(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, are expected to meet next week with federal prosecutors in Delaware to discuss the status of the criminal investigation into the younger Biden, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Hunter Biden has been under investigation for possible tax-related offenses.
The meeting comes amid a complaint to Congress, filed by an IRS employee seeking whistleblower status, that alleges the case has been mishandled.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware declined ABC News’ request for comment regarding the meeting.
Attorneys for Hunter Biden were not immediately available for comment.
News of the meeting was first reported by CNN.
U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-era appointee, has led an investigation into the president’s son since 2018, ABC News has previously reported. The case centers on whether Hunter Biden paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars in income from multiple overseas business ventures.
(NEW YORK) — Republican candidates running for president are struggling with how to address abortion in a post-Roe America.
Most are choosing their words carefully — or not commenting directly at all — as restricting what women can do when it comes to reproductive rights has shown to be unpopular with many of the voters they’ll need to win the White House.
With the Supreme Court potentially weighing in on Friday on a Texas judge’s unprecedented decision to revoke FDA approval of mifepristone, a medication used in about half of abortions nationwide, Americans may wonder where those running to be president stand in the abortion debate.
“Before the Dobbs decision, Republicans could sort of say whatever they wanted to on the issue, and it didn’t really matter, because they didn’t necessarily think that the Supreme Court was ever going to overturn Roe. It was always in theory,” said Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. “Now it’s real. And they’re seeing that there are real electoral consequences.”
Since the Supreme Court overturned 50 years of abortion precedent last June, the issue has hurt Republicans in elections. Kansas voters were the first to decide post-Dobbs to keep abortion legal. In the midterms, candidates who were painted as extreme on abortion also appeared extreme on other issues, Heye said, resulting in GOP losses. Most recently in Wisconsin, a liberal judge flipped that state’s supreme court’s ideological majority in a race largely focused on future access to abortion.
“There was a through line and lesson to be learned with the 2022 midterms and the WI SC [Wisconsin Supreme Court] race – when candidates don’t define their stance on abortion, they lose,” said E.V. Osment, vice president of communications for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
“In the 2022 midterms, governors who signed ambitious pro-life legislation into law and never flinched politically, despite running in competitive states, came out on top,” she told ABC News, citing wins by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who have signed legislation restricting abortion. “There are also examples of candidates who were not prepared and took the ostrich strategy: burying their heads in the sand and running from the issue, allowing their opponents to define them,” she added, naming Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania.
“The losing ostrich strategy has been pushed by the inside-the-beltway consultant/strategist class who urge candidates to totally ignore abortion and hope it goes away,” Osment added. “It’s not going away.”
“But there are two sets of electoral consequences,” Heye told ABC News. “There’s the primary, which you got to get through, and then there’s the general where Republicans obviously had problems last year, in part because of the Dobbs decision.”
While polls show a majority of Americans want abortion to be legal under certain circumstances, there’s been somewhat of a race among GOP-led legislatures to pass anti-abortion rights legislation (one even before the Supreme Court took up Dobbs with so-called trigger laws). With a patchwork of state laws now dictating the nation’s landscape, the competition among red states has become a problem for Republican candidates facing the first presidential election post-Dobbs.
“If there are six people on a debate stage come August, you can see where it’s almost like a Name That Tune: ‘I can ban abortion in eight weeks.’ ‘Well, I can ban abortion in seven weeks.’ And that number keeps going lower and lower and lower until it’s zero. It’s become competitive,” Heye added.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina predicted losses in 2024 if Republicans don’t find a “middle ground” on the issue.
“I have a great pro-life voting record but some of the stances we’ve taken, especially when it comes to rape and incest, protecting the life of a mother, it’s so extreme, the middle — the independent voters, right of center, left of center, they cannot support us,” Mace said on Fox News Sunday. “I saw the tide change after Roe was overturned. We went mildly pro-choice to being a vast majority of voters being pro-choice after Roe v. Wade. It changed the entire electoral environment in ’22.”
“We have not learned our lesson from the midterm election,” she added. “We’re afraid of the issue because we’re afraid of our base.”Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, an anti-abortion rights group, said any Republican candidate who avoids talking about abortion in 2024 will “do so at their own electoral peril.”
“They should address the life issue with all the passion that they give to every other issue. Whether they like it or not, abortion is still a political issue at the state, local, and federal level. If you want to run for a federal office, you should discuss your federal options for abortion policy,” Hawkins told ABC News.
Here are 10 Republicans either running for president — or who have indicated an interest in running — who ABC News reached out to for comment — and what they’ve said — or avoided saying — recently on abortion as the Supreme Court weighs access to mifepristone:
Donald Trump
Former President Donald Trump is one of those who has largely avoided talking about abortion — though he could arguably tout what he calls a “pro-life” stance having appointed three of the five justices who voted to overrule Roe.
“I think he sees that electorally this, this is a problem,” Heye said.
Trump kicked off the year by saying he was not to blame for GOP losses in the midterms, but that, “It was the ’abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.”
“President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three Justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the State level,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to the Washington Post this week. “Republicans have been trying to get this done for 50 years, but were unable to do so. President Trump, who is considered the most pro-life President in history, got it done. He will continue these policies when reelected to the White House. Like President Reagan before him, President Trump supports exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
Anti-abortion rights groups have since blasted what they called Trump’s “states only” approach — with Hawkins casting Trump’s “failure to understand a way forward on abortion” as a “troubling sign.”
“Former President Trump seems determined to write a new book, How to Kill a Deal, as he signals to those who once supported him that he may not be up to the task of protecting all American lives in law and in service,” she said in a release. “Trump still wants the votes of the Pro-Life Generation, but it’s hard to see what he brings to the table given his waiving support defending innocent life at every level of government.”
Trump nominated the Texas federal judge who halted FDA approval of mifepristone, setting off a legal firestorm, but the former president has been mostly quiet on the case.
Nikki Haley
Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the only woman officially running for the GOP nomination, was careful not to put off any voters over the issue at a “Women for Nikki” initiative in Des Moines last week.
Edging both sides, she said that while she is “pro-life” she understands abortion “is a personal issue for women and for men.”
“It needs to be treated with the respect that it should. I don’t want unelected judges deciding something this personal,” she told voters, according to the Des Moines Register.
“Let’s let the states work this out. If Congress decides to do it — but don’t get in that game of them saying ‘how many weeks, how many’ — no. Let’s first figure out what we agree on and then move forward. This is about saving as many babies as we can. This is about supporting as many moms as we can.”
Haley is scheduled to give a “major policy speech on abortion” on April 26 in Arlington, her campaign said.
Asa Hutchinson
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who signed a near-total abortion ban in his state ahead of the Supreme Court overruling Roe, has said he “personally” believes abortion bans should have exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.
But when it comes to mifepristone, he’s largely punted to the court and states without disclosing his personal view.
“Ultimately, I think this is an issue that while the courts will rule on it, the states are going to determine whether it’s permissible or not, regardless of what the courts say,” he said last week, according to the Iowa Capitol Dispatch.
“If you believe in the state’s prerogative, which the Dobbs decision gave us, then each state’s going to make their decision as to how they’re going to approach [abortion], which is the right way under our system of federalism,” he said.
Hutchinson has said on more than one occasion that if he were elected president and was sent a nationwide abortion ban bill, he “would want to look at the bill to see exactly what it does.”
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur who compares himself to Trump in that he’s a newcomer to the political scene, has suggested he would not support further restrictions on abortion, and neither should the Republican Party.
When asked about federal abortion bans, Ramaswamy has said abortion is an issue for state governments and that the federal government should only concern itself with items dictated in the Constitution.
Tim Scott
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, shortly after launching a presidential exploratory committee, stumbled to answer where he stood on abortion, but has since vowed to sign “literally sign the most conservative pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress.”
Scott previously said he would support a nationwide abortion ban after 20 weeks but declined to take a stance on mifepristone.
“The courts are on their way to solving the problem,” he told reporters last week.
Part of the reason Scott stumbled on this issue, Heye said, is because it’s “fast-moving” in the Republican Party after Dobbs.
“The Dobbs decision put [abortion] in the Wild West, and again, everybody’s sort of competing against each other. They’re in that reality, where you’re not on firm ground — the sand is shifting beneath you every day — and it’s difficult to find a firm place to be,” he said.
Mike Pence
Pence, also not formally in the race but weighing a run, has said there is “no greater cause than the cause of life.” He supports the Texas judge’s ruling to invalidate FDA approval of mifepristone and has indicated he’d support a nationwide ban of the medication altogether.
“Life won again today,” he said in a statement reacting to the Texas decision. “When it approved chemical abortions on demand, the FDA acted carelessly and with blatant disregard for human life and the wellbeing of American women, and today’s ruling fixed a 20 year wrong.”
Pence would be unlikely to veto anti-abortion legislation and, vice versa, would be likely to veto anything sympathetic to abortion rights causes if elected president.
While Pence is praising judicial action now, he praised the court for “returning the question of abortion to the states and to the people” in the wake of the Dobbs decision.
Ron DeSantis
When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s 15-week abortion ban into law last year, he held the event with fanfare. Last week, he signed the six-week ban in his office close to midnight, with critics saying he did so in preparation for a presidential bid.
It’s not an issue he wants to go big on, Heye said, but one where the state legislature may have just forced his hand.
“DeSantis was not at a six-week ban until his state legislature passed the bill. So that’s now his position, whether he wanted it to be that or not, and clearly, he felt compelled to do so,” Heye said.
Hawkins, who criticized Trump punting the issue to a “states only” approach, hailed DeSantis and Pence as “leaders in policy and in use of the bully pulpit.”
“Gov. DeSantis just signed heartbeat legislation, while Pence is discussing the need for Chemical Abortion Pill policy. The Pro-Life Generation is looking for people who have specific plans to act, not just talking points. The rest could learn from their example,” she told ABC News in a statement.
While visiting New Hampshire, where abortion is allowed up to 24 weeks in most cases, DeSantis did not mention the six-week ban he had just signed, but on Friday he did tout the signing while speaking outside Washington at the Heritage Foundation 50th Anniversary Summit, before a highly-conservative audience.
Chris Sununu
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a self-described “pro-choice” Republican leading what many consider to be a blue state, believes if the Supreme Court were to uphold a ban on mifepristone, it would “absolutely” further hurt Republicans with swing voters.
“It’s been around for 20 years…it’s about these massive changes in precedent,” he said. “Roe v. Wade, whether you agreed with or not, there was a 50-year precedent there. There’s a 20-year precedent with [mifepristone]. So now to the American public, it looks like Republicans are coming in and trying to massively change and blow up the system.”
He said it will “be interesting to see” how 2024 candidates navigate the issue, he says, the party is losing on.
“My issue is I think it’s a terrible message for the Republican primary. I think it hurts us in the general election,” he said on Fox News. “There are much more pressing issues.”
And without naming him directly, Sununu called Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., proposing a 15-week abortion ban three weeks before last year’s midterms “the dumbest thing you could possibly do.”
Steve Laffey
Steve Laffey, a former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, identifies as “pro-life” but has not directly addressed his views of mifepristone.
“I am happy that Roe vs Wade has been overturned and the issue of abortion has been returned to the states, where it has always belonged,” Laffey said in a statement to ABC News. “Let’s leave all of these abortion questions to the individual states and let the various courts properly handle all of these issues.”
Perry Johnson
Perry Johnson, a Michigan businessman who failed to capture the GOP nomination for Michigan governor last year, faced backlash when he declined to rule out banning abortion for sexual assault survivors.
“I will tell you this: Two wrongs don’t make a right. I am pro-life,” Johnson told reporters at the time.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Sanders
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Friday that the U.S. will begin training Ukrainian forces on American-made Abrams tanks in the coming weeks.
“The M1s that the Ukrainians will use for training will arrive here in Germany in the next few weeks,” Austin said, speaking at a press conference following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Thirty-one Abrams M1A1s will arrive at a training area in Grafenwoehr, Germany, in mid to late April, with up to 250 Ukrainian troops beginning a 10-week course there soon after, according to U.S. officials. Follow-on maneuver training might also be done on a different base in Germany.
“I do think the M1 tank, when it is delivered, will make a difference,” said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking beside Austin.
“But I would also caution there’s no silver bullet in war,” he added.
In March, after consultation with Kyiv, Pentagon officials announced a plan to dramatically speed delivery of the 31 tanks the U.S. had committed to Ukraine by refurbishing older models instead of building new ones from scratch, which was the original plan. Building new M1A2 Abrams could have taken years, according to defense officials.
Milley clarified that the 31 tanks heading to Germany are training models not suitable for combat. The training will be conducted as the U.S. refurbishes another set of 31 Abrams M1A1 tanks to send to the battlefield, which are expected to arrive on the battlefield this fall.
Roughly 8,800 Ukrainians have already completed various types of military instruction in Germany, with thousands more training now.
“In Germany, approximately 2,250 Ukrainian Soldiers – four motorized infantry battalions – continue to conduct combined arms training at Grafenwoehr and/or Hohenfels training areas. An additional approximately 250 are currently conducting platform training and staff training,” said Col. Martin O’Donnell, spokesman for U.S. Army Europe and Africa.
(NEW YORK) — After meeting with special counsel Jack Smith’s office for multiple hours Thursday, top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn is expected to continue his interview today, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Sources say that Smith personally sat in on a portion of Epshteyn’s interview Thursday, but did not participate in any of the questioning.
The interview was largely focused on the efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. The second day of questioning was planned in advance, the sources said.
Epshteyn did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Prosecutors’ questions focused around Epshteyn’s interactions with former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Kenneth Chesebro and John Eastman, in addition to Trump himself, according to sources.
Smith was appointed in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as well as Trump’s handling of classified information after leaving the White House.
Epshteyn was not questioned in the probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents, sources said.
(NEW YORK) — 19 attorneys general are asking for the initiation of a recall of Kia and Hyundai car models that lack anti-theft controls.
In recent months, Kia and Hyundai models manufactured between 2011 and 2022 have seen increasing rates of theft following social media challenges urging people to steal the cars with the help of a screwdriver and USB Cable. Some of the thefts have been posted on social media using the hashtag #KiaBoyz.
“Thefts of these Hyundai and Kia vehicles have led to at least eight deaths, numerous injuries and property damage, and they have diverted significant police and emergency services resources from other priorities,” the attorneys general wrote in a joint letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
A voluntary service campaigns by Hyundai and Kia to allow drivers to get software updates was an “insufficient response to the problem,” the attorneys general wrote.
The recalls will take months and “more troubling, an update is not even feasible for a significant percentage of the affected vehicles,” the letter said. The attorneys general added that the voluntary service campaign “is unlikely to remedy as many vehicles as necessary in a timely manner.”
“The absence of anti-theft measures in cars manufactured by Kia and Hyundai has resulted in a significant increase in auto thefts — and collateral public safety issues — across the District and country. In the District, Kias and Hyundais accounted for a significant portion of cars recovered in 2022, and an even greater portion in 2023,” Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who signed the letter, told ABC News.
In 2022, thefts of Hyundai’s and Kia’s increased nation wide. In Los Angles, the city saw an 85 percent increase in car thefts in 2022, Kia and Hyundai’s made up the three quarters of the entire increase of stolen cars in the city. In Minneapolis, thefts of Kia’s and Hyundai’s increased by 836 percent. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin Kia’s made up 58 percent of all stolen cars in 2022.
In a statement to ABC News, Kia says that it has contacted over two million owners and lessees to inform them of the software updates. More than 165,000 have installed the update, according to the company, which also says it has provided 39,000 free steering wheel locks to more than 275 law enforcement agencies.
“Kia remains very focused on this issue and we continue to take action to address the concerns these Attorneys General have raised. We are committed to working with them and law enforcement agencies across their respective states to combat car theft and the role social media has played in encouraging it,” the statement said.
Hyundai Motor America told ABC News that “it is important to clarify that an engine immobilizer is an anti-theft device and these vehicles are fully compliant with federal anti-theft requirements.”
“Thieves discovered a specific method by which to bypass the vehicles’ security features and then documented and promoted their exploits on TikTok and other social media channels,” Hyundai added.
Hyundai says the company has taken “comprehensive action,” including making engine immobilizers standard on all vehicles produced as of November 2021 and fully rolling out a free anti-theft software upgrade two months ahead of schedule.
Attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, the state of Washington and Washington, D.C., all signed the letter.
In 2022, thefts of Hyundais and Kias increased nationwide. Los Angles saw an 85% increase in car thefts in 2022, with Kias and Hyundais making up almost three-quarters of the increase of stolen cars in the city, according to the letter. In Minneapolis, thefts of Kias and Hyundais increased by 836%, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kias made up 58% of all stolen cars in 2022, the attorneys general said.
(NEW YORK) — Eighteen attorneys general are asking for the initiation of a recall of Kia and Hyundai car models that lack anti-theft controls.
In recent months, Kia and Hyundai models manufactured between 2011 and 2022 have seen increasing rates of theft following social media challenges urging people to steal the cars with the help of a screwdriver and USB Cable. Some of the thefts have been posted on social media using the hashtag #KiaBoyz.
“Thefts of these Hyundai and Kia vehicles have led to at least eight deaths, numerous injuries and property damage, and they have diverted significant police and emergency services resources from other priorities,” the attorneys general wrote in a joint letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
A voluntary service campaigns by Hyundai and Kia to allow drivers to get software updates was an “insufficient response to the problem,” the attorneys general wrote.
The recalls will take months and “more troubling, an update is not even feasible for a significant percentage of the affected vehicles,” the letter said. The attorneys general added that the voluntary service campaign “is unlikely to remedy as many vehicles as necessary in a timely manner.”
“The absence of anti-theft measures in cars manufactured by Kia and Hyundai has resulted in a significant increase in auto thefts — and collateral public safety issues — across the District and country. In the District, Kias and Hyundais accounted for a significant portion of cars recovered in 2022, and an even greater portion in 2023,” Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who signed the letter, told ABC News.
In 2022, thefts of Hyundai’s and Kia’s increased nation wide. In Los Angles, the city saw an 85 percent increase in car thefts in 2022, Kia and Hyundai’s made up the three quarters of the entire increase of stolen cars in the city. In Minneapolis, thefts of Kia’s and Hyundai’s increased by 836 percent. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin Kia’s made up 58 percent of all stolen cars in 2022.
In a statement to ABC News, Kia says that it has contacted over two million owners and lessees to inform them of the software updates. More than 165,000 have installed the update, according to the company, which also says it has provided 39,000 free steering wheel locks to more than 275 law enforcement agencies.
“Kia remains very focused on this issue and we continue to take action to address the concerns these Attorneys General have raised. We are committed to working with them and law enforcement agencies across their respective states to combat car theft and the role social media has played in encouraging it,” the statement said.
Hyundai Motor America told ABC News that “it is important to clarify that an engine immobilizer is an anti-theft device and these vehicles are fully compliant with federal anti-theft requirements.”
“Thieves discovered a specific method by which to bypass the vehicles’ security features and then documented and promoted their exploits on TikTok and other social media channels,” Hyundai added.
Hyundai says the company has taken “comprehensive action,” including making engine immobilizers standard on all vehicles produced as of November 2021 and fully rolling out a free anti-theft software upgrade two months ahead of schedule.
Attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, the state of Washington and Washington, D.C., all signed the letter.
In 2022, thefts of Hyundais and Kias increased nationwide. Los Angles saw an 85% increase in car thefts in 2022, with Kias and Hyundais making up almost three-quarters of the increase of stolen cars in the city, according to the letter. In Minneapolis, thefts of Kias and Hyundais increased by 836%, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kias made up 58% of all stolen cars in 2022, the attorneys general said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s aides have told allies they could be ready to announce a run for reelection as soon as next week.
Next Tuesday is seen as a likely target as it would be the four year anniversary of his 2020 announcement.
Democratic donors are being invited to Washington, D.C., with strategy sessions planned for later next week. The White House declined to comment.
Biden told ABC News’ David Muir in February it’s his “intention” to run for a second term, though he’s yet to make an official announcement.
“[M]y intention is — from– has — intention has been from the beginning to run. But there’s too many other things we have to finish in the near term before I start a campaign,” he told Muir at the White House.
At 80, Biden is the oldest serving president in U.S. history and would be 82 if he ran for reelection and won.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Thursday invited Chief Justice John Roberts to testify at a hearing about Supreme Court ethics.
Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, sent a letter to Roberts inviting him or “another Justice whom you designate” to appear before the committee on May 2 for a hearing “regarding the ethical rules that govern the Justices of the Supreme Court and potential reforms to those rules.”
The invitation comes after ProPublica reports revealing close ties between Justice Clarence Thomas and wealthy GOP donor Harlan Crow, including real estate Thomas and his family sold to Crow and extensive travel by Thomas that Crow facilitated or paid for. Those ties were not revealed on Thomas’ disclosure reports.
In his letter, Durbin, D-Ill., noted that the last time the Judiciary Committee heard from sitting justices on ethics was in 2011.
“Since then, there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally. These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Court’s decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence. The status quo is no longer tenable,” Durbin wrote.
Durbin told reporters he gave the court prior notice that the letter was coming and that he expected Roberts to receive it Thursday afternoon.
The panel would have limited recourse to compel Roberts to testify if he refuses. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s continued absence as she recovers from shingles means the panel is deadlocked between Democrats and Republicans, rather than Democrats’ normal one-seat majority, and only a majority of members could vote to approve a subpoena for Roberts’ testimony.
It’s unclear if any Republicans would back such a move.
Roberts had yet to respond as of early Thursday afternoon.
Democrats have been up in arms following the ProPublica reports.
“This is beyond party or partisanship,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted earlier this month. “This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have largely fallen in line behind Thomas.
“I have total confidence in the chief justice of the United States to deal with these court internal issues,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said this week, suggesting any ethics reforms should be left to the Supreme Court to determine.
Crow, meanwhile, has repeatedly maintained his relationship with Thomas included no wrongdoing and that he never tried to influence Thomas’ work on the court.
“We have never asked about a pending or lower court case, and Justice Thomas has never discussed one, and we have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue. More generally, I am unaware of any of our friends ever lobbying or seeking to influence Justice Thomas on any case, and I would never invite anyone who I believe had any intention of doing that,” Crow said in a statement after the first ProPublica report was published.
In a statement last Friday, Thomas said, “Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines. These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.”
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court on Thursday issued an administrative stay temporarily blocking the deposition of Mark Pomerantz by the House Judiciary Committee less than two hours before it was set to begin.
The subpoena of Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, is part of an investigation into the criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump by the Republican-led committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan.
Pomerantz was a special assistant district attorney who resigned in 2022 over Bragg’s unwillingness to pursue a case against Trump. After Pomerantz left Bragg’s office, he wrote a memoir about his experience, telling ABC News in February he felt “strongly you do have to apply the same legal standards to everyone, regardless of your president or pauper.”
District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sought to block the congressional subpoena, but on Wednesday a federal judge had denied his request — marking a win for Jordan, who is leading what he’s claimed is a probe into whether Bragg’s office used federal funds in the investigation of Trump.
Bragg has sued Jordan over the congressional probe, calling it a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” the office.
Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil on Wednesday declined to enjoin the subpoena for testimony about Trump’s indictment.
“In our federalist system, elected state and federal actors sometimes engage in political dogfights,” Vyskocil said in her ruling on Wednesday. “The Court does not endorse either side’s agenda. The sole question before the Court at this time is whether Bragg has a legal basis to quash a congressional subpoena that was issued with a valid legislative purpose. He does not.”
“It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law,” Vyskocil’s decision said.
A spokesperson for Jordan celebrated the judge’s ruling.
“Today’s decision shows that Congress has the ability to conduct oversight and issue subpoenas to people like Mark Pomeranz, and we look forward to his deposition before the Judiciary Committee,” said spokesman Russell Dye.
Bragg’s office, on the other hand, immediately said it would seek a stay of the judge’s decision.
“We respectfully disagree with the District Court’s decision and are seeking a stay pending appeal,” a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The appeals court wrote Thursday a three-judge panel will consider Bragg’s appeal of a Wednesday ruling allowing the subpoena to move forward, and that its Thursday order “reflects no judgment regarding the merits of the parties’ respective positions.”
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A supervisor at the IRS has told lawmakers that he has information that suggests the Biden administration could be mishandling the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
In a letter to lawmakers obtained by ABC News, the lawyer for the IRS whistleblower says his client is an IRS criminal supervisory special agent “who has been overseeing the ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject since early 2020 and would like to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress.”
The letter does not name Hunter Biden specifically, but lawmakers have been made aware he is the “high profile, controversial” subject that the lawyer is referring to. In addition, while the letter refers to preferential treatment that Hunter Biden has allegedly received, there are no specific examples provided to support the accusations.
The letter says that “The protected disclosures: (1) contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee, (2) involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case, and (3) detail examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected.”
The lawyer for the whistleblower didn’t immediately respond to ABC’s request for comment. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal first reported news of the letter.
“It’s deeply concerning that the Biden Administration may be obstructing justice by blocking efforts to charge Hunter Biden for tax violations,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), said in a statement.
“The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has been following the Bidens’ tangled web of complex corporate and financial records,” said Comer, who was one of the recipients of the letter. “We’ve been wondering all along where the heck the DOJ and the IRS have been. Now it appears the Biden Administration may have been working overtime to prevent the Bidens from facing any consequences.”
White House officials are not commenting on the whistleblower claims, and instead referred questions to the Justice Department and IRS.
Federal authorities with the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware, led by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-era appointee, have been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, ABC News has previously reported.
