(WASHINGTON) — Rhode Island’s Democratic Gov. Dan McKee is projected to win his primary, ABC News reports, fending off a slate of challengers that kept the primary close until Tuesday.
With 98% of the expected vote in, McKee had 33% of the ballots as of late Tuesday, followed by former CVS Health executive Helena Foulkes with 30%. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea trailed in third with 26% of the vote.
McKee was appointed to his seat last year after his predecessor, Gina Raimondo, was tapped to be commerce secretary in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet. McKee will now face the GOP candidate, health care executive Ashley Kalus, in the general election, though he will be the favorite in the deep blue state.
Polls had shown McKee, Foulkes and Gorbea in a tight race heading into the primary. However, with his victory, all 28 incumbent governors seeking reelection this year won their primaries — the first time there’s been a clean sweep since 2010.
During his short tenure, McKee had suffered from low approval ratings and a federal investigation into his administration’s awarding of a multimillion-dollar contract to a firm connected to an ally. He denied wrongdoing.
(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors requested on Thursday a stay, attempting to block Judge Aileen Cannon’s prior ruling preventing the FBI and Department of Justice from continuing its review of classified documents in connection with its criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of documents seized at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Prosecutors said there was risk of “irreparable harm” to national security and the ongoing investigation if the stay was not granted.
Trump’s legal team responded on Monday, saying that appointing a special master to review the documents is a “sensible preliminary step toward restoring order from chaos,” and urged Cannon to reject the request for a stay.
In order to break down recent developments, ABC News Live Prime spoke with Florida state attorney Dave Aronberg.
PRIME: Dave Aronberg, a state attorney in Palm Beach County, thank you so much for joining us. The Justice Department was fairly aggressive in taking on the arguments in Judge Cannon’s prior ruling. How effective of a case do you think that the DOJ made in calling for a stay that would let them keep reviewing the classified records at the heart of this case?
ARONBERG:I think it was their only choice because if they don’t get this partial stay, then it jeopardizes our national security because what Judge Cannon did was really inconsistent. She said, ‘Hey, FBI and DOJ, you cannot use and review those documents you seize from Mar-a-Lago while the special master review is pending. But at the same time, intelligence community, you can continue with your review to make sure these documents didn’t damage national security by the fact that they’re being kept in a Palm Beach social club.’
It doesn’t make sense because the FBI is part of the intelligence community review of those documents. I mean, the CIA is not a domestic law enforcement agency. The intelligence community depends on the FBI. So I think what the DOJ is doing on this motion is to give the judge a way out, a chance to redeem herself before she gets overturned on appeal.
PRIME:Do you think she will redeem herself?
ARONBERG: I think she will. If you saw her comment recently, it was, ‘hey, Trump’s attorneys, what do you make of this motion?’ It seemed like she was sort of hedging her bets by saying, ‘can you speak to the fact that the DOJ is asking for a partial stay?’
And remember, this is just to allow DOJ to review the 100-plus classified documents, not all the documents, just the 100-plus documents that are classified so, of course, they’re not subject to attorney-client privilege because they’re the government’s documents. They involve national security. It’s not communications between Trump and his own personal lawyer and executive privilege doesn’t apply here.
So I think that the judge is starting to get some buyer’s remorse of her original decision, and I think she’s going to step away from it just a little bit and grant this motion.
PRIME:And just to kind of follow that a little further, they cited the risk of potential, irreparable harm to national security and the ongoing investigation if they can’t continue reviewing the documents and say that Trump has no claim to them. Is the judge likely to be swayed by that argument, given her prior ruling allowing for a special master?
ARONBERG: I hope so, because it’s a really powerful argument. I mean, you’ve got to be able to review these documents, especially now that we’ve heard they involve nuclear secrets. I mean, how do you tell the government ‘put it on hold, don’t review them, don’t use them in any way, and we’ll have the special master that can go on and on and on?’
I mean, there are lives at risk. You have human intelligence sources that have their lives at risk because this information could be floating out there. And so, yeah, I think the argument is definitely on DOJ’s side. The problem is you’ve got a judge in Judge Cannon who has shown that she’s willing to go Donald Trump’s way, the person who appointed her to the bench, the person who sought her out at a courthouse 68 miles from here in West Palm Beach, over in Fort Pierce, where she’s the only judge assigned to that courthouse.
They wanted her on this case because they knew she was a Trump appointee and they thought she would do their bidding. And so far, hey, their faith in her has been rewarded.
PRIME:Palm Beach County state attorney Dave Aronberg. We thank you so much.
(WASHINGTON) — Less than two months before the midterm elections, Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday introduced a bill that would impose a nationwide ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The measure, the first GOP effort to ban abortion at the national level since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, contains exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or when a mother’s life is in danger, but otherwise would restrict abortions after the point when Graham, citing medical research, claimed a fetus’ nerves develop enough to feel pain.
“Our legislation, which bans abortion after 15 weeks gestation, will put the United States abortion policy in line with other developed nations such as France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and other European nations,” Graham said.
Graham and leaders of various anti-abortion and women’s organizations have repeatedly argued that, without a federal abortion ban, the U.S. would be like North Korea, China, Iran and Syria, which he said allow “abortion on demand.”
But it is far from clear whether Graham has much support from his fellow Republicans, who appeared deeply divided Tuesday over whether to enact federal abortion restrictions.
Even if the GOP were to regain control of the Senate in November, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, said he didn’t know if Republicans would proceed with a floor vote on Graham’s measure.
Graham’s legislation would require 60 votes to advance in the Senate, leaving the South Carolina conservative well short of the necessary support for passage in the current chamber. A companion bill was introduced in the House by GOP Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey.
Senate Republicans in recent months have blocked multiple Democratic attempts to codify a right to an abortion and protect doctors who perform the procedure.
“I hope we get to debate on it and vote on it,” Graham said at Tuesday’s press conference, surrounded by anti-abortion rights advocates. “They (Democrats) had the chance to vote on their bill. I’m asking for a chance to vote on my bill.”
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who previously opened the door to a possible national abortion ban, appeared to shut down chances of a vote on Graham’s legislation.
“I think most of the members of my conference prefer this be dealt with at the state level,” said McConnell, R-Ky.
The move by Graham, on a day when Republicans had hoped to focus on poor inflation numbers, put some of his colleagues in a awkward political position.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told reporters he would rather stress issues other than abortion.
“I, for one, want to focus on the inflation numbers that came out today, the imminent potential strike with (freight) railway workers. That’s what people are talking about,” said Tillis.
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of the party’s most vulnerable incumbents who supported Mississippi’s desire to ban most abortions in the Dobbs v. Jackson case the Supreme Court decided in June, indicated he would not support federal intervention.
“At this point in time, nothing is going to pass Congress. It’s got to be decided in the states. I think that is the appropriate place for this to be decided,” Johnson told ABC News on Tuesday.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas signed on to that idea, too, telling ABC News, “My preference is to have each state handle those issues.” Cornyn previously supported a 20-week federal ban on most abortions that Graham introduced in 2020, but he said Tuesday that that was before the Supreme Court overturned Roe, sending the issue back to the states.
At least 15 states have ceased nearly all abortion services since June, ABC News reports.
The new proposal from Graham also marks a departure from recent comments where he, too, said abortion was an issue best left to the states, tweeting in May, “If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which I believe was one of the largest power grabs in the history of the Court, it means that every state will decide if abortion is legal and on what terms.”
On Tuesday, Graham defended his change in position, saying, “After they (Democrats) introduced a bill to define who they are, I thought it would be nice to introduce a bill to define who we (Republicans) are.”
Some anti-abortion rights advocates said, while they support Graham’s proposal, they think it doesn’t go far enough.
Democrats, buoyed by a newly-energized base and surprise election victories on the heels of the Dobbs decision, instantly seized on the Graham legislation as evidence Republicans are pushing what Democrats say are radical policies that will curb Americans’ rights from abortion to gay marriage and beyond, an argument that their candidates are making on the campaign trail.
“Proposals like the one today send a clear message from MAGA Republicans to women across the country: your body, our choice,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “Republicans are twisting themselves in a pretzel trying to explain their position on abortion.”
One of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the upcoming midterms, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada tweeted, “I will block any efforts in the Senate to advance a nationwide abortion ban — full stop. We don’t need any more male politicians telling women what we can and can’t do with our own bodies.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed Graham’s proposal, saying it is “wildly out of step with what Americans believe.”
“While President Biden and Vice President Harris are focused on the historic passage of the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, health care, and energy – and to take unprecedented action to address climate change – Republicans in Congress are focused on taking rights away from millions of women. The President and Vice President are fighting for progress, while Republicans are fighting to take us back,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement, echoing the midterm messaging from Biden in recent weeks.
“After all the posturing and all the obfuscating, here we have it. The true Republican position in black and white for everyone to see,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington State, who is leading her campaign for reelection on this issue, said.
Recent polling suggests that abortion rights enjoy broad support among the public, including an Ipsos poll from August that found most Americans would vote to protect abortion access at the state level.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Kenneth Starr, the polarizing former independent counsel who led a highly publicized investigation of then-President Bill Clinton, has died at the age of 76, according to his family.
He died at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston of complications from surgery, his family said.
The high-powered Washington lawyer, who also served as U.S. solicitor general and a federal judge during a decadeslong career in government, played a pivotal role in the investigation of the so-called Whitewater scandal that engulfed the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s and eventually led to the first impeachment of a president in more than a century.
Starr’s self-titled report on the probe included salacious details about Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, and accused the then-president of lying about his affair during a deposition — cementing Starr’s legacy as one of the most significant and controversial legal figures in American history.
“Half the country loved him. The other half loathed him,” Ken Gormley, the author of “The Death of American Virtue,” about the struggle between Starr and Clinton, recently told The New York Times.
Raised in small-town East Texas, Starr was described as a “chubby little fellow” and straight-A student in one Washington Post profile from 1998. Starr earned a law degree from Duke University before clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in the mid-1970s. After a stint in private practice, Starr joined the Justice Department at the beginning of the Reagan administration.
President Ronald Reagan appointed Starr to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1983 and he remained on the bench until 1989, when President George H.W. Bush appointed him U.S. solicitor general.
By the early 1990s, Starr was considered a rising star in the Republican Party. His name was floated as a prospective replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice William Brennan in 1990. Starr also briefly flirted with a run for U.S. Senate in Virginia.
In 1994, however, Starr agreed to inherit a fledgling investigation into real estate investments made by the newly minted president and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Arkansas, where President Clinton had previously been governor.
Under the existing independent counsel statute, Starr was granted sweeping powers to investigate the Clintons and their associates, both in and out of government. Starr’s growing investigation eventually uncovered details of a White House affair Clinton had with Lewinsky.
The lewd nature of the Lewinsky affair, Starr’s ubiquitous interactions with the press, and Clinton’s own efforts to obscure his actions made global headlines on a near-daily basis in the late 1990s. The media coverage of the scandal made Starr a household name.
Starr’s findings ultimately led to the impeachment of Clinton in the House of Representatives. Clinton was later acquitted in the Senate.
Beyond the political implications and damage to Clinton’s reputation, the probe forever changed the public perception of Starr — and also of Lewinsky. The two never met in person during the investigation. But 20 years after its conclusion, Lewinsky recently recounted, the two met in person, by accident, at a New York City restaurant.
“I found myself shaking his hand even as I struggled to decipher the warmth he evinced,” Lewinsky wrote in Vanity Fair in 2018. “This was the man who had turned my 24-year-old life into a living hell.”
For his part, former President Clinton has since called Starr’s investigative methods an “abuse of power” that “crushed innocents.”
After his investigation concluded, Starr returned to private practice and took on a series of roles in academia. In 2004, he became dean of Pepperdine Law School. In 2010, Starr took over as president of Baylor University in his native Texas and, in 2013, became the school’s chancellor as well. Starr resigned in 2016 over accusations that he mishandled sexual assault complaints among students during his tenure.
Starr reentered the political fray in 2020 when he agreed to join outgoing President Donald Trump’s legal defense team for his second impeachment trial in Congress. At the Senate trial, Starr spoke on Trump’s behalf — invoking his own role in the Clinton impeachment trial more than two decades earlier. Trump was ultimately acquitted.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is hosting a celebration of the Inflation Reduction Act at the White House on Tuesday, highlighting a big political win for him and congressional Democrats eight weeks before midterm elections.
The health care, climate and tax law passed Congress earlier this summer, and represented a long-sought major legislative accomplishment for Democrats as they hope to keep control of Congress.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks marking the legislative victory at 3 p.m. from the South Lawn.
“We’re going to be celebrating with thousands of supporters tomorrow on the South Lawn of the White House,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.
Biden touted the Inflation Reduction Act as “further proof that the soul of America is vibrant, the future of America is bright, and the promise of America is real and just beginning” when he signed the bill on Aug. 16 when Congress had left town for its summer recess.
He also criticized Republicans for their unanimous opposition to the law.
“And let’s be clear: In this historic moment, Democrats sided with the American people, and every single Republican in the Congress sided with the special interests in this vote — every single one,” he said at the time.
The law passed the Senate by just one vote on Aug. 7, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie breaking vote. The House passed the bill the day before by a 220-207 margin.
Since Biden signed the bill last month, members of his Cabinet and other administration officials have hit the road to promote the Inflation Reduction Act. According to the White House, officials plan to travel to 23 states to tout the law.
The Inflation Reduction Act aims to make prescription drugs more affordable, to prop up clean energy technologies and lower greenhouse emissions.
The legislation is estimated to generate more than $300 billion in revenue by imposing a 15% minimum tax on corporations making over $1 billion and a new excise tax on corporate stock buybacks.
But it lacked many of the priorities Democrats hoped to include in a major spending package, including universal pre-K and paid family leave.
Republicans have scorned the law’s tax provisions and are specifically targeting the additional funding the law provides for the Internal Revenue Service, which they claim will lead to the hiring of 87,000 new agents to target middle class Americans. The IRS has rejected those arguments.
The GOP has also questioned how much it will reduce inflation amid various, sometimes conflicting forecasts about exactly how much the law would help reduce prices.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found the law will reduce federal budget deficits by $102 billion over 10 years but would have a “negligible” impact on inflation this year and next year.
Inflation data released on Tuesday revealed that consumer prices rose slightly in August, with the Consumer Price Index showing an 8.3% increase over last year and a 0.1% increase over the prior month.
Several Republicans seized on the new numbers out Tuesday morning.
“So much for Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats should have called it the Paycheck Reduction Act,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is running for governor in Arkansas, tweeted.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., tweeted: “Inflation is up 8.3%. Food, shelter, and electricity are all up double digits. This is crushing poor families and seniors on fixed income. What are Dems doing today…Celebrating the Inflation Reduction Act.”
(WASHINGTON) — The 2022 primary season is coming to a close with the cycle’s final contests being held Tuesday in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware.
All eyes are on New Hampshire as the state features some of the most competitive races in the nation.
One of New Hampshire’s Senate seats is up for grabs with Democrat Maggie Hassan seeking reelection and Republicans believe they can pick up the seat as part of their drive to retake control of Congress.
With New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu opting not to run in the GOP Senate primary, a crowded Republican field emerged as a result. GOP retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc and state Senate President Chuck Morse are seen as the leading candidates.
Bolduc has become known for his hard-line views. In the past, he has called Sununu a “Chinese Communist sympathizer,” has pushed for the appeal of the 17th Amendment codifying direct popular election of U.S. senators and has raised abolishing the FBI.
Meanwhile, the GOP establishment in the Granite State hopes that Morse can defeat Bolduc in the primary. Morse is running on issues including inflation and parents’ rights in education that voters have said are important to them this election cycle.
Meanwhile, Democrats have also meddled in the New Hampshire Senate race boosting Bolduc, who they see as the weakest candidate to go up against Hassan in the general election. This is a similar tactic that has been played out in other competitive midterm elections where Democrats, during the primary, try to elevate the most right-wing candidate who may then prove weaker with the broader electorate in the general election.
The battle for control of the House also runs through New Hampshire, as the state’s only two congressional districts are in play.
In the state’s highly competitive 1st Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Rep. Chris Pappas must defend his seat against whoever emerges as the Republican nominee in the GOP primary. Although there are several candidates in the race, the top two players are former Trump White House adviser Matt Mowers and former White House press aide Karoline Leavitt.
Although both candidates are supporters of former President Donald Trump, Mowers has called for regular audits of elections but acknowledges that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, while Leavitt pushes false claims about the 2020 election.
The GOP primary in the district has also caused a divide among Republican leadership House GOP leadership. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise have backed Mowers, while GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has endorsed Leavitt, her former press secretary.
As for the state’s 2nd Congressional District, the two frontrunners are Keene Mayor George Hansel and former Hillsborough County Treasurer Robert Burns. Whoever emerges as the winner will face off against Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster.
In Rhode Island’s gubernatorial race, all the action is in the Democratic primary.
Gov. Dan McKee is looking to win a full term after moving from lieutenant governor following then-Gov. Gina Raimondo’s appointment to Biden’s cabinet in 2021. But although McKee has been the sitting governor since 2001, the road to securing the Democratic nomination won’t be easy. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and former CVS Health executive Helena Foulkes are also seen as strong candidates in the Democratic primary for governor.
In the state’s 2nd Congressional District, Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin is retiring, leaving the seat open. The leading candidate in the race is Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. Throughout his campaign, he has spoken on protecting abortion rights and social security.
(WASHINGTON) — About 40 subpoenas were issued by the Justice Department last week as part of its criminal investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Among those subpoenaed are close advisers to former President Donald Trump, as well as former White House officials and staffers from his 2020 presidential campaign ranging from lower-level staffers to those at the highest levels of the campaign.
At least one top Trump adviser, Boris Epshteyn, recently had his phone seized as part of this effort, the sources said.
Epshteyn did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
The New York Times first reported news of the roughly 40 subpoenas.
As ABC News has previous reported, the subpoenas are seeking information from witnesses about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the events leading up to and surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, and the fundraising and spending efforts of the Trump-aligned Save America PAC.
(BOSTON) — On the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s famous moonshot speech, President Joe Biden on Monday outlined a new “American Moonshot” aimed at eradicating cancer “as we know it.”
“President Kennedy set a goal to win the space race against Russia and advance science and technology for all humanity,” Biden said during a speech at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. “And when he said that goal, he established a national purpose that could rally the American people and the common cause, and he succeeded. Now in our time, on the 60th anniversary of his clarion call, we face another inflection point.”
After being introduced by Kennedy’s daughter, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, Biden pointed to the parallels between his efforts and those of JFK, who, at the time, declared the America’s objective to put a man on the moon — noting that both plans were unprecedented for their times.
“I believe … the same national purpose will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills to end cancer as we know it. And even cure cancers once and for all,” he said.
The cause is a personal one for Biden, who launched the moonshot originally as vice president just months after his son, Beau, died from glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer, in 2015.
Biden reiterated the importance of this cancer moonshot to him, saying it was one of the reasons he ran for president in 2020.
“As president of the United States Senate, I presided over the overwhelming bipartisan vote and watched my friend Mitch McConnell name the cancer provisions in that bill after my son Beau who had lost his life to that disease just months earlier. And when we left office, Jill and I knew we had to keep going through, keep it up. So, we initiated the Biden cancer initiative. We focused on turning the moonshot into a movement, not just a shot, a movement,” Biden said.
In the years since President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971, “enormous progress” has been made in the nation’s fight against cancer, Biden said, adding that progress has increased at a faster pace in recent years, with the death rate due to cancer falling more than 25% over the last 25 years. Cancer, however, remains the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. after heart disease.
Earlier this year, Biden relaunched the cancer moonshot initiative, unveiling his goals of cutting cancer deaths in half in the next 25 years, and on Monday he pointed to how technology can be used to further efforts to find a cure.
“Today, I’m setting a long term goal for the cancer moonshot to rally America, an ingenuity that we can engage like we did to reach the moon that actually cures cancers — not all cancer — cancer — cures cancer once and for all. ” Biden said.
Biden also introduced Dr. Renee Wegrzyn — his pick for the first Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a program Biden campaigned on creating to help drive research to cure diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s and Diabetes, and one he views as critical to the success of the moonshot.
“Scientists are exploring whether mRNA vaccine technology that brought us safe and effective COVID 19 vaccines could be used to stop cancer cells when they first arrive to target the right treatments,” Biden said.
Looking ahead, Biden asked the audience to imagine what was possible.
“Imagine the possibilities. Vaccines that could prevent cancer, like there is for HPV. Imagine molecular zip codes that could deliver drugs and gene therapy precisely to the right tissues. Imagine simple blood test during an annual physical that can detect cancer early with a chance of cure best. Imagine getting a simple shot instead of grueling chemo, or getting a pill follicle pharmacy instead of invasive treatments and long hospital stays,” he said.
But Biden warned that the federal effort and investments would not be enough to cure cancer.
“We need everyone to get the game. That’s why I’m also calling on the science and medical communities to bring the boldest thinking to this fight. I’m calling on the private sector to develop and test new treatments. Make drugs more affordable, share more data, and knowledge that can inform the public and benefit every company’s research,” he said. “And I’m respectfully calling on people living with cancer and caregivers and families to keep sharing their experience and pushing for progress,” Biden said, urging them to share their ideas with the administration as well.”
Earlier, the White House said Biden would not be seeking additional funding from Congress for what is bound to be an costly effort.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s legal team on Monday responded to the Justice Department in the latest round of court filings regarding the review of materials seized at his Mar-a-Lago country club last month.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday requested U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to stay the portion of her ruling enjoining the government from further review of abut 100 documents bearing classification markings taken during the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago Aug. 8.
The government cited the risk of “irreparable harm” to national security and its ongoing criminal investigation if she declined to grant its request for a stay.
Cannon had required law enforcement to disclose those materials to a special master — an independent third-party — for review.
The DOJ said in Thursday’s court papers that if Cannon doesn’t grant a stay by Sept. 15, it will “intend to seek relief from the Eleventh Circuit” — a federal appeals court.
She gave Trump’s legal team until 10 a.m. Monday to respond.
This is a developing story, Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — This story is part of ABC News’ series “Democracy in Peril,” which examines the inflection point the country finds itself at after the Jan. 6 attacks and ahead of the 2022 election.
The House Jan. 6 hearings this summer highlighted the pressure placed on officials across the country to overturn the 2020 presidential election — and how close some of Donald Trump’s demands came to being a reality.
Trump, the committee has already said, was directly involved in trying to have election workers and lawmakers both at the federal and local level declare him the winner of the race rather than Joe Biden.
As the committee detailed in its summer hearings, that effort was ultimately unsuccessful in large part thanks to a handful of people who resisted Trump’s demands despite the consequences that followed.
“They represent the backbone of our democracy at its most important moments: when the citizens cast their votes and when those votes are counted,” Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said during a hearing in which some of those people testified live.
The officials — heavily criticized by Trump in social media posts or in statements for opposing him — have since recounted the harassment they said they and their family members faced. Election antagonism didn’t end after 2020: ABC News previously reported that at least nine states have experienced election staff departures or retirements prompted in part by harassment, threats and misinformation, officials and experts said.
Some leading Republicans who chose to support the 2020 election result have said it was their moral and legal duty, regardless of politics.
Here are some of the key officials, according to the Jan. 6 committee, who were pressured by Trump.
Former Vice President Mike Pence
Pence, Trump’s second-in-command, was hailed by the committee at its summer hearings for rejecting Trump’s entreaty to unilaterally reject Biden electors at the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Thanks in part to Mike Pence, our democracy withstood Donald Trump’s scheme and the violence of Jan. 6,” Chairman Thompson said during one of the hearings.
Trump and Pence had a phone call just hours before the joint congressional session began, in what onlookers described as a “heated” conversation. As the Capitol attack unfolded and the mob threatened to kill the vice president, Pence was forced to hide in an underground location while Trump continued to criticize him on social media. Pence resumed the certification of Biden’s victory in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2021.
“President Trump is wrong. … I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said at a speech earlier this year. “The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was one of the most pressured local officials, as Trump fixated on his loss in the Peach State (the first time a Republican presidential nominee was defeated there in 28 years).
A now-infamous phone call between Raffensperger and Trump revealed the former president asked him to “find” 11,780 votes in Georgia — just one vote over the margin by which he trailed Biden. At one point on the call, Trump suggested to Raffensperger that his inaction could mean he was criminally liable, but Raffensperger denied Trump’s request and his false assertions including his claim that thousands of dead people voted in the election.
Raffensperger told the Jan. 6 committee in live testimony that his wife received sexually threatening texts and his daughter-in-law had her home broken into. Raffensperger went on to face a Trump-backed primary challenger but won.
Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers
Bowers, then the top Republican in the Arizona State House of Representatives, became emotional as he described to the committee the toll of being asked to violate his oath of office. Trump asked Bowers to help with a plan to replace the state’s electors committed to Biden during a phone call weeks after Trump lost the 2020 election. Bowers insisted on seeing evidence of voter fraud, which he said Trump’s team was never able to produce.
Speaking to ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, Bowers said in a subsequent interview that some Arizonians thanked him for his testimony before the committee but others deemed him a “traitor.” When asked by Karl if he ever considered going along with Trump’s plan, Bowers — who went on to lose his next election against a Trump-endorsed Republican — said: “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?”
Former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt
Al Schmidt, the only Republican on the city’s election board during the 2020 election, was the subject of a social media post by Trump in which Trump alleged Schmidt “refuses to look at a mountain of corruption dishonesty.”
Schmidt told the Jan. 6 panel that they investigated every allegation no matter how “fantastical” or “absurd.”
After that Trump tweet, Schmidt said the threats against him “became much more specific, much more graphic, and included not just me by name but included members of my family by name, their ages, our address, pictures of our home.” Schmidt resigned from his position in late November 2021.
Richard Donoghue, Jeff Rosen, Steven Engel
These three former Justice Department officials described the many efforts by Trump to change the results — from suggesting the agency seize voting machines or file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court to sending letters to state legislatures furthering baseless claims of fraud.
“I will say that the Justice Department declined all of those requests that I was just referencing,” Rosen told the committee, “because we did not think that they were appropriate based on the facts and the law as we understood them.”
When Trump tried to appoint a less qualified but more loyal official to attorney general when his demands weren’t met, Donoghue said he told Trump that assistant attorney generals across the country would resign “en masse.”
