Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., pumped the breaks on a potential bailout of Silicon Valley Bank after it collapsed last week in the largest bank failure since 2008, pointing towards the possibility of an acquisition.

“Let’s see what happens today,” Warner, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, told “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “I’ve got a lot of faith that the overall system is quite strong.”

He added that he wants to make sure the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation “moves as aggressively as possible.”

SVB’s struggles came to a head Thursday when depositors rushed to withdraw their money over concerns about the bank’s health. By Friday, regulators seized the bank’s assets, making it the largest bank to fail since Washington Mutual about 15 years ago.

SVB mostly served technology workers and startups including some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names, such as Roku.

While the biggest banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are on more stable financial footing, Warner said it was still best to find a way to quickly mitigate the fallout of SVB’s collapse.

“I know I’ve been in conversations with the regulators, the administration, the Fed; the best outcome will be can they find a buyer for this SVB bank today before the markets open in Asia later in the day. That would be the best making sure that depositors — remember that shareholders in the bank are going to lose their money, let’s be clear about that — but the depositors can be taken care of. And the best outcome will be an acquisition of SVB,” he said.

Still, Warner said he was concerned that people with deposits in mid-sized banks over the $250,000 insurance limit could move that money into larger banks, warning, “what we don’t want to see is further consolidation.”

Administration officials have cast doubts on a bailout as a possible solution.

“Let me be clear that during the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out, and we’re certainly not looking. And the reforms that have been put in place means that we’re not going to do that again. But we are concerned about depositors and are focused on trying to meet their needs,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.

Raddatz pressed Warner on a 2018 vote he took rolling back banking regulations, including those on banks the size of SVB, that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.

“I think it put in place an appropriate level of regulation on mid-sized banks,” Warner said of his 2018 vote, adding that he believed that “these mid-sized banks needed some regulatory relief.”

Raddatz also asked Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, if TikTok should be banned in the U.S. over concerns about its Chinese-based parent company and data security.

Warner on Tuesday introduced a bill that would allow the White House to regulate foreign-owned apps, including TikTok — a bill that quickly drew the support of bipartisan senators and the Biden administration.

“Absolutely,” Warner said. “Literally, 100 million Americans are on TikTok an average of 90 minutes a day. That data is residing in China, no matter what TikTok says. And the truth is, TikTok can be used as a propaganda mechanism for the Communist Party of China. That, I believe, is a national security concern.”

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(WASHINGTON) — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on Sunday said he thinks there is “significant evidence” COVID originated in a lab.

A new assessment from the Department of Energy concluded with “low confidence” that the virus that led to the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a Wuhan, China, lab despite previous suggestions it was more likely transmitted from an animal.

“I think there’s significant evidence that lends itself to that. And I still do,” Turner told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “That’s why you just saw unanimously — both the Senate and the House — pass legislation demanding that the administration declassify the intelligence the Intelligence Committee has with respect to COVID-19.”

Turner also alleged that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was working to fund the Wuhan lab and had reason to contradict the theory.

Fauci frequently appeared alongside Donald Trump in the former president’s daily COVID-19 briefings at the White House. He also served as Biden’s chief medical adviser.

Turner said he was frustrated to see Fauci’s television appearances, accusing him of giving guidance that contradicted intelligence the chair saw firsthand.

“We voted to say, ‘Show the American people they’re not getting the straight answer from Dr. Fauci or from this administration, they need to be able to see for themselves what has occurred,'” Turner said. “And I understand that Dr. Fauci has a reason to say that there was not a lab leak because he was actively working to fund the lab and move on.”

“I think Dr. Fauci would dispute that,” Raddatz said.

Turner continued to allege funds controlled by Fauci ended up at the lab, arguing that intelligence would help Americans get a straight answer.

Fauci has repeatedly denied Republican lawmakers’ accusations regarding lab funding and bias, calling them “ludicrous” earlier this week and “preposterous” in 2021.

“Our view is show the American public the intelligence,” Turner said. “And then you, Martha, you can have the intelligence in front of you. And the next time Dr. Fauci is on you can say, ‘Hey, but the intelligence actually says X,’ you can challenge him.”

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on Wednesday said in a Senate Intelligence Committee testimony: “It is absolutely accurate the intelligence community does not know exactly where, when, or how COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially, and basically components have coalesced around two alternative theories. These scenarios are it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals, or it was a laboratory accident.”

MORE: Blinken describes confronting China about balloon, warns against support for Russia
Turner also discussed what he characterized as a growing threat from China. He said the military threat is very clear to members of the committee he chairs, citing China’s ongoing buildup of its nuclear arsenal, espionage developments and U.S. telecommunications breaches through use of the popular TikTok app.

“They’re tripling their size of their nuclear weapons pointed at the United States. They’re expanding their shipbuilding. They are absolutely emerging as a military threat to the United States. I think we need to respond and respond very strongly,” Turner said.

He called for stronger action from the Biden administration as multiple lawmakers in Congress introduced bills to restrict or outright ban the app TikTok, criticizing the president as “afraid to provoke” China.

China recently helped orchestrate a groundbreaking agreement between two Middle Eastern countries, U.S. ally Saudi Arabia and Iran, often a U.S. adversary. Raddatz pointed to China’s pivotal role in the deal, which did not involve assistance from American leaders.

Turner said the deal reflected Biden’s past reluctance to act on Saudi Arabia’s military concerns and the “harsh words” the president directed at the country when he first took office.

Saudi Arabia faced heavy criticism in recent years over human rights and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had been critical of Saudi rulers. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was alleged to have ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.

“They subject Saudi Arabia to a significant amount of criticism and were slow to react and respond to the military needs of Saudi Arabia. So it’s not unexpected that they might look elsewhere for support,” Turner told Raddatz.

Turner said it was disappointing and unexpected, though, that Saudi Arabia turned to Iran.

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

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(NEW YORK) — Michael Cohen is expected to testify Monday before a grand jury in New York that is hearing evidence of former President Donald Trump’s alleged role in a hush payment to Stormy Daniels, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, paid $130,000 to the adult film star in the closing days of the 2016 campaign to keep her quiet about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump. Trump has denied the affair.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has been investigating whether Trump falsified business records when the Trump Organization allegedly reimbursed Cohen and then booked the reimbursement to Cohen as a legal expense. In recent weeks former Trump advisers Hope Hicks, Kellyanne Conway and several other witnesses have testified.

Cohen served prison time after he pleaded guilty to federal charges that included campaign finance violations related to the hush payment. Charging documents said Cohen acted at the behest of “Individual 1,” who he has identified as Trump.

The district attorney’s office recently informed Trump of his right to testify before the grand jury, sources have previously told ABC News. New York law requires so-called “cross notice” so potential defendants are afforded a chance to tell the grand jury their side of the story but the invitation is typically only extended if prosecutors are planning to move forward with an indictment.

It is not known whether Trump will appear. His lawyers have recently gone into the district attorney’s office to meet with prosecutors, according to sources.

A spokeswoman for the office declined to comment.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has previously won the tax fraud convictions of Trump’s company and its former finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, but Trump himself has never been charged with a crime. The Trump Organization said it would appeal the conviction.

Trump has dismissed the investigation as a witch hunt and has insisted he did “absolutely nothing wrong.” His spokesman has called the possibility of an indictment in New York “simply insane.”

Trump is also awaiting charging decisions from two other entities: the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results on the state and a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland is investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol and his handling of classified material.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — In response to a Republican bill to boost parents’ rights in the classroom, Democrats are out with a proposal they say will advance an “inclusive, aspirational, and affirmative vision for public education.”

The Bill of Rights for Students and Parents, unveiled by Oregon Rep. Suzanne Bonamici on Friday, calls for well-rounded education “rooted in evidence-based practices” to support teachers, students and families.

“It serves as a direct contrast to recent proposals that are unproductive, burdensome, and pit parents against educators,” her office said in a news release. According to a spokesperson for Bonamici, who is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, she has been working on the legislation for more than a month.

The opposing bills signify the growing debate over the role of parents in schools, with education becoming a politically-charged issue after the coronavirus pandemic upended classrooms and increased scrutiny of school leadership.

A summary of the Democrats’ bill said it prioritizes “authentic” collaboration between parents and educators, protecting students’ civil rights and providing children with “historically accurate” instruction to prepare them to participate in representative democracy.

It has the backing of dozens of advocacy groups like the NAACP, the National Parents Union and the National Parent Teacher Association, plus 27 Democratic co-sponsors.

Bonamici’s bill was released after the Education and the Workforce Committee held a grueling 16-hour markup on the Republican version earlier this week, which included 45 amendments.

The Republican bill would require parents to be provided with a list of books and reading materials available in the school library, and that they be notified of violent activity occurring on school grounds or at school-sponsored events. It also would mandate parental consent before medical exams, including those for mental health or substance use disorder, take place at school.

Schools would also be required to publicly post their curriculum and district budgets, and notify parents of revisions to state education standards.

House Republican leaders said they expect their measure to pass later this year. It already has support from more than 70 members.

After rolling out the legislation at an event on Capitol Hill on March 1, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told ABC News he “couldn’t imagine someone would oppose a Parents Bill of Rights.”

“Parent gets to guarantee[d] to know what their children are being taught, parent gets to know what their money is being spent on. … More importantly, the parents get to know if there is any activity on campus that could harm their child or not,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — When President Joe Biden unveiled his $6.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 on Thursday, notably absent was a plan to shore up the finances of Social Security.

Biden’s placed an outsized emphasis on Social Security and Medicare since clashing with Republicans over the programs in his State of the Union address last month. He’s repeatedly hammered the GOP over the issue, accusing some members of wanting to target benefits as Congress gears up for a battle over the debt ceiling and federal spending.

“I guarantee you I will protect Social Security and Medicare without any change. Guaranteed. I won’t allow it to be gutted or eliminated, as MAGA Republicans have threatened to do,” Biden said to applause as he rolled out his plan in a campaign-style speech to a union crowd in Philadelphia.

The 184-page budget reiterates Biden’s position that cuts to Social Security are off the table, and includes an additional $1.4 billion for the Social Security Administration to improve customer service.

But while the proposal addresses Medicare’s solvency, it doesn’t include a similar plan for Social Security — which could see a reduction in scheduled benefits by roughly 20% starting in 2034 unless lawmakers take action.

For Medicare, which is on track to deplete its trust fund in 2028, Biden’s proposed tax increases on the wealthy and bringing down drug costs would bolster the program’s finances through 2050. The plan was unveiled by Biden in an op-ed for the New York Times two days before the official budget release.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, responding to Biden’s proposal, praised the Medicare measures but said it was “extremely disappointed it neglects Social Security, putting seniors’ benefits at risk.”

Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told ABC News the budget is “scant on details regarding Social Security.”

Asked during Friday’s press briefing why a solvency pitch wasn’t included in the budget, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said, “We’re trying to protect the benefits that are there now.”

“I wish we were at the point of the debate where we could sit down and come up with proposal to extend [solvency]. Unfortunately, it’s clear some people want to go backwards … You’re assuming all players are starting from the same place, they’re not,” Young said.

The problem for Biden, experts said, is that he’s vowed not to cut any benefits and to not increase taxes on those making under $400,000 per year — which will make it extremely difficult to balance the program’s finances long-term.

“Under the parameters that President Biden has set out, it’s almost mathematically impossible,” Biggs said.

During the 2020 campaign, Biden proposed upping the payroll tax to 12.4% for Americans making more than $400,000 per year, among other changes, to help Social Security’s funding shortfall. An analysis by the public policy think tank Urban Institute found those changes would extend Social Security’s solvency just five years.

“To fix the problem, what he’d have to do is he’d have to find more money or he’d have to cut benefits,” Richard Johnson, the director of the Urban Institute’s Program on Retirement Policy, told ABC News.

“Changes to Social Security have always been bipartisan, and so it might not be something that he wants to do on his own because it will probably involve some pain,” Johnson said.

The 2024 budget stated the administration looks forward to “working with Congress to responsibly strengthen Social Security by ensuring that high-income individuals pay their fair share.”

Republicans have been critical of Biden’s new budget proposal, rejecting any tax increases.

GOP leaders have said Social Security and Medicare will not be touched during negotiations on the debt limit, though some in the party have previously called for cuts and others have advocated for changes to benefit formulas or the eligibility age.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, testifying on the budget on Capitol Hill Friday, was asked by Democratic Rep. John Lawson about payroll tax increases for those earning over $400,000 per year to help fund Social Security.

“I think it is about fairness and I think hardworking Americans who have counted on Social Security and paid into it their entire lives and depended on it as their major source of income in retirement, I think we need to make sure that it’s there for them,” Yellen said. “And we look for additional revenue to Americans with very high incomes, many of whom in total pay less taxes than a teacher or a firefighter.”

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(NEW YORK) — Virginia state Senate candidate Monica Gary is open about her past. National outlets have already picked up her story because of her background as a former dancer at strip clubs.

But Gary says her backstory also includes growing up in poverty in Stafford County, having a premature baby at 17, leaving an abusive partner and eventually turning to a life of ministry and public service.

As for her time in clubs, she said it came about after her son’s biological father came back into the picture.

“Because I grew up in purity culture, I thought, ‘Well, ‘I’m broken, so no one’s ever gonna want me. I’ll just be with this guy who’s already awful to me because maybe he’ll want me.’“ Gary said. “That continued into more of a domestic trafficking situation. He suggested strongly that I would dance at the clubs where I had gone to just waitress, and that just kind of snowballed.”

Now, Gary has seven kids — two of whom are active duty in the military — and she has been married to her husband, Peter, for 14 years. They met when Gary, who was in an abusive relationship, was still working at clubs, she said.

“He just was a friend to me,” Gary said. “He treated me with so much dignity.”

Gary, who has a theology degree, has worked in ministry for years, and she started New Wine Community Church in Stafford in 2019. The former dancer has also served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors since 2022, representing the Aquia District.

The current Virginia General Assembly has no independent members, and partisan control of the legislature is split, with a 21-18 Democratic majority in the Senate and a 52-48 Republican majority in the House of Delegates. State Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Clarke County) currently represents the 27th District, which Gary is running for, though its borders are now different due to redistricting. Vogel is not seeking reelection.

The newly drawn 27th District covers parts of Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and Fredericksburg city. In the 2020 presidential election, Stafford County — which makes up about 60% of the 27th District — voted for Biden 51%-47%. Spotsylvania County — the next largest chunk of the district — voted for Trump 52%-46%. Biden carried the smallest chunk, Fredericksburg, 66%-31%.

Gary said she filed as an independent because she doesn’t want to alienate voters.

“If I put a letter next to my name, immediately half of the population is going to say, ‘You’re not going to work for me. You’re not going to help me and even worse, you’re going to hurt me,'” Gary said. “That’s not acceptable to me.”

Gary highlights three issues on her campaign website: transportation, reproductive rights and education.

The state Senate hopeful touted her tenure on the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board as evidence that she’s prepared to tackle the problem of congestion, saying the issue requires nuance because the district has both urban and rural areas.

“We have a very diverse district, the new 27th, which I guess technically there’s no incumbent because it’s a brand new district. It’s very diverse. So we have very rural roads that need improvements and maintenance and then we also have very urban areas like in Fredericksburg,” she said.

When it comes to education, Virginia is one of the centers for the battle over school choice, or a policy that allows parents to send their children to private schools and have the costs covered, at least in part, by publicly funded vouchers. Proponents of school choice believe it gives parents a better say over their children’s education and allows some students to leave under-performing schools. Opponents believe it takes funding away from public schools and leaves many students behind.

Gary’s position against school choice is influenced by her time as a public school student and as a mother who, aside from a brief period of homeschooling her children during COVID-19, sends them to public schools.

“This is not going to open up opportunities for most families who may want to utilize those vouchers. It’s not going to cover the whole tuition,” Gary said. “So now you already have folks who probably already afford private school funding, but now they’re getting a discount.”

As for the issue of reproductive rights, Gary also invokes her personal experiences.

“I am very open about this: I have had abortions,” Gary said.

After her procedure, she said she “overcorrected” and was anti-abortion, then looked back on how her life would have gone without access to abortions.

“It would have meant staying in a very abusive relationship,” Gary said. “It would have meant … a lot of awful things continued in my life.”

While her support for abortion rights puts her to the left of many Republicans’ perspective, her belief on when life starts differ from the view held by most liberals.

“I’m Christian, and I believe that personhood happens even before conception, right? I believe that God knew me even before I was here and he had a purpose for my life,” Gary said. “But that doesn’t mean that I go in and say I believe a, b, and c so you have to do all of these things.”

The primary election for the 27th District is June 20, but because Gary isn’t participating in a political primary, her name will not appear on Virginians’ ballots until the general election on Nov. 7.

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(DAVENPORT, Iowa) — GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first Iowa swing of the 2024 presidential cycle kicked off Friday in a packed casino room on the eastern side of the state, where he boasted that his stringent conservative leadership style had steered Florida into becoming a model for the rest of the country — a distinct tease of his White House ambitions.

“Good morning, I bring greetings from the free state of Florida,” DeSantis said as he took the stage to loud cheers, touting his state as a blueprint, insisting it has “served as the promised land” and is “the fastest growing state in the country.””And that is a result of leadership. It’s a result of vision. It’s a result of standing up for what’s right,” he said.

The Sunshine State leader — who publicly insisted he wouldn’t vie for the presidency this cycle — was visiting the critical early state as he’s privately indicated to allies that he intends to launch a bid for the White House in May or possibly June, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

His trip to Davenport and Des Moines comes days before his presumed opponent and current GOP frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, will make a campaign stop in Iowa on Monday.

DeSantis’ visit occurred while Nikki Haley, a former Trump-appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who announced her White House bid last month, hosted a dueling event across the state in Clive, Iowa, with Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst.

Ahead of Iowa’s 2024 presidential caucuses, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found that if former President Donald Trump were to be the Republican nominee again 74% of Iowa Republicans say they would likely vote for him in the 2024 general election — although the number of Iowans who say they would “definitely” vote for him has decreased by more than 20 percentage points since June 2021.

In Davenport, DeSantis received a warm reception, including several standing ovations when touching on a range of issues from the border to COVID-19 to education. He spoke just under an hour, first from the podium, then sitting down for a conversation with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds — another GOP chief executive who gained notoriety for bucking federal COVID guidance during the pandemic — to promote his new book, ‘The Courage to be Free.’

“I’ve hung around with Ron for just a little bit and I’m here to tell you he is just getting warmed up. So, this guy is a man on a mission,” Reynolds said.

DeSantis, who in a the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll had favorability numbers just two points behind Trump’s, did not mention the former president directly by name, though he painted a contrast between the criminal probes, staff turnover and communications crises of Trump’s tenure to his own administration, which he pointedly says has “no drama.”

“The one thing I could say if you talk to Floridians, there’s no drama in our administration. There’s no palace intrigue. They basically just sit back and say, Okay, what’s the governor going to do next? And we roll out and we execute, and we do things and we get things done,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis, who has a notably hostile relationship with non-conservative news outlets, was asked outright by Reynolds about his approach to news media coverage.

The Florida governor called legacy media “very, very untrustworthy” in response.

“We just focus on delivering results and delivering the agenda. And I think what people have figured out is, you know, the legacy media is very, very untrustworthy in the eyes of the public,” he said.

“Just speak the truth. Do your thing, but do not give them the satisfaction that they are some type of neutral gatekeepers, because they are not.”

In a tweet following DeSantis’ visit, Reynolds uploaded photos from her interview with the Florida governor, captioned: “The corporate media’s worst nightmare!”

The corporate media’s worst nightmare! pic.twitter.com/SDk0waGXpA

— Kim Reynolds (@KimReynoldsIA) March 10, 2023

The Florida governor rose to national GOP stardom throughout the COVID pandemic, when he kept the state largely open during the early days of the virus’ spread and has been vocally skeptical about vaccine efficacy.

Iowa attendees jumped to their feet several times on Friday when DeSantis addressed COVID.

“I’m just proud to say that when during COVID the world lost its mind, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, the state of Florida stood as a refuge of sanity,” he said. “The elites were wrong about lockdowns. They were wrong about forced masking. They were wrong about closing schools. They were wrong about denying natural immunity.”

DeSantis also touted his administration’s decision to ban “any COVID shot mandates for schoolchildren and university students” and his push against vaccine mandates, saying, “nobody should have to choose between a job they need and a shot they don’t want.”

The governor also took a swipe at President Joe Biden, calling on him to allow Novak Djokovic, the tennis champion who refuses to take the COVID vaccine, to compete at the Miami Open, despite the tournament’s vaccination requirements.

“If Djokovic wants to meet us in the Bahamas, we’ll get him over here by boat, get him to the state of Florida so he can compete,” DeSantis said to applause.

ABC News’ Katherine Faulers and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The FBI is investigating threats allegedly made on YouTube against Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, law enforcement and the LGBTQ community, according to an unsealed criminal complaint.

The FBI received an online tip earlier this week from Google about an “unknown subject making threatening comments on Youtube” against law enforcement, members of the LGBTQ community and government officials, the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Thursday, stated.

More than a dozen comments posted between Feb. 18 and March 7 were cited in the complaint. They included threats against government officials, including “im going to kill these democrats biden deserves to die,” and “Im more than willing tot kill whitmer and I do live in Michigan. Ill assault her ugly face with my bullets,” according to the complaint.

The commenter also allegedly threatened to “kill lgbt freaks and democrat polioticians” and “shoot at” FBI agents if they show up to talk to him.

On March 7, the account was “observed with a display name of ‘kill all federal agents on sight and hang biden,’ and a handle URL of ‘@killthefeds420,'” the complaint stated.

FBI agents in Detroit were able to track the account to the residence of Randall Robert Berka II in Sebewaing, Michigan.

One of the account’s posts allegedly identified Berka, stating in part, “hey fbi! My name is randall the 2nd and I live in sebewaing Michigan and I am willing to kill these people, f— it I don’t care, f— the feds, f— them” and “I’ll kill anyone who tries to take my guns.”

According to the complaint, Berka was involuntarily committed for mental health treatment in 2012 and was determined to be “legally incapacitated” in 2013. Though he is prohibited from having guns, the complaint stated that his mother allegedly purchased four firearms for Berka but then became scared and “believes Berka should be arrested and put in prison,” the complaint stated.

“Berka has ammunition for his firearms and has gone to shoot them; he also possesses body armor,” the complaint stated.

Berka is in custody and has been charged with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. A detainment hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday. Online court records do not list any attorney information.

The alleged threats against Whitmer come a day after a man was indicted after allegedly posting threats on Twitter to kill Jewish politicians in Michigan.

Nearly 15 men were also arrested for a plot to kill the governor in 2019; most have been convicted.

ABC News did not immediately receive a response from Whitmer’s office seeking comment on the new FBI investigation.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans appear no closer to reaching a deal on the 2024 budget to avoid a debt default, with the two sides taking swipes at each other Friday morning.

When touting Friday’s jobs report, Biden suggested Republicans weren’t capable of drafting a budget anytime soon and blasted a proposal from the House Freedom Caucus, just one day after presenting his budget plan which some Republicans say is “dead on arrival.”

“I told the speaker, soon as he’s about ready to lay out his budget, I’m willing to sit down. And now I’m hearing things like, ‘Well, we’re not going to have our budget till April or May maybe even June,'” Biden said from the White House. “Why all of a sudden can’t they get it done in March, or maybe even April? Maybe even May?… It doesn’t sound like on a level yet.”

As lawmakers debate conditions for raising the debt ceiling, a course of action the White House has said should be “non-negotiable,” the Treasury Department expects to exhaust its emergency measures sometime between July and September.

With that deadline looming, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus outlined what they call a “blueprint” for spending restrictions on Friday that they say — if agreed to — would earn their votes for raising the debt ceiling.

The proposal, which is almost certain to face pushback from more moderate House Republicans, includes ending Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, rescinding all unspent COVID-19 federal assistance, recouping the $80 billion allotted to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act, and freezing all discretionary spending at the FY2022 level for 10 years.

“President Biden, your budget is dead on arrival. Let me just go ahead and say that now,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.

While the members were taking aim at Biden’s proposal with their remarks, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was a secondary target of the group’s remarks. Almost all House Freedom Caucus members speaking on Capitol Hill just ahead of Biden’s remarks were part of the faction that delayed McCarthy from obtaining the speakership, highlighting what just a handful of House Republicans can do amid a slim House GOP majority.

“You’re going to see us make history again, in this new Congress,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., signaling they could vote as a bloc. “We’re going to actually cut spending in a meaningful way and put us on a path of fiscal stability as a nation.”

The speaker laid fault for the delay at the president’s feet.

“Well, we were going to do the budget in April but unfortunately the president’s so late with his budget, it delays our budget,” McCarthy, who said he’s waiting for Biden to invite him to the White House for another meeting, said when asked when he will release his budget proposal.

Back at the White House, Biden slammed the Freedom Caucus’s promise to raise the debt ceiling only if 25% of all non-defense spending is cut.

“That means cops, firefighters. It means health care. It means — that’s what they call discretionary spending, as you all know. And, and on top of that, what they’re really focused on that I saw here, I shouldn’t get into all this now, but is kind of surprised me. They, they want to make sure we don’t have enough IRS agents,” Biden claimed.

“The idea that I’m going to agree that we start to figure out where we cut 25% across the board …. I don’t know what there’s much to negotiate on,” he added.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed his remarks, calling the House Freedom Caucus plan a “gut-punch to the American middle class.”

“This is a blueprint for selling out the middle class, law enforcement, and American competitiveness,” she said.

Biden’s proposal includes $842 billion in defense spending, $6 billion in support for Ukraine to defend against Russia’s invasion, a tax increase for high-earners and a $1.4 billion increase to Social Security, among other measures.

The president celebrated Friday’s jobs report showing 311,000 jobs were added in February, and he painted a rosy economic outlook for the nation.

“People are moving back into work, but this may be the part that pleased me the most about the report, the jobs report, is people who’ve been staying out of the job market are moving back in, beginning to move back in. Jobs are available. People are working again. They’re becoming more optimistic about their future,” he said.

ABC News’ Jay O’Brien, Sarah Kolinovsky and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Friday denied former President Donald Trump’s attempt to block excerpts of the infamous Access Hollywood tape from being used as evidence in his upcoming defamation trial.

On the tape, which surfaced before the 2016 presidential election, Trump is heard saying that he just starts kissing beautiful women when he meets them.

“It’s like a magnet. Just kiss,” he says. “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything, grab them by the p—-, you can do anything.”

Trump has dismissed the tape as “locker room talk” and has argued the material is unfairly being used to suggest he has a propensity for sexual assault.

“Plaintiff, in continuing her unabashed demand to admit the Tape, has made it clear that she wishes to convert this trial into a referendum on Plaintiff’s character and distract the jury from determining the merits of the controlling issues of this case,” Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, argued last week.

While rules ordinarily prevent such propensity evidence, the judge on Friday ruled that it can be allowed in a civil case based on an alleged sexual assault.

“It is simply not the Court’s function in ruling on the admissibility of this evidence to decide what Mr. Trump meant or how to interpret his statements,” Judge Lewis Kaplan said.

The judge also denied Trump’s attempt to preclude the testimony of two women other than accuser E. Jean Carroll. The two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, have previously claimed Trump sexually assaulted them, which he denies.

“Mr. Trump has claimed that Ms. Leeds is a liar and that no such event ever occurred. And he will be entitled to make that argument to the jury. But that is not now the issue,” Kaplan said.

The judge left open a question of whether Carroll’s attorneys could use seven excerpts of speeches Trump gave on 2016 campaign trail. Each of the excerpts contain assertions by Trump that women who have accused him of sex assault were lying and that their looks were unappealing to him.

Carroll has alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s and that he defamed her in 2019 when, during his presidency, he denied her rape claim by calling her a liar and saying “she’s not my type.”

The trial is scheduled to begin next month pending a decision in a separate court that could prevent the case from moving ahead if it’s determined that Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he allegedly defamed Carroll.

Carroll has filed a separate lawsuit against Trump alleging defamation and battery under a New York law that allows alleged adult sex assault victims to bring claims otherwise barred by the passage of time.

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