Politics

(NEW YORK) — Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance Wednesday on Capitol Hill, defiantly walking into a House committee hearing centered on whether to hold him in contempt.

The move sparked outrage from Republicans, who’ve issued a congressional subpoena for him to sit for a closed-door deposition in their ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The president’s son has said he would testify only in a public forum, and has previously castigated the probe as “illegitimate.”

“You’re the epitome of white privilege, coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of?” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said just after he entered the room. She went on to say the younger Biden should be arrested and go “straight to jail.”

Mace was interrupted by another lawmaker, Democrat Jared Moskowitz, who said they could “hear from Hunter Biden right now” and called for a vote to have him speak.

Hunter Biden made his way into the hearing amid opening statements and took a seat in the front row. He was accompanied by his lawyer Abbe Lowell.

Hunter Biden left a short time after, when the chairman called on Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to speak.

“Excuse me, Hunter, apparently you’re afraid of my words,” Greene said.

Lowell then spoke to the press outside the hearing room, though Hunter Biden ignored shouted questions.

“Hunter Biden was and is a private citizen. Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father,” Lowell said.

Lowell accused Republicans of caring “little about the truth” and trying to “hold someone in contempt, who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions.”

Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, the Oversight Committee released a 19-page report recommending he be held in contempt of Congress, as well as the text of the proposed resolution.

“Mr. Biden’s flagrant defiance of the Committees’ deposition subpoenas — while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters — is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions,” the report stated.

Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News he has the votes to get the resolution out of committee.

A full vote on the House floor would be held at a later date. Comer said it could happen early next week.

Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to sit for the closed-door interview on Dec. 13 but instead held a defiant news conference just outside the U.S. Capitol.

“I am here to testify at a public hearing, today, to answer any of the committees’ legitimate questions,” he said. “Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I am here.”

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, also criticized Comer for “denying Hunter Biden the opportunity to answer all the Committee’s questions in front of the American people and the world.”

“Chairman Comer does not want Hunter Biden to testify in public, just as he has refused to publicly release over a dozen interview transcripts, because he wants to keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation,” Raskin said in a statement.

Committee Republicans have countered that they are open to public testimony at an unspecified “future date” but “need not and will not accede to Mr. Biden’s demand for special treatment with respect to how he provides testimony.”

The Biden impeachment inquiry, launched unilaterally by ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then formalized months later by the House in a party-line vote, has yet to yield any concrete evidence to support GOP claims that Biden participated in and profited from his son and family’s foreign business dealings.

The House Oversight Committee report recommending a contempt charge stated Hunter Biden’s testimony is “necessary” to determine whether there are “sufficient grounds” for impeachment.

The committee has also subpoenaed President Biden’s brother, James Biden, and former Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker. It also requested transcribed interviews with other members of the Biden family and Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden.

ABC News’ Selina Wang and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

 

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(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans are moving ahead with impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they continue to make immigration a key 2024 campaign issue.

The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday will hold its first hearing after a yearlong probe to examine what they are calling the secretary’s “failed leadership” as the southwest border experienced a surge of migrants.

Chairman Mark Green, R-Ga., during a GOP visit to a Texas port of entry last week, accused Mayorkas of having “broken his oath to defend this country” and called him a threat to national security.

Mayorkas defended the administration’s work in his own visit to the Eagle Pass, Texas, entry point on Monday. He said the department’s taken “bold, necessary steps” while Congress has yet to pass legislation.

“Some have accused DHS of not enforcing our nation’s laws,” he said. “This could not be further from the truth.”

Witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing will include attorneys general of Montana, Oklahoma and Missouri. The three Republican state officials have voiced criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the border.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson blasted the hearing as a “political exercise” at taxpayers’ expense.

“There is no valid basis to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, as senior members of the House majority have attested, and this extreme impeachment push is a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.

Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border reached a record high in December. Sources told ABC News preliminary data showed there were 302,000 encounters last month.

Border Patrol apprehensions have decreased from the historic level, with agents apprehending about 3,244 migrants daily over the past week, according to internal data obtained and verified by ABC News. This past Sunday, agents recorded 2,729 apprehensions, a sharp decline from the two-decade record of nearly 11,000 in a single day last month.

House Republicans used a trip to the border last week to double down on their demands for tougher immigration restrictions as negotiations continue on a supplemental aid package focused on national security.

President Joe Biden last year laid out a package that included nearly $14 billion for the border to hire more agents and immigration judge teams, while also providing aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. But Republicans are tying the foreign aid to more sweeping legislative changes when it comes to immigration, such as more restrictive asylum guidelines.

“If President Biden wants a supplemental spending bill focused on national security, it better begin by defending America’s national security,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

A group of senators have been working for weeks on finding compromise, and Congress returned to Washington this week after holiday recess. But disagreements over parole provisions has led to increasing pessimism that a deal can be struck by week’s end.

I just don’t see any way to be able to get that done this week,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said late Monday. “There’s a lot more that needs to get done. It starts speeding up, and they you hit a point that you realize now this is going a whole lot slower.”

Mayorkas has been involved in the negotiations, and said Monday the department needs more Border Patrol agents, case prosecutors, asylum officers and technology to combat the flow of fentanyl.

“We now need Congress to do their part and act,” he said. “Our immigration system is outdated and broken and has been in need of reform for literally decades. On this, everyone agrees.”

Mayorkas has long been a target of Republican ire over the border. The House GOP effort to oust him would be the first potential impeachment of a Cabinet official since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, though it’s unlikely Mayorkas would be convicted in a trial in the Democrat-led Senate.

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(WASHINGTON) — A House panel will vote Wednesday on whether to hold Hunter Biden in contempt over his refusal to sit for a closed-door deposition with lawmakers in their ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

Hunter Biden has said he would testify only in a public forum, castigating the Republican-led probe as “illegitimate.”

The House Oversight Committee on Monday released a 19-page report recommending he be held in contempt of Congress, as well as the text of the proposed resolution.

“Mr. Biden’s flagrant defiance of the Committees’ deposition subpoenas — while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters — is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions,” the report stated.

Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News he has the votes to get the resolution out of committee.

A full vote on the House floor would be held at a later date. Comer said it could happen early next week.

Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to sit for the closed-door interview on Dec. 13 but instead held a defiant news conference just outside the U.S. Capitol.

“I am here to testify at a public hearing, today, to answer any of the committees’ legitimate questions,” he said. “Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I am here.”

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, also criticized Comer for “denying Hunter Biden the opportunity to answer all the Committee’s questions in front of the American people and the world.”

“Chairman Comer does not want Hunter Biden to testify in public, just as he has refused to publicly release over a dozen interview transcripts, because he wants to keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation,” Raskin said in a statement.

Committee Republicans have countered that they are open to public testimony at an unspecified “future date” but “need not and will not accede to Mr. Biden’s demand for special treatment with respect to how he provides testimony.”

The Biden impeachment inquiry, launched unilaterally by ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then formalized months later by the House in a party-line vote, has yet to yield any concrete evidence to support GOP claims that President Joe Biden participated in and profited from his son and family’s foreign business dealings.

The House Oversight Committee report recommending a contempt charge stated Hunter Biden’s testimony is “necessary” to determine whether there are “sufficient grounds” for impeachment.

The committee has also subpoenaed President Biden’s brother, James Biden, and former Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker. It also requested transcribed interviews with other members of the Biden family and Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden.

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(WASHINGTON) — Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee lambasted Republicans efforts to begin impeachment hearings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and offered a full-throated defense of his tenure as secretary.

“What is going on tomorrow is an embarrassment to the impeachment clause of the Constitution,” New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman told reporters ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.

He added, “This is simply a policy dispute, a disagreement about how a different party is attacking a policy problem. And the Republicans are trying to abuse their power and the Constitution to convert what is simply a disagreement into somehow some way, a high crime and misdemeanor there is no crime, much less a high crime or misdemeanor here.”

Goldman was the lead impeachment lawyer when Democrats impeached former President Donald Trump in 2020. He was joined by other Homeland Security members Reps. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island and Glenn Ivey of Maryland, both Democrats.

Magaziner said that when Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer brought legal witnesses to the first impeachment hearing of President Joe Biden it was “disastrous.”

“Clearly, the Republicans have learned from that experience and tomorrow, they’re not bringing in any constitutional experts or scholars. They’re bringing in Republican politicians because they know that if they bring in any serious constitutional scholar or constitutional expert, they’re going to hear the same thing that they heard in the oversight hearing on the Biden impeachment push,” Magaziner, who represents the second congressional district in Rhode Island, said.

He said Republicans are “complicit” in the “ongoing struggles” at the southwest border.

“But House Republicans rather than trying to work with the administration and work with the Secretary to solve the problem, instead care more about having a political issue to run on than they do actually solving the challenges that we have at the border,” Magaziner said.

Ivey said Republicans should be focused on other issues, such as funding the government, instead of on attempting to impeach the secretary. He also said some Republicans in moderate districts like in New York might not support impeaching Mayorkas.

“Hopefully the voters will punish them for, you know, abusing the system in this way, and really putting the Constitution at risk,” he said.

The three members also said that while Mayorkas is working on negotiating a border bill, Republicans aren’t helping the solution.

“It’s not a good look for the House of Representatives that while the Senate is working diligently to try to craft the bill, the houses distracted by you know, an impeachment drive with no legal merit,” Magaziner said.

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(Sioux City, Iowa) — Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is working feverishly to close the gap between her and former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, with new polling showing Haley’s support growing in what could be a determinative contest in New Hampshire.

Just two weeks out from the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, a new CNN poll out Tuesday, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, shows Haley cutting into Trump’s lead, garnering 32% of the vote to his 39% and trailing him now by just seven points in the state, slicing her deficit from the last University of New Hampshire poll by 12 points.

The latest numbers are a positive signal for Haley, who has received several key endorsements over the last month from New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and the powerful Americans for Prosperity Action, backed by billionaire GOP megadonor Charles Koch.

“It’s another indication that there may be some real movement toward Haley and that she’s emerging as the main alternative to Trump,” Christopher Galderi, a professor at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, who studies the state’s primary, said of the recent University of New Hampshire poll.

Haley’s biggest gains appear to have come from undeclared voters, a key constituency in the fiercely independent Live Free or Die state, where she garnered support from 43% of those surveyed — up 18 points since the last poll in November and the largest share of any other candidate.

According to Dave Carney, a veteran New Hampshire-based GOP strategist who’s worked on several presidential campaigns, Sununu’s endorsement likely went a long way with the state’s undeclared voters, with whom he is particularly popular.

“I think if she gets a hunk of the independent or undeclared voters in her camp on election day, he [Sununu] gets a massive amount of credit because Nikki was campaigning for two years in New Hampshire, and they weren’t convinced,” he told ABC News.

Nearly 40% of New Hampshire’s electorate is composed of undeclared voters, who can choose whether to vote on a Democratic or Republican primary ballot. According to the University of New Hampshire poll, 45% of undeclared voters plan to vote in the GOP primary, which Carney said would be “historic” in a New Hampshire GOP primary if it rings true on Jan. 23.

Still, he warned not to oversimplify the impact of undeclared voters — who are often interchangeably referred to as “independents” — can have.

“Undeclared voters in Hampshire are not moderate or liberal. There are a lot of conservatives, and Trump will get a lot of those voters, too,” he said.

To ultimately beat Trump to the nomination, Haley will need to make up significant ground in more than just the granite state. Trump remains far and away the leader in Iowa, where caucusgoers will make their decision next Tuesday, and Haley’s home state of South Carolina — garnering support from 51% and 53% of voters in those states, respectively, according to FiveThirtyEight.

In Iowa, where Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are jockeying for a distant second place, it remains to be seen if any candidate will mount a feasible challenge against Trump.

In two campaign stops in New Hampshire last week, Sununu and Haley both appeared to downplay expectations of what lies ahead in the midwest state.

“I think she’s going to shock everyone in Iowa with a strong second. We know Trump’s gonna win the caucus in Iowa. That’s just a given. Right?,” Sununu said during a Haley town hall in Londonderry, New Hampshire, last Wednesday. Later that evening, Haley appeared to poke fun at the Iowa caucuses at a town hall in Milford, where she said that the state would later “correct” what Iowa starts in its caucus.

“I think Nikki Haley coming in second in Iowa would be a huge shock, right? But that’s what her campaign has been about. She’s been overachieving at every event. I mean, it’s gonna be tough,” Sununu told ABC News after the event, denying that she needed a second-place finish in Iowa to perform well in New Hampshire.

“Iowa and New Hampshire are completely separate. What you do in Iowa has nothing to do with New Hampshire. I mean, that’s just how it is historically,” he said.

But an underperformance in Iowa could have an adverse impact on Haley’s broader campaign, said Carney.

“If she came in a distant third in Iowa, it will hurt her tremendously,” he told ABC News. “When you’re building your campaign on perception and expectations, you need to hit those marks.”

Still, there are signs that Haley’s message — which has partially focused on expanding the Republican Party’s tent to a more diverse electorate — is resonating with moderate voters in Iowa, as well.

At a Haley town hall in Indianola, Iowa, on Saturday, Heather Wilcoxsin, a Democrat who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, said that she would be caucusing for the former U.N. ambassador.

“I’m a lifelong Democrat, and I’m so proud to be supporting you. And I sure hope our state does not elect Donald Trump it will make me sick,” Wilcoxsin told Haley during the question and answer portion.

Speaking to ABC News after, she added that while she aligns “pretty much entirely” with Biden on his policies, she feels that the president is “really old.”

“I compare him to the people in my life who are his age, and I’m like, should they be president? Probably not,” she said.

“I’m not hesitant necessarily to vote for him [Biden], but I am caucusing for Nikki Haley because I am very passionate about her,” she added, noting that if Haley is the GOP nominee, then she would likely flip for the Republican ticket in 2024.

“I was like, ‘maybe I’m 99% gonna support Joe Biden,'” Wilcoxsin said. “I actually think I totally flipped, and I probably will support her.”

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — CNN is set to host the next debate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, just days ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Monday.

The debate, the first of two that will be hosted by CNN, is set for Wednesday night in Des Moines, Iowa.

With more stringent qualifications, even fewer candidates are expected to appear on the stage. Front-runner Donald Trump, again, isn’t set to attend.

Here’s what to know.

How to watch the debate

The debate, which will take place at 9 p.m. ET at Drake University, will be streamed live on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español and CNN Max and for pay TV subscribers on CNN.com as well as CNN-connected TV and mobile devices.

The debate will be moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

ABC News will provide key takeaways while 538 has a preview of why it matters.

Who will participate?

On Tuesday, CNN announced the GOP primary candidates who qualified for the debate: former President Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Trump, who has not participated in any of the previous GOP presidential primary debates in light of his enduring polling lead, is not expected to join this one either. Instead, he is countering the debate with a Fox News live town hall in Des Moines at the same time as the CNN debate — so the stage will be occupied by only Haley and DeSantis.

The qualifying window for CNN’s Iowa debate closed on Tuesday. Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson did not meet the qualification requirements.

How did candidates qualify?

To make the stage, candidates needed to receive at least 10% (without rounding) in three separate national and/or Iowa polls of Republican caucusgoers or primary voters that met CNN’s standards for reporting. One of the three qualifying polls must have been an approved poll of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers.

The CNN qualification criteria for candidates to participate in the debate are higher than those used in previous Republican National Committee debates.

That previous threshold allowed Ramaswamy and Christie to join in on the fourth GOP debate.

CNN is hosting? What about the RNC debates?

The RNC previously required candidates to sign a pledge that they would not participate in any debates not sanctioned by the RNC. However, in December, the RNC changed course, saying that candidates would be free to participate in other debates going forward.

“We have held four successful debates across the country with the most conservative partners in the history of a Republican primary. We have no RNC debates scheduled in January and any debates currently scheduled are not affiliated with the RNC,” the RNC’s Committee on Presidential Debates said in a statement to Politico. “It is now time for Republican primary voters to decide who will be our next President and candidates are free to use any forum or format to communicate to voters as they see fit.”

When are other debates?

ABC News, partnering with WMUR, will host a Republican primary debate in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s primary contest.

The ABC News and WMUR debate will take place Jan. 18 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.

To earn a spot on that stage, candidates will either have to finish in the top three in the Iowa caucuses or receive at least 10% in two separate national polls of Republican primary voters or at least 10% in two separate New Hampshire polls of Republican primary voters that that meet ABC’s standards for reporting.

CNN will host another debate on Jan. 21 at the New England College in New Hampshire.

To qualify for CNN’s New Hampshire debate, candidates must receive at least 10% in three separate national and/or New Hampshire polls of Republican primary voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting. One of the three polls must be an approved CNN poll of likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters.

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(WASHINGTON) — Despite outside “distractions” the Department of Homeland Security is focused on keeping the American people safe, the acting deputy secretary told ABC News.

Acting Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo said the department, including Mayorkas, is working “day in and day out” to keep Americans safe and highlighted some of what the department accomplished in 2023.

Those “distractions” are presumably House Republicans, who are holding an impeachment hearing against Mayorkas on Wednesday due to their belief that he has failed to do enough to secure the border — a critique the secretary has rejected.

“We are focused on building on the work that we’ve done over the past year to prevent and prepare for and respond to so many threats,” Canegallo told ABC News. “When you think about what we’re managing, whether it’s the 25 natural disasters that had more than $1 billion in damages, strategic competition and aggression from nation states, that historic growth in global migration [or] transnational crime, there’s just so much that this department is managing, and Secretary Mayorkas has really been able to drive us to make historic investments in our workforce in innovation and partnerships, and notwithstanding some significant challenges, there’s a lot that we have to be proud of,” she said.

House Republicans, who are holding an impeachment hearing against Mayorkas on Wednesday, have said he hasn’t done enough to secure the border — a critique the secretary has rejected.

During the past year, the department seized over 48,500 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill every American 33 times over, according to statistics provided by the department.

DHS stopped more fentanyl and arrested more drug traffickers in the last two years than the previous five years combined, according to the department.

The acting deputy secretary said the strategy in combatting fentanyl coming into the United States uses the intelligence gathered, the “smarts” of agents along the southwest border and “new technology” on the southwest border.

“More than 90% of fentanyl is coming in through ports of entry primarily in vehicles that are driven by US citizens,” Canegallo said. “We’ve really been intensifying our efforts along the border to disrupt those that federal smuggling, working very closely with our Mexican counterparts.”

Mayorkas said communities are safer because of DHS’ efforts.

“Our communities are safer and more resilient, our economy is more secure, and our government is more prepared thanks to the unprecedented work of the DHS workforce,” Mayorkas said in a statement.

“From managing a historic level of global migration, to helping secure travel for a record number of Americans, rescuing children from online sexual exploitation, and leading operations that kept fentanyl off our streets, DHS took dramatic steps this past year to enhance the security and readiness of our nation,” he added.

The southwest border has seen a historic increase in migrants apprehended, capped off by an all-time in December, when there were 302,000 migrants encountered along the southwest border.

The acting deputy secretary maintained that there is still positive news about border security despite the staggering figures.

“There is a lot to be proud of, our work to combat fentanyl, our work to improve security, and that’s what we’re focused on as opposed to distractions or whatever is happening on the hill,” she said. “If members were serious about wanting to address some of our immigration challenges, there are opportunities for them to do so and that’s what we’re very focused on in our conversations with the Senate.”

Beyond the border, Canegallo said DHS is focusing on the “challenges” to faith-based communities in the U.S. and other threats in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attacks in Israel.

At airports around the U.S., the department says that the Transportation Security Administration has seized 6,500 guns at airports, setting an all-time record. TSA also screened 850 million travel passengers in 2023, a record-setting year for travel, DHS said.

In 2023, the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) responded to 25 natural disasters, the most ever in the agency’s history, the department said.

DHS also touted its authority to investigate crimes against children. Homeland Security Investigations, the largest law enforcement arm of the department, was responsible for helping identify and rescue 1,110 children in 2023, the acting deputy secretary said.

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(WASHINGTON) — New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez went to the Senate floor Tuesday to defiantly address accusations of wrongdoing.

Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty to all prior counts, pushed backed on the federal superseding indictment charging him in an alleged corruption scheme with Egyptians and Qataris.

The superseding indictment, filed earlier this month by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, accuses the New Jersey Democrat of making positive comments about Qatar in exchange for items of value, including luxury wristwatches valued between $10,000 and $24,000.

Addressing his Senate colleagues, Menendez said that the latest accusations are baseless and misleading and that the U.S. attorney’s office “is engaged not in a prosecution, but a persecution.”

“I’m innocent — and I intend to prove my innocence, not just for me, but for the precedent this case will set for you and future members of the Senate,” Menendez said.

“I have received nothing, absolutely nothing from the government of Qatar or on behalf of the government of Qatar to promote their image or their issues,” Menendez, who had been chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before stepping aside, said.

He complained bitterly about federal prosecutors filing multiple superseding indictments since September.

“It allows the government to keep the sensational story in the press. It poisons the jury pool and it seeks to convict me in the court of public opinion,” he said.

“They seek a victory, not justice. It’s an unfortunate reality but prosecutors sometimes shoot first before they even know all the facts,” he said.

“The government seeks to use baseless conjecture, not facts, to create the connective tissue to substantiate the allegations,” Menedez said. “They show a picture of watches but not proof of receiving any such gifts.”

Menendez, who choked up while speaking at times, said he is “suffering greatly” as a result of the accusations.

“After 50 years of public service, this is not how I wanted to celebrate my golden jubilee,” he said. “But I have never violated the public trust. I have been a patriot for my country.”

A majority of his Democratic Senate colleagues have previously called on Menendez to resign.

The federal prosecutors who have indicted Menendez declined to comment on his floor speech declaring his innocence.

Menendez, who has been charged with conspiring to act as an agent of Egypt and other alleged offenses, is scheduled to stand trial in May. He had sought a two-month delay to account for what his lawyers described as voluminous evidence that required more time to examine.

Menendez said at his trial he intends to explain why investigators found wads of cash and gold bars in his possession.

“There is no evidence of the giving or receiving of cash and gold bars,” Menendez added.

The senator has said he will not step down from office and has strongly denounced the charges.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was treated for prostate cancer in December, which led to a urinary tract infection and serious intestinal complications, the Pentagon said Tuesday — answering questions about his secretive hospitalization and the botched notification process that followed.

On Dec. 22, Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Medical Center and underwent minimally invasive surgical procedure to treat and cure prostate cancer, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. He was under general anesthesia during the procedure, Ryder added.

The next day, Austin was discharged and went home, Ryder said. However, on Jan. 1, Austin was admitted again with complications from the Dec. 22 procedure determined to be a urinary tract infection.

On Jan. 2, Austin was transferred to the intensive care unit after an evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the functions of small intestines, Ryder said.

“He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process,” Walter Reed said in a statement. “During this stay, Secretary Austin never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia.”

The Pentagon has come under fire for not being more transparent about information regarding Austin’s hospitalization, which until Tuesday, had been characterized as a “minor, elective procedure.” The White House learned about Austin’s condition three day after he was hospitalized; Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks had not been informed in advance and was on vacation in Puerto Rico when Austin was hospitalized, a U.S. official told ABC News.

Austin’s prostate cancer and its treatment are “deeply personal,” Ryder said during Tuesday’s press briefing.

“As I’ve highlighted, it’s prostate cancer and the associated procedures are obviously deeply personal, and so again, you know, we’ll continue to work hard to make sure we are being as transparent as possible moving forward and again, wish the secretary a speedy recovery,” Ryder said.

From the hospital, Austin is “in contact with his senior staff and has full access to required secure communications capabilities and continues to monitor dod day-to-day operations,” Ryder said.

“He continues to stay very actively engaged with his senior staff and is making important decisions about national security and defense,” Ryder said.

On Monday, Ryder apologized for not being more transparent about Austin’s hospitalization. Ryder said he was informed about Austin’s hospitalization on Tuesday, Jan. 2 — and roughtly two days later went to the podium on Thursday afternoon for an on-camera briefing.

The White House is now ordering a review of Cabinet protocols for delegating authority after the fallout from Austin’s undisclosed hospitalization, according to a memo obtained by ABC News.

The White House memo directs departments and agencies to submit their existing protocols for review by Jan. 12.

The memo, written by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, says that while the review is ongoing, Cabinet agencies must adhere to procedures, including notifying the White House when agencies anticipate a delegation of authority and documenting the delegation of authority in writing.

The protocols will be reviewed to ensure they address the following: delegation criteria, decision-making authority, applicable documentation, notification procedures, and rescission of delegation.

The memo says agencies should ensure “delegations are issued when a Cabinet Member is traveling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalization or a medical procedure requiring general anesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable.

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(NEW YORK) — For weeks, former President Donald Trump’s campaign teased a ramp-up in events in the new year ahead of the Iowa caucuses next Monday.

Yet, with only four weekend rallies scheduled, the Trump campaign continues to hold limited events, facing multiple hurdles, including weather delays, canceled surrogate events and, now, two voluntary courtroom appearances.

Though Trump will be back in the state Wednesday for a Fox News town hall, he doesn’t have any public campaign appearances until Saturday — holding two events on Jan. 13 then, and two events on Sunday — on the eve of the Iowa GOP caucus day.

Rather than spending time in the state in the final stretch of the Iowa caucuses, Trump instead has chosen to make two court appearances this week. While he wasn’t required to be present in the courtroom, Trump was attending Tuesday’s appeals court arguments on his efforts to dismiss the federal election subversion case over presidential immunity. He has also said he wants to attend closing arguments in his New York civil fraud trial expected to conclude this week, though he isn’t required to do so either.

As Trump deals with 91 felony charges across four indictments and multiple civil cases — in all of which he has denied wrongdoing — his legal schedule and campaign schedule are anticipated to continue to collide after that, forcing him to choose between court appearances and campaign appearances at pivotal moments in the election cycle.

On Jan. 16, the day after the first GOP contest of the year — just as Trump is expected to start campaigning for the first in the nation primary in New Hampshire on Jan. 23 — another civil trial is set to start in a second defamation case to determine damages Trump would have to pay after a jury found him liable in a case involving sexual abuse allegations made by columnist E. Jean Carroll.

Last week, Trump’s legal team’s request to delay the trial was denied. He isn’t required to be in the courtroom for the proceedings.

And on the day of the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments to determine whether Trump is eligible to access the Colorado Republican primary ballot.

The following month, on March 4, on the eve of Super Tuesday when sixteen states and territories are set to hold their GOP primary contests, a trial in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case is set to begin at the federal court in Washington, D.C.

As a defendant in a criminal case, Trump would be expected to attend this trial unless the presiding judge grants a waiver. Whether Trump actually has to appear in person for the trial has not been settled yet.

Trump’s legal team is attempting to move the March 4 trial date but if the trial moves ahead as scheduled, it could significantly impede his campaigning — although some political experts have said that if Trump wins Iowa and New Hampshire, it might not impact his primary campaign so much.

On the campaign trail, Trump has claimed that the legal battles he faces are efforts by his political opponents to interfere with his campaign, though he has also claimed that the indictments and the court challenges have only boosted him in the polls and fundraising.

But Trump campaign advisers have already cautioned how tricky the balance will be juggling Trump’s political calendar with his legal one — the campaign calling it “a scheduling nightmare.”

“The goal is to take him off the trail at a very critical time and it’s our job to make it less of a critical time,” Susie Wiles, one of Trump’s top campaign advisers, told reporters last month.

Before going back to the Washington courthouse this week, Trump kicked off his 2024 election year campaign schedule with his four-stop Iowa swing last Friday and Saturday, facing weather delays that forced him to be nearly three-and-a-half hours late for his second stop of the day on Saturday.

Hopping from Sioux Center to Mason City and then from Newton to Clinton, Trump touted confidence in his lead over his Republican contenders who are far behind him in the polls according to 538’s polling average, but stressed to his supporters the importance of actually coming out to caucus for him on Jan. 15, saying he’s “not taking any chances.”

“Get out and vote — don’t listen to the polls,” Trump said at his Clinton rally Saturday night. “Pretend you’re one point down … You have to get out and you have to vote, vote, vote.”

Instead of Trump himself appearing before the voters, his campaign has planned for a blitz of surrogates to fan out across the state in order to spread Trump’s message for him in the final stretch in Iowa, urging people to caucus while telling their own personal interactions with the former president.

Stumping for his father last week, Eric Trump called his father mid-speech as he was emphasizing his point about how much of a family man he says Donald Trump is.

“He always picks up, he’s good with a cell phone,” Eric Trump said as he was calling.

“Every single day that he was in the White House, when I was governor, I got to be on offense,” South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem, whose name has been floated as a potential vice-presidential candidate pick, said at the first surrogate event of the year in Sioux City. “Ever since Joe Biden got into the White House, I’ve been on defense.”

But even those surrogate plans have not gone off without a hitch as a winter storm heading into Iowa caused the Trump team to have to cancel two events featuring Arkansas GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her father, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. A surrogate event on Tuesday was set to feature former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker and stand-up comedian Roseanne Barr; however, Barr also had to cancel her scheduled appearance due to weather issues.

Though the snowstorm is affecting multiple candidates who have had to alter their campaign schedules, with an already light schedule, the new holes in the Trump schedule is more glaring.

Though retail politicking and facetime has become a crucial part of winning in a state like Iowa, Trump’s absence seems to not have hindered support in the Hawkeye State as supporters either dismiss Trump’s lack of campaign events or point to one of his central campaign messages that his legal battles are only happening in order to interfere with his presidential chances.

“I’ve met President Trump twice, had like a 30 second conversation with him. He’s always on the run. And he’s a very smart, intelligent person. And I know what he’s doing is for the best of the interest for the office that he’s running for, the best interest for Iowa voters and for the entire nation,” Trenton Eilander, a Trump caucus captain, told ABC News.

Meanwhile, Trump’s legal battles have done little to turn his supporters away — many of them even say they’d vote for him even if he’s convicted.

“No, I’ll vote for him,” said Wanda Kruse from Marble Rock, Iowa, who attended his rally in Mason City, Iowa, on the eve of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, when asked if her vote would be affected if he’s convicted in any of the charges he faces. “I feel that it’s trying to distract everyone from the election — maybe they’re trumped up.”

 

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