Politics

(ATLANTA) — With less than 10 months until the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden headed to Georgia on Tuesday to make his biggest push yet for national voting rights bills and called for changes to the Senate filibuster rule in order to get them passed.

“We have no option but to change the Senate rules including getting rid of the filibuster for this,” Biden said.

Recalling the “violent mob” that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Biden characterized the attack, for the first time publicly, as an “attempted coup.”

“That’s why we’re here today to stand against the forces in America that value power over principle, forces that attempted a coup — a coup against the legally expressed will of the American people by sowing doubt and vending charges of fraud, seeking to steal the 2020 election from the people,” he said.

“Hear me plainly,” Biden told the group gathered in Atlanta. “The battle for the soul of America is not over.”

“We must make sure Jan. 6 marks not the end of democracy but the renaissance for our democracy,” he continued.

The president called out congressional Republicans, he said, for turning the will of the voters into a “mere suggestion” in the case of the 2020 presidential election.

Biden spoke Tuesday alongside Vice President Kamala Harris from the grounds of Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College.

“We will fight to secure our most fundamental freedom — the freedom to vote,” Harris said, opening for the president. “And that is why we have come to Atlanta today — to the cradle of the Civil Rights movement, to the district that was represented by the great Congressman John Lewis, on the eve of the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Harris blasted Senate Republicans over what she characterized as exploiting “acane” Senate rules — in an apparent nod to the filibuster — to block Democrats’ election reform bills.

“We will fight to safeguard our democracy,” she added.

To that end, Biden announced he supported changing the Senate rules surrounding the filibuster in “whichever way they need to be changed to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights.”

Echoing his impassioned address on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection when he blamed former President Donald Trump and his supporters for holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy,” Biden’s remarks in Atlanta were expected to be a “forceful” call to action to protect voting rights.

“The president will forcefully advocate for protecting the most bedrock American rights: the right to vote and have your voice counted in a free, fair and secure election that is not tainted … by partisan manipulation,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed in her press briefing Tuesday.

“He’ll make clear in the former district of the late Congressman John Lewis, that the only way to do that are (sic) for the Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.”

In excerpts of the speech released Tuesday morning, the White House said Biden would pressure the Senate to act.

“The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation. Will we choose democracy over autocracy, light over shadow, justice over injustice?” he was expected to say. “I know where I stand. I will not yield. I will not flinch. I will defend your right to vote and our democracy against all enemies foreign and domestic. And so the question is where will the institution of United States Senate stand?”

As he left the White House Tuesday morning, Biden told reporters asking about the political risk he’s taking given the Senate uncertainty, “I risk not saying what I believe. That’s what I risk. This is one of those defining moments. It really is. People are gonna be judged – where were they before and where were they after the vote. History is going to judge us, it’s that consequential. And so the risk is making sure people understand just how important this is just so important.”

Georgia is one of 19 states that have passed new restrictive voting laws since the 2020 election. There have been 34 such new laws in total across the country, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, and most of them in states controlled by Republicans.

Many of the new laws, fueled by false claims of widespread election fraud by the former president, take aim at mail-in voting, implement stricter voter ID requirements, allow fewer early voting days and limit ballot drop boxes.

The Brennan Center calculates that 13 more restrictive laws are in the works, including one in Georgia that would ban the use of ballot boxes altogether.

But Tuesday’s trip has been met with criticism from some voting groups that warned in a statement to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal that “anything less” than a finalized plan to pass voting rights in the House and Senate is insufficient and unwelcome.”

On Monday afternoon, The Asian American Advocacy Fund, Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council, Black Voters Matter Fund, GALEO Impact Fund and New Georgia Project Action Fund all said they won’t be attending the event and asked Biden and Harris to stay in Washington.

“We don’t need another speech,” said Cliff Albright, executive director of the Black Voters Matter Fund. “What we need is action – what we need is a plan.”

Notably, also not attending Biden’s speech is Stacey Abrams, the Georgia voting rights activist.

Biden said he spoke with her Tuesday morning and blamed it on a scheduling issue.

“I spoke with Stacey this morning. We have a great relationship. We got our scheduling mixed up. I talked to her at length this morning. We’re all on the same page and everything is fine.”

Biden’s speech will be the third he has delivered focused on the issue of voting rights. It comes after the president signaled in an interview with ABC “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir that he would be open to making a one-time Senate rule change to the filibuster that would allow a simple majority to pass new voting laws.

Psaki said the president would also directly address the issue of the filibuster.

“The president has spoken to this issue a number of times, as I’ve said before, including as recently as December where he said that, ‘if that is how we get this done, I’m open to that,'” Psaki said.

The president’s message, according to Psaki, will include a call to “ensure January 6 doesn’t mark the end of democracy, but the beginning of a renaissance for our democracy, where we stand up for the right to vote and have that vote counted fairly, not undermined by partisans.”

In her briefing, Psaki pushed back on criticism of the president, stressing that the speech Tuesday is focused on moving forward.

“We understand the frustration by many advocates that this is not passed into law yet. He would love to have signed this into law himself. But tomorrow’s an opportunity to speak about what the path forward looks like to advocate for – for this moving forward in the Senate.”

While Biden has signaled his openness to passing voting rights with a carveout to the filibuster, he would still need the support of all 50 Democratic senators to do so — which could prove challenging with holdout Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

“Look, I think that everyone is going to have to take a hard look at where they want to be at this moment in history as we’re looking at efforts across the country to to prevent people from being able to exercise their fundamental rights,” Psaki said when asked about Sinema’s opposition.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised a vote on voting rights legislation soon and warned that if Republicans filibuster the effort, he will force another vote by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The White House has insisted Biden will “work in lockstep” with Schumer to move a vote forward but are taking it “day by day.”

Republicans, meanwhile, oppose the proposed federal voting laws as what they deem a government overreach. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Democrats are promoting a “fake narrative,” “fake outrage” and “fake hysteria” on voting rights “ginned up by partisans.”

Harris was tasked in June by the president to lead the administration’s efforts on voting rights reforms. Psaki said the vice president has worked to “help build a groundswell of support” and has been meeting with a number of advocates on the issue.

ABC News’ Meg Cunningham contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Senators from both sides of the aisle grilled top health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, on the latest COVID-19 guidance during a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee hearing Tuesday.

Democrats and Republicans both demanded better communication on rules for testing, isolation and quarantine.

“I’m not questioning the science… but I’m questioning your communication strategies. It’s no wonder that the American people are confused,” Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, who is also the ranking HELP Republican, said.

Committee chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: “I have heard from so many people who find the latest CDC isolation and quarantine guidance confusing and hard to interpret.”

Murray pressed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to provide not just “background” but a “straightforward” answer.

“If they are exposed to COVID-19 and they are completely boosted, they should — they do not need to stay home, but they should get a test at day five,” Walensky responded.

“If they have COVID, our guidance does not distinguish between your vaccination status. And our science has demonstrated that you’re maximally infectious two days before and two-to-three days after,” Walensky continued.

“By five days after your symptoms, if you’re feeling better, if your fever is better, if your cough and sore throat are better, then on day six you can go out,” Walensky said. “But you have to wear a mask — you have to wear a mask reliably and you should not go to places you can’t wear a mask. You probably shouldn’t go and visit grandma, you shouldn’t get on an airplane.”

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah asked for clarity on the latest definition of exposure.

“When you say what people have been exposed, please let us know what it means to be exposed. We’re in a room right now — I’m sure someone here has omicron. Are we all exposed? And therefore, need to get tested? What does it mean to be exposed? And when do we need to get tested?” Romney asked.

Fauci reiterated that the CDC guideline for exposure is if you are in close contact with someone with COVID-19 for “a period of 15 minutes at a time, or a total of 15 minutes over a 24-hour period.”

CDC guidance is to test on day five if you are exposed.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., brought up the scarce availability of N95 masks.

“Americans still can’t go to a local pharmacy and purchase an American-made N95,” Baldwin said. “So President [Joe] Biden has now personally urged Americans to upgrade the quality of the masks they wear — I want to know when the American people will be able to buy an American-made N95 mask?”

Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee that the Biden administration plans to sign a contract with a supplier by next month to get 140 million N95 masks per month.

Some 737 million N95 masks are in the national stockpile that could be provided to hospitals that need them, and those masks come from a dozen domestic suppliers, she said.

O’Connell said the plan is to reach an agreement with a company to create “warm-based manufacturing,” meaning the factory would be able to expand in times of high demand.

“We are very invested in N95 masks being made available. And we’ll continue to look — and I appreciate your support in getting us the American rescue plan dollars that we’re currently investing — and we’ll continue to look at the right ways to invest,” she said.

This hearing also featured another contentious exchange between Fauci and Republican Sen. Rand Paul.

Paul asked Fauci about his email correspondence and accused Fauci of trying to “attack scientists who disagree with you.”

Fauci responded, “you keep distorting the truth.”

“I brought together a group of people to look at every possibility with an open mind … you’re completely turning it around,” Fauci said.

Fauci said the purpose of the committee is to help the American public, but he said Paul instead chooses to “keep coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance.”

Fauci said Paul’s attacks are “for political reasons” and inspire “the crazies out there.”

Dr. Fauci, in another contentious exchange with Sen. Rand Paul, says Paul’s attacks against him “kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children.”

“You are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain.” pic.twitter.com/kdcjne1Gyf

— ABC News (@ABC) January 11, 2022

Fauci referenced the December arrest of a California man who, at a traffic stop, was allegedly found with an AR-15 style rifle, loaded magazines, boxes of ammunition and body armor. Prosecutors said the driver downloaded TikTok videos, compiling a list of people he allegedly wanted to kill, including Fauci and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Fauci and Paul have butted heads repeatedly. At a hearing in July 2021, Paul and Fauci got in a shouting match over COVID-19’s origins.

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — When U.S. Army veteran Brian Snow drove 12 hours from his home in Indiana to Washington for then-President Donald Trump’s rally on the Ellipse Jan. 6 — amid chants of “stop the steal” — he came prepared for a fight. Clad in body armor, the father or four feared he could be attacked just for attending the event.

Still, he said, he felt called to be there.

“The president asked for people to come himself. So, you know, that’s what we do,” Snow said on that day a year ago, standing just outside the White House grounds.

But as that protest escalated into an insurrection, it was Trump’s supporters who turned to violence, brutally overtaking security forces to breach the U.S. Capitol and temporarily derailing the certification of the 2020 election.

Among those rioters were dozens of former members of the armed forces, as well as a handful of current service members sworn to protect the country and the Constitution. Roughly 70 of the 800 people who faced criminal charges in the wake of the attack had a military background.

While Snow calls violence against police officers “appalling” and did not storm the Capitol himself, he says he understands the motivation driving the military men and women who did. Because despite the more than 60 unsuccessful lawsuits filed by the former president and his allies, thorough reviews across six critical swing states, and zero documented evidence of widespread voter fraud, he still insists the election was “tainted.”

“If you feel like liberty is being trampled on, then you have a responsibility,” Snow said.

To the Pentagon, the elevated number of military-trained rioters motivated by these false claims is not coincidental, but a sign of extremism in the ranks–an enduring, nocuous problem thrown under a new spotlight by the events of Jan. 6th and one in urgent need of attention.

In the weeks following the attack, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an unprecedented stand down across the armed services to address extremism. And in the final weeks of 2021, the Pentagon issued a new definition of prohibited extremist activities intended to identify radicalized service members and updated guidelines on social media, warning that “liking” or reposting extremist content could result in disciplinary action.

“The new definition preserves a service members right of expression to the extent possible, while also balancing the need for good order and discipline to affect military combat and unit readiness,” said John Kirby, the Pentagon’s top spokesman.

Additionally, military recruiters are now required to ask candidates about any connections they may have to extremist groups, and service members transitioning to civilian life are warned that they might be approached by these organizations.

While the impact of these measures remain to be see, many — like David Smith, a former Navy medic who served in Afghanistan — fear that without further action, the issue will only intensify.

“I think when we talk about extremism, we should actually like focus in on what the actual extremism is, which is white nationalism,” Smith said. “The military doesn’t want to have to actively address it.”

Smith happened to be passing out hand-warmers to homeless people near the Capitol on Jan. 6, and witnessed some of the rioters’ brutality firsthand.

“It was gut-wrenching,” Smith said, noting especially his fellow veterans among the mob. “To see them storming the building and to do so as if they had the authority to do so — it goes against everything and we swore an oath to protect.”

Smith is the founder of Continue to Serve, a grassroots organization dedicated to engaging former members of the military in lawful activism and community service centered on social justice issues. But he says many veterans are still vulnerable to being swayed by extremists.

“When we talk about veterans and their willingness to serve, they have an undying patriotism. And when politicians can manipulate that, that’s going to give them a lot of power,” Smith said.

Inaction, he predicts, will invite history to repeat itself.

“We’ve got to ensure that we’re creating mechanisms so that when people are getting out of the military, they actually have a place to go,” he said. “And they’re not falling into these groups where they are being indoctrinated and they’re being radicalized and they’re, they’re doing what they did on January 6th.”

Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(ATLANTA) — With less than 10 months until the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden heads to Georgia on Tuesday to make his biggest push yet for national voting rights bills and is expected to call for changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules in order to get them passed.

Echoing his impassioned address on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection when he blamed former President Donald Trump and his supporters for holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy,” Biden’s remarks in Atlanta are expected to be a “forceful” call to action to protect voting rights.

“The president will forcefully advocate for protecting the most bedrock American rights: the right to vote and have your voice counted in a free, fair and secure election that is not tainted … by partisan manipulation,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed in her press briefing Tuesday.

“He’ll make clear in the former district of the late Congressman John Lewis, that the only way to do that are (sic) for the Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.”

In excerpts of the speech released Tuesday morning, the White House said Biden will pressure the Senate to act.

“The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation. Will we choose democracy over autocracy, light over shadow, justice over injustice?” he was expected to say. “I know where I stand. I will not yield. I will not flinch. I will defend your right to vote and our democracy against all enemies foreign and domestic. And so the question is where will the institution of United States Senate stand?”

Georgia is one of 19 states that have passed new restrictive voting laws since the 2020 election.

There have been 34 such new laws in total accross the country, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, and most of them in states controlled by Republicans.

Many of the new laws, fueled by false claims of widespread election fraud by the former president, take aim at mail-in voting, implement stricter voter ID requirements, allow fewer early voting days and limit ballot drop boxes.

The Brennan Center calculates that 13 more restrictive laws are in the works, including one in Georgia that would ban the use of ballot boxes altogether.

Biden will be speaking alongside Vice President Kamala Harris from the grounds of Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College, but the trip has been met with criticism from some voting groups that warned in a statement to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal that “anything less” than a finalized plan to pass voting rights in the House and Senate is insufficient and unwelcome.”

On Monday afternoon, The Asian American Advocacy Fund, Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council, Black Voters Matter Fund, GALEO Impact Fund and New Georgia Project Action Fund all said they won’t be attending the event and asked Biden and Harris to stay in Washington.

“We don’t need another speech,” said Cliff Albright, executive director of the Black Voters Matter Fund. “What we need is action — what we need is a plan.”

Biden’s speech will be the third he has delivered focused on the issue of voting rights. It comes after the president signaled in an interview with ABC “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir that he would be open to making a one-time Senate rule change to the filibuster that would allow a simple majority to pass new voting laws.

Psaki said the president would directly address the issue of the filibuster.

“The President has spoken to this issue a number of times, as I’ve said before, including as recently as December where he said that, ‘if that is how we get this done, I’m open to that,'” Psaki said.

The president’s message, according to Psaki, will include a call to “ensure January 6 doesn’t mark the end of democracy, but the beginning of a renaissance for our democracy, where we stand up for the right to vote and have that vote counted fairly, not undermined by partisans.”

In her briefing, Psaki pushed back on criticism of the president, stressing that the speech Tuesday is focused on moving forward.

“We understand the frustration by many advocates that this is not passed into law yet. He would love to have signed this into law himself. But tomorrow’s an opportunity to speak about what the path forward looks like to advocate for — for this moving forward in the Senate.”

While Biden has signaled his openness to passing voting rights with a carveout to the filibuster, he would still need the support of all 50 Democratic senators to do so — which could prove challenging with holdout Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

“Look, I think that everyone is going to have to take a hard look at where they want to be at this moment in history as we’re looking at efforts across the country to prevent people from being able to exercise their fundamental rights,” Psaki said when asked about Sinema’s opposition.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised a vote on voting rights legislation soon and warned that if Republicans filibuster the effort, he will force another vote by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The White House insists Biden will “work in lockstep” with Schumer to move a vote forward but are taking it “day by day.”

Republicans oppose the proposed federal voting laws as a government overreach, and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has said Democrats are promoting a “fake narrative,” “fake outrage” and “fake hysteria” on voting rights “ginned up by partisans.”

Harris was tasked in June by the president to lead the administration’s efforts on voting rights reforms. Psaki said the vice president has worked to “help build a groundswell of support” and has been meeting with a number of advocates on the issue.

ABC News’ Meg Cunningham contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — More than a year after the 2020 presidential election, the GOP is still covering numerous legal bills for the benefit of former President Donald Trump — and the price tag is ruffling the feathers of some longtime GOP donors who are now critical of Trump.

In October and November alone, the Republican National Committee spent nearly $720,000 of its donor money on paying law firms representing Trump in various legal challenges, including criminal investigations into his businesses in New York, according to campaign finance records.

Trump’s legal bills have sent the Republican Party’s total legal expenditures soaring in recent months, resulting in $3 million spent just between September and November. In contrast, the Democratic National Committee has been gradually winding down its legal expenses over the last few months.

Traditionally, national political parties have at times covered presidents and their advisers’ legal fees in matters related to their presidential campaigns. And throughout his presidency, the Republican Party has footed legal bills for Trump, his family members and his political allies, going back to the days of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election, through the impeachment proceedings following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But experts say the GOP’s recent payments of Trump’s attorney fees after he left the White House, for investigations that are not relevant to the next presidential campaign, is a very unusual move that’s indicative of the ongoing influence that the former president has over the party.

“Campaign finance law does not strictly prohibit a national party committee from paying for private legal expenses, but it is very rare for a party committee to use donor money in that way,” said Brendan Fischer, federal reforms director at nonpartisan government ethics group Campaign Legal Center.

“And it is entirely unprecedented for a national party committee to cover a former president’s private legal bills, especially when those legal expenses arise out of an investigation into activity that preceded Trump’s time in the White House, and when Trump is sitting on millions of his own PAC funds,” Fischer said.

RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn told ABC News that the RNC’s executive committee approved paying for “certain legal expenses that related to politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump,” while declining to comment on which specific cases are being paid for.

“As a leader of our party, defending President Trump and his record of achievement is critical to the GOP,” Vaughn said. “It is entirely appropriate for the RNC to continue assisting in fighting back against the Democrats’ never ending witch hunt and attacks on him.”

The RNC has so far paid three law firms on behalf of Trump, paying $328,000 to NechelesLaw LLP, $200,000 to van der Veen, Hartshorn and Levin, and $172,000 to Fischetti & Malgieri LLP, according to its recent disclosure filings. The Washington Post reported that the RNC has agreed to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump’s legal bills.

Fischetti & Malgieri represents Trump in the parallel investigations by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York state Attorney General Letitia James into the business practices of Trump’s eponymous company. Vance and James have said their investigations are not politically motivated.

Susan Necheles of NechelesLaw reportedly joined the legal team representing Trump and the Trump Organization last summer. Michael van der Veen was part of Trump’s defense team during the impeachment proceedings after Jan. 6.

The law firm payments haven’t sat well with some Trump critics within the GOP.

“It is very disheartening to see RNC donors funding Trump’s legal bills,” former Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., told ABC News.

Rooney, who is among several Republican lawmakers who announced their retirement after clashing with pro-Trump forces within the GOP, was previously a U.S. ambassador to the Holy See under the Bush administration and a generous donor to the Republican Party, giving upwards of $1 million to various GOP candidates and groups over the years.

“I used to support the RNC quite a bit, especially when Reince Priebus was there,” Rooney said. “But I don’t see myself doing it right now because they keep giving money to Trump.”

Many Republicans are “exhausted and bothered by” Trump allies’ continued election challenges, Rooney said, “because all it’s doing is giving a lot of grist to people who want to oppose the Republican Party, at least the one that I used to know.”

“We’re getting tarred with this big lie and this claim of election fraud, and that is damaging our most important institution in our country — belief in elections,” Rooney said.

The RNC’s financial support of Trump’s legal bills also complicates the party’s vow to remain neutral ahead of nominating process for the 2024 presidential election. “The party has to stay neutral. I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024,” RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel said last January. She has since reaffirmed that Trump “still leads the party.”

Financial support notwithstanding, the GOP and Trump have not always had a smooth relationship over the past year. In the final days of Trump’s presidency, Trump told McDaniel he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party, only to back down after McDaniel threatened to stop paying Trump’s legal bills for his post-election challenges, according to a book by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Both Trump and McDaniel have denied the story.

Not long after that, Trump and the party again clashed over the use of Trump’s name in fundraising appeals, with the GOP eventually reaching an agreement to use his name.

In addition to covering many of Trump’s legal bills, the RNC has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting lawsuits across the country “to ensure the integrity of our elections,” said RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez.

Gearing up for the 2022 election cycle, the RNC has been building an aggressive nationwide “election integrity program,” engaging in election-related lawsuits in states like Georgia, Florida, Arizona and Texas, stationing state-directors in battleground states, engaging hundreds of attorneys at the state level and training thousands of poll watchers.

The party is engaged in 30 such “election integrity” lawsuits, Alvarez said, with financial disclosures showing payments of $500,000 to the law firm of Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, more than $260,000 to McGuireWoods, and $243,000 to Consovoy McCarthy PLLC.

Even with all the legal expenditures, the RNC has continued to build a huge war chest over the past year. Backed by megadonors that include Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and casino mogul Steve Wynn, the RNC ended November with more than $65 million in cash on hand.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — As the omicron coronavirus variant sweeps the nation, the Biden administration on Friday will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to greenlight sweeping vaccination requirements for health workers and employees of large private businesses in an urgent push to slow the spread of the virus.

The justices will hear oral arguments in a pair of highly-expedited cases that could determine whether millions of doctors, nurses and health facility staff must be vaccinated to stay on the job, and whether thousands of employers must soon implement vaccine-or-testing programs for their workforces.

More than 205 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but tens of millions of others who are eligible have not received their first shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rules are being challenged by separate coalitions of Republican-led states, industry trade groups, and religious organizations, which have accused the administration of an “unprecedented” and illegal power grab and infringement on individual rights.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which issued an emergency order in November requiring vaccinations of workers at facilities funded by Medicare and Medicaid, says the requirement “will save hundreds or even thousands of lives each month.”

“The Secretary found that unvaccinated staff at healthcare facilities pose a serious threat to the health and safety of patients because the virus that causes COVID-19 is highly transmissible and dangerous,” HHS writes in court documents.

The nation is now averaging nearly 1,200 new deaths from the virus each day, up by about 10% in the last seven days but a notably lower rate than a year ago, according to CDC. Nearly 828,000 Americans have now been lost since the pandemic began.

Two federal appeals courts have upheld the health worker vaccine mandate citing federal law that allows HHS to impose conditions on facilities that receive federal funds; a third, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, put the policy on hold.

“There’s something called the power of the purse. If we see a hospital, or a nursing home [that] … has some pathogen flying around that they’re not dealing with. We have the ability to say, ‘no, you can’t allow a Medicare beneficiary to go there because they’ll get sick or they’ll risk getting sick,'” said Andy Slavitt, former acting administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration.

“We have to have those standards, and if you don’t have those standards, think about the absurdity of being having been forced to spend taxpayer money to send people to unsafe situations,” Slavitt said.

Twenty-two states already mandate COVID vaccinations for health care workers; 6 states explicitly ban them, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.

Ten GOP-led states challenging the HHS mandate warn of “disastrous consequences” for health systems in rural areas with potential for widespread job losses over workers refusing to get the shot. “That’s quite the opposite of promoting patients’ ‘health and safety,’” they write in court documents.

The government argues vaccination will alleviate staff shortages by making it less likely health care workers contract the virus and get sidelined to recover.

In a separate case, the justices will also review an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule requiring private American businesses with 100 or more employees verify vaccinations or conduct weekly testing to ensure workplace safety starting next month.

“Unvaccinated employees face a ‘grave danger’ from workplace exposure,” the agency tells the court, quoting from the federal law it says authorizes the mandate. “The standard will save over 6,500 worker lives and prevent over 250,000 hospitalizations over the course of six month.”

The U.S. continues to average more new cases per day than at any other point in the pandemic, federal data shows.

Opponents call the requirement hastily-conceived and an “historically unprecedented administrative command” not authorized by Congress. They also warn of “irreparable harm” to businesses still recovering from the pandemic.

“Small business owners depend on the freedom to make decisions for their businesses and are managing several challenges right now such as the labor shortage supply chain disruptions,” said Karen Harned, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business legal center, which is challenging the rule. “This mandate will only exacerbate those issues and make it harder for small business owners. OSHA does not have the emergency authority to regulate American workers under such a mandate.”

They also argue that COVID-19 is not unique to the workplace or a “grave danger,” despite more than 828,000 deaths attributed to the virus in the U.S.

“Why those are certainly tragic numbers is that a lot of that is preventable,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “They’re some of the safest vaccines, and most studied vaccines that we have today, and they’re highly effective.”

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in December upheld the OSHA rule as lawful. The Biden administration says employers must enforce masking among unvaccinated employees starting Jan. 10; proof of vaccination or testing compliance begins Feb. 9.

No state currently has a vaccination-or-test rule for private employers, but 18 states have set the policy for state employees, according to NASHP.

Americans remain divided on the vaccine-or-test policy for employers and mandate for health workers at Medicare or Medicaid facilities. Six in 10 said they support the administration’s rules in a CNN poll last month, a finding that mirrors a Gallup survey earlier in the fall.

The conservative-majority Supreme Court has rendered mixed decisions on contested government COVID policies over the past year. In August, a majority of justices effectively struck down the CDC’s eviction moratorium as exceeding agency authority; they also repeatedly ruled against state public health restrictions on religious gatherings and capacity limits at churches.

But the high court has also shown deference to state and federal officials trying to respond to the pandemic, rebuffing a challenge to New York State’s vaccination mandate for health workers and denying student and parent appeals of school and university vaccination or testing requirements.

The cases before the court Friday are technically emergency applications for immediate — but temporary — relief, not final judgements on the merits of the mandates, which are still being litigated in lower courts.

A decision from the justices is expected in days or weeks, rather than months, given the expedited nature of the case and the ongoing public health emergency.

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris was inside the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan, 6, 2021, when a pipe bomb was found outside the building, a White House official confirms to ABC News.

She was then evacuated.

The news was first reported by Politico.

“On that day I was not only vice president elect, I was also a United States Senator. And I was here at the Capitol that morning, at a classified hearing with fellow members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Hours later, the gates of the Capitol were breached,” Harris said in remarks Thursday morning. “I had left, but my thoughts immediately turned, not only to my colleagues, but to my staff, who had been forced to seek refuge in our office, converting filing cabinets into barricades.”

Both the DNC pipe bomb and another placed outside the Republican National Committee were discovered after the vote counting had started — at 1p.m.

It’s still a mystery to federal officials who planted them.

The FBI has done over 900 interviews on the case alone, they have collected 39,000 video files and 400 tips regarding the identity of the suspect. The FBI and ATF are offering a reward of $100,000.

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(WASHINGTON) — House investigators looking into the siege of the U.S. Capitol a year ago have contacted a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers militia, seeking to interview him about his time with the militia group and its founder, Stewart Rhodes, according to the former Oath Keeper, Jason Van Tatenove, and a congressional source familiar with the matter.

The request to interview Van Tatenhove, who says he left the Oath Keepers by 2018, suggests that House investigators are casting a wide net as they gather information about Rhodes as they wait to see if he will cooperate with their probe.

Van Tatenhove told ABC News that he plans to answer the panel’s questions, but he is first seeking legal counsel.

According to congressional sources, House investigators have been discussing Van Tatenhove for much of the day, after ABC News featured him in its new documentary “Homegrown: Standoff to Rebellion,” now on Hulu, and in a story online about his ongoing efforts to “atone” and “make amends” for his time with the Oath Keepers.

Investigators issued a subpoena to Rhodes two months ago, seeking testimony and documents from him, but Rhodes has yet to appear before them or provide documents.

“Prior to January 6th, Mr. Rhodes repeatedly suggested the Oath Keepers should engage in violence to ensure their preferred election outcome,” the committee said in a statement when issuing the subpoena. “On January 6th, Mr. Rhodes was allegedly in contact with several of the indicted Oath Keepers members before, during, and after the Capitol attack, including meeting some of them outside the Capitol.”

Rhodes, however, has said he wasn’t on Capitol grounds until after the violence began, and there’s no evidence he entered the Capitol building. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Nevertheless, according to an ABC News count, more than 20 people charged in the federal investigation of the Jan. 6 riots have alleged ties to the Oath Keepers.

The chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., recently told ABC News that in order to “put the pieces of the puzzle together,” an upcoming hearing will explore the role of the Oath Keepers and other far-right organizations on Jan. 6.

Now an artist and writer in Colorado, Van Tatenhove served as a spokesman for the Oath Keepers between 2014 and 2018. He published stories and posted videos online that promoted claims of federal government overreach and highlighted Oath Keepers’ efforts to intervene in politically-charged matters around the country.

However he now describes much of what he promoted as dangerous “propaganda” that can create violent confrontations.

“And I think we saw the culmination of that come Jan. 6, when the Capitol riots happened,” he said.

Van Tatenhove left the group after it took what he said was “a very hard right turn,” associating with white nationalists and Holocaust deniers at the start of Donald Trump’s presidency.

“I became a propagandist for what they were doing. I feel awful about that now,” Van Tatenhove said.

Rhodes has insisted over the years that his organization is nonpartisan and that it only seeks to help people ensure their rights are protected.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — One year after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin reflected on the whirlwind period between the death of his 25-year-old son and the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump following the attack.

Raskin’s son, Tommy Raskin, died by suicide on New Year’s Eve 2020. The day after his son was buried, Raskin was on Capitol Hill when supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol.

“The day after we buried Tommy in a small family COVID-19 graveside service, we had the violent insurrection at the Capitol and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election by Donald Trump,” said Raskin, who wrote about the experience in his new book, “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy.”

Soon after, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Raskin to be the lead impeachment manager in Trump’s impeachment trial.

“Speaker Pelosi asked me to be the lead impeachment manager over in the Senate for the trial, and I describe in the book, how to me that was throwing me a lifeline because I felt like I was drowning and that I might not ever do anything again,” said Raskin.

Raskin told ABC News Live that he felt compelled to take the role in honor of his late son.

“I felt like I had an obligation to do it, that Tommy would be completely with me the whole way,” said Raskin. “And this was a chance to try to stand up and articulate, not just my love, but our family’s love, of our Constitution and our freedom and our democracy and the idea of human rights — the opposite of everything that was on display on Jan. 6.”

Raskin is also a member of the Jan. 6 House select committee and is tasked with investigating the cause and who was behind the Jan. 6 insurrection, among other things.

After a year of gathering evidence and conducting voluntary interviews, he said he’s confident the committee will be able to produce results and prevent another attack in the future.

“We are getting the evidence we need in order to tell a comprehensive and fine-grained portrait about what took place and how it happened and what we need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Raskin.

Unfortunately, Raskin believes that Jan. 6 wasn’t the end of something, but rather the beginning. He said he’s concerned about what political scientists call a “self-coup” on American democracy.

“Donald Trump decided to try to seize the presidency, and so there was a riot surrounding an insurrection, surrounding a coup against Vice President [Mike] Pence, who on that day was a great constitutional patriot and refused to bow down to Donald Trump,” said Raskin. “The apparatus of insurrection is in place every day in lots of states across the country to try to guarantee the victory of Donald Trump if and when he comes back again in 2024.”

Also, a year since his son’s death, Raskin has become a vocal advocate for mental health. He said his son had long struggled with depression and that his son had left a note before he died that read: “Please forgive me. My illness won today.”

“[Tommy] was overcome with this disease, and it’s no less of a disease than cancer or leukemia,” said Raskin. “Depression kills, and so we need to get people into treatment and get people the best medical treatment possible and then to continue to talk and to listen to people.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Thursday marks one year since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Democrats plan to observe the anniversary with somber tributes at the building that’s the symbol of American democracy.

The events in Washington will include a moment of silence, a panel discussion with historians, first-hand testimonies from lawmakers and a prayer vigil on the Capitol steps.

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are scheduled to make remarks at the Capitol where the White House says the president will address the “singular responsibility” former President Donald Trump had “for the chaos and carnage” witnessed and commemorate law enforcement officers who protected the lives of lawmakers last year. No Republican leaders are expected to attend the ceremonies.

ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of Thursday’s events at the Capitol and examine the continuing fallout for American democracy one year since the Jan. 6 siege.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jan 06, 10:34 am
Biden explains why he didn’t call Trump out by name in speech

After his strongest speech to date laying blame at Trump for violence at the Capitol, reporters pressed Biden on his way out of the building why he did not mention the former president by name, and he argued that he didn’t want to make it into a “contemporary political battle” between the two of them.

“I think we just have to face the facts of what happened. Draw a clear picture for the American people. It’s not about me, it’s not about the vice president, it really isn’t. That’s the thing that bothers me the most about the attitude that seems emerging in some degree in American politics,” Biden said. “It’s about the system, and somebody who decides to put himself above everything. And, so, I did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president. It’s way beyond that.”

A reporter followed up, “Does calling him out divide more than it heals, though?”

“No no, look. The way you have to heal — you have to recognize the extent of the wound. You can’t pretend. This is serious stuff. And a lot of people — understandably — want to go — you know, ‘I’d just as soon not face it.’ You’ve got to face it. That’s what great nations do. They face the truth, deal with it, and move on,” Biden said.

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Sarah Kolinovsky

Jan 06, 10:26 am
Biden lays out 3 ‘big lies’ from Trump, vows to stand for truth

Laying out the three “big lies” he said the former president has tried to sell around the 2020 election — that the election was stolen, the results couldn’t be trusted, and that those who stormed the Capitol a year ago were patriots — Biden tore into Trump as a loser in denial in his remarks.

“So at this moment, we must decide what kind of nation are we going to be? Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth, but of the shadow of lies?” he said. “The way forward is to recognize the truth, and to live by it.”

Asking Americans to recall the scenes from last year, Biden described in detail the attacks on law enforcement, the gallows erected to “Hang Mike Pence” and chants to harm Pelosi, before turning to President Trump’s inaction.

“What did we not see? We didn’t see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in the private dining room off the oval office in the White House watching it all on television. And doing nothing. For hours. As police were assaulted. Lives at risk. The nation’s capital under siege,” Biden lamented.

“I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today. But I will not shrink from it either. I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation,” he said. “And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy.”

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Justin Gomez

Jan 06, 10:24 am
Biden rejects Trump’s characterization of mob as ‘patriots’

In front of the presidential seal, flanked by two American flags, inside the Capitol’s Statuary Hall — a rare place for a president to speak but from where pro-Trump rioters stormed last year — Biden directly blamed Trump for last year’s violence and rejected the former president’s characterization of the mob as “patriots.”

“Is that what you thought when you looked at the mob ransacking the Capitol, destroying property — literally defecating in the hallways — rifling through the desks of senators and representatives, hunting down members of Congress? Patriots? Not in my view,” he said in a firm tone.

“To me, the true patriots were the more than 150 Americans who peacefully expressed their vote at the ballot box,” Biden continued.

“The former president — who lies about this election — and the mob that attacked this Capitol could not be further away from the core American values. They want to rule or they will ruin — ruin what our country fought for at Lexington and Concord, at Gettysburg and Omaha Beach, Seneca Falls, Selma, Alabama,” he said, invoking ideals of American democracy.

Rejecting Trump’s election lies one by one, Biden repeated that despite the former president building his false case over months that there is “zero proof the election results are inaccurate.”

Jan 06, 9:52 am
Biden calls Trump plot to overturn the election a ‘dagger at the throat of America’

Without mentioning Trump by name, Biden blamed him over and over again for the violence that erupted at the Capitol last year and the serious danger his “web of lies” poses to the country.

“Those who stormed this Capitol, and those who instigated and incited, and those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy,” Biden said about Trump and his allies.

Biden hinted at how plotting to try to take the election from him — and more so, the will of American voters — began well in advance of Jan. 6 as Trump sewed doubt in the election with his supporters as it neared.

“They didn’t come here out of patriotism or principle. They came here in rage — not in service at American rather and service of one man. Those who incited the mob — the real plotters — were desperate to deny the certification of this election,” Biden said.

“The former president and his supporters have decided the only way for them to win is to suppress your vote and subvert our elections, it’s wrong, it’s undemocratic and frankly, it’s unAmerican,” Biden said, appearing to speak both directly about Trump, leaning into the camera, and to the American people.

He said Americans “cannot allow ourselves” to be a kind of nation that stands for lies and by a former president that has violently rejected a peaceful transfer of power.

Jan 06, 9:33 am
Biden slams Trump for spreading ‘web of lies’ around election loss

In his most forceful remarks yet against Trump, Biden called out the former president — without using his name — for weaving what he called a “web of lies” around the 2020 election and attacking American democracy as no other leader has before.

“We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie,” Biden said. “And here’s the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle — because he sees his own interest is more important than his country’s interest and America’s interest — because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.”

“He can’t accept he lost,” Biden said. “He can’t accept he lost even though that’s what 93 United States senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials and every battleground state, all said, he lost.”

Establishing Trump as a “defeated former president — by a margin of 7 million votes in a free and fair election,” Biden defended his win against Trump and his supporters by laying out the facts of the election.

Jan 06, 9:21 am
Harris ties ‘fragility of democracy’ to push for voting rights legislation

A somber Vice President Kamala Harris, in remarks ahead of Biden, said what the “extremists who roamed these halls targeted” last year when was not only an attack on the lives of elected leaders and the 2020 election.

“What they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is. What they were assaulting. were the institution’s the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend,” she said.

The vice president, who was at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6 last year, reflected on what she called “the dual nature of democracy: its fragility and its strength.”

“The strength of democracy is the rule of law,” she said. “And the fragility of democracy is this. That if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand. It will falter and fail.”

She ended her remarks with a call to pass Democrats voting rights bills in the Senate as restrictive voting laws are enacted across the country.

“But we, the American people, must also do something more. We cannot sit on the sidelines. We must unite in defense of our democracy,” she said.

Jan 06, 9:16 am
Biden arrives at the Capitol

Arriving on Capitol Hill, reporters asked the president ahead of his remarks how he was feeling heading into the day.

The president, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, appeared to respond, “Praying that we will never have a day like we had a year ago today.”

Notably, he did not respond when asked if he held Trump personally responsible for the attack.

The three walked towards Statuary Hall, which rioters stormed through one year ago.

Jan 06, 9:02 am
Excerpts from Biden’s prepared remarks on Jan. 6

To mark one year since a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed through the Capitol — including Statuary Hall where Biden will soon speak — and attempted to breach the House chamber in an attempt to undo the 2020 election, in his remarks this morning, Biden will say that Americans are facing a moment when “we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be.”

“Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?” Biden will say according to speech excerpts released by the White House.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it,” the excerpt read.

While Biden is not expected to mention the former president by name, the White House said he will lay out the “singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw.”

Upon Biden’s arrival to the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer greeted him. The pair flanked the president as they walked towards Statuary Hall.

Jan 06, 8:46 am
Fortified fencing, massive force, not part of anniversary scene

Armored military vehicles, concertina wire atop non-scalable fencing and the massive show of force that fortified Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the violent attack on democracy last Jan. 6 are not defining Thursday’s anniversary.

The security posture in Washington, by comparison, appears fairly ordinary. The temporary fencing that ringed the Capitol for more than six months, and again briefly for a September demonstration has not returned, though that could change quickly if conditions warrant, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in a recent interview.

In a briefing Tuesday, Manger said his office was aware of several events planned for the day but that “most of them aren’t of much concern to us.”

“There’s no intelligence that indicates that there would be any problems,” he said.

Jan 06, 8:30 am
By the numbers: DOJ investigates Jan. 6

At least 704 accused rioters have been charged by the Department of Justice, according to an ABC News count. At least 172 have pleaded guilty to their changes.

The FBI is still seeking 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, according to the DOJ, including over 250 who assaulted police officers.

Click here for more.

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin, Alexander Mallin and Will Steakin

Jan 06, 8:06 am
Capitol Police union praises officers’ ‘dedication and commitment’

The union representing United States Capitol Police officers praised the “dedication and commitment” of those who protected the Capitol building one year ago.

“Today, we recognize the dedication and commitment to mission of the men and women who put their own lives and safety on the line to defend the U.S. Capitol,” Gus Papathanasiou, chair of the union, said in a statement Thursday. “We especially pay tribute to Officer Sicknick who died after being injured during the rioting, and to Officer Liebengood who tragically took his own life after the attack.”

According to Papathanasiou, 80 Capitol Police officers sustained injuries that day, with some so serious they are still not back at work. He said members of the force remain “committed to our mission,” but that comes with an increase in officers as well as improved intelligence and communications between officers and leadership.

Papathanasiou noted that the legacy of Jan. 6 — from a policing perspective — should be a police force that is better prepared, with an eye toward readiness if an attack of such scale ever occurred again.

“Going forward, this Union will work with the Department to ensure those sacrifices will not be in vain,” he added. “We must ensure that the events of January 6th are never repeated.”

-ABC News’ Luke Barr

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