(WASHINGTON) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump met with officials at the Department of Justice Monday, according to sources familiar with the matter.
It was not immediately clear who Trump’s lawyers met with at DOJ.
Spokespeople for the special counsel and the Department of Justice declined to comment on the meeting.
It comes after Trump’s lawyers requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland last month, amid fears from his lawyers that the coming weeks could bring a possible indictment of Trump regarding his alleged efforts to retain materials after leaving office and obstruct the government’s attempts to retrieve them.
The lawyers have said they have questions surrounding the integrity of the grand juries impaneled that are investigating the former president.
In their meeting request last month, the Trump attorneys wrote that they wanted to discuss what they described as the “ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated” by special counsel Jack Smith and said that no president has been “baselessly investigated” in such an “unlawful fashion.”
(WASHINGTON) — A New Hampshire man was arrested last week and charged with threatening to kill a U.S. senator, federal prosecutors said.
Brian Landry, a 66-year-old from Franklin, New Hampshire, allegedly left a threatening voicemail at the senator’s district office on May 17, which was referred to U.S. Capitol Police, investigators said in an affidavit along with Landry’s criminal complaint.
“Hey stupid I’m a veteran sniper. And unless you change your ways, I got my scope pointed in your direction and I’m coming to get you. You’re a dead man walking you piece of f—— s—,” Landry is accused of saying, according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors did not identify the senator whom Landry allegedly targeted beyond stating that the lawmaker took office on Jan. 3, 2021.
When questioned by authorities after being identified through phone records, Landry said he was “extremely angry with certain politicians over their handling of important entitlement programs for veterans,” the affidavit states.
He also “said he saw on the news that [the senator] is blocking military promotions” and called the senator’s office “because he was angry about what he saw on the news,” according to the affidavit.
Authorities said in the criminal complaint affidavit that while talking with Landry, he “initially stated that he did not recall exactly what he said in the voicemail he left.” Later, he “acknowledged he may have said those things, but denied any intentions or desire to commit violence.”
Landry is charged with threatening to assault, kidnap or murder a member of Congress and faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
He made his first court appearance on Friday afternoon, according to prosecutors. His next hearing is set for July 12.
He does not have a lawyer listed who could comment on his behalf. He has not yet entered a plea.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Mike Turner, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday lambasted what he called increased military hostility by China and insisted the U.S. “stand strong” after recent close calls near American ships and planes and the suspected spy balloon that was shot down off the East Coast.
“What we’re seeing is an unbelievable aggression by China,” Turner, R-Ohio, told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “If you look at the balloon that flew over the United States, the Chinese police stations, the aggressiveness against our both planes and ships and international water, it goes right to the heart of what President Xi [Jinping] said when he stood next to [President Vladimir] Putin in Russia where he said they are trying to make change that has not happened in 100 years.”
“They’re trying to flex their muscles and advance authoritarianism. We need to stand strong,” Turner said, “and this administration needs to stand strong against this type of coercion.”
The tough rhetoric from Turner comes as relations between Washington and Beijing have become frayed over issues including Taiwan, trade and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though President Joe Biden has said he seeks “competition, not conflict.”
U.S. officials believe China has been coordinating an increasing campaign of harassment, including two incidents in recent days between U.S. and Chinese planes and ships.
When pressed by Raddatz on Sunday on what would be a sufficient response, Turner said President Biden should make it clear that the government views China as an “adversary.”
“I think it means calling them out. I mean, this is unacceptable,” Turner said. “I think the administration needs to step up and make clear that China has identified itself as an adversary, and we’re going to treat it as such.”
On Friday in Singapore, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin both reaffirmed a commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and called for more communication after being refused a sit-down with his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu.
“The more that we talk, the more that we can avoid the misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict,” Austin said. On Saturday, he said, “We will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion.”
Shangfu recently blamed “bullying” and “double standards” by “some country” and said, “A cold war mentality is now resurgent.”
In his “This Week” appearance, Turner said the U.S. should also bolster its defense capabilities against North Korea, which continues to develop a nuclear program and gets much of its aid from China.
“The concept of deterrence — we have weapons, they have weapons — is dead. We need to go to deterrence plus defense,” he said. “That means an aggressive missile defense system.”
Turner singled out a need for more robust protection around New York City, pointing to efforts by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik and others to increase missile defense capabilities at Fort Drum, in upstate New York.
“We need to build out that system and we need to hold China accountable for North Korea,” he said.
He also praised efforts to arm the Ukrainian military ahead of an expected counteroffensive against Russia, saying it was “amazing to see the ingenuity” with which troops there have used U.S.-supplied munitions, including by taking out a key Russian Kinzhal missile.
However, Turner said the U.S. weaponry should not be used to launch attacks inside of Russia — as Russian border towns have experienced a sharp spike in violence fueled by paramilitary groups who maintain they’re fighting for Ukraine.
The Biden administration has said it’s investigating.
“Certainly, we have to understand that Ukraine needs to be able to defend its territory, they need to defend themselves from Russian aggression,” Turner said. “President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy made a commitment that he would not use U.S. weapon systems in [Russia] and he’s made that commitment to me when I saw him last.”
(WASHINGTON) — Vivek Ramaswamy, the youngest 2024 Republican presidential candidate and self-proclaimed political outsider, on Sunday made his “America first” pitch for the White House while defending his view that the U.S. must force “major concessions” from Ukraine in order to end Russia’s invasion and allow a sharper focus on facing China.
“The job of the U.S. president is to look after American interests,” he told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, arguing that militarily backing Ukraine’s continued resistance to Russia’s invasion is a less compelling goal than dealing with Beijing.
Ramaswamy’s position on Ukraine and Russia puts him in the minority among politicians, with leading Republicans and Democrats saying Russia’s invasion must not be successful in order to preserve stability in Europe.
“You said in a speech in New Hampshire on Friday that you would not spend another dime of American money on a war that does not affect our interests. You don’t think the possibility of Russia taking over Ukraine is in our interest?” Raddatz asked him on “This Week.”
“I don’t think that’s a top foreign policy priority,” Ramaswamy said, later adding, “I don’t think it is preferable for Russia to be able to invade a sovereign country that is its neighbor. But … I think the No. 1 threat to the U.S. military is right now, our top military threat, is the China-Russian alliance. I think that by fighting further in Russia, by further arming Ukraine, we are driving Russia into China’s hands.”
Instead, he said, he would “end this war” as long as Putin ended his country’s alliance with China.
“No one tells Vladimir Putin what to do. That has not worked yet,” Raddatz pressed. “And you said you would want to give them the Donbas [a region of Ukraine currently occupied by Russia]. … That would be rewarding Putin, wouldn’t it?”
“I don’t trust Putin, but I do trust Putin to follow his self-interest,” Ramaswamy maintained.
“What I think we need to do is end the Ukraine war on peaceful terms that, yes, do make some major concessions to Russia, including freezing those current lines of control in a Korean-war style armistice agreement. … Which Ukraine wouldn’t want to do,” he continued. “And also a permanent commitment not to allow Ukraine to enter NATO. But in return, Russia has to leave its treaty and its joint military agreement with China.”
Ramaswamy raised concerns of a future invasion of Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing views as a breakaway province.
Stopping a war there “is a much higher priority,” he said.
“China’s bet is that they’re going to go for Taiwan, the U.S. won’t want to be in simultaneous conflict with two nuclear superpowers at the same time. But if Russia’s no longer at China’s back and vice versa, we’re in a stronger position,” he said.
Early in Ramaswamy’s “This Week” interview, Raddatz noted that he is polling in the back of the pack of GOP hopefuls and asked him on how he would walk the “fine line” of appealing to former President Donald Trump’s base, who make up a large number of Republican primary voters.
“America first does not belong to Trump. It doesn’t belong to me,” said Ramaswamy, a former biotech entrepreneur. “It belongs to the people of this country. And I think we take that agenda even further if we’re doing it based on first principles and moral authority, as [Ronald] Reagan did, rather than on vengeance and grievance.”
No revival of Trump’s trans military ban
In light of his criticism of “woke” policies around identity, diversity and historical oppression, Ramaswamy was asked by Raddatz if, as president, he would revive a controversial Trump-era ban on transgender military members that was reversed under President Joe Biden.
“I would not reinstate a ban on transgender members,” Ramaswamy said. “I would, however, be very clear that for kids, that’s where my policies are very focused.”
Conservatives have increasingly called out policies around transgender children that they view as concerning, including pushing for limits on the health care that those kids can receive related to their gender, arguing they are extreme, which advocates and many doctors reject.
“We should not be forcing this ideology onto children,” Ramaswamy said.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — President Joe Biden addressed the nation in a prime-time speech Friday after Congress averted an economically disastrous default with just days to spare by passing legislation to raise the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
The president, speaking from behind the Resolute Desk in his first Oval Office address, stressed that “unity” had made it possible.
“When I ran for president, I was told the days of bipartisanship were over,” he said. “That Democrats, Republicans could no longer work together. I refused to believe that because America can never give into that way of thinking.”
Biden signed the bill into law Saturday.
“I just signed into law a bipartisan budget agreement that prevents a first-ever default while reducing the deficit, safeguarding Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and fulfilling our scared obligation to our veterans. Now, we continue the work of building the strongest economy in the world,” Biden tweeted Saturday.
Biden touted the deal he made with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as a win for American families and proof of his ability to compromise to keep the nation on track — themes he’s using in his 2024 reelection campaign.
“Essential to all the progress we’ve made in the last few years is keeping the full, faith, and credit of the United States and passing a budget that continues to grow our economy and reflects our values as a nation,” he said. “That’s why I’m speaking to you tonight. To report on a crisis averted and what we are doing to protect America’s future. Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher.”
In noting how the deal came together, he said no one got everything they wanted but still acted to stave off the worst-case scenario: a default that would have likely triggered a recession and caused millions of jobs to be lost.
“I know bipartisanship is hard, and unity is hard,” he said. “But we can never stop trying. Because in the moments like this one, the ones we just faced, where the American economy the world economy is at risk of collapsing, there’s no other way, no matter how tough our politics gets, we must see each other not as adversaries but as fellow Americans.”
Reiterating one of his key lines from his inaugural address, he urged Americans to “stop shouting, lower the temperature and work together to pursue progress.”
The Fiscal Responsibility Act is the result of months of back-and-forth between Biden and McCarthy. It lifts the debt ceiling through Jan. 1, 2025, in exchange for some cuts to federal spending.
Biden’s signing of the bill Saturday puts an end to weeks of anxiety that the nation would nose-dive into economic turmoil by not being able to pay all its bills, including Social Security or Medicaid benefits, on time and in full for the first time in history.
In his Oval Office address, Biden notably commended McCarthy and the GOP and White House negotiating teams for being “completely honest and respectful with one another,” as well as praising the work of other top congressional leaders.
“They acted responsibly to put the good of the country ahead of politics,” Biden said, adding that “both sides kept their word.”
Earlier, when asked by ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze why Biden chose the Oval Office for the speech, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he wanted to meet the “gravity” of the moment.
As Biden worked behind-the-scenes to hammer out the deal, he at times frustrated Democrats — members of the party’s progressive wing, especially — who worried he was giving in too much to Republican demands.
At one point, several in his party urged him to go it alone and use the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, an idea Biden ultimately rejected in this situation, but one he said he would study.
“I have been clear that the only path forward is a bipartisan compromise that can earn the support of both parties,” he said earlier this week. “This agreement meets that test.”
The final product did give both Democrats and Republicans something to celebrate: the White House touted the protection of key priorities and legislative accomplishments while McCarthy sold it to his caucus as much-needed reining in of government spending.
“I wanted to make history,” McCarthy said as he took a victory lap after the House passed the bill. “I wanted to do something no other Congress has done, that we would literally turn the ship and for the first time in quite some time, we’d spend less than we spent the year before. Tonight, we all made history.”
Moderates from both parties gave the bill its necessary stamp of approval in the House and Senate, but in the end more congressional Democrats voted for the bill than Republicans.
“Democrats are feeling very good tonight,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., triumphantly said after Thursday’s vote. “We’ve saved the country from the scourge of default.”
Schumer contended Democrats “beat back the worst of the Republican agenda” including deeper spending cuts that would’ve dismantled parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, taken people off federal aid and blocked Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
Biden on Friday also celebrated that the bill leaves Social Security, Medicaid, veterans benefits and other priorities untouched before turning to a list of other priorities he wants to get done next, including more deficit reduction and raising revenues by making wealthy Americans “pay their fair share.”
“I’m gonna be coming back and with your help, I’m going to win,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for former President Donald Trump have been unable to locate the sensitive military document that Trump discussed on tape during a July 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Federal investigators have the audio recording, on which Trump acknowledges he held onto a sensitive military document after leaving office, sources previously told ABC News.
On the recording, which ABC News has not listened to nor obtained, Trump is heard attacking Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and referencing one document in particular that Trump claimed Milley had compiled, according to sources. Trump, who said on the recording that he still had the document in his possession, said the document was about attacking Iran, sources said.
Trump’s lawyers turned over documents in response to a March subpoena seeking all documents and materials related to Milley and Iran, including any materials containing invasion plans or maps, the sources told ABC News.
In their dealings with Trump’s lawyers, special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators said they specifically wanted the document that Trump referenced on the recording, sources familiar with the matter said. But they were unable to locate it.
It’s also not clear whether Trump had the specific document with him during the July 2021 meeting while he was discussing it. Trump indicated during the recording that he knew the document in question was secret, sources said.
The special counsel’s office declined to comment to ABC News.
The recording was made during a meeting that Trump held with people who were helping former chief of staff Mark Meadows with his memoir, according to sources.
Contacted earlier this week about the recording, a Trump spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News, “Leaks from radical partisans behind this political persecution are designed to inflame tensions and continue the media’s harassment of President Trump and his supporters.”
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump on Friday asked the judge overseeing his criminal prosecution in New York City to step aside, citing the judge’s daughter’s ties to a Democratic organization.
Judge Juan Merchan is presiding over the case, in which Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Merchan himself will decide whether he is impartial.
The defense said he can’t be, because his daughter is an executive at Authentic Campaigns, a Democratic consulting firm that worked on President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
There is a “need to assure the public that the judge who presides over this historic case is actually impartial,” Trump’s attorneys said in their motion for recusal. “This role cannot be fulfilled by Your Honor.”
“Authentic is a company which has both publicly taken positions against President Trump and has reported raising over $74 million in campaign contributions for clients since 2018 (mostly in 2020 and 2022) to Democrats,” the motion said.
Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles also cited Merchan’s oversight of a prior criminal case involving the Trump Organization, which was convicted of tax fraud. They said Merchan encouraged then-chief financial adviser Allen Weisselberg to plead guilty and cooperate against the company.
“At a June 17th meeting in the Court’s Chambers, the Court informed Mr. Weisselberg’s attorneys that unless Mr. Weisselberg cooperated with the People against Donald Trump and his interests, the Court would only offer Mr. Weisselberg a state prison sentence of at least one to three years imprisonment, even if Mr. Weisselberg pleaded guilty,” the defense motion said.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has not formally responded, but was expected to oppose Trump’s effort to replace the judge. A spokesperson for the DA’s office declined to comment.
The motion for recusal is the second attempt by Trump to move his criminal case out of Merchan’s courtroom. He is also seeking to remove the case to federal court, a move that’s opposed by the district attorney’s office.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice has notified former Vice President Mike Pence that no criminal charges will be sought in their investigation into his handling of classified documents after leaving office, according to a letter sent to Pence’s attorneys by the DOJ that ABC News has reviewed.
A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the letter to ABC News, but declined to comment further.
The letter from DOJ’s National Security Division comes the week before Pence is expected to announce his candidacy for president in 2024.
Earlier this year, lawyers for Pence informed the Justice Department that a small number of classified documents had been found at his home in Indiana.
The discovery came after representatives for President Joe Biden similarly found classified materials from his time as vice president and dating back to his time as a senator in several locations.
A special counsel is still investigating Biden’s potential mishandling of classified materials, and the status of that probe remains unclear.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice has notified former Vice President Mike Pence that no criminal charges will be sought in their investigation into his handling of classified documents after leaving office, according to a letter sent to Pence’s attorneys by the DOJ that ABC News has reviewed.
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Thursday night passed legislation to lift the nation’s debt ceiling and stave off what would’ve been an economically disastrous default days before Monday’s deadline.
The final vote was 63-36.
The bill will now go to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
Biden heralded the Senate vote passing the budget agreement as a “big win” for the economy.
Noting the bipartisan nature of the vote, Biden said, “Together, they demonstrated once more that America is a nation that pays its bills and meets its obligations — and always will be. I want to thank Leader [Chuck] Schumer and Leader [Mitch] McConnell for quickly passing the bill.”
“No one gets everything they want in a negotiation, but make no mistake: This bipartisan agreement is a big win for our economy and the American people,” the president added.
Biden said he looks forward to signing the bill as soon as possible, and that he will address the American people directly Friday.
Schumer painted the debt limit deal as a broad victory for Democrats late Thursday night during a press conference just after the legislation passed.
“Default was a giant sword hanging over America’s head,” Schumer said. “But because of the good work of President Biden, as well as Democrats in the House and Democrats in the Senate, we are not defaulting.”
Schumer’s comments come after an aggressive effort by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to cast the bill as a GOP victory. But Schumer pointed to the vote margins in the House and Senate, noting that the bill enjoyed more support from Democrats than it did from Republicans in both chambers.
“We got more votes because the bill beat back the worst of the Republican agenda,” Schumer said. “This was an exercise in where the American people are at, and they are much closer to where we are than where they are.”
The Fiscal Responsibility Act, the product of weeks of contentious negotiation between Biden and McCarthy, will raise the $31.4 trillion debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025, while also implementing some caps on government spending and policy changes.
Republicans are touting its spending cuts while the White House argues it was able to protect major Democratic priorities like Medicare and Social Security, among other Biden-backed initiatives.
The compromise legislation was met with opposition from wings of both parties — hard-line Republicans and progressive Democrats — but has now passed both chambers with bipartisan support in the face of the alternative: an unprecedented default on the nation’s bills that would’ve likely cost millions of jobs and triggered a recession.
The House passed the bill on Wednesday in a 314-117 vote, a win for McCarthy in his first major test as speaker.
“I wanted to make history,” McCarthy said as he took a victory lap after the bill’s passage. “I wanted to do something no other Congress has done, that we would literally turn the ship, that for the first time in quite some time we’d spend less than we spent the year before.”
Lawmakers have raced to get the bill across the finish line ahead of Monday, the date Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the U.S. could run out of money to pay all its bills on time and in full.
The Senate avoided a filibuster and the passage of any amendments to get the bill across the finish line before the weekend.
Overall, the Fiscal Responsibility Act will keep non-defense spending flat in fiscal year 2024 and increase spending by 1% in 2025, which ultimately amounts to a cut in light of inflation, while slightly raising military spending.
It imposes new work requirements for older Americans using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, and other federal assistance, a key Republican demand, though the Congressional Budget Office estimated it could increase spending and the number of people who qualify for aid. Medicaid and Medicare programs were left untouched.
The legislation also paves the way for a natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia, claws back some funding for the Internal Revenue Service and ends the three-year pause on federal student loan payments.
According to the CBO, the bill will reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
