(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, its acting chairwoman and active ranking member said in a statement on Wednesday.
Reps. Susan Wild, D-Pa., and Michael Guest, R-Miss., did not specify what the investigation entails but said the panel will “announce its course of action” in the next Congress.
The committee, which could dismiss the matter, is extending it into 2023 and noted that its statement on the probe “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.”
Leaving the House after votes on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said she was “fully participating” with the committee.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office said in a subsequent statement that she “has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests. We are confident that this matter will be dismissed.”
According to the committee statement, members first received the matter from the Office of Congressional Ethics in June.
While it remains unclear what prompted the investigation, the conservative American Accountability Foundation previously filed a complaint that the Office of Congressional Ethics should investigate Ocasio-Cortez for allegedly “accepting an impermissible gift to attend the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala” last year.
(WASHINGTON) — In celebrating WNBA star Brittney Griner’s release, President Joe Biden made a point on Thursday to say the prisoner swap was “not a choice” between Griner and Paul Whelan, the American former Marine who is still detained in Russia.
“We never forgot about Brittney. We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan, who has been unjustly detained in Russia for years. This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” Biden said from the White House. “Sadly, or totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s, and while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release we are not giving up. We will never give up.”
Elizabeth Whelan, Paul’s sister, on a Zoom interview from Massachusetts in the afternoon, told ABC News the family had expected Griner might return first.
“We’ve always known that the Russians were treating Paul separately, and therefore, we always knew that there was a chance that this would happen, that would Brittney would be released first,” she said.
“We’re upset. We want Paul home,” she added. “We’re angry at Russia for for playing him around like this, for playing all of us around like this, but what we need to do is look forward to the plan to get him home.”
Whelan has spent four years in detention since he was seized in 2018 by Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, while visiting Moscow for a friend’s wedding. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges but the United States and his family say they were fabricated in order to take him as a political bargaining chip.
In a phone interview with CNN on Thursday, Whelan said he was “greatly disappointed” to not also be returning home.
“I have to say I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. Especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up. I was arrested for a crime that never occurred,” Whelan said. “I’m happy that Brittney is going home today and that Trevor went home when he did — but I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” he added.
He said he hopes officials will do everything they can to bring him home, “regardless of the price they may have to pay at this point.”
“My bags are packed. I’m ready to go home. I just need an airplane to come and get me,” Whelan said.
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill were quick to blast the prisoner swap, including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
“This is a gift to Vladimir Putin, and it endangers American lives,” McCarthy tweeted. “Leaving Paul Whelan behind for this is unconscionable.”
Biden administration officials will remain in close contact with the Whelan family, the president said earlier.
“We’ll keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release. I guarantee that. I say that to the family. I guarantee you. I urge Russia to do the same to ensure that Paul’s health and humane treatment are maintained until we are able to bring him home. I don’t want any American to sit wrongfully detained one extra day if we can bring that person home,” he said.
Whelan’s twin brother, David, released a statement just ahead of Biden’s remarks calling the swap for Griner “the right decision.”
“As the family member of a Russian hostage, I can literally only imagine the joy she will have, being reunited with her loved ones, and in time for the holidays. There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed and for them to go home. The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
He said officials let them know in advance “that Paul would be left behind,” unlike in April, when news broke of former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed’s return.
“This is the event we wish for so much for our own family,” the Whelans said in April, and again on Thursday. “She will be reunited with her family. Brittney is free. And Paul is still a hostage.”
A senior Biden administration official told reporters on a background call that another official had spoken “at length” with Whelan from prison to talk through the news of Griner’s release.
“I want to be very clear: This was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none,” the official said.
Griner will be back in the U.S. within 24 hours, according to officials.
“She’s safe. She’s on a plane. She’s on her way home,” Biden said alongside Brittney’s wife, Cherelle, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken, in a written statement, praised Griner’s release but lamented that Whelan and his family “continue to suffer needlessly.”
“Despite our ceaseless efforts, the Russian Government has not yet been willing to bring a long overdue end to his wrongful detention. I wholeheartedly wish we could have brought Paul home today on the same plane with Brittney,” Blinken said.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who for months tried to help negotiate a trade for Griner and Whelan and travelled repeatedly to Moscow for meetings, said his team is thrilled Griner is now free but called for the Biden administration to now make Whelan’s return a priority.
ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Ben Gittleson and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice has urged a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to hold former President Trump’s team in contempt of court for failing to comply fully with a May subpoena for all documents with classification markings in his possession, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
DOJ’s urging is part of sealed court proceedings in Washington, where DOJ and Trump lawyers have battled for weeks over compliance with grand jury subpoenas, sources have told ABC News. The Trump team has also not wanted to identify an official custodian of records to attest that all records have been handed over.
What’s apparent is that no one from Trump’s team wants to designate themselves as a custodian of records and potentially make themselves more vulnerable legally.
The Department of Justice declined to comment.
“President Trump and his counsel continue to cooperate and be transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attacks by the weaponized Department of Justice,” said Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump.
MORE: Special counsel subpoenas secretaries of state in Michigan, Arizona
If the judge were to rule in DOJ’s favor, the punishment most likely would be a daily fine.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Thursday disclosed additional details about how President Joe Biden and administration officials were able to secure WNBA star Brittney Griner’s release and return from Russia.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the deal “really came to fruition in the last week or so.”
Biden made the call to go ahead with the swap “last week,” he said.
But the deal was the product of months and months of a painstaking negotiation effort from across the U.S. government, including officials at the highest levels engaging directly with Russia.
Here’s the inside story of how it happened:
When was Griner released?
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said over the summer that the U.S. had made a “substantial offer” to Russia for the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, but that Russia rejected that offer.
Both sides finally reached an agreement in recent days, according to the White House, and Biden made the difficult decision to accept a deal with no Whelan exchange in order to get Griner home.
A senior administration official said on Thursday morning that the release came together within the last 48 hours.
“In recent days, we were able to reach agreement on an option to secure Brittany’s release. And the president, President Biden, made the difficult decision to accept that option because it resulted in a safe return home of an American,” the official told reporters. “Through multiple, multiple engagements, the Russians made clear that the only route to securing Britney’s return was a release of a Russian national, Viktor Bout.”
Bout, a Russian arms dealer, was extradited to the U.S. and convicted in 2011 of conspiring to supply weapons that could be used to kill Americans. As the exchange neared, Griner was moved from a penal colony to Moscow and then to the United Arab Emirates.
“In the last 48 hours, as this had all come together, Brittney was moved from the penal colony where she was being held to Moscow, and this morning, she was brought to the United Arab Emirates, where she was met by U.S. officials,” the official said.
Roger Carstens, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, greeted Griner on the tarmac upon her release, specifically to let her know that he was there to bring her home and was there on behalf of the president and Secretary Blinken, an official said. They described Griner as “in an extremely upbeat mood, all smiles and extremely grateful.”
From the tarmac, Griner spoke on the phone with Biden and wife, Cherelle Griner.
Who was involved in the exchange?
The Saudi government on Thursday issued a joint statement with the UAE about their alleged role in the Griner prisoner swap, claiming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman led a mediation on the successful exchange, but U.S. officials have categorically denied the claim.
“This was a deal done by the U.S. government,” Kirby repeated several times to White House reporters. “We spoke with many different interlocutors to involve some foreign governments who had ideas and concepts and thoughts… but this deal was brokered by the United States government,” he added.
A senior administration official, on an earlier call with reporters, thanked former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who for months tried to help negotiate a trade for Griner and Whelan, but the extent of his involvement in Griner’s ultimate agreement was not clear.
“I also want to thank those outside government who have engaged with us constructively and worked to improve Griner’s conditions while detained and to support government efforts to reach this result, including Governor Bill Richardson, as well as a number of others who have shown a great deal of care and concern about this case,” a senior administration official said. “There is gratitude from the government to outside advocates who raised their voices in support of Brittney, like Governor Richardson, who tried to be constructive in keeping us informed as to how they were thinking about the matter.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House on Thursday passed a bill to codify federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages, which now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
The Respect for Marriage Act passed with bipartisan support in a 258-169 vote. Thirty-nine Republicans joined Democrats in voting yes on the measure.
The legislation passed with cheers and hugs on the floor. Former Rep. Barney Frank, an openly gay Democrat who has long fought for marriage equality, was present for the vote.
MORE: How Congress achieved a historic breakthrough on gay marriage
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. David Cicilline, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. Jerry Nadler and Republican Sen. Susan Collins held a bill enrollment ceremony celebrating the bill’s passage.
“What a great day,” Pelosi said at the ceremony, thanking her colleagues for their support. “At last we have history in the making, but not only are we on the ride sight of history, we are on the right side of the future: expanding freedom in America.”
PHOTO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., announces final passage of the bill with protections for same-sex marriages, on the House Floor, Dec. 8, 2022, in Washington.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., announces final passage of the bill with protections for same-sex marriages, on the House Floor, Dec. 8, 2022, in Washington.
AP
Pelosi, who is leaving her post as House Democratic leader, has said she is “particularly happy” the Respect for Marriage Act will be one of the last bills she signs in her role.
“Once signed into law, the Respect for Marriage Act will help prevent right-wing extremists from upending the lives of loving couples traumatizing kids across the country, and turning back the clock on hard-won progress,” Pelosi said in a floor speech ahead of the vote.
Biden has said he’s prepared to sign the measure after it passed the House. In a statement after Senate passage last week, he said he will “promptly and proudly sign it into law.”
Ensuring same-sex marriage rights are protected between states became a top priority for Democrats in light of the Supreme Court’s June decision to overrule its precedent in 1973’s Roe v. Wade guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion.
Justice Clarence Thomas indicated in a concurring opinion at the time that he would like to see the court reverse the 2015 ruling Obergefell v. Hodges guaranteeing the national right to same-sex marriage, which was decided on similar grounds as Roe.
MORE: Senate approves historic legislation to protect same-sex marriages
PHOTO: The Capitol in Washington, D.C., Dec. 4, 2022.
The Capitol in Washington, D.C., Dec. 4, 2022.
Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images
The Respect for Marriage Act will not codify Obergefell and set a national requirement that all states must license same-sex marriages. But it will require individual states to recognize a same-sex (or interracial) marriage that was lawfully performed in another state.
The Senate passed the bill last week, 61-36 — marking a victory for Democrats during the lame-duck after months of negotiations with Republicans. Twelve members of the GOP voted in support of the legislation.
Schumer at Thursday’s bill enrollment ceremony said the issue is personal for many in Congress. Schumer’s daughter is married to her wife.
“Thanks to the tireless advocacy of many — many in this room — and the dogged work by many of my colleagues, my grandchild will live in a world that will respect and honor their mothers’ marriage,” he said. “So yes, this is about millions of LGBTQ Americans in the country but countless other lives of children and families will also be impacted.”
The House passed a similar version of this legislation earlier this year, with 47 Republicans supporting it. The Senate version includes new language to ease some GOP concerns about religious freedom.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Will Steakin and Gabe Ferris contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — In celebrating WNBA star Brittney Griner’s release, President Joe Biden made a point on Thursday to say the prisoner swap was “not a choice” between Griner and Paul Whelan, the American former Marine who is still detained in Russia.
“We never forgot about Brittney. We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan who has been unjustly detained in Russia for years. This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” Biden said from the White House.
“Sadly, or totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s, and while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release we are not giving up. We will never give up,” he said.
Whelan has spent four years in detention since he was seized in 2018 by Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, while visiting Moscow for a friend’s wedding. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges but the United States and his family say they were fabricated in order to take him as a political bargaining chip.
The Biden administration remains in close contact with the Whelan family, Biden said, adding they must have “such mixed emotions today.”
“We’ll keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release. I guarantee that. I say that to the family. I guarantee you. I urge Russia to do the same to ensure that Paul’s health and humane treatment are maintained until we are able to bring him home. I don’t want any American to sit wrongfully detained one extra day if we can bring that person home,” he said.
Whelan’s twin brother, David, released a statement just ahead of Biden’s remarks calling the swap for Griner “the right decision.”
“As the family member of a Russian hostage, I can literally only imagine the joy she will have, being reunited with her loved ones, and in time for the holidays. There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed and for them to go home. The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
He said officials let them know in advance “that Paul would be left behind,” unlike in April, when news broke of former Marine Trevor Reed’s return.
“This is the event we wish for so much for our own family,” the Whelans said in April, and again on Thursday. “She will be reunited with her family. Brittney is free. And Paul is still a hostage.”
The Whelan family is unsure if Whelan himself is aware of Griner’s release, his brother said, but they expect to speak with him soon, as they approach the fourth anniversary of his detention.
Griner will be back in the U.S. within 24 hours, according to officials.
“She’s safe. She’s on a plane. She’s on her way home,” Biden said alongside Brittney’s wife, Cherelle, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken, in a written statement, praised Griner’s release but lamented that Whelan and his family “continue to suffer needlessly.”
“Despite our ceaseless efforts, the Russian Government has not yet been willing to bring a long overdue end to his wrongful detention. I wholeheartedly wish we could have brought Paul home today on the same plane with Brittney,” Blinken said.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who for months tried to help negotiate a trade for Griner and Whelan and travelled repeatedly to Moscow for meetings, said his team is thrilled Griner is now free but called for the Biden administration to now make Whelan’s return a priority.
ABC News’ Cindy Smith and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The House on Thursday is set to pass a bill to codify federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages, bringing the landmark legislation one step closer to landing on President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
Ensuring same-sex marriage rights are protected between states became a top priority for Democrats in light of the Supreme Court’s June decision to overrule its precedent in 1973’s Roe v. Wade guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion.
Justice Clarence Thomas indicated in a concurring opinion at the time that he would like to see the court reverse the 2015 ruling Obergefell v. Hodges guaranteeing the national right to same-sex marriage, which was decided on similar grounds as Roe.
The Respect for Marriage Act, which is poised to pass the House with bipartisan support, would not codify Obergefell and set a national requirement that all states must license same-sex marriages. But it would require individual states to recognize a same-sex (or interracial) marriage that was lawfully performed in another state.
The Senate passed the bill last week, 61-36 — marking a victory for Democrats during the lame-duck after months of negotiations with Republicans. Twelve members of the GOP voted in support of the legislation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California has said she is “particularly happy” the Respect for Marriage Act will be one of the last bills she signs in her role.
A signing ceremony is scheduled for Thursday following the bill’s expected passage that will include Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. David Cicilline, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. Jerry Nadler and Sen. Susan Collins.
“It has strong bipartisan support in the House and in the Senate. I think it’s a great step forward for us,” Pelosi said at a news conference last week.
Biden is prepared to sign the measure after it passes the House. In a statement after Senate passage last week, he said he will “promptly and proudly sign it into law.”
The House passed a similar version of this legislation earlier this year, with 47 Republicans supporting it. The Senate version includes new language to ease some GOP concerns about religious freedom.
(WASHINGTON) — Just days before the 10th anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting, and six months after a similar massacre in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gathered Wednesday night with families of some of the victims at the 10th annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence.
“I know that feeling,” Biden, whose own son died of cancer, said of the grieving process. “It’s like a black hole in the middle of your chest that you’re being dragged into and you don’t know if there’s ever a way out.”
Pelosi also addressed the gathering, taking aim at legislators who stand against gun reform.
“As we say to our colleagues, your political survival is nothing compared to the survival of our children,” Pelosi said. “How can you not see that and take the hard vote?”
Among those gathered were families from Uvalde, where 19 students and two of their teachers were killed during a shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24.
They descended on Washington, D.C., this week to renew their push for additional gun safety legislation, including a proposed ban on assault weapons that is heading for debate in the Senate.
“We are trying to put pressure on the Senate to put the bill to the floor to vote even if it’s just for accountability,” Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed in Uvalde, told ABC News Tuesday at a silent protest on Capitol grounds. “We want to see where senators stand so their constituents can take that into consideration.”
H.R. 1808, which would ban assault-style weapons for civilians, passed in the House of Representatives in July, only weeks after the Uvalde massacre.
Rubio has been vocal in her support for gun reform, including a proposal to raise the minimum age to purchase a rifle to 21. She addressed the crowd at the Wednesday night vigil after Biden.
“I feel numb most days. I’m operating on fumes,” Rubio told the mourners.
“This is my reality. Speaking here because my 10-year-old daughter was murdered in her classroom,” she said. “If not my child, whose? If not now, when? Lexi was the light of our lives and that is obviously now in the darkness.”
Jazmin Cazares, 17, whose sister Jacklyn Cazares was killed at Robb Elementary, told the vigil: “There’s so much more to be done.”
“Today we’re here to remember Jackie, her classmates, her teachers and to remember every single person whose lives were cut short due to senseless gun violence,” Jazmin Cazares said.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church by Capitol Hill was filled with many of the nation’s leading gun reform activists, including the Newtown Action Alliance, and survivors from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which occurred on Dec. 14, 2012.
Jackie Hagerty, who survived Sandy Hook, said, “We are asked to be brave as we had under our desks while too many elected officials lack the courage to pass common sense gun laws.”
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which also passed one month after the Uvalde shooting, was the first gun reform signed into law in 28 years. But activists are demanding more.
Po Murray, co-founder and chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance, introduced the president and Pelosi on Wednesday night, saying, “More than 400,000 Americans have been killed by guns in every corner of our country… Gun violence is a public health emergency.”
Incoming Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, the first member of Gen Z elected to Congress, said gun violence is a defining characteristic of the lives of America’s youth.
“We are the generation of mass shootings. It feels like in high school I went through more school shooting drills than fire drills,” Frost told the crowd. “This is the reality for students in America.”
At the vigil, Biden called it “commonsense” to ban assault weapons, limit the number of bullets allowed in a cartridge and restrict the types of weapons that can be bought and sold.
He said that the federal government had banned assault weapons before.
“We can do it again,” he said.
Biden praised the attendees for turning “pain into purpose.”
“Scripture says, ‘The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,'” Biden said. “All of you here tonight, you are the light. You are literally the light. And your loved ones, and your friends, they’re the light.”
“How many of you ask yourself, ‘What would my son or daughter want me to do at this moment?'” Biden said. “They’re in your heart, they’re part of you, they’re always going to be with you.”
“We ask God,” he said, “give us the strength to finish the work left undone, and on behalf of the lives we’ve lost and all the lives we can save.”
The vigil, organized by the Newtown Action Alliance, was held one week before the 10-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting, when a gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed 20 first-graders and six adults.
Earlier this year, Congress passed the most comprehensive federal gun safety law in decades.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — crafted in the wake of the devastating mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas — includes funding for mental health services and community safety programs.
It also closed the so-called “boyfriend loophole” to prevent convicted domestic abusers from purchasing a firearm for five years, and enhanced background checks for gun buyers age 21 and younger.
Biden celebrated the legislation as a “monumental” achievement but said there was more work to do to confront the tidal wave of gun violence across the country.
Biden has pushed for a ban on assault weapons, universal background checks and raising the minimum age to purchase guns from 18 to 21.
After five people were killed at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs last month, Biden again called to get “weapons of war off our streets.”
(WASHINGTON) — A Florida state representative behind the Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics, has been indicted on wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements charges.
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Florida returned a six-count indictment against state Rep. Joseph Harding, who is accused of scheming to defraud the Small Business Administration and obtaining COVID-19-related loans on false pretenses, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Harding, 35, allegedly sought Economic Injury Disaster Loans using the names of shuttered businesses. He is further alleged to have obtained falsified bank statements for one of those dormant businesses to obtain more than $150,000 in funds from the SBA.
Harding was charged with two counts of wire fraud, two counts of engaging in monetary transactions with funds derived from unlawful activity and two counts of making false statements to the SBA.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court Wednesday, according to court records. His trial is set for Jan. 11 next year.
If convicted, the maximum prison sentence he faces for the offenses is 20 years for wire fraud, 10 years for money laundering and five years for making false statements, according to the Department of Justice.
ABC News did not immediately receive a response from his attorney to an email seeking comment.
As a state representative, Harding introduced the controversial parental rights and education bill earlier this year. The bill quickly passed the state legislature and was signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in March.
The law bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. It also states that any instruction on those topics cannot occur “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” according to the legislation, HB 1557. Parents could sue their school district if they believe there is a violation.
The bill, which went into effect on July 1, sparked immediate backlash from some LGBTQ people and activists nationwide, who say this legislation misrepresents these identities as inherently sexual, shameful or taboo.
Copycat legislation has since been introduced in other states. A bill recently introduced in Congress that would restrict federal funding from organizations, local governments and schools that include LGBTQ content in events, programs, education and more has been dubbed a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill by LGBTQ activists.
(WASHINGTON) — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff hosted a roundtable at the White House on Wednesday about antisemitism, saying he was compelled to use his “microphone” to address the issue.
“There’s an epidemic of hate facing our country,” he said, kicking off his remarks. “We’re seeing a rapid rise in antisemitic rhetoric and acts.”
“Let me be clear: Words matter,” continued Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president. “People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud. They are literally screaming them.”
The roundtable, which was attended by Jewish leaders, dignitaries and advocates, was organized amid high-profile antisemitic controversies including former president Donald Trump; Kyrie Irving, a star basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets; and Ye, the rapper and designer formerly known as Kanye West.
Police in some parts of the country have also noted increasing violence against Jews.
Last month, Irving shared an antisemitic film on Twitter and later said, after being suspended by his team, “I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech or antisemitism or anything that is going against the human race.” In November, Trump dined at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Ye and Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist. During a subsequent interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on InfoWars, Ye said, “I like Hitler” and later tweeted an image of a swastika combined with the Star of David.
In November, law enforcement alerted the public to threats made against the New York City and New Jersey Jewish communities, which officials later said were mitigated without incident.
Hate crimes also rose 70% last month in New York City compared to the same month a year earlier, led by a surge in antisemitic attacks, which rose 125%, according to the New York Police Department.
During Wednesday’s roundtable, Emhoff described his anguish over antisemitism and urged people to speak out against it.
“I’m in pain right now. We’re all in pain right now. Our community’s in pain,” he said. “It hurts me to see what we’re going through right now. What all people are going through right now. Antisemitism is dangerous. We cannot normalize this. We all have an obligation to condemn these vile acts.”
“We know when people refuse to condemn this vile speech and these vile acts … it only serves to ignite violence, violence among extremists,” he said.
Emhoff said his great-grandparents fled persecution over their Jewish identity in current-day Poland and recalled viewing their names on the ship manifest on Ellis Island and in early census reports.
“Those images, they just live on in my mind,” he said.
Emhoff also vowed to keep using his role to amplify important topics, calling the roundtable only the beginning of the conversation.
“As long as I have this microphone, I’m going to speak out against hate, bigotry, lies,” he said. “I’m going to speak out against those who praise fascist murders and idealize extremists. I’m going to speak out against Holocaust deniers. I’m going to call those out who won’t do it.”
The White House’s top domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, and Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt also spoke during the event.
Rice, who is Black and who grew up in a predominately Jewish neighborhood and attended friends’ Passover Seders, said she has understood what it was like to be hated for who you are, “but there’s nothing more vicious than what we are seeing today — out of the mouths of our leaders, of our public figures, our celebrities, our elected officials.”
Lipstadt said “for too long” people have failed to take antisemitism seriously.
“Jew hatred has been belittled or discounted because Jews have erroneously been considered white and privileged,” she said. “This is a very real threat to Jews, and that alone would make it worth fighting with all our soul and with all our might.”
But antisemitism threatens more people than just Jews, Lipstadt said. It is linked to other forms of prejudice and hate and is “the death knell of democracy. The antisemite believes Jews control the government, the press, the media and therefore democracy is an illusion.”
“I will not remain silent,” Emhoff said. “I’m proud to be Jewish. I’m proud to live openly as a Jew, and I’m not afraid. We cannot live in fear. We refuse to be afraid.”
None of the speakers during the opening part of the roundtable, which was the only part open to press, mentioned Ye, Irving, or Trump by name.
The organizations that participated in the roundtable included the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Jewish on Campus, Religious Action Center and Anti-Defamation League, according to a White House official. The groups spanned across different Jewish denominations and movements.
