared to leave Beijing Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that he had accomplished one of his most critical goals for the high-stakes trip: strengthening communication between the U.S. and China.
But whether his visit will have a lasting impact on the relationship will depend on what happens in the weeks ahead.
“I stressed that direct engagement and sustained communication and senior levels is the best way to responsibly manage our differences and ensure the competition does not veer into conflict,” Blinken said of his discussions during a news conference, capping off the first visit to China by a Cabinet official since 2019.
“And I heard the same from my Chinese counterparts,” Blinken continued. “We both agree on the need to stabilize our relationship.”
Despite this point of agreement, Blinken acknowledged that, despite raising the issue multiple times during his visit, he was not able to make significant progress on revitalizing perhaps the most important channel between countries: military-to-military communication.
“I think it’s absolutely vital that we have these kinds of communications,” Blinken said. “That imperative, I think, was only underscored by recent incidents that we saw in the air and on the seas. And at this moment, China has not agreed to move forward with that.”
The close calls Blinken alluded to include a Chinese warship coming within 150 yards of U.S. destroyer earlier this month and a Chinese fighter jet intercepting an American surveillance plane in international airspace in May.
Both incidents were decried by the Pentagon as unnecessarily dangerous, but China says the U.S. is at fault for conducting military operations in the region.
As Beijing has carried out what the State Department has described as increasingly provocative actions in the region, it has also sharply limited direct contact with the U.S. military — even shutting down a request from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with his Chinese counterpart in May.
“It’s an escalation management risk,” said Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“We need to have all the tools at our disposal for deescalating an accidental incident, and we are missing one of the biggest tools right now without military-to-military communications,” he continued.
The secretary’s most important engagement during his trip — a sit-down with President Xi Jinping — came together during the final hours of his visit.
Negotiations over the meeting with Xi continued well after Blinken touched down in China and was firmed up only once the Chinese government determined that the secretary’s other talks had gone well enough to merit face time with the leader, according to sources.
“It’s certainly better that it happened. It would have been quite a dampener to the relations had Xi declined to visit with Blinken,” said Montgomery.
“I’m not sure that it achieves anything of its own, but it’s a signal of Chinese cooperation that that we certainly hadn’t seen in the last six months,” he added.
Blinken predicted that additional dialogue would take place in the aftermath of his visit to Beijing.
“I would expect additional visits by US officials to China over the coming weeks, and we welcome further visits by Chinese officials to the United States,” Blinken said.
American officials likely to visit China in the coming weeks might include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. On the Chinese side, Blinken extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Qin Gang to visit Washington at a time both countries deem suitable.
Most telling of all will be if President Biden and Xi come together in the months ahead. The two last met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November, and officials from both countries have speculated that they could sit down again in November in San Francisco when the U.S. hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit.
“I think this Xi/Blinken meeting does make a meeting with the president more likely. I’m not sure it necessarily means that there’ll be a meeting between the two leaders that has a successful outcome,” said Montgomery.
“That’s still predicating on China acting differently and us not valuing engagement for engagement’s sake,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — At 10 months old, Hodge Gomez has already roamed the halls of Congress, meeting with politicians and presidents.
He even went viral — watching all 15 rounds of Kevin McCarthy’s historically messy fight for the speakership from the arms of his dad, California Rep. Jimmy Gomez.
“He’s a famous little baby,” Gomez recently told ABC News, joking, “I’m just riding his coattails.”
Hodges’ charm, and Gomez’s new fatherhood, led him this year to help create the Congressional Dads Caucus, a group of 28 lawmakers, all Democrats, focusing on what they call the big picture parenting issues, like expanding the child tax credit and paid family leave.
“Now I get other issues in a more visceral sense. Like child care. It’s expensive,” Gomez said.
“You can see it on paper,” he said, “but when you’re going through it, you’re experiencing what other parents experience.”
Since the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, dads across the country say they have started taking a larger role in parenting.
But according to Pew Research data, while fathers have increased their child care workload over the years, moms still report taking on the most responsibility.
The dads caucus is well aware of that.
“These should not be issues that only moms are worried about or fighting for,” said Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, who co-founded the caucus with Gomez and New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim.
“The burden still disproportionately falls on mothers. And part of what we’re trying to do is uplift the responsibility that dads have for families,” Goldman said.
While they work, members of Congress are often stuck on Capitol Hill, away from their kids sometimes nearly half of the year.
“Their assumption is that I’m not going to be there in some way. … And what pains me about this is like the only reason I’m here is because I’m a dad,” Kim said.
But for advice on how to balance it all, look no further than Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No. 3-ranking Republican in the House. Emmer and his wife raised six boys and one girl.
“Kids come first no matter what. I’ve actually had this conversation with members already: Your family comes first,” he told ABC News.
A hockey dad and coach-turned-congressman, Emmer has carried lessons from the rink to Washington.
“All the personalities are different. People have up days and down days. My wife has always said when we had everybody at home — she called it organized chaos,” he said.
Gomez and his wife, Mary, say they wouldn’t trade Hodge’s papoose or the Capitol diaper changes for the world.
For them, Hodge — with his wide-eyes always looking toward the future — is a symbol of what they’re fighting for.
“He’s part of a story, he’s part of a family, and that’s what I want him to know,” Gomez said. “Not just that his dad was a member of Congress, but what his grandparents sacrificed, what their parents sacrificed, and understand what his role is in the bigger story of America but also of his own family.”
(GREENVILLE, S.C) — The South Carolina Republican Party voted unanimously on Saturday to hold their 2024 GOP presidential primary on February 24 next year, sources close to the process told ABC News.
The potential move would lengthen the time candidates have to focus on campaigning across the pivotal Palmetto State compared to the 2016 GOP election cycle.
The designation, if approved by the Republican National Committee, would upend the usual cadence of the Republican nominating calendar by placing South Carolina after Nevada for the first time in cycles. It would also make South Carolina Republicans vote 18 days after Nevada’s scheduled primary, putting the first-in-the-South presidential primary state front and center in the race for more than two full weeks.
In 2016, South Carolina’s Republican primary came three days before Nevada held its caucuses– when campaigns were pinballing between the two early states in an effort to sway each electorate.
A February 24 primary next year would give candidates far more time than in previous cycles to concentrate on winning South Carolina.
“This gives South Carolina the most exposure to candidates to come campaign in our state,” a source close to the process told ABC News.
The proposal earned applause from at least one presidential campaign: that of Ron DeSantis, whose team is bullish on the Florida governor’s chances in South Carolina.
“This could not have shaken out any better for us. We were happy to support this decision and look forward to competing to win in all four early states,” Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for the DeSantis campaign, told ABC News in a statement.
“Governor DeSantis has the strongest political operation and footprint of any of the announced candidates, including Biden,” he added.
Chris Murphy, a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives who is involved in the DeSantis campaign’s operations in the state, told ABC News that the governor’s past military service and his wife’s ties to the state – she graduated from the College of Charleston and her parents live in Aiken – should attract South Carolina Republican voters.
“I think he’s going to win, just based on everything I’m seeing on the ground,” he said.
A spokesman for former President Donald Trump’s campaign did not comment directly on the South Carolina GOP vote when reached by ABC News but accused DeSantis of attempting to “claim any victory he can, even if it’s completely detached from reality.”
Representatives for multiple other presidential campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The proposed date would set South Carolina behind Nevada in the GOP nominating calendar for the first time since 2008, when South Carolina voted on Jan. 19, the same day Nevada held its caucus. In 2016, the Republican primary date was Feb. 20, which was three days ahead of Nevada’s caucus on Feb. 23. In 2012, South Carolina Republicans voted in the primaries on Jan. 21, two weeks before Nevada Republicans caucused.
The South Carolina GOP also voted on Saturday to approve participation thresholds for presidential candidates: a filing fee of $50,000 per candidate and a filing deadline of October 31, 2023, according to one source close to the process.
In South Carolina, primary dates are chosen by state party officials, which are then approved by the RNC. Every state has until October 1, 2023, to submit to the RNC their plans for electing or awarding delegates.
“Every state has until October 1st to let the RNC know what their plan is for electing, selecting, allocating, and binding delegates. We look forward to reviewing each state and territory’s plans,” Emma Vaughn, an RNC spokesperson, said of South Carolina’s Saturday vote.
The Democratic National Committee voted in February to make South Carolina the first state on their presidential primary calendar–on Feb. 3, 2024.
“This calendar reflects who we are as a nation,” DNC Party Chair Jamie Harrison said at the time.
In Nevada, the presidential primary for both parties is already scheduled by the Secretary of State’s office to be held on February 6. However, the Nevada Republican Party is suing the state to allow the party to hold a caucus – the method both major parties in Nevada have used for decades in presidential election years.
“We look forward to holding [a caucus] in Feb 2024,” Alida Benson, the Nevada Republican Party’s executive director, told ABC News.
If the party’s legal challenge is successful, Benson said a caucus would likely be held in early February 2024.
ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Soo Rin Kim, Hannah Demissie and Abby Cruz contributed to this story.
(WASHINGTON) — It remains to be seen whether the judge assigned to Donald Trump’s federal case, who was appointed by him three years ago, can act independently in light of her past rulings related to the former president, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Whitehouse, D-R.I., likened U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to a “Trump advocate in a robe” but said she may correct herself going forward given that her biggest ruling to-date in Trump’s federal case was summarily rejected by an appellate panel.
“As we all know, her first intervention in the case was very badly smacked down by the 11th Circuit, a conservative circuit, that not only overruled her but schooled her. And as a new judge, I’m not sure how often you want to do that,” Whitehouse told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
He was referring to Cannon initially approving the appointment of a third party to review documents seized from Trump’s home during the federal investigation, which halted part of the case.
“We will find out whether she goes back to regular normal judging or continues to be a Trump advocate in a robe,” Whitehouse said.
“I suspect there’s a pretty good chance that she will just decide this is a good time in her career for her to act like a real judge and she’ll take the correction of the 11th Circuit and act accordingly,” he said.
Cannon was named to the federal bench by then-President Trump in 2020. She has been randomly selected to oversee Trump’s prosecution in federal court in Florida, where he is charged with illegally holding onto government secrets. He has pleaded not guilty.
Whitehouse said on “This Week” that “there’s going to be a lot of proceedings beforehand for special counsel Jack Smith to test [Cannon’s] behavior, to see how she’s conducting herself and have time to move for her recusal if she’s not providing proper rulings.”
Trump is the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to early polling, and has argued he is being unfairly targeted by law enforcement in the Biden administration’s Department of Justice — something Smith has pushed back on.
Whitehouse echoed that, saying there are “at least two firewalls” between President Joe Biden and the case: Biden doesn’t discuss criminal matters with Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Garland named Smith as an independent prosecutor to look into Trump.
Karl noted that Trump has made his charges “the centerpiece of his campaign” while Biden has largely avoided discussing it.
“I don’t think that works well for Trump, to tell you the truth,” Whitehouse said. “He goes into this sort of bullying, bombastic mode where he tries to make the other side as miserable as possible and hopes that they’ll go away or settle on good terms,” the senator continued. “When you’re dealing with a federal prosecutor, that stuff just doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter. It’s just background noise.”
Whitehouse defended Biden “steering well clear of” Trump’s case and his decision to slowly ramp up his 2024 campaign.
The president held his first campaign rally in Philadelphia on Saturday, 54 days after announcing his bid for reelection.
“He’s got a lot of time ahead of him, a lot of runway,” Whitehouse said, adding, “I don’t know that people are interested in a whole lot of campaign noise out of him, and I think he’s doing it right.”
Karl pointed to a comment from the senator last week regarding Biden’s age, when Whitehouse said, “I think everybody would certainly like a younger Joe Biden.” At 80, Biden is already the oldest-ever president. (Trump is 77.)
But in responding to concerns about his age — which voters have repeatedly worried about in polls — Biden can tout his experience, wisdom and record, Whitehouse said: “He can [address] that by continuing to talk about his successes.”
“He’s got a really good story to tell about the end of COVID, the reduction of inflation, the explosion in infrastructure jobs and manufacturing,” he said of Biden, “and I think that’s going to be a really solid baseline for him.”
Karl also asked about Whitehouse’s relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has mounted a long shot bid to challenge Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination. Whitehouse and Kennedy attended law school together, with Kennedy supporting Whitehouse’s campaigns and even joining him on the trail.
When asked if the two are still in touch, Whitehouse said “not so much, particularly since this political episode has begun,” and he pledged his full support to Biden.
He said he disagrees with Kennedy’s criticisms of vaccines and America’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I think Joe Biden has those issues and others right,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that he expects 2024 presidential opponent Donald Trump may try to pardon himself in the event he is convicted of criminal charges but also reelected.
“I could certainly see Donald Trump doing that. That’s exactly what he would intend if he got elected president. And if [his case] was not brought to trial before then, he’s likely to issue that as well,” Hutchinson said in an interview with ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
“From a legal standpoint, a constitutional standpoint, that is a question that the courts would have to resolve,” Hutchinson told Karl. “I’m doubtful of it. I don’t think that’s what the Constitution intends in giving the president the pardon power. But most importantly, it would be inappropriate, unseemly.”
The former president has been indicted in two cases and pleaded not guilty in each. He is charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly illegally withholding government secrets after leaving the White House and, separately, he is charged in New York City related to hush money paid to an adult film actress before the 2016 election.
A potential presidential pardon would only apply to the federal case.
Hutchinson has criticized others in the Republican primary field for promising to pardon Trump before his trial, saying the conversation alone undermines the American justice system. Hutchinson reiterated that view on “This Week,” citing conservatives who claim Trump is being targeted by law enforcement.
“In terms of the overall charge, ‘weaponization of the Justice Department’ — look at Donald Trump. He’s already declared that if he’s elected president, he’s going to appoint a special prosecutor to go after the Biden family. That’s called a weaponization of the Justice Department,” Hutchinson said. “And so let’s back off of these accusations.”
Former Pres. Trump’s defense team might try to push the trial back until after the election, Asa Hutchinson tells @JonKarl.
Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor, said Trump’s looming prosecution will have a major political dimension as it unfolds during the 2024 election.
The timeline for Trump’s federal trial could stretch past Election Day, he noted, forcing voters to decide where they stand before Trump has been judged by a jury. (His New York trial is currently scheduled to begin in March 2024.)
“I would estimate a year [to get to trial] under the normal circumstances. But it all depends upon how much the judge is going to hold the counsel’s feet to the fire and say this is important in the public interest that this is handled in an appropriate way and not dragged out,” Hutchinson said.
Drawing earlier in the interview on his past experience as prosecutor, Hutchinson stressed the seriousness of the indictment to Karl while acknowledging Trump should have the chance to make his case in court.
Trump faces 37 federal charges, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act for how he allegedly handled national defense information.
“I’ve tried scores of federal criminal trials and taken them to a jury, and the cases don’t get any more serious than what’s been outlined by [prosecutor] Jack Smith because you’re talking about the allegations of not handling our nation’s top secrets in accordance with law. You’re talking about obstruction of justice,” Hutchinson said.
Still, he continued, “You’re going to hear another side whenever the defense presents their case.”
Trump told supporters in a speech earlier this month that he “did everything right” and “I had every right to have these documents,” an argument which has been disputed by outside legal experts.
Hutchinson has been one of few in the GOP field to take issue with the Republican National Committee requiring all candidates in their debates to take a pledge to support the eventual nominee, arguing he won’t agree to support a potential convicted felon.
The committee last week rejected his request to change the pledge, but Hutchinson told Karl that he still intends to make the debate stage starting in August. He is currently polling in the back of the pack of candidates.
He suggested on Sunday that Trump critics like him who sign the pledge will do so with a caveat in mind.
“You have to make the pledge based on the fact that Donald Trump is not going to be our nominee and you’re confident of it,” he said.
“It’s not a pleasant way to start off the debate,” he said. “The RNC — I have great respect for that institution — I’ve served on it. They’re trying to hold the party together. But we need to concentrate on supporting the principles of the party, which is the rule of law, support of law enforcement and law and order versus simply trying to circle the wagons around Donald Trump.”
He also reaffirmed his call for Trump to drop out of the race while acknowledging that “clearly he’s not going to.”
“It’s not fair to the country,” he said, “and certainly it’s not fair to the party that wants to get this country back on track.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden spoke before an audience of union members in Philadelphia Saturday in what was his first rally since he declared his bid for a second term and comes as his campaign engagements ramp up.
Biden begins his 2024 campaign in the same way he kicked off his run in 2020: in front of Pennsylvania laborers.
“I am a union man, period,” Biden said at a union hall in Pittsburgh during his first rally in 2019.
And just as he did then, Biden is accompanying the rally with a roll out of union endorsements. The AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 national and international labor groups — including the national teachers’ and government workers’ unions — endorsed Biden on the eve of the rally. The federation, which represents 12.5 million workers, is hosting the rally.
“The President and Vice President are humbled to have earned this historic groundswell of support nearly 17 months before the 2024 election,” Julia Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
Upon arriving in Philadelphia on Saturday, Biden received a helicopter tour of the collapsed portion of I-95 in Philadelphia and said “there’s no more important project right now in the country” than rebuilding the highway.
The president said he’s directed his team to “literally move heaven and earth” to get the rebuilding done as soon as possible and pledged federal assistance.
“The federal government got committed, we’re going to reimburse 100% this phase of the work, and well over the first 200 days, and then after that, 90% of the work,” the president said. “We’ll be here until the end. We won’t leave until it’s finished.”
Biden leaned on labor groups in his run for the White House in 2020, earning back some Rust Belt blue-collar support Democrats lost in 2016 — and these groups are prepared to use their vast political networks to turn out voters for the president once again.
Pennsylvania, the state Biden was born in, has not only played a significant role in the president’s political career, but also in national politics. Since 1920, candidates who won Pennsylvania were elected president 81% of the time, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.
“If I’m gonna be able to beat Donald Trump in 2020, it’s gonna happen here,” Biden said, launching his last campaign. Pennsylvania would later carry Biden across the finish line.
Biden’s reelection campaign’s activity has been slow since the president announced his decision nearly two months ago — though the announcement’s timing was on par with the reelection campaign announcements of former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
But in recent days, the campaign has kicked into another gear. The president attended a fundraiser in Connecticut on Friday, with receptions in Maryland and California scheduled later in the month, while first lady Jill Biden had a fundraising swing through New York and California earlier this week. Biden also addressed environmental groups Wednesday and accepted their endorsement.
The campaign trail is bound to be more demanding than last time. The COVID-19 pandemic allowed the Biden campaign to go virtual for much of 2020, with socially-distanced events in the final weeks of the race.
Biden, who would be 86 years old at the end of a second term, acknowledged in a February interview with ABC News’ David Muir that concerns about his age are “legitimate,” though he said it was not a consideration for him. Two months later, on the day after his reelection campaign launched, however, the president said his age was a factor in his decision-making.
“I respect them taking a hard look at it,” Biden said in April. “I’d take a hard look at it as well. I took a hard look at it before I decided to run.”
Biden instead wants voters to focus on the work he’s done, centering his campaign on what he sees as his accomplishments and behind a message that Americans should give him four more years to “finish the job.”
ABC News’ Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are pushing back after former President Barack Obama criticized their stances on race relations.
The two South Carolina Republicans dinged Obama for his handling of race during his presidency, with Scott, the only Black candidate running for the Republican presidential nomination, arguing on “The Mark Levin Show” that Obama missed an opportunity to unite the country as America’s first Black president.
“Let us not forget we are a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression,” Scott tweeted Thursday night after the radio appearance. “Democrats deny our progress to protect their power. The Left wants you to believe faith in America is a fraud and progress in our nation is a myth.”
“The truth of MY life disproves the lies of the radical Left. We live in a country where little Black and Brown boys and girls can be President of the United States. The truth is – we’ve had one and the good news is – we will have another,” the tweet continued.
And Friday morning, Haley, who is of Indian descent, followed suit, tweeting, “[Obama] set minorities back by singling them out as victims instead of empowering them. In America, hard work & personal responsibility matter. My parents didn’t raise me to think that I would forever be a victim. They raised me to know that I was responsible for my success.”
Earlier Thursday, Obama defended people who are “skeptical” of Republican presidential candidates such as Scott and Haley when it comes to race, suggesting they turn a blind eye to past and present racial inequalities.
“If somebody is not proposing, both acknowledging and proposing elements that say, ‘No, we can’t just ignore all that and pretend as if everything’s equal and fair. We actually have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.’ If they’re not doing that, then I think people are rightly skeptical,” he told Axelrod.
Obama said Republicans skate over racial inequities when they need to tackle the issue head on.
“I think there’s a long history of African-American or other minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate America and say, ‘Everything’s great, and we can make it.’ Nikki Haley I think has a similar approach,” Obama said Thursday on “The Axe Files with David Axelrod.”
“I’m not being cynical about Tim Scott individually, but I am maybe suggesting the rhetoric of ‘Can’t we all get along?’ … that has to be undergirded with an honest accounting of our past and our present,” he continued, noting that he has yet to see “somebody in the Republican Party that is more serious about actually addressing some of the deep inequality that still exists in our society.”
Scott typically presents race relations in America with an optimistic tone, often telling of how his grandfather who picked cotton in the deep South lived to see his grandson “pick out a seat in Congress.”
After “The View” co-host Joy Behar suggested Scott doesn’t understand “the systemic racism that African Americans face in this country, and [faced by] other minorities,” Scott went on the show to push back.
“I believe America could do for anyone what she’s done for me: restoring hope, creating opportunities, and defending and protecting the America that we love, it’s such an important combination,” he said on “The View” earlier this month.
There isn’t much incentive for Black Republicans to adopt stronger stances on racial politics, according to Dr. Leah Wright Rigueur, author of “The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power.”
“The first thing to keep in mind is that for Black Republicans that have high ranking or highly visible positions, there’s no reward right now for them challenging whatever the standard narrative that is of the Republican Party,” she told ABC News. “In that respect, we know that the standard for the Republican Party right now is that there is no such thing as systemic racism.”
But Scott has made overtures to racial justice activists in the past. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, the senator went before Congress to give a passionate speech on his own racial experiences. He also pushed for police reform in his failed legislation, the Justice Act.
Still, Scott seems keenly aware of his place in the discourse, declining to join the Congressional Black Caucus in 2010.
“While I recognize the efforts of the CBC and appreciate their invitation for me to caucus with them, I will not be joining at this time. My campaign was never about race,” he said at the time.
More than 60% of Americans believe racism against Black people is widespread in the United States, according to a 2021 Gallup poll. However, about two-thirds of U.S. adults believe that when it comes to racism against Black people, racism by individual people is a bigger problem than racism in laws, a 2022 Pew Research poll says.
