Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Senators are hopeful that within days they’ll again approve a bill that would offer millions of veterans expanded health care and disability payments for illnesses induced by exposure to burn pits during their service.

The proposal, known as the Honoring Our PACT Act, has been at the center of heated debate on Capitol Hill after Republicans, in a reversal, last week blocked the legislation following its bipartisan passage in June before a technical change in the House-passed version forced another Senate vote.

Twenty-six Republicans, led by Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey changed their votes the second time around after the bill initially passed 84-14. It won only 55 votes last week, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

In total, the legislation would institute some $280 billion in new spending, over a decade, for veterans’ health.

The dispute — which drew the ire of veterans and activists like comedian Jon Stewart, who derided Republicans’ change of heart as cowardly — is over what Toomey called a Democratic “budget gimmick”: how $400 billion in existing funds already being used for veterans is being accounted.

“My concern about this bill has nothing to do with the purpose of the bill,” Toomey said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote last week.

“What I’m trying to do is change a government accounting methodology that is designed to allow our Democratic colleagues to go on an unrelated $400 billion spending spree that has nothing to do with veterans and won’t be in the veterans space,” Toomey added Sunday on CNN.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he will offer Toomey a vote on an amendment to the bill to address his concerns.

“We offered Toomey — he’s standing in the way — the ability to do an amendment at 60 votes, just like the bill is a 60-vote bill. He insisted, at least in conversations with some others, saying, ‘No, no, no. If you don’t put it in the bill’ — which will kill the bill — ‘I’m not going to be for it,'” Schumer said at a news conference last week.

“I stand by the offer,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday he supported Toomey’s position, arguing in a statement that the PACT Act “could … allow Democrats to effectively spend the same money twice and enable hundreds of billions in new, unrelated spending.”

He told NBC News on Monday that the legislation would “pass this week.”

The congressional back-and-forth has received heightened media coverage after Stewart, a major veterans advocate, held a press conference and gave media interviews that swiftly went viral.

“America’s heroes who fought in our wars outside sweating their assess off with oxygen, battling all kinds of ailments while these motherf—— sit in the air conditioning walled off from any of it,” Stewart said on Thursday, lambasting the GOP blockade. “They don’t have to hear it, they don’t have to see it. They don’t have to understand that these are human beings.”

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Stewart said the winding course of the bill, despite the bipartisan support, was baffling.

“This is so bananas. Nothing changed. So I don’t understand any of this,” he said.

On Monday afternoon, Stewart joined a small group of protesters, many of them veterans, in front of the Senate ahead of planned votes.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., spoke with Stewart about the legislation along with Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott. Blumenthal said he believed but wasn’t certain that the Senate could act on the proposal in about 48 hours.

Burn pits have been used in U.S. military installations outside the country to dispose of waste, and the smoke from those sites has been linked to various respiratory illnesses and even cancer in troops who were exposed.

ABC News’ Gabe Ferris contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced Monday that the U.S. had killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, over the weekend. He hailed the operation as a significant win in the fight against terror groups overseas — including in countries where the U.S. no longer maintains a military presence.

“Justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more. People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer,” Biden said, speaking from the White House where he is isolating with COVID-19.

“The United States continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the American people against those who seek to do us harm,” he said. “We make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”

The president said al-Zawahiri had returned to the Afghan capital to be with family and was killed on Sunday morning local time. Al-Zawahiri was named the leader of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in 2011 and officials believe he was a key part of the group’s international activities for decades.

“He was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11, one of the most responsible for the attacks that killed 2,977 people on American soil. For decades, he was the mastermind behind attacks against Americans,” Biden said. “He carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats and American interests.”

Biden said he hoped al-Zawahiri’s killing could offer a moment of relief for those who had family members killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“We continue to mourn every innocent life that was stolen on 9/11 and honor their memories,” he said. “To the families who lost fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and coworkers on that searing September day, it is my hope that this decisive action will bring one more measure of closure.”

The U.S. drone strike comes after collaboration from various parts of the counterterrorism community, a senior administration official told reporters earlier Monday. A separate source told ABC News the operation was carried out by the CIA.

Biden was first briefed on al-Zawahiri’s whereabouts in April and was ultimately briefed on a proposed operation on July 1, the administration official told reporters. Key Cabinet members and advisers were convened on July 25 to receive a final updated briefing on the intelligence assessment, which the official said continued to strengthen on a daily basis.

“The president received an updated operational report and pressed at a granular level. He asked again about any other options that would reduce collateral or civilian casualties. He wanted to understand more about the layout of rooms [of al-Zawahiri’s safe house in Kabul] behind the door and windows on the third floor of the building,” the official said.

“At the conclusion of the meeting, the president authorized a precise tailored airstrike on the condition that a strike minimize to the greatest extent possible the risk of civilian casualties. This authorization meant that the U.S. government could conduct an airstrike once an opportunity was available,” the official said.

The U.S. is confident through intelligence sources and “multiple streams of intelligence that he was killed “and no other individual,” the official said.

The successful remote strike against al-Zawahiri comes nearly a year after Biden presided over the turbulent U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan following two decades of war. He and his administration insisted then that the cost of involvement wasn’t worth the chaos and that the U.S. would still have the capability to track and eliminate terror threats without forces on the ground.

“We showed that without American forces on the ground in Afghanistan and in harm’s way we remain able to identify and locate even the world’s most wanted terrorists and then take action to remove him from the battlefield,” the senior administration official said Monday.

The exit from Afghanistan, which had been negotiated during the Trump administration, took place against the backdrop of an unexpectedly rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban, the armed group the U.S. had fought after invading in 2001. Biden faced sharp criticism from Republicans and others over his handling of the withdrawal.

Evacuation efforts were also marred by an Islamic State attack at an airport checkpoint in Kabul as the U.S. military and others worked to ferry out civilians. Thirteen U.S. troops and dozens of Afghans were killed.

On Monday, the senior administration official told reporters that al-Zawahiri had been staying in one of Kabul’s most affluent and prominent neighborhoods, near various diplomatic centers and international companies. The official confirmed that the ruling Taliban were aware of his presence in the area, knowledge that could further strain already tenuous relations with Washington.

The official said that the Taliban sought to cover up al-Zawahiri’s presence at his safe house after the strike.

“This is a very important point for us to make clear to the Taliban: that we expect them to abide by the terms of the Doha agreement, and the presence of al-Zawahiri in downtown Kabul is a clear violation of that,” the senior official said, referring to the agreement the Taliban negotiated with President Donald Trump in Doha, Qatar.

“My administration will continue to vigilantly monitor and address threats from al-Qaeda, no matter where they emanate from,” Biden said in his speech from the White House. “The United States did not seek this war against terror, it came to us, and we answered with the same principles and resolve that have shaped us for generation upon generation: to protect [the] innocent, defend liberty, and we keep the light of freedom burning — a beacon for the rest of the entire world.”

ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The White House said Monday that China was seemingly laying the groundwork to carry out “military provocations” in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential visit to Taiwan.

“China appears to be positioning itself to potentially take further steps in the coming days and perhaps over longer time horizons,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

He cast the escalating tensions as fueled by China, which the U.S. was “not threatening,” and he insisted that a potential visit from Pelosi would have precedent and would not “change the status quo” regarding China and Taiwan.

Under the “One China” policy, the U.S. recognizes Beijing as China’s government and does not support an independent Taiwan, considering the matter “unsettled,” though the U.S. is militarily supportive of the self-governing island and maintains informal ties.

“We, and countries around the world, believe escalation serves no one,” Kirby said. “Beijing’s actions could have unintended consequences that only serve to increase tensions.”

“The world should reject any [Chinese] effort to use it to do so,” Kirby said, referring to a possible Pelosi appearance in Taiwan. “We will not take the bait or engage in saber rattling. At the same time, we will not be intimated. We will keep operating in the seas and skies of the western pacific, as we have for decades.”

Pelosi landed in Singapore early Monday local time for a tour of Asia that her office said will also bring her to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. Neither her office nor the White House has confirmed her reported plans to visit Taiwan.

Kirby said that the “potential steps” China may take in response to Pelosi’s possible visit to the island — which China claims as part of its territory — “could include military provocations, such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan, operations that break historical norms such as a large-scale air entry into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone” or “air or naval activities that crossed the median line; military exercises that could be highly publicized.”

He noted that the last time Beijing fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait was in 1995 and 1996.

“Some of these actions would continue concerning trend lines that we’ve seen in recent years,” Kirby said, adding that “some could be of a different scope and scale.”

There could also be measures taken “in the diplomatic and economic space, … like Beijing’s public assertions last month that the Taiwan Strait is not an international waterway.”

Asked what planning was “being done in advance to ensure there won’t be any dangerous fallout if she does indeed go to Taiwan,” Kirby said he could “assure” that Pelosi would be able to “travel safely and securely.”

“We take our security commitments in the region very, very seriously,” Kirby later said on Fox News. “And we have ample capabilities in the region should we need them.”

At Monday’s briefing, Kirby said President Joe Biden had not spoken directly with Pelosi about her trip to Asia. He also took issue with a reporter who asked why Pelosi was “being urged not to go.”

“I don’t know that she was urged not to go,” Kirby said. “Who urged her not to go?”

“The president did not speak directly with the speaker about this trip,” he said.

The reporter clarified she had been asking about Biden saying previously that the military did not think it was a good idea for Pelosi to go to Taiwan.

“The speaker makes her own decisions,” Kirby said. “And what we did was provide her context, analysis, facts [and] information so that she could make the best decision possible for every stop, for every overseas travel.”

“We have been clear from the very beginning that she will make her own decisions and that Congress is an independent branch of government,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The leader of al-Qaeda, one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists, was killed in a drone strike in Kabul over the weekend, ABC News can confirm through sources familiar with the operation.

A source briefed on the operation confirmed that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in the U.S. strike in Afghanistan.

A senior administration official said earlier Monday that the U.S. conducted a successful counterterrorism operation against a “significant” al-Qaeda target in Afghanistan over the weekend, adding that there were no civilian casualties.

The counterterrorism attack took place in Wazir Akbar Khan, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Kabul and literally walking distance to the main diplomatic areas, including the U.S. Embassy.

President Joe Biden is expected to deliver remarks on the operation tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Al-Zawahiri, who was born in Cairo in 1951, trained as a physician before founding the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the FBI said. His organization had sought to overthrow the Egyptian government “through violent means” before merging with al-Qaeda between 1998 and 1999, the U.N. Security Council said.

As Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda deputy, al-Zawahiri helped coordinate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Al-Zawahiri and bin Laden appeared together the day after the attacks in a video, in which an al-Qaeda spokesperson threatened the West, saying a “great army is gathering against you,” U.S. officials said.

The Justice Department named al-Zawahiri and bin Laden as unindicted co-conspirators for their roles in coordinating the attacks.

Both had been indicted in the Southern District of New York in 1999 for the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people the previous year.

After bin Laden’s death in 2011, al-Zawahiri took over as al-Qaeda’s leader, officials said.

The FBI had placed al-Zawahiri, who was sometimes known as “The Doctor” or “The Teacher,” on its list of Most Wanted Terrorists, offering a $25 million reward for his capture.

The strike that killed al-Zawahiri is a major success of U.S. counterterrorism efforts and the result of countless hours of intelligence collection over many years.

This mission shows the tenacity and absolute dedication of U.S. intelligence and military professionals toward pursuing those responsible for the attacks of 9/11.

The message for al-Qaeda and its affiliates should be that the U.S. will never relent in its mission to hold those accountable who would seek to harm America and its people.

ABC News’ Mick Mulroy, Martha Raddatz, Sohel Uddin and Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. conducted a successful counterterrorism operation against a “significant” al-Qaeda target in Afghanistan over the weekend, according to a senior administration official.

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

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden “continues to feel well” and is still in isolation after experiencing a rebound case of COVID-19, according to a letter from White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor on Monday.

O’Connor wrote in a memo released by the White House that Biden tested positive on an antigen test Monday morning, a result he said “could be anticipated.” Biden had previously tested negative Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning before again testing positive on Saturday.

“The President will continue his strict isolation measures as previously described,” O’Connor wrote.

“He will continue to conduct the business of the American people from the Executive Residence,” O’Connor added. “As I have stated previously, the President continues to be very specifically conscientious to protect any of the Executive Residence, White House, Secret Service and other staff whose duties require (albeit socially distanced) proximity to him.”

Biden had first tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21 and ultimately reemerged from isolation last Wednesday after testing negative. However, he had been treated with Paxlovid, an effective coronavirus treatment that at times produces a so-called rebound case after a patient finishes a course of it. High-risk patients still face drastically diminished risks of hospitalization after taking Paxlovid.

The letter did not specify any symptoms Biden is feeling, but the president has been asymptomatic since testing positive again Saturday, according to O’Connor’s past memos. Biden previously had a runny nose, cough, sore throat, a slight fever and body aches after testing positive the first time.

Biden had six close contacts before testing positive for COVID for a second time, though the White House has not announced any positive cases from any of those people.

The rebound case comes after Biden last week gave a speech from the Rose Garden praising vaccines and therapeutics.

“We got through COVID with no fear, I got through it with no fear, a very mild discomfort because of these essential, life-saving tools,” Biden said in the Rose Garden. “You don’t need to be president to get these tools used for your defense.”

Biden’s positive test result has interfered with his travel plans across the country in which he had planned on touting newly passed legislation to invest in production of semiconductors and computer chips. The president has also highlighted a recent agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on a bill to reduce drug prices, combat climate change and close corporate tax loopholes.

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(WASHINGTON) — The first man to stand trial for his role in last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol will be sentenced on Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Guy Wesley Reffitt, 49, of Wylie, Texas, was convicted by a federal jury in March of five felony counts, including obstruction of justice as well as entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a firearm.

Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice have asked that Reffitt be sentenced to 15 years in prison, which would be by far the longest sentence handed down to a Capitol riot defendant. Prosecutors have also — for the first time — asked a federal district court judge to apply a terrorism enhancement, which would effectively define under law that a rioter’s actions amounted to domestic terrorism.

Reffitt is among the more than 850 people who have been charged in connection with the deadly breach of the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, which disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election. Over 200 defendants have already pleaded guilty to a variety of misdemeanors and felony charges, with some being sentenced to years in federal prison.

Reffitt’s attorney, Clinton Broden, asked that his client be sentenced to no more than two years. He said he was shocked by the prosecution’s recommendation, since his client wasn’t accused of entering the Capitol or assaulting any police officers that day.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich isn’t bound by any of the recommendations or the federal sentencing guidelines, which in Reffitt’s case call for a prison sentence ranging from nine years to 11 years and three months.

During the trial, prosecutors sought to cast Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia group, as a ringleader of one of the first waves of the mob that breached the Capitol from the building’s west side.

Videos played in court showed Reffitt climbing a stone banister near where scaffolding had been put up in advance of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, and Reffitt confronting U.S. Capitol Police officers who warned him to back down before they fired less-than-lethal ammunition and pepper spray to stop his advance. Other videos presented in court showed Reffitt gesturing to the crowd behind him in what appeared to be an attempt to get them to move up the stairs toward multiple entryways that lead into the building.

At one point in the trial, prosecutors played first-person footage that Reffitt had recorded with a 360-degree camera mounted on his helmet while in the crowd at the “Save America” rally prior to the attack.

“We’re taking the Capitol before the day is out,” Reffitt says in the video. “Everybody is in the same harmony on that … dragging ’em out kicking and f***ing screaming.”

“I didn’t come here to play games … I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every f***ing stair on the way out,” he says later. “I think we have the numbers to make it happen … without firing a single shot.”

The Justice Department’s case also relied on two key witnesses: Rocky Hardie, a former member of the Texas Three Percenters, who testified against Reffitt in exchange for immunity to cooperate, and Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, who submitted an online tip to the FBI first alerting them to his father’s plans weeks before the riot, ultimately leading to Reffitt’s arrest on Jan. 16, 2021.

During an interview with ABC News from jail last December, Reffitt said he “never expected anything like this to happen.”

“This has been disastrous for me and my family, especially for my girls, my son — actually, all of my family,” Reffitt told ABC News.

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(WASHINGTON) — As Senate Democrats push a major economic, health and environmental proposal, “much of what they’re saying about this bill is just not true,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., contended on Sunday.

“It may be disinflationary by causing a recession,” Cassidy told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “They’re interjecting an incredible amount of uncertainty into the economy. … I think this is going to lead to a worse recession.”

The Inflation Reduction Act was announced Wednesday after months of negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. The bill would pay down about $300 billion from the national debt and invest about $370 billion in energy and climate programs over the next 10 years, the lawmakers said, with revenue raised from increasing corporate taxes and enhancing IRS enforcement.

The legislation would also lower some prescription drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate and expand federal health care subsidies.

On “This Week,” Cassidy took another view of the proposal.

“They are raising taxes. According to [Congress’] Joint Committee on Taxation, taxes will be raised almost $17 billion in the first year on those who are making less than $200,000,” he said, citing an analysis that Democrats say excludes cost-saving measures, like those on prescription drugs. In an earlier interview on “This Week” Sunday, Manchin insisted there is “not a tax increase” in his bill.

Karl noted that just prior to that package’s announcement, legislation to boost domestic production of crucial computer chips passed through the Senate with 17 Republican votes — including Cassidy.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy, who represents Louisiana along with Cassidy, claimed this was a slight on the GOP lawmakers who backed the chip bill thinking Democrats’ spending proposal was dead, telling Politico, “Looks to me like we got rinky-doo’d.”

“Is he right?” Karl pressed. “Did you guys get hood-winked by Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer?”

“Schumer pulled a fast one on the American people,” Cassidy countered.

But he stood by supporting the bill, which spends some $52 billion out of an overall $280 billion to promote semiconductor production, arguing the ability to manufacture the chips domestically is vital for U.S. interests; right now, China is an enormous exporter of the technology.

“This is all about national security,” Cassidy said. “I’m a China hawk. If you’re comfortable with China … this bill, maybe you don’t vote for. If you’re a China hawk like I am, if you’re about national security, by golly you support this bill.”

GOP senators also came under fire from advocates last week after changing course on a bill to help veterans who were exposed to toxic “burn pits” during their service.

Comedian Jon Stewart, who appeared on “This Week” on Sunday in a separate interview, has been strongly lobbying for the bill’s passage, telling Karl that “nothing changed” in the text between votes in June and July — but Republican senators changed their votes.

Karl questioned Cassidy about the switch. Cassidy maintained that it was a temporary, bureaucratic delay and blamed Democrats.

“The bill will pass, and I strongly support it. We have to stand by our veterans who have been exposed to these chemicals. There was a drafting error,” he said. “A $400 billion drafting error that Democrats promised Republicans would get a vote on an amendment to fix.”

He was referring to what conservatives called an effort to free up existing funds already being used for veterans by shuffling the money inside the budget to use for unrelated purposes.

“But, to be clear, you did vote for it in its current form in the Senate,” Karl pressed.

“Yes, and I’ll vote for its final passage, too,” Cassidy said.

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(WASHINGTON) — On ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin again declined to speculate about backing President Joe Biden in 2024 and said he was hopeful fellow Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema will come on board with a deficit reduction, climate and energy bill he negotiated.

Manchin’s new spending deal, brokered with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, would close corporate tax loopholes and levy a 15% corporate minimum tax, invest billions in clean energy and reducing emissions, lower prescription drug costs via Medicare and expand health care subsidies.

In an interview with “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Manchin touted the package’s provisions — which will need to earn the support of all 50 votes in the Democratic caucus given widespread Republican opposition.

A key vote will be Arizona’s Sinema, who has previously opposed closing the so-called carried interest tax loophole. Manchin and Schumer’s bill limits but doesn’t remove that exception.

“Sen. Sinema is my dear friend. I have all the respect for her, she’s extremely bright and works very, very hard. She has an awful lot in this piece of legislation, the way it’s been designed as far as the reduction of Medicare — letting Medicare go ahead and negotiate for lower drug prices,” Manchin said.

“She’s very involved in that and I appreciate that,” he told Karl. “Also, basically, when she said … ‘we’re not going to raise taxes,’ I agree with that.” (Sinema has not yet weighed in on the proposal.)

Karl pressed Manchin on his assessment that the Senate legislation would help lower inflation, noting that a budget model from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania showed the bill would initially — slightly — add to inflation.

“I understand the difference of opinion,” Manchin said. “We’re basically investing in reliable energy, making sure that we use our fossil fuels cleaner than anyplace else in the world. But we’re basically aggressively producing more energy to reduce the prices of gasoline and energy costs at your house and everywhere else. And basically, we’ve invested in new technologies to bring more manufacturing back, such as batteries … So all of this, they’re not factoring any of that in.”

Manchin, one of the Democratic Party’s most conservative lawmakers, has previously declined to answer questions over his potential support for Biden in 2024.

Karl asked for clarity on Manchin’s view, noting it was a “simple question.”

Manchin said he wasn’t “getting involved that.”

“Everybody’s worried about the election. That’s the problem. It’s the 2022 election, 2024 election. I’m not getting involved in that,” Manchin said, adding, “I’m not getting into the 2022 or 2024. Whoever is the president, that’s my president. Joe Biden is my president right now.”

“You can’t even rule out voting for a Republican for president?” Karl asked

“I’m not getting into the 2024 election,” Manchin responded.

His comments come amid continued speculation over whether Biden will run for reelection in two years given political challenges such as stubbornly high inflation, which helped push his approval rating down into the 30s, according to FiveThirtyEight. Democratic voters have said in some recent polls they want another 2024 nominee; Biden says he intends to run if he’s healthy.

Manchin did credit Biden with helping bless the deficit-reduction bill he negotiated with Schumer, D-N.Y.

Manchin also defended working on the bill in secret with Schumer after earlier negotiations faltered several times, with Manchin citing his concerns about the historic inflation.

“I understand all the frustration, and the reason for that, I don’t want them to go through that again. I didn’t know if we could get a deal. I did not know if we can come to an agreement. So why would I put people through this, all this drama? I’ve been through this for eight months. I tried. I kept trying,” Manchin said of the bill, which would pass through the budget reconciliation process requiring only 50 votes in the Senate.

Manchin rebuffed Republican senators who said they felt deceived by the surprise announcement last week that legislative text had been agreed to between Schumer and Manchin, maintaining he had consistently sought to find a deal with the rest of the Democratic caucus.

“They all knew where I was on that,” Manchin said.

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(MESA, Arizona) — Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers may lose his Republican primary for an open state senate seat this week, after he testified to the Jan. 6 committee about the pressure campaign from former President Donald Trump and his associates to undo the presidential election results in the state.

Bowers has drawn the ire of the Arizona GOP, who censured him earlier this month, and of former President Trump. But he’s unapologetic about his congressional testimony and his decision not to overturn the Arizona’s results.

“If we want to base a party and an authority and move people to solve problems, you can’t base it on a lie. Ultimately, that falls apart,” he told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl in an exclusive interview at his home in Mesa, Arizona.

Bowers faces Trump-endorsed candidate David Fansworth in an Aug. 2 primary that makes Bowers the first Republican to face voters after testifying before the Jan. 6 committee.

“I’ve had people walk up and say, you know, just cold turkey, ‘I’m ashamed of you,'” he told Karl.

Bowers says he’s also been called a “traitor” and has been told that “the price of treason is hanging.”

In his June testimony, Bowers detailed several conversations with former President Trump and his then-personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, asking him to replace Arizona’s electors with ones who would say Trump won the 2020 election.

Biden won Arizona in 2020 by almost 11,000 votes.

“Did you ever consider going along with it?” Karl asked Bowers.

“I said, this is new to me. The idea of throwing out the election of the president is like, okay, so what part of Jupiter do I get to land on and colonize?” Bowers said.

Giuliani “never” provided any evidence to back up claims that thousands of dead people voted in Arizona, Bowers said.

“You asked [Giuliani] for evidence of fraud?” asked Karl.

“Over and over, and he said, ‘yes, yes.’ And he never gave us anything. No names, no data, nothing.”

Bowers, who is term-limited in the state house, previously said it would take a “miracle” for him to win his bid for state senate. He told Karl “the demographics of my race are heavily Trump.”

In an unusual move for a state legislature race, former President Trump has campaigned against Bowers in Arizona.

“Rusty Bowers, he’s a RINO [‘Republican in name only’] coward who participated against the Republican party in the totally partisan unselect committee of political thugs and hacks the other day, and disgraced himself, and he disgraced the state of Arizona,” he told a crowd in Prescott Valley, Arizona, on July 22.

In response, Bowers told Karl, “I have thought at times, someone born how he was, raised how he was — he has no idea what a hard life is, and what people have to go through in the real world. He has no idea what courage is, and the last place on Earth that I would want to do evil would be the state of Arizona.”

A fifth-generation Arizonan, Bowers has held state public office for 17 years. Bowers has, like other Republicans who have broken with the former President, faced harassment and threats.

“How do you explain the hold that he has, though, on, on Republicans, including a lot of Republican leaders right here in Arizona?” Karl asked Bowers.

“Well, those leaders in Arizona are an interesting group in and of themselves. They rule by thuggery and intimidation,” Bower said. “So, you know, they, they found a niche, they found a way and it’s fear. And people can use fear, demagogues like to use fears as a weapon. And they weaponize everything. That’s not leadership to me to use thuggery.”

After his testimony, Bowers faced criticism for telling a reporter that he would vote for Pres. Trump in 2024. He told Karl that’s absolutely not the case.

“So, just to clarify, you’re not supporting Trump again?” Karl asked.

“I’m not,” said Bowers. “My vote will never tarnish his name on a ballot.”

“You’re never again gonna vote for Donald Trump?” Karl reiterated.

“I’ll never vote for him,” Bowers replied. “But I won’t have to, because I think America’s tired. And there’s absolutely forceful, qualified, morally, defensible, and upright people. And that’s what I want. That’s what I want in my party. And that’s what I want to see.”

When asked if former President Trump could ever be trusted in a position of authority again, Bowers said, “I would certainly hope not. I certainly don’t trust that authority that he would exercise.”

Bowers echoed the words of Jan. 6 House committee vice chair, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot.

“Liz also said that ‘the reality that we face today as Republicans is we have to choose to be loyal to Donald Trump, or to be loyal to the Constitution.’ And you can’t be both,” Karl said.

“I don’t see a question at all there. No question. The Constitution was designed to last and be the light of freedom to the whole world. That’s not a legacy that I would want to play with,” said Bowers.

Bowers also told Karl he hasn’t been contacted by the Justice Department, which is conducting its own investigation into the Capitol attack, but would cooperate if asked to do so.

“I have nothing to hide and I want to tell the truth,” he said.

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