Politics

(NEW YORK) — An updated count of in-person votes in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary still shows Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams maintaining a close lead, but it also shows a razor-thin margin between former consul to Mayor Bill de Blasio Maya Wiley and former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia in the penultimate round of voting.

The New York City Board of Elections released an updated unofficial count of ranked choice votes on Wednesday afternoon, after candidates and officials sharply criticized the BOE for counting over 130,000 test votes in an initial release of vote tallies for the city’s ranked-choice Democratic mayoral primary.

Wednesday’s count showed Eric Adams holding 31.8% of the vote in the first round, with Maya Wiley following with 22.2% and Kathryn Garcia third with 19.3%.

But by the eighth round, with all of the other candidates eliminated and their votes allotted to others, Garcia led Wiley by only 347 votes.

“While we remain confident in our path to victory, we are taking nothing for granted and encourage everyone to patiently wait for over 124,000 absentee ballots to be counted,” Garcia said in a statement on Wednesday night.

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— Kathryn Garcia (@KGforNYC) June 30, 2021

As of Wednesday evening, the BOE has received over 125,000 absentee ballots, none of which are included in the unofficial count.

“Yesterday’s ranked choice voting reporting error was unacceptable and we apologize to the voters and to the campaigns for the confusion,” the BOE said in a statement released alongside the updated figures.

The Board of Elections removed the initial results from its website late Tuesday, and tweeted a statement around 10:30 p.m. ET that admitted to including test votes in the released figures.

“When the cast vote records were extracted for the first pull of RCV results, it included both test and election night results, producing approximately 135,000 additional errors,” the BOE said. It committed to removing the test votes and accurately recounting.

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— NYC Board of Elections (@BOENYC) June 30, 2021

Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner said on Tuesday that “a mistake by a low-level junior staffer” caused the miscount.

After the Board of Elections’ admission, Adams struck a conciliatory tone.

“We appreciate the Board’s transparency and acknowledgement of their error,” Adams said in a statement late Tuesday. “We look forward to the release of an accurate, updated simulation, and the timely conclusion of this critical process.”

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— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) June 30, 2021

He had initially questioned the results, with Wiley going further in criticizing the board.

“This error by the Board of Elections is not just [the] failure to count votes properly today, it is the result of generations of failures that have gone unaddressed,” Wiley said in a statement on Tuesday night. “We have once again seen the mismanagement that has resulted in a lack of confidence in results … because those who implement [election laws] have failed too many times.”

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— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) June 30, 2021

Garcia called the count error “deeply troubling” and said it “requires a much more transparent and complete explanation.”

“I am confident that every candidate will accept the final results and support whomever the voters have elected,” she said in a statement on Tuesday night.

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— Kathryn Garcia (@KGforNYC) June 30, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Wednesday morning that what happened is “indicative of the fact the Board of Elections is broken, structurally broken. I don’t know how many times we are going to have this conversation. We can no longer have a partisan Board of Elections.”

Representatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties sit on the Board.

Lerner called for reforming the Board as well, adding: “The system is designed for the 19th century, and we need to bring it into the 21st century.”

“It’s like a rookie mistake,” Rob Richie, president and CEO of FairVote, a nonpartisan organization advocating for voting reforms, said in an interview with ABC News. “Every voting equipment process has to be tested, and it’s a very elementary part of it, which is you clear the data after you do your tests.”

The Board of Elections has faced scrutiny before for election errors. Last September, it erroneously mailed at least 100,000 absentee ballots with incorrect names and addresses.

Richie said that ranked-choice voting itself, which New Yorkers experienced for the first time in the primary, is not to blame, and next time the BOE could possibly run daily vote tallies and accept additional support from developers of the tabulation software.

“I think a lot of people would have expected it to be lucky to get turnout [like] what we got eight years ago, when Bill de Blasio ran,” Richie said. “Well, it’s much bigger than that, right? It’s like more than 25% more votes.”

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Averi Harper contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Trump’s namesake company expects to face criminal charges by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as soon as Thursday, sources told ABC News.

The Trump Organization and its longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, are expected to face charges of tax fraud, the sources said. The charges would be the first brought by prosecutors following their two-year investigation of the former president and his company.

A Trump Organization spokesperson declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The expected charges, which have not been publicly disclosed, are believed to involve fringe benefits given to employees, including Weisselberg, the sources said. Investigators, who fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court for access to the former president’s personal and business tax returns, have been examining whether the company and Weisselberg properly accounted for those forms of compensation, said sources.

ABC News has previously reported that prosecutors zeroed in on the perks after Weisselberg’s daughter-in-law Jennifer revealed the existence of a rent-free apartment used by her estranged husband, Weisselberg’s son Barry.

Attorneys for the former president’s company were told to expect charges last week by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s staff, the sources said.

“In my more than 50 years of practice, never before have I seen the District Attorney’s Office target a company over employee compensation or fringe benefits,” Ronald Fishchetti, an attorney for former President Trump, told ABC News in a statement last week, adding the case in his view is “completely outrageous.”

Trump himself is not expected to be part of these criminal charges. He has denied all wrongdoing and has dismissed the investigation as being politically motivated, calling it “a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The House approved a resolution Wednesday that would green-light the creation of a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The resolution required a majority vote in the House for the committee to be formed and it passed along party lines.

The final vote was 222-190.

Republicans have blasted the select committee as too partisan. Even those few Republicans who ultimately decided to impeach the former president earlier this year for his role in inciting the insurrection opted to oppose the select committee in Wednesday’s vote.

GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, both Trump critics, were the only two Republicans to vote in favor of the select committee with all Democrats.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will appoint members and announce a chair for the committee at a later time.

Members of the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department were sitting in the Speaker’s box in the House Gallery to watch the vote at Pelosi’s invitation.

After Cheney voted yes, she was spotted paying them a visit and giving several officers a hug, including the family of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.

Pelosi introduced the resolution earlier in the week, which states the committee will include 13 members. Eight of those members will be selected by Pelosi, while the five others will be selected by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, in consultation with Pelosi.

An aide to the House speaker signaled that she could name a Republican among her eight appointments to the committee.

Pelosi could select either Cheney or Kinzinger to be on the committee as part of her eight appointees, and both have expressed an openness to it.

“January 6th was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history. It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure such an attack cannot again happen. The Select Committee will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the attack and report recommendations for preventing any future assault,” Pelosi said in a statement.

The select committee comes after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of a bipartisan, independent commission last month.

“Senate Republicans did Mitch McConnell a ‘personal favor’ rather than their patriotic duty and voted against the bipartisan commission negotiated by Democrats and Republicans. But Democrats are determined to find the truth,” Pelosi said Monday in her statement.

The select committee will be run by House Democrats and it will have subpoena power.

“I’m hopeful that both the speaker and the minority leader appoint people who are honest, sincere in their effort to get at the facts, underlying why Jan. 6 happened, who was responsible for Jan. 6 happening and what can we do to prevent a Jan. 6 insurrection from happening again,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday. “All of those facts are necessary for the Congress, but much, much more importantly, necessary for the American people to understand and have knowledge of.”

A chair to run the committee has not yet been announced, but Pelosi told reporters last week that further details would be released soon.

McCarthy, for his part, has said a select committee is not necessary and has bashed it as a politically motivated, partisan act by Democrats.

He has also not indicated who he would appoint to the committee.

McCarthy could be called to testify about a phone call he made to former President Donald Trump on the day of the insurrection. He has yet to fully recount that phone call in a public setting, but he has said he would be willing to testify if asked.

“I have no problem talking to anybody about it,” McCarthy said last week. “I don’t know what the conversations that day would matter as that’s going on.”

House Democratic Chair Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Tuesday he expects McCarthy will be asked to testify before the committee.

“It’s my expectation that whoever winds up chairing the select committee will pursue all available angles in terms of individuals that will be called before the committee to testify and I think that Leader McCarthy has indicated that he’s willing to testify and share the contents of that conversation,” Jeffries said.

Under the resolution text, the select committee does not have a deadline for producing a report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Americans can now choose which gender is displayed on their passports, no longer needing medical certification if their preference contradicts supporting documents such as birth certificates, the State Department announced Wednesday.

“Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department will be taking further steps toward ensuring the fair treatment of LGBTQI+ U.S. citizens, regardless of their gender or sex, by beginning the process of updating our procedures for the issuance of U.S. Passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBA),” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

While the most immediate change will be allowing applicants to self-identify as either “M” or “F,” the two current options on forms, the department is working to add a third gender marker for “non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons,” applying for passports or CRBAs. That step will take more time.

Today we are taking important steps toward ensuring the fair treatment of LGBTQI+ U.S. citizens. https://t.co/tfNnTUQmsp

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 30, 2021

“The process of adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons to these documents is technologically complex and will take time for extensive systems updates,” Blinken said.

The State Department “cannot provide an exact timeline” for when the new gender marker might be available, according to its website.

President Joe Biden promised these changes during his 2020 campaign. “Transgender and non-binary people without identification documents that accurately reflect their gender identity are often exposed to harassment and violence and denied employment, housing, critical public benefits, and even the right to vote,” his website said.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, praised the move.

“Having accurate passports and consistent ID is critical to daily life,” Heng-Lehtinen said in a statement. “It’s necessary for travel, banking, starting a new job and school. Inaccurate IDs open transgender people up to harassment and discrimination. Reforming US passports is a common-sense way to improve the lives of transgender people.”

The new State Department policy takes cues from other countries, according to Blinken.

“In line with the Administration’s commitment to re-engage with allies and partners, the Department is taking these steps after considerable consultation with like-minded governments who have undertaken similar changes,” Blinken said.

The secretary, who last week had the “Progress” flag raised outside his department’s building in Washington, D.C., said he would let engagement with the LGBTQI+ community “inform our approach and positions moving forward.”

“With this action, I express our enduring commitment to the LGBTQI+ community today and moving forward,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — In the midst of a historic heatwave creating prime conditions for a historic wildfire season, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he plans to raise the federal firefighter pay to at least $15 an hour and offer new retention incentives amid turnover, as the White House seeks to boost its wildfire preparedness.

“Because of climate change, wildland firefighting is no longer a seasonal endeavor,” said a fact sheet from the White House.

Biden discussed the plans on Wednesday while meeting virtually with governors from Western states, Cabinet officials and partners from the private sector to discuss wildfire preparedness.

He began by invoking the devastating images from last year.

“We’re remembering the horrific scenes from last year. Orange skies that looked like End of Days, smoke and ash that made the air dangerous to breathe, more than 10 million acres burned, billions of dollars in economic damage, families that lost their homes and everything they own. And too many, too many lost lives,” Biden said.

And with that stark remembrance, Biden noted that this year is already threatening to be worse and argued that climate change shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

“And this year, we — they could be even tougher based on the weather patterns. You know, California and some other places, the drought conditions are twice … what they were last year.”

He noted that there are more than 9,000 firefighters already deployed across the Western U.S., and it’s only June.

The president also addressed head-on those who are dealing with historic highs this week, calling for people to take care of one another.

“I want to note that the extreme heat we’re seeing in the west is not only a risk amplifier for wildfires, it’s a threat in and of itself. People are hurting. It’s more dangerous for kids to play outside. Roads are buckling under the heat. Again, I need not tell all of you: We need people to check on their neighbors especially seniors who may need a helping hand,” he said.

The meeting and policy move came after Biden expressed his dismay at the federal wage while visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency last week.

“I just realized — I didn’t realize this, I have to admit – that federal firefighters get paid $13 an hour. That’s going to end in my administration. That’s a ridiculously low salary to pay federal firefighters,” he said at the time.

The sentiment was echoed by an administration official previewing Biden’s plan on a call Tuesday night.

The official said that, for this year, federal firefighters’ pay raise will come in the form of “provisional bonuses” and that permanent firefighters working on the front lines will receive up to a 10% retention incentive. Temporary workers can also qualify to receive some incentive pay.

The administration also plans to extend seasonal hiring of firefighters, hire more firefighters and add surge capacity by training more federal employees and military service members to be prepared to support wildfire fighting efforts.

“The goal here this year, because we have had a very short runway in getting prepared, has been to find ways to address what we learned, which is that there is this challenge with respect to both recruitment and retention of firefighters that we need across the nation,” the official said.

The Biden White House is also announcing a series of actions to help fight fires and improve how the government responds in the short and long term.

“We’re going to work on additional measures with Congress to move beyond these short-term solutions to address, longer-term needs with respect to compensation and benefits, and work life balance reforms for federal wildlife, land, firefighters,” the official added.

As of last Wednesday, there were at least 50 large wildfires burning more than half a million acres across 11 states — mostly in the West.

Since 2015, the U.S. has had roughly 100 more large wildfires every year than the year before, according to the White House, and the 2021 wildfire season is already outpacing the last.

The White House is also making new preparations for major impacts to power grids, increasing aviation capacity to respond to fires and developing new technologies, including satellites, to improve early detection of fires along with apps, maps and resources so Americans can access information from their phones.

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