Politics

(PARIS) — Vice President Kamala Harris is set to travel to France late Monday, a high-profile visit following President Joe Biden’s efforts to soothe tensions with America’s oldest ally in the wake of controversy over a nuclear submarine deal that Biden described as “clumsy.”

Harris is scheduled to have a one-on-one meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. She will also participate in two international summits, and attend ceremonial events on Nov. 11 to mark Veterans Day in the U.S. and Armistice Day in France, observing the end of World War I. The trip will be Harris’s third venture outside of the U.S. as vice president, giving her the diplomatic opportunities often afforded to vice presidents, but scarce her tenure thus far due to the pandemic.

“This visit from the vice president really signals the strength of our alliances as our nations work together to advance prosperity, security and stability,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters ahead of the trip.

The visit comes nearly two months after the U.S. rolled out a partnership with Australia to share nuclear submarine technology, leading Australia to cancel a $65-million submarine order with the French. With French officials, including Macron, seemingly blindsided by the deal, the French ambassador was temporarily recalled from Washington.

President Biden, sitting down with Macron on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome, said publicly that U.S. handling of the submarine deal “was clumsy.”

“It was not done with a lot of grace,” Biden admitted. “I was under the impression certain things had happened that hadn’t happened. And uh, but uh, I want to make it clear. France is an extremely, extremely valued partner.”

Now, Harris will continue to drive home that message, attending a dinner at Elysee Palace in addition to the bilateral meeting with Macron.

Administration officials would not say on a briefing call with reporters whether a lower-level official would have gone on this trip if it were not for the rift between Macron and the U.S. over the “submarine snub.”

“I don’t have a crystal ball here. I’m not going to play the ‘what if’ game,” a senior administration official said. “There are things that happened three months ago that I would not have predicted three months before that, but I can tell you as the vice president is looking forward to this trip. This trip is extremely important.”

In addition to sitting down with Macron one-on-one, Harris will participate in the Paris Peace Forum, focusing on global health in a post-pandemic world, and she’ll attend the Libya Conference, meeting with 20 heads of state to encourage an end to violence in Libya and open democratic elections on Dec. 24.

While in Paris, Harris will also mark Armistice Day in France and Veterans Day in the U.S. by visiting Surenes, an American World War I military cemetery in France. On the day of arrival, Harris will visit the Institute Pasteur to see the work of French scientists combatting COVID-19. That visit will be particularly special, given Harris’s mother conducted breast cancer research at the institute in the 1980s.

The Libya Conference promises to be especially thorny. Co-hosted by Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the conference is meant to acknowledge that after a tough decade after the fall of Qaddafi, civil war and violence, an election offers hope, a senior administration official said. European leaders are especially invested in creating the conditions for peace in Libya, in order to stem the tide of migrants to the European mainland.

“The vice president thinks it’s important for the United States to be at that table. And to lend our support for legitimate and effective elections that lead to international consensus on not just having these legitimate, effective elections, but bringing into power a government that Libya wants and getting the foreign forces out of the country. So that’s why she’s going to be there with that important message from the United States,” a senior administration official said.

The second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, will also travel to Paris, and participate in independent events focused on gender equality, sports diplomacy, and educational exchanges.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Monday issued six new subpoenas to senior Trump campaign officials and advisers, including campaign manager Bill Stepien and spokesman Jason Miller.

The panel also subpoenaed conservative attorney John Eastman for records and documents. According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s recent book, he aggressively lobbied Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results from his ceremonial post in the House on Jan. 6 — when he presided over the counting of electoral votes.

The committee also subpoenaed former national security adviser Michael Flynn, one of the prominent voices around Trump after the election who publicly called on the president to take drastic actions to overturn the results.

The panel has asked all six individuals to turn over records by Nov. 23 and appear for depositions between Dec. 3 and Dec. 13.

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

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(LAS VEGAS) — With an eye on both the midterm elections and 2024, a host of Republican lawmakers — including many potential presidential contenders — spoke in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting this weekend. Most called this past week’s election outcomes a signifier of things to come during midterms.

“As we move forward, the signs are clear and the trends are unmistakable,” House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy said Saturday. “A Republican wave is underway.”

Attendees aim to ensure that GOP gains continue through 2024’s presidential election, with possible candidates making their case without explicitly stating their intentions.

“A lot of people have come here to audition,” said Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Saturday night.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Vice President Mike Pence all spoke at the event. The conference also featured a video message from former President Donald Trump.

“We will win back the House. We will win back the Senate,” Trump said in his video address. “And we will win back in 2024 that beautiful white building sometimes referred to as the White House.”

While there has been no shortage of commentary on the fact that Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin kept Trump at an arm’s length, most of the speakers in Las Vegas leaned hard into their support of Trump.

“President Trump’s single most redeeming characteristic — the man has a steel backbone and he doesn’t back down,” Cruz said Friday to boisterous applause. “After years of Republicans scared of their own shadows, there’s a reason we celebrate a leader who’s willing to stand up and fight.”

“Who’s going to be the nominee [in 2024]? I don’t know, but I do know this, that Donald Trump was a hell of a president,” said Graham.

On Friday night, Scott, who is the chair of the National Republican Senate Committee, told ABC News that Trump will do “whatever he can” to help Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress in 2022. Depending on the race, it could mean standing back.

“You should listen to the candidate because they know their state and they know their race,” Scott said. “And so you should let them figure out how involved you should be and that’s anybody, including the NRSC.”

On Saturday, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told attendees that connecting voters on issues they care about and presenting a united party to the electorate are the keys to winning more elections.

The Republican Jewish Coalition meeting typically centers on foreign policy, like relations with Israel and with other nations in the region. Former Vice President Mike Pence largely touted the accomplishments of the Trump administration as it pertains to Israel, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

“Under the Trump-Pence administration, if the world knew nothing else the world knew this. America stands with Israel,” said Pence. “Our administration was able to take historic steps to strengthen the ties in the American people and the Jewish state of Israel.”

In addition to U.S.-Israeli relations, this time around at the annual meeting there was a great deal of attention paid to domestic issues.

Among the most talked-about issues was teaching so-called critical race theory in schools, a topic that has emerged as a flashpoint in conservative circles. Every speaker referred to critical race theory during their remarks, with some, like Haley, calling it “liberal indoctrination.”

“We’ve got the midterm elections next year where the stakes couldn’t be higher,” she said Saturday. “Those elections are about whether we stop socialism, defend our borders, return on fiscal sanity and get the liberal indoctrination out of our schools.”

“We’re watching critical race theory and during the woke curriculum infiltrate our school districts,” Noem said.

Opposition to vaccine mandates was also a frequently mentioned topic.

DeSantis spoke of his opposition to voting reform, framing changes as a danger to Republican ability to wield power.

“They want to make conservative Americans second-class citizens,” said DeSantis. “They want to lock us out from being able to exercise power to be able to exercise policy.”

President Joe Biden’s agenda, including his newly passed infrastructure plan, also made waves. Most framed Biden’s agenda as being hijacked by progressives in comparison to how he campaigned. The word “socialism” was used freely to describe the Democratic agenda throughout the event.

During Christie’s remarks Saturday, he cited his record of supporting Trump, but implored the crowd to give up on trying to relitigate the 2020 election. The response from the crowd to Christie, an ABC News contributor, was tepid.

“We can no longer talk about the past and past elections. No matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over,” said Christie.

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(WASHINGTON) — In an angry conversation on his final day as president, Donald Trump told the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party — and that he didn’t care if the move would destroy the Republican Party, according to a new book by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Trump only backed down when Republican leaders threatened to take actions that would have cost Trump millions of dollars, Karl writes his upcoming book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.

The book gives a detailed account of Trump’s stated intention to reject the party that elected him president and the aggressive actions taken by party leaders to force him to back down.

The standoff started on Jan. 20, just after Trump boarded Air Force One for his last flight as president.

“[RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel] called to wish him farewell. It was a very un-pleasant conversation,” Karl writes in “Betrayal,” set to be released on Nov. 16.

“Donald Trump was in no mood for small talk or nostalgic goodbyes,” Karl writes. “He got right to the point. He told her he was leaving the Republican Party and would be creating his own political party. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was also on the phone. The younger Trump had been relentlessly denigrating the RNC for being insufficiently loyal to Trump. In fact, at the January 6 rally before the Capitol Riot, the younger Trump all but declared that the old Republican Party didn’t exist anymore.”

With just hours left in his presidency, Trump was telling the Republican Party chairwoman that he was leaving the party entirely. The description of this conversation and the discussions that followed come from two sources with direct knowledge of these events.

“I’m done,” Trump told McDaniel. “I’m starting my own party.”

“You cannot do that,” McDaniel told Trump. “If you do, we will lose forever.”

“Exactly. You lose forever without me,” Trump responded. “I don’t care.”

Trump’s attitude was that if he had lost, he wanted everybody around him to lose as well, Karl writes. According to a source who witnessed the conversation, Trump was talking as if he viewed the destruction of the Republican Party as a punishment to those party leaders who had betrayed him — including those few who voted to impeach him and the much larger group he believed didn’t fight hard enough to overturn the election in his favor.

“This is what Republicans deserve for not sticking up for me,” Trump told McDaniel, according to the book.

In response, McDaniel tried to convince Trump that creating his own party wouldn’t just destroy the Republican Party, it would also destroy him.

“This isn’t what the people who depended on you deserve, the people who believed in you,” McDaniel said. “You’ll ruin your legacy. You’ll be done.”

But Trump said he didn’t care, Karl writes.

“[Trump] wasn’t simply floating an idea,” Karl writes in the book. “He was putting the party chairwoman on notice that he had decided to start his own party. It was a done deal. He had made up his mind. ‘He was very adamant that he was going to do it,’ a source who heard the president’s comments later told me.”

Following the tense conversion, McDaniel informed RNC leadership about Trump’s plans, spurring a tense standoff between Trump and his own party over the course of the next four days.

While Trump, “morose in defeat and eager for revenge, plotted the destruction of the Republican Party … the RNC played hardball,” according to the book.

“We told them there were a lot of things they still depended on the RNC for, and that if this were to move forward, all of it would go away,” an RNC official told Karl.

According to the book, “McDaniel and her leadership team made it clear that if Trump left, the party would immediately stop paying legal bills incurred during post-election challenges.”

“But, more significant, the RNC threatened to render Trump’s most valuable political asset worthless,” Karl writes, referring to “the campaign’s list of the email addresses of forty million Trump supporters.”

“It’s a list Trump had used to generate money by renting it to candidates at a steep cost,” says the book. “The list generated so much money that party officials estimated that it was worth about $100 million.”

Five days after revealing plans that could have destroyed his own political party on that last flight aboard Air Force One, Karl writes, Trump backed down, saying he would remain a Republican after all.

Asked this week to respond to Karl’s book, both Trump and McDaniel denied the story.

“This is false, I have never threatened President Trump with anything,” McDaniel told ABC News. “He and I have a great relationship. We have worked tirelessly together to elect Republicans up and down the ballot, and will continue to do so.”

Trump, responding to the story, said, “ABC Non News and 3rd rate reporter Jonathan Karl have been writing fake news about me from the beginning of my political career. Just look at what has now been revealed about the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It was a made up and totally fabricated scam and the lamestream media knew it. It just never ends!”

Trump has long denounced news reports that he had considered starting his own party as “fake news.” In Karl’s final interview with the former president for his book, Trump claimed to not recall his conversation with McDaniel on Jan. 20, saying, “a lot of people suggested a third party, many people” — but that he himself had never even thought about leaving the GOP.

“You mean I was going to form another party or something?” Trump asked Karl incredulously. “Oh, that is bulls**t. It never happened.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Three Muslim Americans subjected to FBI surveillance inside their places of worship will ask the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to allow a religious discrimination lawsuit against the agency to move forward despite government concern about national security.

Yassir Fazaga, a former imam at the Orange County Islamic Foundation, and Ali Uddin Malik and Yasser AbdelRahim, both members of the Islamic Center of Irvine, allege the government and its agents illegally targeted members of the faith communities solely because of their religion.

The FBI has acknowledged running a surveillance program at several Southern California mosques between 2006 and 2007 in a hunt for potential terrorists, but the Bureau has not publicly revealed the basis for its covert operation or directly addressed claims of religious bias.

“Can you be spied on because of where you worship?” said Hussam Ayhoush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is backing the plaintiffs. Muslims “deserve to feel comfortable practicing their faith with friends in the safety of mosques.”

The men say that the presence of an undercover government informant, who was asking about jihad and recording conversations, breached a sacred trust all Americans deserve when exercising religious freedom.

“I’m very angry. Privacy is very important,” said Fazaga. “To know the government is doing this makes me not just angry, but humiliated.”

None of the plaintiffs or the places of worship have been implicated in any known criminal activity or federal charges.

“We are hoping to shed light on the agency that continues to treat Muslims as second-class citizens … unlawfully targeting Americans on the basis of their religion,” Ayhoush said.

When the men sued the FBI in 2011, the agency invoked state secrets privilege to block the lawsuit from proceeding, insisting a trial would require the disclosure of sensitive evidence that could threaten national security.

The privilege shields information whenever the government believes “there is a reasonable danger that compulsion of the evidence will expose military [or other] matters which, in the interest of national security, should not be divulged,” it says in court documents.

A federal district court sided with the FBI, but a panel of judges reversed that decision on appeal in favor of the Muslim men.

The appeals court said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 allows a judge to evaluate secret evidence and determine whether the government can keep some or all of it secret.

The FBI rejects that view.

“The Executive Branch has the critical responsibility to protect the national security of the United States,” the Biden administration wrote in Supreme Court documents, defending the FBI. “The state-secrets privilege helps enable the Executive to meet that constitutional duty.”

Ahilan Arulanantham, a UCLA Law School professor who is arguing the plaintiffs’ case before the Supreme Court, said he hopes the justices will set limits on the government’s ability to keep secrets.

“The question is very simple: Will these people ever get a day in court, or can the government slam the door shut whenever they say they’re acting in the interest of national security?” Arulanantham said.

Ali Malik, who helped mentor the FBI informant in matters of Islamic faith — not knowing his true identity — said he was outraged after later learning about the government operation.

“When I found out my government spied on me because of my faith, I felt betrayed … by the very institution meant to defend the Constitution of the U.S.,” Malik said. “I’m suing the FBI to protect them and their children. The government must be held accountable for violating our religious freedom.”

The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision in the case by the end of June 2022.

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(WASHINGTON) — Pete and Chasten Buttigieg tweeted about their son’s return home after a three-week hospitalization Saturday, including a week on a ventilator.

“Thankful, relieved, and reflecting a great deal on the mixture of joy, terror, and love that is parenting,” Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, said in a tweet responding to his husband.

Chasten Buttigieg first tweeted about his son’s hospitalization on Halloween saying, “Gus has been having a rough go of it but we’re headed in the right direction.” The transportation secretary retweeted the message.

The baby also traveled 125 miles in an ambulance, but the family is grateful for the medical professionals’ care, according to Chasten Buttigieg’s Twitter post.

“We’re so relieved, thankful, and excited for him and Penelope to take DC by storm! Thank you so much for all of the love and prayers,” tweeted Chasten Buttigieg.

The infant, Joseph “Gus” August Buttigieg, and his twin, Penelope Rose, were adopted by the political couple earlier this year, and Pete Buttigieg previously said they were born prematurely.

“The work that we are doing is joyful, fulfilling, wonderful work. It’s important work. And it’s work that every American ought to be able to do when they welcome a new child into their family,” said Pete Buttigieg to Jake Tapper on CNN, responding to criticism that he was taking too much time off for paid family leave.

“The Secretary feels fortunate and grateful to be able to take time to focus on his responsibilities as a father, and believes all American parents deserve the same,” the spokesperson said via a statement in late October.

Chasten Buttigieg also tweeted his thanks for everyone who shared their stories of Gus in the neo-natal intensive care unit.

“Those were so comforting during such a scary time. Thank you for helping us feel less-alone amidst all of the anxiety and uncertainty,” tweeted Chasten Buttigieg.

One out of every ten infants were born prematurely in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Complications related to preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death among children and were responsible for around 1 million deaths in 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said the country took a “monumental step forward” after his $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan passed the House late Friday.

“We did something that’s long overdue, that long has been talked about in Washington, but never actually been done,” Biden said Saturday from the White House of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. “A once-in-a-generation investment that’s going to create millions of jobs, modernize our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our broadband, a whole range of things. To turn the climate crisis into an opportunity. And it puts us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st century that we faced with China and other large countries, and the rest of the world.”

The bipartisan infrastructure deal will invest $110 billion in the nation’s highways, bridges and roads; $66 billion in passenger rail; $39 billion in public transit; $65 billion in broadband access; $65 billion in the nation’s power grid; and $55 billion in water and wastewater infrastructure, among other areas. The White House said the plan will create on average 1.5 million jobs per year over the next decade.

Biden had taken to the phones for last-minute calls to key House members as Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through two critical votes late Friday on the Democratic agenda: the infrastructure plan, and the $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” social spending and climate policy package.

The final vote on the infrastructure plan, already passed by the Senate, passed 228-206, with 13 Republicans joining Democrats and six Democrats voting against. The bill will now be sent to Biden’s desk for his signature.

During a briefing with reporters, Biden told ABC News’ Ben Gittleson that Americans can expect to see the impacts of the bill within two to three months.

In the end, it took 87 days following the passage of the bill in the Senate to get the spending approved in the House, as well as two visits to the Capitol by the president and dozens of meetings between the White House and representatives.

The six Democrats who voted against the infrastructure bill were all members of the so-called “squad”: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib and Jamaal Bowman.

Democratic infighting had continued throughout Friday as moderates demanded Pelosi wait for a cost estimate on the larger bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before moving forward.

That group, including Reps. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., Ed Case, D-Hawaii, Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., released a statement late Friday saying they would support the “Build Back Better” vote if it’s considered by Nov. 15 and the CBO scores remains consistent.

Progressives, who had their own issues with the bills, such as guaranteeing the inclusion of paid family leave, also came to an agreement late Friday to support the vote.

“Tonight, members of the Progressive Caucus and our colleagues in the Democratic Caucus reached an agreement to advance both pieces of President Biden’s legislative agenda,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal said in a statement just prior to the vote.

Just after midnight in Washington, the House approved a procedural measure that advances the $1.75 trillion plan, 221 to 213, directly down party lines.

Late Friday afternoon, Pelosi announced the House would vote Friday on the already Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure plan and then take a procedural vote on moving forward with the “Build Back Better” legislation — but not a final vote — a significant concession.

“We had hoped to be able to bring both bills to the floor today. Some members want more clarification or validation of numbers that have been put forth — it’s top line, that it is fully paid for. And we honor that request,” Pelosi said. “So today, we hope to pass the BIF and also the rule on Build Back Better with the idea that before Thanksgiving — it should take them another week or so — to get the numbers they are requesting.”

So, Democratic leaders imposed yet another deadline after missing many others — to pass the “Build Back Better” legislation by the middle of the month, with Pelosi calling its hoped-for passage a “Thanksgiving gift for the American people.”

The speaker, renowned for her vote-counting prowess and who has famously said she doesn’t call a vote unless she know she has enough to win, was asked by a reporter, “Do you … have 218 votes to pass it?” Pelosi answered, “We’ll see, won’t we?”

“I have a speaker’s secret whip count. I don’t tell anybody. Not even you, my dear good friends, but I have a pretty good feeling,” she said.

Even so, it wasn’t clear whether progressive Democrats would go along with Pelosi’s plan to vote Friday on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

For months, they’ve threatened to vote against it — unless at the same time they got a vote on final passage of the larger social spending package.

Pelosi had addressed some of their concerns by adding back in four weeks of paid family and medical leave over the objections of West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, whose vote is key to getting the measure passed in the Senate.

In a sign of the fast-changing developments and disarray, minutes after Pelosi announced there would be a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package Friday, progressives gathered behind closed doors.

In the middle of their meeting, Biden called Jayapal, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

She left in a hurry, racing to nearby elevators to take the call from the president.

ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott said she was told roughly 20 progressives were ready to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless there was a vote on the larger social spending bill, too.

The roadblocks thrown up by House Democrats continued despite Biden urging them to act — with the party facing new pressure to deliver after disappointing election results on Tuesday.

“I’m asking every House Member, Member of the House of Representatives to vote yes on both these bills right now. Send the infrastructure bill to my desk. Send the Build Back Better bill to the Senate,” Biden send in his Friday morning message to lawmakers. “Let’s, let’s build on incredible economic progress. Build on what we’ve already done, because this will be such a boost when it occurs. Let’s show the world that American democracy can deliver and propel our economy forward. Let’s get this done.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden was making last-minute calls to key House members as Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed for two critical votes Friday on the Democratic agenda: the president’s $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” social spending and climate policy package and the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan.

But Democratic infighting continued as Democratic moderates demanded Pelosi wait for a cost estimate on the larger bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before going forward.

That could take weeks.

Late Friday afternoon, Pelosi announced the House would vote Friday on the already Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure plan and then take a procedural vote on moving forward with the “Build Back Better” legislation — but not a final vote — a significant concession.

“We had hoped to be able to bring both bills to the floor today. Some members want more clarification or validation of numbers that have been put forth. It’s top line, that it is fully paid for. And we honor that request,” Pelosi said. “So today, we hope to pass the BIF and also the rule on Build Back Better with the idea that before Thanksgiving — it should take them another week or so — to get the numbers they are requesting.”

So, Democratic leaders imposed yet deadline after missing many others — to pass the “Build Back Better” legislation by the middle of the month, with Pelosi calling its hoped-for passage a “Thanksgiving gift for the American people.”

The speaker, renowned for her vote-counting prowess and who has famously said she doesn’t call a vote unless she know she has enough to win, was asked by a reporter, “Do you … have 218 votes to pass it?’ Pelosi answered, “We’ll see, won’t we?”

Even so, it wasn’t clear whether progressive Democrats would go along with Pelosi’s plan to vote Friday on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

For months, they have threatened to vote against and defeat it — unless at the same time they got a vote on final passage of the larger social spending package.

Pelosi had addressed some of their concerns by adding back in four weeks of paid family and medical leave over the objections of West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, whose vote is key to getting the measure passed in the Senate.

In a sign of the fast-changing developments, minutes after Pelosi announced there would be a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package Friday, progressives gathered behind closed doors.

In the middle of their meeting, President Biden called Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

She left in a hurry, racing to nearby elevators to take the call.

ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott reported she was told roughly 20 progressives were ready to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless there’s a vote on the larger social spending bill, too.

The roadblocks thrown up by House Democrats continued despite Biden urging then to act — with the party facing new pressure to deliver after disappointing election results on Tuesday.

“I’m asking every House Member, Member of the House of Representatives to vote yes on both these bills right now. Send the infrastructure bill to my desk. Send the Build Back Better bill to the Senate,” Biden send in his morning message to lawmakers. “Let’s, let’s build on incredible economic progress. Build on what we’ve already done, because this will be such a boost when it occurs. Let’s show the world that American democracy can deliver and propel our economy forward. Let’s get this done.”

He did not answer reporter questions, but promised to come back to answer them when the bills pass.

But hours after he spoke, when or if that would happen remained in doubt.

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(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday detailed new efforts to investigate “Havana syndrome,” the mysterious health affliction affecting dozens of U.S. personnel first identified in Cuba and now including several countries.

In his most extensive remarks yet on the issue, Blinken said the incidents have inflicted “profound” physical and physiological harm on those impacted.

“All of us in the U.S. government, and especially with the State Department, are intently focused on getting to the bottom of what and who is causing these incidents, caring for those who have been affected and protecting our people,” Blinken said.

Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, cognitive difficulties, tinnitus, vertigo and trouble with seeing, hearing or balancing. Many officials have suffered symptoms years after reporting an incident, while some have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.

Blinken has tapped two career diplomats to oversee the agency’s response to “Havana syndrome.”

For almost five years now, the issue — which the Biden administration has labeled “anomalous health incidents” — has vexed U.S. officials, who don’t know who or what is behind it.

In an effort to learn more, Blinken confirmed Friday that the State Department has deployed new technology to U.S. missions around the world to help understand the cause.

“The details I can provide on this are limited as well, but I can say that new technology is helping us more quickly and thoroughly evaluate a variety of potential causes of these incidents, and we’ve distributed across posts so that we can respond rapidly to new reports,” he said.

He encouraged employees with any knowledge of an incident to come forward.

“There is absolutely no stigma in reporting these incidents. And there will of course be no negative consequences of any kind,” Blinken said. “On the contrary, reporting means that we can get people the help they need. And by reporting, you can help keep others safe, and help us get to the bottom of who and what is responsible.”

American diplomats, spies, and other officials have reported symptoms in nearly a dozen counties, starting in Cuba and expanding to China, Russia, Uzbekistan, and more. Most recently, cases were reported among staff and families at the U.S. embassy in Colombia, weeks before Blinken arrived for a visit.

But it’s unclear how many reported incidents are confirmed to be episodes of what many victims insist are attacks.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations have been accused by victims and other officials of not doing enough to provide medical care to affected personnel or not sharing enough information about reported incidents as they happen.

Blinken acknowledged the administration could do better and committed to more transparency. He met a group of affected personnel in Bogotá last month, telling them “their case is an absolute priority for him,” a senior State Department official told ABC News.

President Joe Biden signed the HAVANA Act last month, which authorizes the CIA director and the secretary of state to provide affected employees with financial support for brain injuries under detailed criteria. It also requires both agencies to report to Congress on how those payments are being made and whether additional action is needed to aid victims.

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(WASHINGTON) — Retired Gen. Colin Powell, the first African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and later as the first Black secretary of state, will be remembered and celebrated as a statesman, a warrior and a trailblazer Friday at the Washington National Cathedral.

While attendance is by invitation only, the private service at noon will be nationally televised. ABC News and ABC News Live will present special coverage beginning at approximately 12 p.m. EDT.

1152021-Colin Powell RI by ABC News Politics

Powell died last month at 84 from complications of COVID-19. Though he was fully vaccinated, his immune system was comprised from cancer treatments, his spokesperson said.

“It’s really hard to overstate the respect Colin Powell had,” said ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz, who covered Powell’s career for decades. “When traveling around the world with him, it was almost like traveling with a king — but Colin Powell, of course, never acted like one.”

President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are scheduled to attend. Former President Bill Clinton, who was recently hospitalized with an infection, will not attend, an aide saying, “Under any other circumstances, he would have been there, but he’s taking the advice of his doctors to rest and not travel for a month very seriously. So Secretary Clinton will be there representing them.”

The iconic cathedral is where four presidents have had funeral services: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Tributes will be given by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, as well as Powell’s son, Michael.

Powell broke barriers serving under four presidents — Reagan, Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush — at the very top of the national security establishment, first as deputy national security adviser and then as national security adviser. Later, he was nominated to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior ranking member of the U.S. armed forces and top military adviser to the president, and after that, secretary of state — the first African American to hold both posts.

As secretary of state, it was Powell who told the world that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and posed an imminent threat, assertions that later proved to be false. He told ABC News’ Barbara Walters in Sept. 2005 that he felt “terrible” about the claims he made in a now-infamous address to the U.N. Security Council arguing for a U.S. invasion.

When asked if he feels it has tarnished his reputation, he said, “Of course it will. It’s a blot. I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now.”

“To be that example of someone who admitted mistakes,” Raddatz said. “What an example for today’s youth — not only to have someone who rose to such a powerful position — but who looked at himself and reflected on what he had done right and what he had done wrong.”

Throughout his 35-years of service in the military, Powell, a decorated war hero who deployed twice to Vietnam, never made his political leanings known. Although he served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, it wasn’t until 1995 that Powell announced that he had registered as a Republican. He formally supported the candidacy of Democratic presidential candidates Lyndon Johnson, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Biden.

The reelection campaign of former President Donald Trump brought out Powell’s political side in the last years of his life, when he called on voters not to support the incumbent, Republican president, calling him dangerous to democracy.

In many ways, Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants who grew up in the Bronx, was the embodiment of the American Dream. He left behind his wife, Alma Powell, and his three children, Michael, Linda and Annemarie.

In a statement Oct. 18 announcing his death, his family said, “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.”

ABC News and ABC News Live will present special coverage of the memorial service beginning at approximately noon EDT.

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