Politics

(WASHINGTON) — After optimistic talk from both House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden earlier this week, Rep. Garrett Graves, who is leading debt ceiling talks for House Republicans, said Friday negotiations have hit a snag.

“We decided to press pause because it’s just not productive,” Graves said as he emerged from a Capitol Hill meeting with White House negotiators.

The development comes as time is quickly running out for lawmakers to find a debt ceiling compromise or risk default for the first time in history. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the U.S. could run out of cash to pay all its bills by June 1.

Soon after Graves’ remarks, White House negotiators said they are “playing it by ear” when asked about the possibility of more meetings Friday and during the weekend.

Despite the snag, a White House spokesperson insisted Friday a deal was still “possible.”

“A responsible, bipartisan budget agreements remains possible if both sides negotiate in good faith and recognize that neither side will get everything it wants,” the spokesperson said. “There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be difficult. The President’s team is working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan solution that can pass the House and the Senate.”

But Graves on Friday slammed the administration position as “unreasonable.”

“Until people are willing to have reasonable conversations about how you can actually move forward and do the right thing, then we’re not going to sit here and talk to ourselves,” Graves added.

The Louisiana Republican touted the Save, Limit, Grow Act that the House narrowly passed last month, which he said “has great savings in it. and it’s responsible and puts us on a path to bend the curve.”

The bill, which would block various White House priorities such as federal student debt cancellation and new funding for the IRS, has been deemed a nonstarter by Democrats.

The apparent breakdown comes after the White House late Thursday night touted “steady progress” following a phone call between Biden, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti.

“The President’s team informed him that steady progress is being made. The President directed his team to continue pressing forward for a bipartisan agreement and made clear the need to protect essential programs for hardworking Americans and the economic progress of the past two years as negotiations head into advanced stages,” the White House tweeted.

“He remains confident that Congress will take necessary action to avoid default,” the White House added.

McCarthy, too, seemed more optimistic Thursday than at any other point in the process as he said they were in a “much better” place than a week ago.

“We’re not there. We haven’t agreed to anything yet,” McCarthy said during an impromptu gaggle with reporters. “But I see the path that we could come to an agreement. I think we have a structure now.”

Timing remains critical as lawmakers stare down a fast-approaching deadline to lift or suspend the debt ceiling or risk a default. McCarthy said Thursday he believed a deal would need to made in principle by this weekend in order for a bill to clear the House and Senate before June 1.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday informed G-7 leaders meeting in Japan that he will support joint training of Ukrainian fighter pilots on F-16s, which begins the process of fulfilling a repeated request by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for those jets.

“Today, President Biden informed G-7 leaders that the United States will support a joint effort with our allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force,” according to a senior administration official. “As the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them.”

The official added that training will take place outside Ukraine at sites in Europe and will require months to complete.

“We hope we can begin this training in the coming weeks,” the official said.

The White House has long defended its decision not to fulfill this request by Zelenskyy, saying the administration was focused on immediate needs for the war.

“To date, the United States and our allies and partners have focused on providing Ukraine with the vast majority of the systems, weapons, and training it requires to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer. Discussions about improving the Ukrainian Air Force reflect our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense,” the official said.

In February, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the current phase of the war “requires tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, artillery, tactical air defense systems, so that Ukrainian fighters can retake territory that Russia currently occupies.” He added that “F-16s are a question for a later time.”

Biden also told ABC’s David Muir that same month that Zelenskyy “doesn’t need F-16s now” and that “I am ruling it out for now.”

In March, Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy official, told Congress that even if approved getting used F-16s to Ukraine would take 18 to 24 months and that flight training would take just as long.

“Together with the short-term and medium-term security assistance packages we are providing Ukraine, President Biden is sending a powerful signal of how the United States and our allies and partners are fully united in ensuring Ukraine remains sovereign, independent, and secure with the ability to defend against and deter future attacks,” according to the senior administration official.

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(WASHINGTON) — A D.C. police lieutenant was arrested and charged Friday with obstruction of justice and making false statements over allegations that he leaked information to then-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy last month for his role in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

The Justice Department announced Friday that Shane Lamond, 47, was indicted by a grand jury in D.C. with one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements.

Lamond was repeatedly mentioned throughout the course of the nearly four month seditious conspiracy trial over his ties to Tarrio.

The indictment unsealed Friday alleges he obstructed the government’s investigation into Tarrio for his burning of a Black Lives Matter flag in December 2020 by telling the Proud Boys leader law enforcement had a warrant out for his arrest.

Lamond is further alleged to have given confidential law enforcement information to Tarrio that in turn was passed along to other Proud Boys members.

When Lamond was interviewed in June of 2021 by law enforcement, he allegedly lied about his contacts with Tarrio multiple times, the indictment alleges.

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(WASHINGTON) — As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy expressed his most positive view yet on debt ceiling talks, a group of hardline conservatives on Thursday urged Republicans to stop negotiating altogether.

McCarthy said that while no deal has been reached, they’re in a “much better place” than a week ago.

“We’re not there. We haven’t agreed to anything yet,” McCarthy said during an impromptu gaggle with reporters. “But I see the path that we could come to an agreement. I think we have a structure now.”

But undercutting McCarthy was The House Freedom Caucus, who said there should “be no further discussion” until the Senate passes the Limit, Save, Grow Act — which included substantial spending cuts in exchange for a one-year debt limit increase.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said the bill would be dead on arrival in the chamber.

“The House Freedom Caucus calls on Speaker McCarthy and Senate Republicans to use every leverage and tool at their disposal to ensure the Limit, Save, Grow Act is signed into law,” the group said in a statement.

The House Freedom Caucus, an influential group of GOP hardliners, gave McCarthy a hard time in his ascension to the speakership and forced him to agree to several concessions before handing him the gavel. Their opposition could be problematic down the road if a debt ceiling agreement is reached.

Lead negotiators were on Capitol Hill Thursday for a closed-door meeting on the debt ceiling.

Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, have been working with Republican Rep. Garret Graves to find a compromise.

“They are exceptionally smart. They are tough … it’s very professional how this discussion is,” McCarthy said of Young and Ricchetti. He later added, “They are working night and day.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., described the conversations as “productive” as he left meeting room.

“We’ve got a lot more work to do. Nothing is close to being done,” McHenry said. “But we’re in the right discussions. The right things are being discussed. And we have the right people in the room to get this to the point where the principles can meet and have some agreement.”

In the Senate, Schumer also touted positive momentum as he gave members the greenlight to leave town for recess — but made it clear they would need to return within a 24-hour window to vote on a debt ceiling measure.

“The negotiations are currently making progress,” he said in floor remarks. “As Speaker McCarthy has said, he expects the House will vote next week if an agreement is reached, and the Senate would begin consideration after that.”

Still, some Democrats in his chamber are also urging an alternative debt ceiling fix.

A group of 11 senators led by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders have signed onto a letter urging Biden to prepare to invoke the 14th Amendment to lift the debt ceiling — an option Biden previously said would likely lead to lengthy litigation.

The lawmakers argue the Republican position is untenable, and that Biden shouldn’t have to negotiate with McCarthy in order to avoid default.

“Is this the perfect solution, is imposing the 14th amendment the perfect solution? No it is not,” Sanders said during a press conference on Capitol Hill. “But using the 14th amendment would allow the United States to continue to pay its bills on time and without delay, prevent an economic catastrophe, and prevent devastating cuts to some for the most vulnerable people in the country.”

Providing more details on a potential timeline, McCarthy said Thursday in order for Congress to avoid the possible June 1 “X-date,” a deal would need to be reached in principle by this weekend. After that, he predicted it would take up to 11 days — four in the House and seven in the Senate — to pass a bill and send it to Biden’s desk.

Biden, who is currently abroad meeting with G-7 leaders in Japan, is cutting his trip short to return Sunday for “final negotiations.”

Moments before he left for Asia on Wednesday, Biden said he was “confident” an unprecedented, likely economically catastrophic default.

“All the leaders have agreed we will not default,” he said. “Every leader has said that.”

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(WASHINGTON) — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, accepted the State Department’s latest offer to review a classified communication sent by American diplomats during the final days of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, at least temporarily ending a standoff where he threatened to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over subpoenaed materials.

“I am available to view the documents as soon as possible,” McCaul wrote to Blinken in a letter shared Thursday. “In light of this invitation, I will pause efforts to enforce the Committee’s subpoena pending my review of the documents.”

McCaul added that despite his decision, the subpoena remains “in full force and effect” and pressed for additional access, arguing that all members of the panel were “undoubtedly entitled” to review the material.

McCaul and other Republicans on the panel have been engaged in a monthslong pursuit of the document that sources say was sent in July 2021 and warned Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the government of Afghanistan was at risk of collapse at the hands of the Taliban.

The committee chairman initially issued several requests for the document, followed by a subpoena in March. When the State Department refused to comply, he threatened to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress, going as far as to schedule a hearing on the matter in the coming days.

On Wednesday, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said the department would send a letter on Monday offering McCaul and the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, an opportunity to privately review the document, known as a “dissent cable,” and that only identifying information of department personnel involved would be redacted.

“Chairman McCaul himself has said this is what he is interested in,” Patel said.

ABC News obtained a copy of the letter, which states that the State Department is prepared to make the cable available “as an additional extraordinary accommodation” to the two members of Congress “as soon as possible.”

The letter also notes that the department is extending the invitation to McCaul and Meeks “despite the materially increased risk that additional disclosures of the Dissent Channel cable could further deter Department employees from using the Dissent Channel in the future for its intended purposes of informing internal deliberations.”

The State Department had repeatedly declined to produce the cable, arguing the dissent channel needed to be protected to preserve its integrity and offering McCaul and other members of the committee a closed door briefing and a summary of the document instead.

Despite the administration’s concession, Patel made it clear that the State Department still saw its previous disclosures as adequately meeting the department’s needs.

“We believe that we have provided sufficient information through our classified briefing, through the written summary, and we believe these efforts already should have and would satisfied their request for information,” he said.

During a televised interview on Monday, McCaul called the State Department’s offer “a really significant step forward.”

McCaul said the only remaining issue he had was that the other members of the committee, including veterans of the war in Afghanistan, would not also be able to view the document.

“If we can work out this last step, then I think we’ve resolved a litigation fight in the courts,” McCaul said.

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(WASHINGTON) — A Secret Service officer was recalled from Bulgaria after there was “an off-duty altercation with hotel staff,” according to an agency spokesperson.

Former President Bill Clinton was scheduled to visit Bulgaria this month “for a convening of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI),” the Clinton Foundation announced last month.

“On May 10, a Secret Service officer assigned to support protective functions on an overseas trip to Sofia, Bulgaria was recalled to the United States by the Secret Service after an off-duty altercation with hotel staff,” a Secret Service spokesperson said. “A second employee who witnessed this incident was also recalled. The individuals were removed prior to the arrival of the protectee, and our Office of Professional Responsibility has opened an internal investigation into the incident.”

The Secret Service made headlines this week after it was reported that an unidentified man entered national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s Washington, D.C., home in late April. The alleged incident prompted a Secret Service investigation into how it could happen with agents supposedly on guard, according to an agency spokesperson. The news came to light this week.

As for the incident on President Clinton’s trip, the Secret Service says it has “extremely strict codes of conduct governing employee behavior and should this investigation reveal any policy violations or misconduct, individuals will face disciplinary action.”

“All employees involved in this incident have been placed on administrative leave and access to Secret Service sites, facilities and computer systems has been suspended pending the results of this investigation,” the federal law enforcement agency said.

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(WASHINGTON) — California Sen. Dianne Feinstein suffered complications from shingles that included Ramsay Hunt syndrome and encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, her office confirmed on Thursday.

Feinstein, a Democrat, was diagnosed with shingles in February and was away from the Senate while recovering at home for some three months.

The New York Times first reported earlier Thursday that Feinstein suffered from encephalitis and Ramsay Hunt syndrome — which affects facial nerves and can cause paralysis — as a a result of her shingles.

A spokesperson for Feinstein subsequently said in a statement that “the senator previously disclosed that she had several complications related to her shingles diagnosis. As discussed in the New York Times article, those complications included Ramsay Hunt syndrome and encephalitis.”

“While the encephalitis resolved itself shortly after she was released from the hospital in March, she continues to have complications from Ramsey Hunt syndrome,” the spokesperson said.

At 89, Feinstein is the oldest member of the Senate. She has said she will retire at the end of her current term, in January 2025.

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

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with social media giants in a case brought by families of victims in a terrorist attack in Turkey.

The court unanimously ruled that Twitter and other platforms won’t have to face accusations they aided and abetted the Islamic State by failing to remove or block content promoted by the terror group.

“Plaintiffs accordingly seek to hold Facebook, Twitter, and Google liable for the terrorist attack that allegedly injured them. We conclude, however, that plaintiffs’ allegations are insufficient to establish that these defendants aided and abetted ISIS in carrying out the relevant attack,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the opinion.

“To be sure, it might be that bad actors like ISIS are able to use platforms like defendants’ for illegal — and sometimes terrible — ends. But the same could be said of cell phones, email, or the internet generally,” Thomas continued.

In a related case, the Supreme Court declined to weigh in on a landmark federal law that grants sweeping legal immunity to internet companies.

At the center of Gonzalez v. Google is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law protects companies for content posted by individual users, even if that content is discriminatory, defamatory or dangerous.

The act had been challenged by the family of the sole American victim of the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

The Supreme Court said Thursday it was sending the case back to a lower court of reconsideration in light of existing case law and its new ruling in the Twitter case.

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

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(WASHINGTON) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to file papers with the Federal Election Commission declaring his candidacy next week, which would formally enter DeSantis into the 2024 presidential race, two sources familiar with the plans told ABC News.

The development would come as top donors gather in Miami next week.

But this will not be the official kickoff event — sources say a formal event launching his campaign would likely come the week of Memorial Day. Sources say he is considering holding the event in his hometown of Dunedin, Florida but sources described the plans as in flux.

A spokesperson for DeSantis declined to comment.

Sources caution plans could still change, as DeSantis’ timeline for his 2024 roll out has already been moved up after initially eyeing a mid-June event.

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(WASHINGTON) — In another sign that he’ll soon make his presidential bid official, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is slated to join other 2024 Republican hopefuls at Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s annual “Roast and Ride” in Des Moines on June 3.

Scott’s RSVP comes ahead of a “special announcement” on Monday — when he’s expected to formally launch his presidential campaign from Charleston Southern University, his alma mater.

He’s set to do so with $22 million on hand after his 2022 Senate reelection race, far outpacing the war chests of all competitors, including those who may be currently outpacing him in polling.

Iowa will host the first Republican presidential nominating contest of 2024.

“I’m grateful to Joni for inviting me back to her annual Roast and Ride,” Scott said in a statement released by Ernst’s office. “I know from my frequent visits to the Hawkeye State that Iowans are committed to defending the conservative values that make our nation exceptional.”

Ernst, who has served with Scott in the Senate for the last eight years, said in her own statement that she’s eager to welcome her “friend and colleague” back to the event he also spoke at in 2017.

The “Roast and Ride” at the Iowa State Fairgrounds features a rally and a motorcycle ride and roasting of two kinds — of meats and, this year, of leading Democrats like Joe Biden.

In addition to reminding voters how Democrats stripped Iowa caucuses of their traditional first-in-the-nation status — with many in the party saying Iowa no longer best represented Democratic voters — Ernst has pitched her event to Republican candidates as a necessary stop to engage directly with Iowans from across the state ahead of next year’s primary race.

“Iowans are fired up to hear from Tim and many more conservative leaders,” she said.

So far, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and talk radio host Larry Elder have also RSVP’d to the event, which is shaping up to be a major gathering of most of the GOP 2024 candidates speaking in the same place.

The setting should offer a preview of the policy ideas and personalities that will soon take center stage on the campaign trail.

Ernst invited all major 2024 Republican candidates — both those declared, like former President Donald Trump, and those who have yet to make their bid official, such as Scott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who recently made his own high-profile appearances in Iowa.

“The Iowa Caucus has always been about providing a level playing field for presidential candidates to come out here and be able to, regardless of resources or polling, make their pitch directly to Iowans,” Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement to ABC News. “Joni providing another platform for Iowans to hear more from 2024 hopefuls at ‘Roast and Ride’ this year is well within the spirit of the Iowa Caucus.”

The annual “Roast and Ride” began in 2015 and in its first year featured speeches from seven GOP presidential hopefuls. Trump headlined in August 2016 after winning the Republican nomination.

The proceeds benefit a different veteran’s charity each year, as an homage to Ernst’s service as a combat veteran, according to her office. This year, The Freedom Foundation based in Cedar Rapids was chosen.

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