(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol attack heard stunning stunning testimony on Tuesday from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
She told the committee and an international TV audience that then-President Donald Trump was warned about potential violence and crimes, that he wanted supporters with weapons let into his Jan. 6 rally, and that he then demanded his security detail take him to the Capitol, going so far as to grab the wheel of the presidential limousine, “The Beast.”
This was the sixth hearing this month investigating what the committee says was the conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn the election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern.
Jun 28, 3:18 pm
Cheney raises concerns about witness intimidation, Thompson encourages others to come forward
Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee, raised concerns of witness intimidation in her closing remarks.
The committee showed on a large screen above the members a text message that read: “[A person] let me know your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”
“I think most Americans know that attempting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents very serious concerns,” Cheney said in her closing remarks, adding that the panel will be discussing the issue and considering next steps.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., commended Hutchinson for “doing your patriotic duty and helping the American people get a complete understanding of January 6th and its causes.”
Thompson also encouraged others to come forward.
“If you’ve heard if you’ve heard this testimony today and suddenly you remember things you couldn’t previously recall, or or there are some details you’d like to clarify, or you discovered some courage you had hidden away somewhere, our doors remain open,” he said
Jun 28, 3:18 pm
Extraordinary hearing closes
It was among the shortest but most shocking Jan. 6 public hearings so far.
Cassidy Hutchinson, for nearly two-hours Tuesday, testified that Trump and Meadows were aware the Capitol was a target and that Trump supporters at the “Save America” rally were armed with weapons when the president told urged them to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
She said Trump told aides to let individuals with weapons past security and into the crowd, which he was “furious” with due to its size, with Hutchinson recalling Trump saying, “‘I don’t care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags (magnetometers) away.'”
Trump wanted to go to the Capitol himself after his speech, she said, and there was even conversation about having him go into the House chamber, despite the White House counsel’s office raising serious legal concerns and the Secret Service raising safety concerns.
Still, demanding to go to the Capitol, Hutchinson recalled learning that Trump grabbed the steering wheel in “The Beast: — the president’s limousine — on the way back to the White House and said, “‘I’m the f—ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now!'” before lunging at a Secret Service agent.
Hutchinson also confirmed Trump instructed Meadows to make contact with a “war room” in the Willard Hotel on the evening of Jan. 5 and advised Meadows against going in person after hearing Rudy Giuliani’s plans for the day, which she said she overheard included “Oath Keepers” and “Proud Boys.”
In a statement to ABC News, Roger Stone said it was “FALSE” that he spoke to Meadows on the phone on Jan. 5 “or any other date.”
Jun 28, 2:48 pm
Witness: Trump didn’t want to respond as attack on Capitol unfolded
In videotaped testimony, Hutchinson recalled seeing Meadows in his office at the White House, flipping through his phone as Trump supporters marched to the Capitol, and then violently breaching it.
“I said, ‘The rioters are getting really close. Have you talked to the president?'” she recalled. “Meadows said, ‘No. He wants to be alone right now.'”
“I felt like I was watching,” she continued in taped testimony, “a bad car accident that was about to happen. You can’t stop it but you want to do something. I remember thinking in that moment that Mark needs to snap out of this.”
She recalled White House counsel Pat Cipollone “barreling” towards Meadows’s office, and saying something to the effect of, “”Mark, something needs to be done, or people are going to die and blood is going to be on your effing hands.'”
She later overheard Cipollone and Meadows talking about the “Hang Mike Pence” chants at the Capitol.
“You heard it Pat — he thinks Mike deserves it. He thinks they aren’t doing anything wrong,” Meadows said to Cipollone when the White House lawyer said they needed to respond, according to Hutchinson.
-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel
Jun 28, 2:45 pm
Witness ‘disgusted’ by Trump’s attack on Pence
Cassidy Hutchinson said she was “disgusted” by President Trump’s Twitter post during the Capitol attack disparaging then-Vice President Mike Pence for not single-handedly rejecting Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Trump tweeted.
Hutchinson recalled “feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really — it felt personal. I was really saddened. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American.”
Matthew Pottinger, who was then serving as the deputy national security adviser, told the committee in previous testimony, it said, that he decided to quit because of what Trump said in that social media post.
“I read that tweet, and made a decision at that moment to resign,” Pottinger said. “That’s where I knew that I was leaving that day, once I read that tweet.”
Jun 28, 2:07 pm
Witness: Trump ‘irate’ in Beast, physically assaulted security detail, demanded to be taken to Capitol
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled a shocking story of Trump’s anger on Jan. 6 after being told he could not go to the Capitol to meet supporters following his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse — leading to Trump physically assaulting his security detail on the way back to the White House.
Hutchinson recalled the conversation she had back at the White House just after the rally with Bobby Engel, part of Trump’s security detail, who was “sitting in the chair, looking somewhat discombobulated,” and Tony Ornato.
“As the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought they were going out of the Capitol and when Bobby had relayed to him were not, ‘You don’t have the access to do it, is not secure, we’re going back to the West Wing.’ The president had a very strong, very angry response to that,” she recalled.
“Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now’ — to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.'”
“Mr. Trump used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel and when Mr. Ornado recounted the story to me, he motions towards his clavicle,” she said.
Jun 28, 1:57 pm
Cippollone warned about criminal charges if Trump marched to Capitol
Hutchinson testified about the concerns some White House staff had about President Trump wanting to go to the Capitol with his supporters on Jan. 6. At one point that morning, Hutchinson said, then-White House counsel Pat Cippollone told her to make sure that it didn’t happen.
“We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we go up to the Capitol,” Hutchinson said Cippollone told her.
Crimes they were concerned about, she said, included defrauding the electoral count and obstructing justice.
The White House legal team was also concerned about aspects of Trump’s remarks at the Ellipse, Hutchinson testified, and urged speechwriters not to include language about marching to the Capitol.
Jun 28, 1:56 pm
WH lawyer warned speechwriters of rhetoric ahead of Ellipse speech
Hutchinson said there were “many discussions” the morning of Jan. 6 about the rhetoric Trump would use at the speech that ultimately preceded the riot.
Hutchinson testified that Eric Herschmann, a lawyer for Trump, said it would be “foolish to include language that had been included at the president’s request, which had lines along, to the effect of ‘fight for Trump, we’re going to march to the Capitol, I’ll be there with you, fight for me, fight for what we’re doing, fight for the movement,’ things about the vice president at the time too.”
“Both Mr. Herschmann and White House counsel’s office were urging the speechwriters to not include that language for legal concerns and also for the optics of what it could portray the president wanting to do that day,” Hutchinson said.
Trump at his speech ultimately said, “So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to give “weak” Republicans the “pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
Jun 28, 1:51 pm
Trump ‘furious’ people with weapons couldn’t get into Jan.6 Ellipse rally: ‘They are not here to hurt me’
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled how Trump was “furious” with the crowd size of his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 and with aides who didn’t want to let in individuals in who had weapons, which officials said ranged from AR-15-style rifles to bear spray.
“I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I heard the president say, “‘I don’t care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in,'” she recalled. “‘They can march to the Capitol after the rally is over.'”
Vice chair Liz Cheney asked Americans to “reflect on that for a moment” and remember what Trump called on the crowd to do, knowing they were equipped with weapons and body armor.
Jun 28, 1:45 pm
Hutchinson says Meadows didn’t act on concerns of violence
Hutchinson described Meadows’ underwhelming reaction to learning about the list of weapons that people had in the rally crowd that morning — including knives, bear spray, guns and flagpoles with spears attached to them.
“I remember distinctly Mark not looking up from his phone,” Hutchinson said, noting it took Meadows a few moments to respond. When he did respond, he asked [security officials], “Alright, anything else?”
In previously taped deposition, Hutchinson told the committee it was accurate to say Meadows “did not act” on concerns of violence.
Jun 28, 1:36 pm
White House was warned ‘Congress itself is the target on the 6th’
The bombshell information the committee is unfolding through Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony is that the Trump administration and Trump himself knew about the potential for violence before Jan. 6.
“I recall hearing the word ‘Oath Keeper’ and hearing the word ‘Proud Boys’ closer to the planning of the January 6 rally when Mr. Giuliani would be around,” Hutchinson said in a taped deposition played by Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cheney then displayed a Capitol Police bulletin on Jan. 3 warning, “targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th.”
Hutchinson also recalled receiving a call from then-national security adviser Robert O’Brien, after the Capitol Police bulletin, asking if he could speak with Meadows about the potential violence. She wasn’t sure if that call ever happened.
Jun 28, 1:29 pm
Meadows told Hutchinson ‘things might get real, real bad’ on Jan. 6
Hutchinson described Tuesday conversations she had with Rudy Giuliani and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 2, 2021 — four days before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Hutchinson said Giuliani said to her something “to the effect of ‘We’re going to the Capitol. It’s going to be great. The president’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful.'”
When Hutchinson went to Meadows’ office to relay her discussion with Giuliani, Meadows told her: “There is a lot going on, Cass, I don’t know, things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6.”
“That evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on Jan. 6,” Hutchinson testified. “I had a deeper concern with what was happening with the planning aspects.”
Jun 28, 1:20 pm
Committee establishes Hutchinson’s proximity to Trump
Introducing Hutchinson to the American people, Chairman Bennie Thompson asked Hutchinson to recall a typical day at the White House.
“When I moved over to the White House chief of staff’s office with Mr. Meadows, when he became the fourth chief of staff, it’s difficult to describe a typical day,” she said.
Thompson established through a series of questions how Hutchinson’s office was a five to 10-second walk from the Oval Office and that she regularly engaged with members of Congress and senior members of the Trump administration.
Jun 28, 1:17 pm
Cheney: Hutchinson will relay firsthand observations of Trump’s conduct
Vice chair Liz Cheney said Cassidy Hutchinson was in a “position to know a great deal about the happenings in the Trump White House.”
“Today, you will hear Ms. Hutchinson relate certain first-hand observations about President Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6,” Cheney said in her opening statement. “You will also hear new information regarding the actions and statements of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers that day, including his chief of staff Mark Meadows, and his White House counsel.”
Cheney said information will also be released on what Trump and members of the White House knew about the potential for violence on Jan. 6.
Jun 28, 1:13 pm
Chair applauds Hutchinson’s ‘courage’ to open hearing
Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., convened the unexpected hearing shortly after 1 p.m. with Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, taking her seat as members took the dais.
In brief opening remarks, he explained information that she had needed to be shared with the American people “immediately” and hailed her courage.
“In recent days, the select committee has obtained new information, dealing with what was going on in the White House on Jan. 6, and in the days prior. Specific, detailed information about what the former president and his top aides were doing and saying in those critical hours. Firsthand details of what transpired in the Office of the White House chief of staff,” Thompson said.
“It hasn’t always been easy to get that information, because the same people who drove the former president’s pressure campaign to overturn the election are now trying to cover up the truth about January 6. But thanks to the courage of certain individuals, the truth won’t be buried. The American people won’t be left in the dark,” he added. “Our witness today is Cassidy Hutchinson, she has embodied that courage.”
Jun 28, 1:08 pm
Cameras flash at high drama hearing
With the nature of the hearing coming up with little notice, signaling urgency for the committee, reporters and cameras swarmed the witness table inside the Cannon Office Building ahead of Cassidy Hutchinson taking her seat.
Hutchinson entered the hearing room at 1 p.m. with members of the Jan. 6 committee.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl said sources have told him the hearing will be “Big —and disturbing.”
Jun 28, 1:00 pm
Former WH deputy press secretary shows support for Hutchinson
Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews showed support for Cassidy Hutchinson ahead of her scheduled testimony.
“Just want to say how much admiration I have for the tremendous bravery Cassidy Hutchinson is displaying,” Matthews wrote on Twitter. “Even in the face of harassment and threats, she is choosing to put her country first and tell the truth.”
“This is what real courage, integrity, and patriotism looks like,” Matthews added.
Matthews resigned from her position in the Trump administration on Jan. 6 , stating she was “deeply disturbed” by what took place that day.
Jun 28, 12:59 pm
Witness switched attorneys as public hearings began
Cassidy Hutchinson hired a new attorney, Jody Hunt, earlier this month to represent her as the public Jan. 6 hearings began. Her agreement to testify publicly comes after months of negotiations between the committee and her counsel, sources told ABC News.
At the start of the Trump administration, Hunt served as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He later became the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
Jun 28, 12:23 pm
Who is Cassidy Hutchinson?
The committee’s expected witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, is a former top adviser to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
A 2019 political science graduate of Virginia’s Christopher Newport University, Hutchinson was as an intern to House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in college before serving as a White House intern in 2018. After graduating, she joined the Trump White House Office of Legislative Affairs, before joining Meadows as an executive assistant, and later a special assistant to the president.
“I have set a personal goal to pursue a path of civic significance,” she told her alma mater in a 2018 interview after her White House internship.
Having already sat four separate times for closed-door depositions with the committee, Hutchinson has been featured in clips publicly displayed by the committee, including some in which she discussed members of Congress asking the White House for pardons.
Jun 28, 9:57 am
Surprise hearing signals committee’s urgency
The House select committee will convene Tuesday afternoon for a surprise public hearing, signaling apparent urgency among members to reveal further findings from their year-long inquiry.
The hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, will see the committee “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony,” the group said in a news release Monday.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top adviser to Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is expected to testify, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Punchbowl News first reported her appearance.
Hutchinson is expected to put a voice to many of the internal White House interactions involving the events of Jan. 6 and offer significant insight into Meadows’ actions and interactions with Trump.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is holding a surprise hearing Tuesday after saying it wouldn’t be holding more until the middle of July.
The committee said the focus would be on “recently obtained evidence.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is testifying, sources said.
This is the sixth hearing this month on the attack on the U.S. Capitol and what the committee says was the plot by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern.
Jun 28, 2:07 pm
Witness: Trump ‘irate’ in Beast, physically assaulted security detail, demanded to be taken to Capitol
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled a shocking story of Trump’s anger on Jan. 6 after being told he could not go to the Capitol to meet supporters following his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse — leading to Trump physically assaulting his security detail on the way back to the White House.
Hutchinson recalled the conversation she had back at the White House just after the rally with Bobby Engel, part of Trump’s security detail, who was “sitting in the chair, looking somewhat discombobulated,” and Tony Ornato.
“As the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought they were going out of the Capitol and when Bobby had relayed to him were not, ‘You don’t have the access to do it, is not secure, we’re going back to the West Wing.’ The president had a very strong, very angry response to that,” she recalled.
“Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now’ — to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.'”
“Mr. Trump used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel and when Mr. Ornado recounted the story to me, he motions towards his clavicle,” she said.
Jun 28, 1:57 pm
Cippollone warned about criminal charges if Trump marched to Capitol
Hutchinson testified about the concerns some White House staff had about President Trump wanting to go to the Capitol with his supporters on Jan. 6. At one point that morning, Hutchinson said, then-White House counsel Pat Cippollone told her to make sure that it didn’t happen.
“We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we go up to the Capitol,” Hutchinson said Cippollone told her.
Crimes they were concerned about, she said, included defrauding the electoral count and obstructing justice.
The White House legal team was also concerned about aspects of Trump’s remarks at the Ellipse, Hutchinson testified, and urged speechwriters not to include language about marching to the Capitol.
Jun 28, 1:56 pm
WH lawyer warned speechwriters of rhetoric ahead of Ellipse speech
Hutchinson said there were “many discussions” the morning of Jan. 6 about the rhetoric Trump would use at the speech that ultimately preceded the riot.
Hutchinson testified that Eric Herschmann, a lawyer for Trump, said it would be “foolish to include language that had been included at the president’s request, which had lines along, to the effect of ‘fight for Trump, we’re going to march to the Capitol, I’ll be there with you, fight for me, fight for what we’re doing, fight for the movement,’ things about the vice president at the time too.”
“Both Mr. Herschmann and White House counsel’s office were urging the speechwriters to not include that language for legal concerns and also for the optics of what it could portray the president wanting to do that day,” Hutchinson said.
Trump at his speech ultimately said, “So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to give “weak” Republicans the “pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
Jun 28, 1:51 pm
Trump ‘furious’ people with weapons couldn’t get into Jan.6 Ellipse rally: ‘They are not here to hurt me’
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled how Trump was “furious” with the crowd size of his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 and with aides who didn’t want to let in individuals in who had weapons, which officials said ranged from AR-15-style rifles to bear spray.
“I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I heard the president say, “‘I don’t care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in,'” she recalled. “‘They can march to the Capitol after the rally is over.'”
Vice chair Liz Cheney asked Americans to “reflect on that for a moment” and remember what Trump called on the crowd to do, knowing they were equipped with weapons and body armor.
Jun 28, 1:45 pm
Hutchinson says Meadows didn’t act on concerns of violence
Hutchinson described Meadows’ underwhelming reaction to learning about the list of weapons that people had in the rally crowd that morning — including knives, bear spray, guns and flagpoles with spears attached to them.
“I remember distinctly Mark not looking up from his phone,” Hutchinson said, noting it took Meadows a few moments to respond. When he did respond, he asked [security officials], “Alright, anything else?”
In previously taped deposition, Hutchinson told the committee it was accurate to say Meadows “did not act” on concerns of violence.
Jun 28, 1:36 pm
White House was warned ‘Congress itself is the target on the 6th’
The bombshell information the committee is unfolding through Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony is that the Trump administration and Trump himself knew about the potential for violence before Jan. 6.
“I recall hearing the word ‘Oath Keeper’ and hearing the word ‘Proud Boys’ closer to the planning of the January 6 rally when Mr. Giuliani would be around,” Hutchinson said in a taped deposition played by Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cheney then displayed a Capitol Police bulletin on Jan. 3 warning, “targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th.”
Hutchinson also recalled receiving a call from then-national security adviser Robert O’Brien, after the Capitol Police bulletin, asking if he could speak with Meadows about the potential violence. She wasn’t sure if that call ever happened.
Jun 28, 1:29 pm
Meadows told Hutchinson ‘things might get real, real bad’ on Jan. 6
Hutchinson described Tuesday conversations she had with Rudy Giuliani and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 2, 2021 — four days before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Hutchinson said Giuliani said to her something “to the effect of ‘We’re going to the Capitol. It’s going to be great. The president’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful.'”
When Hutchinson went to Meadows’ office to relay her discussion with Giuliani, Meadows told her: “There is a lot going on, Cass, I don’t know, things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6.”
“That evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on Jan. 6,” Hutchinson testified. “I had a deeper concern with what was happening with the planning aspects.”
Jun 28, 1:20 pm
Committee establishes Hutchinson’s proximity to Trump
Introducing Hutchinson to the American people, Chairman Bennie Thompson asked Hutchinson to recall a typical day at the White House.
“When I moved over to the White House chief of staff’s office with Mr. Meadows, when he became the fourth chief of staff, it’s difficult to describe a typical day,” she said.
Thompson established through a series of questions how Hutchinson’s office was a five to 10-second walk from the Oval Office and that she regularly engaged with members of Congress and senior members of the Trump administration.
Jun 28, 1:17 pm
Cheney: Hutchinson will relay firsthand observations of Trump’s conduct
Vice chair Liz Cheney said Cassidy Hutchinson was in a “position to know a great deal about the happenings in the Trump White House.”
“Today, you will hear Ms. Hutchinson relate certain first-hand observations about President Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6,” Cheney said in her opening statement. “You will also hear new information regarding the actions and statements of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers that day, including his chief of staff Mark Meadows, and his White House counsel.”
Cheney said information will also be released on what Trump and members of the White House knew about the potential for violence on Jan. 6.
Jun 28, 1:13 pm
Chair applauds Hutchinson’s ‘courage’ to open hearing
Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., convened the unexpected hearing shortly after 1 p.m. with Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, taking her seat as members took the dais.
In brief opening remarks, he explained information that she had needed to be shared with the American people “immediately” and hailed her courage.
“In recent days, the select committee has obtained new information, dealing with what was going on in the White House on Jan. 6, and in the days prior. Specific, detailed information about what the former president and his top aides were doing and saying in those critical hours. Firsthand details of what transpired in the Office of the White House chief of staff,” Thompson said.
“It hasn’t always been easy to get that information, because the same people who drove the former president’s pressure campaign to overturn the election are now trying to cover up the truth about January 6. But thanks to the courage of certain individuals, the truth won’t be buried. The American people won’t be left in the dark,” he added. “Our witness today is Cassidy Hutchinson, she has embodied that courage.”
Jun 28, 1:08 pm
Cameras flash at high drama hearing
With the nature of the hearing coming up with little notice, signaling urgency for the committee, reporters and cameras swarmed the witness table inside the Cannon Office Building ahead of Cassidy Hutchinson taking her seat.
Hutchinson entered the hearing room at 1 p.m. with members of the Jan. 6 committee.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl said sources have told him the hearing will be “Big —and disturbing.”
Jun 28, 1:00 pm
Former WH deputy press secretary shows support for Hutchinson
Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews showed support for Cassidy Hutchinson ahead of her scheduled testimony.
“Just want to say how much admiration I have for the tremendous bravery Cassidy Hutchinson is displaying,” Matthews wrote on Twitter. “Even in the face of harassment and threats, she is choosing to put her country first and tell the truth.”
“This is what real courage, integrity, and patriotism looks like,” Matthews added.
Matthews resigned from her position in the Trump administration on Jan. 6 , stating she was “deeply disturbed” by what took place that day.
Jun 28, 12:59 pm
Witness switched attorneys as public hearings began
Cassidy Hutchinson hired a new attorney, Jody Hunt, earlier this month to represent her as the public Jan. 6 hearings began. Her agreement to testify publicly comes after months of negotiations between the committee and her counsel, sources told ABC News.
At the start of the Trump administration, Hunt served as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He later became the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
Jun 28, 12:23 pm
Who is Cassidy Hutchinson?
The committee’s expected witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, is a former top adviser to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
A 2019 political science graduate of Virginia’s Christopher Newport University, Hutchinson was as an intern to House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in college before serving as a White House intern in 2018. After graduating, she joined the Trump White House Office of Legislative Affairs, before joining Meadows as an executive assistant, and later a special assistant to the president.
“I have set a personal goal to pursue a path of civic significance,” she told her alma mater in a 2018 interview after her White House internship.
Having already sat four separate times for closed-door depositions with the committee, Hutchinson has been featured in clips publicly displayed by the committee, including some in which she discussed members of Congress asking the White House for pardons.
Jun 28, 9:57 am
Surprise hearing signals committee’s urgency
The House select committee will convene Tuesday afternoon for a surprise public hearing, signaling apparent urgency among members to reveal further findings from their year-long inquiry.
The hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, will see the committee “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony,” the group said in a news release Monday.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top adviser to Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is expected to testify, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Punchbowl News first reported her appearance.
Hutchinson is expected to put a voice to many of the internal White House interactions involving the events of Jan. 6 and offer significant insight into Meadows’ actions and interactions with Trump.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol will convene Tuesday afternoon for a surprise public hearing, signaling apparent urgency among members to reveal further findings from their year-long inquiry.
The hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, will see the committee “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony,” the group said in a news release Monday.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top adviser to Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is expected to testify, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Punchbowl News first reported of her scheduled appearance late Monday.
It’s anticipated that through her testimony, Hutchinson will put a voice to many of the internal White House interactions involving the events of Jan. 6 that have been reported publicly and offer significant insight into Meadows’ actions and interactions with then-President Trump on Jan. 6 and in the days before and after, sources said.
Having already sat four separate times for closed-door depositions with the committee, Hutchinson has been featured in clips publicly displayed by the committee, including some in which she was discussing members of Congress asking the White House for pardons.
The surprise hearing comes after the committee had revised its schedule last week to postpone public events for “several weeks” as it sorted through a wave of new information.
“We have looked at the body of work that we need to get done and have taken in some additional information that’s going to require some additional work,” Committee Chair Bennie Thompson told reporters last week on the decision to go dark for several weeks. “So rather than present hearings that have not been the quality of the hearings of the past, we’ve made a decision to just move them to sometime in July.”
With the committee’s investigation still ongoing, British documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, who had substantial access to Trump, his family and closest aides around the Jan. 6 attack, sat last week for an interview behind closed doors and handed over footage including interviews with Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Lawmakers have also expressed interest in speaking to Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, as well as former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who recently lost a runoff to be the Republican nominee for an open Senate seat, told CNN last week that he was willing to testify for the committee — but only in public and about events related to Jan. 6.
Hutchinson’s agreement to testify publicly comes after months of negotiations between the committee and her counsel, sources told ABC News. Hutchinson hired attorney Jody Hunt, who served as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the start of the Trump administration, to represent her as the latest public hearings began earlier this month.
The committee’s last hearing closed with Thompson previewing the focus of hearings to come, calling the insurrection Trump’s “backup plan of stopping the transfer of power” if he couldn’t get away with a “political coup” in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
But Tuesday’s hearing appears to be in addition to the two remaining hearings the committee had already planned, as members continue to lay out what they’ve characterized as a “sophisticated seven-point plan” by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. (Trump has continually assailed the panel, which includes two Republicans critical of him, as illegitimate; he insists he did nothing wrong.)
As some congressional Democrats push for criminal charges to be brought against Trump and allies as the hearings unfold, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the House committee, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that charges were not his “principal interest” compared to showing the public how the violence unfolded to avoid it being repeated.
“But I know that there’s a great public hunger for individual criminal accountability, and I’ve got confidence in the Department of Justice, in Attorney General Merrick Garland, to do the right thing in terms of making all the difficult decisions about particular cases,” Raskin added.
For his part, Garland has told reporters that he and his prosecutors are closely watching the committee’s hearings, and the Department of Justice sent a letter this month telling the committee’s chief investigator it was “critical” that members “provide us with copies of the transcripts of all its witness interviews,” which the committee so far has declined to do — with Thompson saying that will come “in due time.”
Meanwhile, the department is taking further steps in its own investigation of people in Trump’s circle. Most recently, federal agents served a search warrant for John Eastman, a former Trump attorney at the center of the committee’s investigation. Eastman contended in a new lawsuit that federal agents seized his cell phone as part of that search.
Eastman claims in his suit that the warrant was issued at “the behest of the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General,” which has publicly said it is investigating any efforts by DOJ personnel to interfere in the 2020 election results.
On Wednesday, the same day the warrant was served on Eastman, federal agents conducted a search on the Virginia home of Jeffrey Clark, the former DOJ official who also allegedly sought to aid in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. (The Center for Renewing America, where Clark is a senior fellow, said that the government was being weaponized against him.)
This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz pressed Raskin in his Sunday appearance on what he saw as the “real impact” of the hearings in the public consciousness, citing a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll that 34% of Americans had been following the hearing somewhat or very closely — “as much as some people are very riveted,” she said.
“People are busy and so we know a lot of people, especially younger people, will learn about the hearings through snippets that go out on TV or online and people now are able to process information in different ways,” Raskin replied. “It’s not like the Watergate hearings where everybody had to be watching at the same moment because of the relatively primitive state of technology then. People are going to be able to absorb this over time.”
Tuesday’s hearing will air at 1 p.m. on ABC News and ABC News Live.
ABC News’ Mike Levine and Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top adviser to former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, is expected to testify Tuesday before the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol attack, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The committee announced on Monday that a newly scheduled hearing on Tuesday would “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony” — but the committee did not say who that witness would be.
Punchbowl first reported the news of her scheduled appearance.
Through her scheduled testimony, Hutchinson is expected to put a voice to many of the internal White House interactions involving the events of Jan. 6 that have been reported publicly, and offer significant insight into Meadows’ actions and interactions with Trump on Jan. 6 and in the days before and after, sources said.
During earlier depositions with the committee, Hutchinson confirmed to committee investigators accounts that Meadows had burned documents in his office, according to sources. Meadows has not commented on those allegations, and it’s not clear if they would have violated any record-keeping regulations.
Hutchinson has met with the committee three separate times for closed-door depositions.
Clips from some of those depositions have already been played publicly, including some where she was discussing members of Congress asking the White House for pardons.
Hutchinson’s agreement to testify publicly comes after months of negotiations between the committee and her counsel, sources said. Hutchinson hired a new attorney, Jody Hunt, earlier this month to represent her as the public Jan. 6 hearings began.
At the start of the Trump administration, Hunt served as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He later became the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Authorities on Wednesday seized the cell phone of John Eastman, the former attorney for Donald Trump at the center of the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, as part of the Justice Department’s criminal probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a lawsuit filed by Eastman’s attorney.
In the lawsuit, Eastman’s attorney claims that the agents served the warrant on him last Wednesday evening while he was exiting a restaurant. They claim Eastman was frisked and his iPhone was seized, and that the agents made him provide biometric data to unlock his phone.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Mexico, seeks to have the phone returned to Eastman.
Eastman, a right-wing lawyer, drafted a plan for then-President Trump to cling to power by falsely claiming that then-Vice President Mike Pence could reject legitimate electors during the certification of the election on Jan. 6.
Eastman’s lawsuit claims that the warrant for his phone’s seizure was issued at “the behest of the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General,” which has publicly said it is investigating any efforts by DOJ personnel to interfere in the 2020 election results.
Neither representatives for Eastman nor the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., immediately returned ABC News’ request for comment.
As ABC News first reported last week, federal agents on Wednesday also conducted a search of the Virginia home of Jeffrey Clark, the former DOJ official who also allegedly sought to aid Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
(WASHINGTON) — In his speech responding to last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision reversing the guarantee to abortion access, President Joe Biden urged Americans to vote on the issue — to both elect local leaders who would ensure the availability of abortion in their states as well as Democrats to Congress where he would like to see a law passed cementing a nationwide right to an abortion.
Within minutes of Biden’s remarks, there was a collective eye roll from many progressive activists, reproductive health care advocates and even fellow Democratic lawmakers online.
Then Friday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a group singing “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps and that eye roll from the left turned into a groan.
“‘Vote!” and fundraising emails are the Democrat’s version of ‘thoughts and prayers,'” Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator and surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders who is a favorite in progressive circles, wrote on Twitter.
Monica Lewsinky echoed that, writing: “It’s not a time for words -poems + singing on the steps. Time for action: get rid of the filibuster, pack the f—- court + codify roe. at least put up a fight.”
Across the country, there were scenes over the weekend of pro-abortion access protesters chanting lines like “Democrats we call your bluff, voting blue is not enough” and backlash on the far-left over fundingraising emails and texts sent by the Democratic National Committee asking for “rush” donations to support candidates who would fight back against abortion opponents.
“If you are a lawmaker who, in the time between the leak & ruling, spent more manpower on a fundraising plan than a policy response, then I highly recommend rethinking your priorities. Our job right now is to protect people. Doing so will drive the vote more than browbeating,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote, retweeting a video of young female voters who said they were frustrated that Democrats had not acted to codify Roe into law years ago — with Democrats in turn saying they have been stymied by the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
‘Unprecedented moment’
Biden has said repeatedly that only Congress can pass a law to fully reestablish the right to an abortion nationwide and that he is looking for steps he can take within the bounds of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal dollars being spent on abortion care except to save the life of the mother or in an instance of rape or incest.
But without the current votes to pass a national abortion access law, Democrats in the House and the Senate have put forward a number of other policy proposals they think the president could still act on, even in light of Hyde, before the midterm elections.
Members of Congressional Black Caucus specifically called on the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency, arguing that that would free up federal dollars to perhaps support clinics in blue states expecting a surge of new patients from red states that have or will soon forbid abortion in all or most cases.
“In this unprecedented moment, we must act urgently as if lives depend on it because they do,” the group of lawmakers wrote in a Friday letter to the White House, citing the country’s high rates of maternal mortality compared to other developed nations, especially among Black women.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health Education and Labor, expressed frustration over the weekend that the Biden team was not ready with a plan for executive actions the day the decision came down, especially after a draft of the opinion was leaked more than a month ago.
In a letter to the White House in early June, Murray and others urged the administration to start looking at ways to protect patients’ personal health and location data as well as look into whether reproductive health services could be provided on federal lands or on federal property.
“I want President Biden to do absolutely everything in his power to protect access to abortion in America—let’s really push the envelope to protect women in this country, and let’s do it now,” Murray told ABC News in a written statement Monday night, adding that she understood that there were limits to his authority.
Leaders and activists pushing this idea about using federal land have argued that Hyde was designed to prevent the use of federal funds for paying for abortion services — most commonly to prevent women on government-run health insurance from being able to get abortion care paid for or reimbursed by the government. But they say that in leasing space, the government would be making and not spending money.
‘I think they were ready’
Other abortion access supporters took a different view on how the White House has responded, though they agreed that they wanted Biden to do more.
“I think they were ready for moment,” said Mini Timmaraju, the president of NARAL. “I think their reaction — although it came a little earlier than we all planned — was robust.”
Timmaraju said she was “pleased” with Biden’s remarks and “heartened” by his and Vice President Kamala Harris’ work so far, but she said that “I definitely think we need to see more specifics” about what the White House has announced so far such as access to medication for abortions and protecting women who travel to other states for care.
She added that she was “empathetic to the situation that they’re in” since it was “hard to have more specifics when we were waiting to see the parameters of what the court was going to decide.”
Asked about the use of federal lands on Monday, Harris told CNN, “It’s not right now what we are discussing.” A White House official told ABC: “While this proposal is well-intentioned, it could put women and providers at risk.”
Others have wondered if, within the bounds of Hyde’s restriction, federal funds could be used to help women with abortion-related expenses, like traveling out of state, or to offer abortion services to victims of rape in states, like Arkansas, where new bans do not have such exceptions.
Responding to some of these calls to action, a White House official told ABC News in a written statement, “We are going to continue to look at everything we can do, consistent with Hyde, to protect a woman’s right to choose but Hyde generally prohibits funding abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and threats to the life of the mother. Unfortunately, there are not enough votes in Congress to repeal it, just like there are not enough currently to restore Roe. This also makes the case for why we want more members of Congress who share our view on the urgency of this.”
Talking with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz on “This Week,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren doubled down on the idea of using federal lands to make abortion care as available as possible. Warren, like Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic lawmakers, also asked the president to lay out plans to make medication abortion available across state lines.
Biden said Friday that he was directing the Department of Health and Human Services to try to “take steps to ensure” that contraception and medications like mifepristone, which can end an early pregnancy, are as widely available as possible.
Other reproductive health care advocates have argued the White House could and should help provide more information at a minimum, with state laws changing rapidly and creating so much confusion for patients.
Timmaraju, the NARAL president, said the White House Gender Policy Council and the vice president’s office have held “a ton” of listening sessions and roundtables and have been talking to providers and lawyers about what’s possible.
Both Timmaraju and another reproductive rights advocate called on Biden to declare a national public health emergency like the government did for COVID-19.
The advocate, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said Biden should speak out more.
“We appreciate that the Biden administration obviously came out very quickly to take a stand, but they can and they should do more,” this person said. “The No. 1 priority must be to reduce harm, and they’ve got to use the bully pulpit as much and as often as they can to raise awareness.”
While the federal government launched ReproductiveRights.gov, Timmaraju and the other advocate said they wanted the White House to take further action to ensure more access to information.
“There is so much uncertainty and unknown” about the abortion pill, for example, the advocate said. “That is information that the Biden administration can and should put on that website.”
“How can anyone be satisfied with the speed when a right was taken away and it immediately prevented people from accessing health care in their states?” the advocate said.
(WASHINGTON) — The United States is working to finalize the purchase of an advanced air defense system bound for Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the G-7 summit in Germany Monday.
Developed in Norway, the NASAMS is an anti-aircraft medium-to-long-range surface-to-air missile that can reportedly strike targets 100 miles away.
Sullivan confirmed to reporters that the U.S. is finalizing the purchase but has yet to sign a contract making the purchase official.
It is unclear how much the anti-aircraft system costs.
Biden told his global counterparts at the G-7 and Ukraine’s President Zelensky about U.S. intentions, Sullivan said.
The impending purchase of the NASAMS system is part of a package that will also include artillery ammunition and counter-battery radars, according to Sullivan. The Ukrainian military made specific requests for the ammunition and radars, he said.
The NASAMS system is reported to protect restricted airspace around the White House.
Monday’s announcement from the G-7 summit comes four days after the White House announced it is sending $450 million in aid to Ukraine. HIMARS missile systems are part of that package.
Hours after the announcement, initial counts are that 10 died and more than 40 were wounded following a Monday missile strike in Kremenchuk in Ukraine’s Poltava region.
Residents say the strike hit a shopping mall, setting it ablaze.
The administration and President Zelensky hope the NASAMS system and other recent aid from the U.S. will better equip Ukraine to continue its pushback against Russia in the war, which recently entered its fifth month.
Some G-7 members also announced Sunday they will further tighten their grip on Russia by banning the imports of Russian gold.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan joined together to ban Russia’s second-largest import but fellow G-7 members Germany, France, and Italy held out.
The move codifies a ban that many refiners, shippers, and banks already voluntarily implemented themselves, and it highlights how even some of the world’s global powers — those geographically closest to the Russia-Ukrainian conflict — disagree with how to approach the matter.
The U.S. Treasury will release an official notice of the ban as it concerns U.S.-based businesses Tuesday.
President Zelenskyy met virtually with G-7 leaders Monday as the group moves closer to reaching an agreement that will cap the price of Russian oil, further starving Russia of funds to fuel its war.
ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in a much-anticipated ruling Friday in one of its biggest decisions this term.
The court voted 5-4, largely along party lines, to overturn Roe and 6-3, in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which involved Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
It appeared that the panel’s conservative majority of justices was ready to overturn nearly 50 years of established abortion rights after last month’s leaked draft decision indicated as much.
Jun 27, 4:57 pm
Pelosi outlines Democrats’ next steps in abortion fight
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter Monday to House Democrats outlining possible next steps to expand abortion access after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.
“While this extremist Supreme Court works to punish and control the American people, Democrats must continue our fight to expand freedom in America. Doing so is foundational to our oath of office and our fidelity to the Constitution,” she wrote.
Pelosi said possible next steps include protecting women’s personal data in reproductive apps so it can’t be used against them in a state that criminalizes abortion as well as making it clear Americans have the right to travel freely throughout the U.S. in response to states attempting to criminalize those who travel out-of-state for an abortion.
She added that she will work to pass legislation that codifies a woman’s right to an abortion, which was passed by the House in September 2021 but blocked in the Senate.
Pelosi added legislation will also be introduced to “further codify” marriage equality and women’s access to contraception and IVF, after Justice Clarance Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion the court should reexamine rulings on these topics.
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Jun 27, 4:33 pm
Abortion rights groups file suit against Kentucky trigger ban
Abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit Monday to prevent Kentucky’s trigger ban from going into effect after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade last week.
Under the law, anybody who performs or attempts to perform an abortion will be charged with a Class D felony, punishable by one to five years in prison. The only exception is if the mother’s health is at risk.
The groups that filed the suit — American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Kentucky, and Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaiʻi, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky — argue the ban goes against the Kentucky Constitution, which protects the right to privacy and bodily autonomy.
In the lawsuit, the groups are also seeking to block a six-week abortion ban that was previously blocked by a federal court.
-ABC News’ Andrea Amiel
Jun 27, 1:36 pm
State court blocks Louisiana’s trigger ban
A state court blocked Louisiana’s trigger law banning abortion from going into effect on Monday after a petition was filed earlier in the day by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
The petition was filed on behalf Hope Medical Group for Women — a clinic located in Shreveport — arguing that the trigger ban was “vague” and didn’t explicitly state when a provider could interfere to save a woman’s life.
Abortion care will resume in the state and a hearing has been set for July 8.
-ABC News’ Ely Brown
Jun 27, 12:52 pm
Abortion providers challenge Louisiana’s trigger law
Abortion providers have teamed up with a law firm to challenge Louisiana’s trigger ban following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The Center for Reproductive Rights and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP filed a petition Monday on behalf of Hope Medical Group for Women — a clinic located in Shreveport — its administrator Kathaleen Pittman and Medical Students for Choice requesting emergency relief from the ban.
The ban does not allow abortions in most instances except if the mother’s life is at risk. However, the doctor must make an effort to save the life of both the other and the fetus before performing an abortion.
The plaintiffs argue Louisiana’s trigger laws are “vague” and that it’s impossible to tell what constitutes as the mother’s life being at risk.
“Seeking reproductive care is already difficult in the U.S., especially in Louisiana,” said Pittman in a statement.
She continued, “We are committed to this monumental legal challenge — not to perpetuate an endless political battle, but to ensure our patients’ wellbeing and so that they may draw strength from our dedication to this fight.”
Jun 25, 4:54 pm
Abortion illegal in 8 states
Abortion has become illegal in eight states, home to more than 31 million Americans, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the medical procedure as a constitutional right.
Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah had trigger laws that went into effect following the ruling.
Providers have stopped performing abortions in Arizona, Wisconsin and West Virginia while legal analysis is pending. Abortions are not being performed in a total of at least 11 states.
All state abortion bans currently in effect provide an exception when the life of the mother is at risk.
Only Utah allows exceptions for cases of rape, incest or a lethal fetal deformity.
Jun 25, 1:01 pm
White House warns of ‘nightmare scenarios’ after Roe repeal
The White House on Saturday continued to criticize the overturning of Roe v. Wade, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters the Supreme Court’s ruling is “out of step” with what a majority of Americans want.
“We are going to see some nightmare scenarios, sadly, because of this decision,” Jean-Pierre said on Air Force One on the way to the G7 summit in Germany.
Jean-Pierre touted the steps announced by the administration yesterday to protect access to federally approved medication like contraception and medication abortion and to ensure women can travel across state lines for reproductive health care.
But it’s ultimately up to Congress to fully restore Roe, she said.
“If that can’t happen, the American public has to use their voice,” Jean-Pierre said. “In light of this decision, they have to use their voice at the ballot box.”
Not on the table, she said, is court expansion: “That is something that the President does not agree with.”
Jun 25, 9:50 am
Advocacy group calls on DOD to support servicewomen, families as abortion bans begin to take effect
Advocacy group “Not in My Marine Corps,” started by former marine and Department of Defense civil servant Erin Kirk Cuomo, called on leaders to support servicewomen and families in areas where abortion bans have begun to take effect. The group has worked to raise awareness around sexual assault in the military.
The group is calling on leaders in the department and Virginia to:
Push for “compassionate reassignment” policies to let active duty women (and families) currently stationed in states with trigger laws appeal for reassignment
Guarantee service members in need of abortion will be able to cross state lines
Put an end to the Hyde Amendment so military bases can provide more abortion care.
“It’ll be interesting to see what DoD comes out within the next several days. We’ve known that this is going to be happening for months now. So they should have they should have been working on these policies,” Cuomo added.
Because of the Hyde Amendment, the department’s military medical program doesn’t regularly perform abortions, so service members would rely on providers in the state.
Earlier this month, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, introduced legislation that did not call for a full repeal of Hyde, but for a more tailored change in policy to allow military doctors on military bases provide abortion access for service members. There is a companion bill in the House.
“While states like New York will remain a safe haven for reproductive freedom, the reproductive rights of women serving at Fort Hood in Texas or other conservative states could be in jeopardy,” Gillibrand wrote, introducing the bill.
Jun 25, 9:27 am
Biden says administration will examine implementation of state abortion laws
President Joe Biden commented on states implementing abortion bans, vowing to act, the morning after the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights.
“The decision is implemented by states. My administration is going to focus on how they administer it, and whether or not they violate other laws, like deciding who is not allowed across state lines to get public health services. And we’re gonna take actions to protect women’s rights and reproductive health,” Biden vowed.
Asked if he thought the court is broken, Biden said, “I think the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions.”
Jun 25, 8:51 am
Blinken vows to ensure reproductive care access to State Department employees
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the State Department will do everything in its power to ensure its employees have access to reproductive health services no matter where they live, vowing not to waver from this commitment.
Adding, “Under this Administration, the State Department will remain fully committed to helping provide access to reproductive health services and advancing reproductive rights around the world,” Blinken said in a statement.
Jun 25, 12:19 am
Truck runs over woman’s foot
A man in a truck hit two women Friday during a pro-abortion protest outside the U.S. District Court Federal Court House in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and injured one.
Video on social media showed a man in a truck striking protestors, ripping signs as he drove and then hit two women who were crossing the street and ran over the feet of one woman.
There have been nationwide protests in the fallout of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion.
The Cedar Rapids police department is conducting an investigation.
Jun 24, 9:10 pm
US Marshals declare federal judges, government officials ‘most at risk’
The U.S. Marshals Service told ABC News that federal judges and state government officials are “most at risk” following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“In light of the increased security concerns stemming from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, the U.S. Marshals Service continues to assist the Marshal of the Supreme Court with the responsibility of protecting the United State Supreme Court and its facilities,” the statement read.
“While we do not comment on specific security measures, we continuously review the security measures in place and take appropriate steps to provide additional protection when it is warranted.”
Congress recently passed legislation that would increase security for the Supreme Court justices and their families.
Jun 24, 8:13 pm
Protesters gather nationwide
People in support of abortion rights gathered Friday after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed a constitutional right for an abortion.
Protests occurred Friday at Federal Plaza in Chicago, Philadelphia’s City Hall, Washington Square Park in New York and downtown Boston. More rallies were being planned for Saturday in response to the ruling.
About two dozen protesters also gathered outside the private community residence where Justice Clarence Thomas lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with some carrying signs that read “you will never control my body.”
Jun 24, 7:07 pm
Planned Parenthood doctor describes moments after ruling
Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis region, oversees a clinic in Missouri, which has been immediately shut down by a trigger law, and a clinic in Illinois, which will stay open for the foreseeable future.
Already, she has seen the impacts of a clinic that gets shut down — and the massive demand for one that’s still open.
“Within minutes of the decision, our attorney general invoked that trigger ban, and we had to stop providing abortion care,” she said of the Missouri clinic.
And in Illinois, she said, “Within minutes, again, we were receiving calls from clinics and other trigger-banned states to say, ‘I have patients on the schedule tomorrow. How many can you accommodate in the coming days?'”
Jun 24, 6:55 pm
Sports figures speak out against ruling
Soccer star Megan Rapinoe took several minutes during a media appearance ahead of Saturday’s match between the U.S. and Colombia to talk about the Supreme Court ruling on Friday.
“Obviously you can understand from an individual perspective how difficult it is to live in a country where you have a constant, unrelenting, violent tide against you and onslaught as a woman,” she said. “And it would be as a gay person and as a non-binary person, as a trans person — whoever this is going to affect, because it affects a lot more than just women or cis-women. It really does affect us all.”
She went on to say the ruling will “disproportionately affect poor women, Black women, brown women, immigrants, women in abusive relationships, women who have been raped, women and girls who have been raped by family members,” as well as those who “maybe just didn’t make the best choice.”
Rapinoe additionally called on men to speak up about the ruling, saying that is “what, frankly, doing the right thing looks like.”
Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke out in support of abortion rights.
“The NBA and WNBA believe that women should be able to make their own decisions concerning their health and future, and we believe that freedom should be protected,” they said in a joint statement. “We will continue to advocate for gender and health equity, including ensuring our employees have access to reproductive health care, regardless of their location.”
Jun 24, 6:03 pm
US surgeon general says ‘health of women and pregnant people is put at risk’
“Today’s decision is a major step backward for public health,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a statement Friday. “Reproductive health decisions – like all health decisions – should be made by patients and their health care providers.”
Murthy said that with restricted access to reproductive health care, there will be more unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
“Ultimately, the health of women and pregnant people is put at risk – an effect that will be felt disproportionately in historically marginalized populations, including communities of color, low-income Americans, and rural residents,” he continued.
Murthy said health care providers will be further strained in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and “forced into an impossible choice between doing what’s right for their patients and complying with laws that are at odds with their patient’s health interests.”
The surgeon general said he will continue to support “women’s right to make their own decisions about their health.”
Jun 24, 5:04 pm
House Democrats look for abortion ruling to galvanize support in midterms
Following Friday’s Supreme Court decision, Democratic lawmakers have their eyes set on November, hoping the issue of abortion will galvanize widespread support.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said reproductive rights will be on the ballot in November, but also acknowledged Democrats are going to have to focus on issues like the economy to win support.
“It’s not an either-or. We should be talking about the economy. We should be talking about our plan to lower costs for families,” Maloney said. “We have a plan, but [Republican] priority is going to be to ban abortion in all 50 states and and that’s the choice voters going to get to make.”
Maloney also said Republicans are fixated on banning abortion nationwide, and come election season, they will have to answer to voters.
“Every Republican should answer whether they will criminalize abortion in all 50 states because the Supreme Court said the Constitution doesn’t stand in their way. And we know that that is their priority. And those are the wrong priorities,” he added.
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who is currently in a hotly contested Senate battle against JD Vance, said he didn’t know if abortion would be a top issue for voters but said the Supreme Court decision could galvanize a movement.
“Largest governmental overreach in the history of our lifetime right here,” Ryan said. “And I think Americans are gonna wholly reject that. And while it may not be the top issue, it will be for a lot. And I think it will be a secondary issue for a lot of other people.”
Jun 24, 4:08 pm
Kamala Harris condemns court, says ‘this is not over’
Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, calling it the first time in history that a constitutional right was taken away from Americans. Harris said the decision takes away the right to privacy.
“For nearly 50 years we have talked about what Roe v. Wade protects. Today, as of right now, as of this minute, we can only talk about what Roe v. Wade protected. Past tense. This is a health care crisis,” Harris said while delivering remarks in Plainfield, Illinois.
Harris said the expansion of freedom is not inevitable, encouraging Americans to vote in this year’s midterm elections, saying “this is not over.”
“Millions of women in America will go to bed tonight without access to the health care and reproductive care that they had this morning — without access to the same health care or reproductive health care that their mothers and grandmothers had for 50 years,” Harris said.
Jun 24, 3:44 pm
White House holds call to rally advocates after ruling
Senior White House officials held a Zoom meeting Friday afternoon seeking to rally abortion rights organizers, advocates and other leaders regarding what one official called the Supreme Court’s “devastating” decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
While the officials didn’t announce anything new in terms of actions the Biden administration may take, they pledged to work with the advocates to ensure women’s reproductive rights across the country.
“Although we’re here on a devastating day, I think, you know, I think we will all meet the moment,” Emmy Ruiz, the White House’s director of political strategy and outreach, said.
The officials drew attention to Attorney General Merrick Garland vowing to protect women’s ability to travel to other states for reproductive health care and to President Joe Biden directing the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure access to abortion medications.
“We are in this together,” White House counsel Dana Remus said. “We have a long road ahead. Lots of work to do, but I am optimistic that together we can make progress.”
Jun 24, 3:03 pm
Leading health care providers expect ripple effects from SCOTUS decision
Leading health care providers in reproductive and women’s health condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, warning that it affects patient safety and infringes on patient privacy.
The American Society for Training and Development released a statement that the decision “removes an essential civil liberty.”
“Decisions about healthcare, particularly reproductive healthcare, should be made by patients and physicians, not by interest groups, religious organizations, politicians, pundits, or Supreme Court Justices,” said Dr. Marcelle Cedars, the president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, a leader in reproductive medicine research.
The American Academy of Family Physicians said that the decision endangers the patient-physician relationship and potentially “criminalizes evidence-based medical care.”
“Allowing each state to pass their own laws regarding access to reproductive health care, including abortion services and contraception, exacerbates inequities in the health care system,” said Dr. Sterling Ransone, the president of the AAFP.
Also, the nation’s largest union of nurses spoke out and called the policy “immoral, discriminatory, misogynist, violent [and] unacceptable,” according to the statement released by National Nurses United.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said the consequences of the decision are “grave” for adolescent patients.
In addition, the largest medical speciality organization in the United States, the American College of Physicians, called the decision a “major setback” that erodes “the constitutional right to privacy.”
“We strongly oppose medically unnecessary government restrictions on any health care services,” said Dr. Ryan Mire, the president of ACP.
-Eric M. Strauss
Jun 24, 2:44 pm
West Virginia’s only abortion clinic says it’s stopping procedures immediately
The only abortion clinic in West Virginia announced it is no longer performing abortions as of Friday after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade.
In a statement on Facebook, the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia said it is not performing the procedure anymore due to “criminal code from 1882 that criminalizes abortion for both the provider and patient with a felony prison sentence up [to] 10 years.”
Abortion is still legal in West Virginia but a state constitutional amendment bars the protection of the right to an abortion. It’s unclear if the 1882 law immediately goes into effect now that Roe has been overturned.
However, the clinic vowed that it “will not stop fighting for the abortion rights of every West Virginian.”
It comes after Gov. Jim Justice praised the court’s decision and said he would call a special session if a consultation with the Legislature determined clarification in the state’s laws is needed.
Jun 24, 1:40 pm
McCarthy says Republicans to propose anti-abortion legislation if they retake the House
House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Republicans would put anti-abortion legislation on the House floor next year if they retake the chamber in this year’s midterm elections.
“We now have a voice for all life,” McCarthy said during a press conference with House Republicans Friday.
Asked what he would say to Attorney General Merrick Garland if he didn’t prosecute people who do not follow their state’s abortion laws, McCarthy said, “In less than 140 days things are gonna change here.”
“He will have now a Congress that will call him up. He will now have the ability of the Congress to have oversight. He will now have a Congress that will hold him accountable,” McCarthy said.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., also plans to introduce a 15-week abortion ban in the coming weeks.
Jun 24, 1:28 pm
Trump applauds Supreme Court decision
Former President Donald Trump applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling in a statement, calling it “the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation.”
Additionally, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, the former president praised “giving everything back to the states, where it has always belonged.”
“This is following the Constitution, and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago,” Trump told Fox News.
In response to any of his supporters who advocate for abortion rights, Trump told Fox News that “this is something that will work out for everybody.”
During his presidency, Trump appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court. He noted in his statement the ruling was “only made possible because I delivered everything as promised.”
When asked by Fox News whether he feels like he made a difference in the decision to overturn Roe, he said, “God made the decision.”
Jun 24, 1:25 pm
President Biden says court decision is ‘sad day’ for the US
President Joe Biden criticized the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade Friday.
“It’s a sad day for the court and the country. Today the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away a constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized,” Biden said in delivered remarks from the White House.
He added, “They didn’t limit it, they simply took it away. That’s never been done to a right so important to so many Americans but they did it.”
-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler
Jun 24, 1:12 pm
Sen. Susan Collins says court decision is inconsistent with justices’ testimony
Republican Sen. Susan Collins condemned the court decision, saying Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch’s votes did not align with their testimony during their confirmation hearings.
“This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me, where they both were insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon,” Collins said.
Collins voted for Kavanaugh and Gorsuch to serve on the court, for which she faced criticism because of concerns about how their appointments might impact a women’s right to choose.
Collins is one of two GOP Senators who is on the records supporting efforts to codify a woman’s right to choose.
“The Supreme Court has abandoned a fifty-year precedent at a time that the country is desperate for stability. This ill-considered action will further divide the country at a moment when, more than ever in modern times, we need the Court to show both consistency and restraint,” Collins said.
Adding, “Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative. It is a sudden and radical jolt to the country that will lead to political chaos, anger, and a further loss of confidence in our government.”
Jun 24, 1:11 pm
Governors respond to SCOTUS decision
Democratic and Republican governors across the U.S. responded to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, railed against the ruling but vowed that abortion access is still protected in the state.
“Today, the Supreme Court took away the right of millions of Americans to make decisions about their own bodies,” she said in a statement. “This decision is a grave injustice. I want everyone to know that abortion remains safe, accessible, and legal in New York.”
In neighboring New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy referred to the decision as “backwards” and “appalling.”
“In New Jersey, women will always have full autonomy over their own bodies and the right to make their own medical decisions,” he said in a statement.
Michigan Gov, Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat, reflected those sentiments,
adding, “I want every Michigander to know that I am more determined than ever to protect access to safe, legal abortion. I’ll never stop fighting.”
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said the Supreme Court made the correct decision in overruling the 1973 decision.
“The Supreme Court correctly overturns Roe v. Wade & reinstates the right of states to protect innocent, unborn children,” he said in a statement. “Texas is a pro-life state. We will ALWAYS fight to save every child from the ravages of abortion.”
Similarly, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, also a Republican, said in a statement, “The Supreme Court of the United States has rightfully returned power to the people and their elected representatives in the states. I’m proud to be a pro-life Governor and plan to take every action I can to protect life.”
Jun 24, 1:02 pm
Tensions run high outside Mississippi abortion clinic at center of court case after ruling
Clinic workers and anti-abortion rights activists shouted at each other and grew more angry outside the Mississippi abortion clinic at the center of the Supreme Court case.
One clinic worker was seen going inside because she was so emotional. The worker was in tears as she tried to hold up a sign that said they were open. Hand-drawn signs were brought out of the clinic because anti-abortion rights activists were turning women away, telling them abortions were now illegal in the state.
Women and couples stopped their cars at the intersection because they were confused as clinic workers hastily tried to tell them they were open, but likely not for long.
A pro-abortion protester outside the clinic told ABC News the decision means they are looking at suffering and death.
“We see what’s coming. We know exactly what’s going on here. Welcome to the vulture pit. Women without needs will suffer. We’ve been answering these for years but here we are. America’s not ready for what’s about to happen with the fall of Rome,” one unnamed protestor said.
An anti-abortion protester celebrated the decision, calling it “bittersweet.”
“Certainly we’re thankful that Roe has been overturned, but our hearts still break over the millions of unborn children … aborted in this country and it’s just gonna be a struggle going to states that still allow abortion and hopefully they’ll close this clinic down as quickly as possible and we’ll move on and help other places.”
-ABC News’ Cherise Rudy and Stephanie Ramos
Jun 24, 12:49 pm
Abortion provider says it’s deploying a fleet of mobile clinics along border states
Just The Pill, a nonprofit abortion group, announced a program called Abortion Delivered and vowed to deploy a fleet of mobile clinics to offer “mobile procedural abortions” along the border of states that impose restrictions.
“By operating on state borders, we will reduce travel burdens for patients in states with bans or severe limits,” said Dr. Julie Amaon, the medical director of Just The Pill and Abortion Delivered, in a statement.
Abortion law and restrictions vary by state. Some states have trigger laws in place that immediately ban abortion once the federal protection of Roe was overturned.
While state rules can differ, FDA regulations say women can be prescribed medical abortion pills by a certified provider at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy and take them at home.
“We are undaunted. We will bring care to the people who most need it, and we will defy reproductive repression by providing more affordable and accessible care,” said Amaon.
Jun 24, 12:46 pm
JPMorgan Chase to cover employee travel for abortion
JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation’s largest banks, has informed U.S. employees that it will cover the costs of travel for those seeking an abortion who cannot access the procedure legally in their home state, according to a memo sent to employees on June 1 and obtained by ABC News.
The company will begin covering the travel next month, according to a company web page that details the policy.
Several corporations in recent weeks, including Amazon and Starbucks, have announced expanded health benefits to pay for travel fees incurred by workers seeking an abortion if the procedure is unavailable near where they live.
Yelp, Tesla, Citigroup, Apple and Salesforce have also expanded abortion coverage in recent weeks for employees to include costs for travel when necessary.
The JPMorgan Chase memo was first reported by CNBC.
Jun 24, 12:39 pm
AG Merrick Garland says DOJ ‘strongly disagrees’ with ruling, will protect rights
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice “strong disagrees” with the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, and added his department “will work tirelessly to protect and advance reproductive freedom.”
He outlined several steps the department will take in furthering that goal, including protecting access to health care in states where abortion remains legal, supporting Congress’ efforts “to codify Americans’ reproductive rights” and work to protect access to mifepristone, the so-called abortion pill.
“The Supreme Court has eliminated an established right that has been an essential component of women’s liberty for half a century — a right that has safeguarded women’s ability to participate fully and equally in society,” Garland wrote in a statement.
Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama in 2016 to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat but never received a vote because Republicans refused to take it up.
-ABC News’ Alex Mallin
Jun 24, 12:18 pm
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists condemns ruling
Dr. Iffath A. Hoskins, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Supreme Court decision is “a direct blow to bodily autonomy, reproductive health, patient safety and health equity in the United States.”
“The restrictions put forth are not based on science nor medicine; they allow unrelated third parties to make decisions that rightfully and ethically should be made only by individuals and their physicians,” Hoskins said.
She said the decision will disproportionately impact people already facing barriers to health care and that laws will make people face possible risks of pregnancy, including “the morbidity and mortality associated with childbirth.”
“The principle of shared decision-making is founded on respect for peoples’ expertise in their own bodies and lives and clinicians’ expertise in science and medicine,” Hoskins said. “There is no room within the sanctuary of the patient-physician relationship for individual lawmakers who wish to impose their personal religious or ideological views on others.”
Jun 24, 12:16 pm
NAACP says SCOTUS decision will ‘disproportionately impact Black women and lower-income communities of color’
Following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaders from racial justice groups are expressing outrage.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision marks a significant regression of our country. As a legal professional, I am astounded by this decision. As a Black woman, I am outraged,” said Janette McCarthy Wallace, general counsel for the NAACP, in part of a statement.
“There is no denying the fact that this is a direct attack on all women and Black women stand to be disproportionately impacted by the court’s egregious assault on basic human rights,” she said.
Portia White, the policy and legislative affairs vice president for the NAACP, encouraged Americans to “fight back” by voting.
“If you’re not registered to vote, or know someone who isn’t, now is the moment. This is no time for anyone to sit on the sidelines,” White wrote in part of a statement.
Jun 24, 12:04 pm
NARAL Pro-Choice America condemns court decision, calling it ‘worst-case scenario’
Mini Timmaraju, president of pro-abortion group NARAL, called the court’s decision “the worst-case scenario” and warned the anti-abortion movement and its political allies want to enact a nationwide ban on abortion.
“The impact on the real lives of real people will be devastating. The Supreme Court has given the green light to extremist state lawmakers who will waste no time springing into action to put in place total bans on abortion,” Timmaraju said in a statement.
“But it is not the end of this fight. The 8 in 10 Americans who support the legal right to abortion will not let this stand. There is an election in November, and extremist politicians will learn: when you come for our rights, we come for your seats,” Timmaraju said.
Jun 24, 12:04 pm
Capitol Police says demonstrators can protest near SCOTUS
Capitol Police said in a tweet Friday that demonstrators can protest near the Supreme Court but must listen to police instruction.
“Demonstrators are gathering on Capitol Grounds, near the U.S. Supreme Court.” the tweet read.
“Protesters are allowed to peacefully demonstrate, however they must follow the officer’s instructions so that everyone stays safe.”
Jun 24, 11:45 am
Mississippi’s only abortion clinic will be forced to close after court overturns Roe
Now that the Supreme Court has overruled Roe v. Wade, Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, the clinic at the center of the court decision, will be forced to close.
The court’s decision will uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks, but the clinic will be forced to close in coming weeks when Mississippi’s trigger law takes effect, banning abortions entirely.
Women in nearby states, especially in Texas, had traveled to Jackson seeking care, with 30 to 40% of patients being from out of state.
Shannon Brewer, director of that state’s only abortion clinic still open, told ABC News ahead of the ruling that she sees a potentially more dangerous time for women, especially lower-income, minority women, grappling with unwanted or unintended pregnancies.
“No law, no court decision will stop abortion in Mississipi or anywhere. A woman who is desperate enough will try anything,” she said.
The clinic performs about 2,500 abortions a year, only up to 16 weeks into pregnancy.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Jun 24, 11:33 am
President Biden to speak at 12:30 p.m.
President Joe Biden will speak on the abortion ruling at 12:30 p.m., according to the White House.
Following the release of the draft opinion in May, Biden called abortion a “fundamental” right.
“Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” Biden said in a statement at the time.
Jun 24, 11:14 am
Planned Parenthood warns all ‘freedoms are on the line’
Planned Parenthood warned Friday that the Supreme Court overturning the right to abortion is just the beginning, warning there is a threat to Americans’ rights.
“Make no mistake – if they can take away the right to abortion, a right we’ve held for nearly 50 years, they won’t stop here: All of our freedoms are on the line,” Planned Parenthood said.
The group said the court’s decision to overturn abortion rights will impact women in marginalized communities.
“Due to centuries of racism and systemic discrimination, we already know who will feel the consequences of this horrific decision most acutely: Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, those living in rural areas, young people, immigrants, and those having difficulties making ends meet,” Planned Parenthood said.
Jun 24, 11:13 am
Abortion rights groups blast ‘infuriating’ court decision
Abortion rights groups responded to the Supreme Court decision Friday overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Today, the Supreme Court eviscerated the last shreds of our national right to abortion and blatantly turned its back on our dignity,” said Morgan Hopkins, interim executive director for campaigns and strategies at All* Above All, in a statement.
She added, “The ripple effects will be felt far and wide, in every state across the country. And to be clear — today’s decision is the result of a decades-long scheme to dismantle access to abortion care.”
Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, associate professor of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, said the decision “will fall hardest on women of color and low-income people, who already experience extreme health disparities under a racist health care system.”
Debasri Ghosh, the managing Director at the National Network of Abortion Funds, said the decision was expected but nonetheless “infuriating.”
“The harm of abortion restrictions will now fall even harder on Black, Indigenous and people of color, people already excluded from our health care by systemic racism and economic injustice,” she added.
Jun 24, 11:10 am
Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton react to decision
Former first ladies Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton reacted to the Supreme Court decision, both condemning it.
Obama, in her statement, said repeatedly that she is “heartbroken,” including “for people around this country who just lost the fundamental right to make informed decisions about their own bodies.”
Clinton, who also served as secretary of state, said, “Today’s Supreme Court opinion will live in infamy as a step backward for women’s rights and human rights.”
“This horrifying decision will have devastating consequences,” Obama wrote in her full statement.
Jun 24, 11:02 am
March for Life says court decision is just the beginning of work to ‘protect life’
Anti-abortion group March for Life praised the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, overturning federal protections for abortion.
“Today, the ability to determine whether and when to limit abortion was returned to the American people who have every right to enact laws like Mississippi’s which protect mothers and unborn babies after 15 weeks,” March for Life said in a statement.
The group called Roe v. Wade an “unpopular and extreme” abortion policy that had been imposed on the U.S. Polling shows 58% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
“We are so grateful to the countless pro-life people of goodwill who contributed and sacrificed to make today possible – including the millions of those who have marched for life over the years – and we recognize that this is just the beginning of our work to advance policies that protect life. We will continue to march until abortion is unthinkable because equality begins in the womb,” March for Life said.
Jun 24, 10:55 am
Pelosi condemns Trump, Republicans in response
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned Republicans in response to the Supreme Court decision, saying in a statement, “Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party and their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers.”
Pelosi further said there would be more restrictions on reproductive health care, claiming, “Republicans want to arrest doctors for offering reproductive care and women for terminating a pregnancy. GOP extremists are even threatening to criminalize contraception, as well as in-vitro fertilization and post-miscarriage care.”
She called the ruling “outrageous and heart-wrenching.”
Jun 24, 10:54 am
Schumer calls today ‘one of darkest days our country has ever seen’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a statement following the Dobbs decision, called Friday one of the “darkest days our country has ever seen” and directly blamed “MAGA Republicans” for the decision.
“These justices were intentionally appointed by Republicans to overturn Roe v. Wade and every Republican Senator knew this would happen if they voted to confirm these radical justices,” Schumer said in a statement. “These MAGA Republicans are all complicit in today’s decision and all of its consequences for women and families in this country.”
He pointed to the upcoming midterm elections and called on voters to support Democratic causes.
“Today’s decision makes crystal clear the contrast as we approach the November elections: elect more MAGA Republicans if you want nationwide abortion bans, the jailing of women and doctors and no exemptions for rape or incest. Or, elect more pro-choice Democrats to save Roe and protect a woman’s right to make their own decisions about their body, not politicians.”
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Jun 24, 10:46 am
Former VP Pence praises SCOTUS decision
Former Vice President Mike Pence praised the SCOTUS decision Friday overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Today, Life Won,” Pence said in a statement. “By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court of the United States has given the American people a new beginning for life, and I commend the justices in the majority for having the courage of their convictions.”
Pence said the 6-3 decision, which overturned 50 years of precedent, “righted a historic wrong.”
He continued, “Having been given this second chance for Life, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”
The former vice president has been a proponent of anti-abortion laws for years and has called numerous times on the court to overturn the decision.
Anti-abortion group March for Life praised the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, overturning federal protections for abortion.
“Today, the ability to determine whether and when to limit abortion was returned to the American people who have every right to enact laws like Mississippi’s which protect mothers and unborn babies after 15 weeks,” March for Life said in a statement.
The group called Roe v. Wade an “unpopular and extreme” abortion policy that had been imposed on the U.S. Polling shows 58% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
“We are so grateful to the countless pro-life people of goodwill who contributed and sacrificed to make today possible – including the millions of those who have marched for life over the years – and we recognize that this is just the beginning of our work to advance policies that protect life. We will continue to march until abortion is unthinkable because equality begins in the womb,” March for Life said.
Jun 24, 10:54 am
Schumer calls today ‘one of darkest days our country has ever seen’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a statement following the Dobbs decision, called Friday one of the “darkest days our country has ever seen” and directly blamed “MAGA Republicans” for the decision.
“These justices were intentionally appointed by Republicans to overturn Roe v. Wade and every Republican Senator knew this would happen if they voted to confirm these radical justices,” Schumer said in a statement. “These MAGA Republicans are all complicit in today’s decision and all of its consequences for women and families in this country.”
He pointed to the upcoming midterm elections and called on voters to support Democratic causes.
“Today’s decision makes crystal clear the contrast as we approach the November elections: elect more MAGA Republicans if you want nationwide abortion bans, the jailing of women and doctors and no exemptions for rape or incest. Or, elect more pro-choice Democrats to save Roe and protect a woman’s right to make their own decisions about their body, not politicians.”
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Jun 24, 10:46 am
Former VP Pence praises SCOTUS decision
Former Vice President Mike Pence praised the SCOTUS decision Friday overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Today, Life Won,” Pence said in a statement. “By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court of the United States has given the American people a new beginning for life, and I commend the justices in the majority for having the courage of their convictions.”
Pence said the 6-3 decision, which overturned 50 years of precedent, “righted a historic wrong.”
He continued, “Having been given this second chance for Life, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”
The former vice president has been a proponent of anti-abortion laws for years and has called numerous times on the court to overturn the decision.
Jun 24, 10:45 am
Barack Obama calls decision ‘devastating’
Former President Barack Obama responded to the Supreme Court decision, saying although this opinion was expected, “that doesn’t make it any less devastating.”
“Today, the Supreme Court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues—attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans,” he wrote in a statement.
The former president further called on people to support groups like Planned Parenthood and United State of Women that “have been sounding the alarm on this issue for years—and will continue to be on the front lines of this fight.”
Jun 24, 10:44 am
Anti-abortion groups call court ruling historic victory
Anti-abortion groups praised the Supreme Court decision to overturn federal abortion rights on Friday.
“Today marks an historic human rights victory for unborn children and their mothers and a bright pro-life future for our nation,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, in a statement.
“Every legislature in the land, in every single state and Congress, is now free to allow the will of the people to make its way into the law through our elected representatives,” Dannenfelser added.
Students for Life, another pro-abortion group, also called the ruling a “win,” saying, “Roe v. Wade has been a cancer growing in our Constitution resulting in more than 63 million deaths. Today, the court has cut it out.”
“The injustice of Roe has finally come to an end, and the momentum to protect life in law is finally on the side of innocent preborn children and their mothers who deserve our help,” said Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins.
Jun 24, 10:36 am
House minority leader applauds abortion decision
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, along with Republican Whip Rep. Steve Scalise and GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, immediately lauded the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
“Every unborn child is precious, extraordinary, and worthy of protection,” the trio of GOP leaders wrote in a statement minutes after the decision was announced. “We applaud this historic ruling, which will save countless innocent lives.
“The Supreme Court is right to return the power to protect the unborn to the people’s elected representatives in Congress and the states. In the days and weeks following this decision, we must work to continue to reject extreme policies that seek to allow late-term abortions and taxpayer dollars to fund these elective procedures.”
McCarthy added “more work remains” to protect the most vulnerable among us.
Jun 24, 10:26 am
Supreme Court overturns Roe, leaves abortion decisions up to states
The Supreme Court struck down 50 years of precedent on Friday, striking down abortion rights at the federal level.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
(WASHINGTION) — The Supreme Court on Monday said separation of church and state does not prohibit public school employees from praying aloud on the job near students.
The case involved a high school football coach praying post-game at the 50-yard line, joined by his players.
Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the opinion. The vote was 6-3.
“Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy’s,” Gorsuch wrote. “Nor does a proper understanding of the Amendment’s Establishment Clause require the government to single out private religious speech for special disfavor. The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.
In her dissent, Sotomayor introduced the case as being “about whether a public school must permit a school official to kneel, bow his head, and say a prayer at the center of a school event,” and wrote, “The Constitution does not authorize, let alone require, public schools to embrace this conduct.”
She said the free exercise clause serves as “a promise from our government” while the establishment clause serves as a “backstop that disables our government from breaking it” and “start[ing] us down the path to the past, when [the right to free exercise] was routinely abridged.”
“It elevates one individual’s interest in personal religious exercise, in the exact time and place of that individual’s choosing, over society’s interest in protecting the separation between church and state, eroding the protections for religious liberty for all,” she wrote.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett joined the majority opinion in its entirety, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined for the most part.
The ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District is a win for former high school football coach Joe Kennedy, who was suspended from his job in 2015 over post-game prayers on the 50-yard line that sometimes involved his players.
“This is just so awesome,” Kennedy said in a statement Monday. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be back on the field with my guys. I am incredibly grateful to the Supreme Court, my fantastic legal team, and everyone who has supported us. I thank God for answering our prayers and sustaining my family through this long battle.”
Kennedy insisted the midfield prayers were brief, private individual acts of faith, while the school district argued that student participation breached constitutional prohibitions against the promotion of religion by government officials.
“It was my covenant between me and God that after every game, win or lose, I’m going to do it right there on the field of battle,” Kennedy previously told ABC News of his ritual, which he said typically lasted less than a minute.
“This is a right for everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re this religion or that religion or have no faith whatsoever,” he said. “Everybody has the same rights in America.”
The school district in Washington state responded to the ruling in a statement, saying, “In light of the court’s decision, we will work with our attorneys to make certain that the Bremerton School District remains a welcoming, inclusive environment for all students, their families and our staff.
“The Bremerton School District’s priorities have always been protecting the rights and safety of students while ensuring that they receive an exemplary education. That’s why, when we learned that a district employee was leading students in prayer, we followed the law and acted to protect the religious freedom of all students and their families,” it said. “We look forward to moving past the distraction of this 7-year legal battle so that our school community can focus on what matters most: providing our children the best education possible.”
Lower courts had sided with the school district. A Supreme Court reversal in favor of Kennedy could soon expand the ability of government employees nationwide to practice their faiths more openly while on the job, legal experts say.
The First Amendment protects free speech and free exercise of religion, but it also prohibits the establishment of religion by the government.
The Supreme Court has long said that public school-sponsored prayer violates the Establishment Clause, even if the prayer is voluntary.
At the same time, the court has ruled that free speech rights don’t end at the schoolhouse gate and that religion need not be entirely expunged from public schools.
While Kennedy routinely prayed on the field after games for more than seven years, attracting varying levels of participation from students, it wasn’t until 2015 that the school district informed the coach of constitutional concerns.
“They just said if anybody could see you anywhere here, it was over,” Kennedy said.
The school district explained at the time in a statement that the prayers violated “constitutionally-required directives that he refrain from engaging in overt, public religious displays on the football field while on duty.”
Some parents complained that the prayer sessions were applying inappropriate pressure on students to participate, even if unintended.
“The coach is a leader. The coach is a mentor. If he goes to the 50-yard line, he has a message he wants to deliver, and so the players would follow,” said Bremerton parent Paul Peterson, whose son Aaron played for coach Kennedy in 2010.
“The harm is to those who are the minority students, the minority faiths, the students who have no faith,” he said. “They are being pressured into doing something that they don’t fundamentally agree with. That’s what the First Amendment protects us from.”
A federal appeals court called Kennedy’s characterization of his prayers as brief, quiet and solitary as a “deceitful narrative,” noting that they were clearly audible prayers surrounded by groups of students, amounting to unlawful religious speech as “a school official.”
Kennedy’s case has been cheered on by top Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, dozens of state and federal lawmakers, and star NFL quarterbacks, like Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles, who told the justices in a friend-of-the-court filing that the power of prayer promotes good sportsmanship.
The school district has had broad backing in court filings from other professional athletes, members of Congress, civil rights groups, teachers’ unions, and local government groups, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Kennedy currently lives in Florida but told the court that he would move back to Bremerton to return to coaching, if the justices ruled in his favor.
ABC News’ Libby Cathey contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the First Amendment protects a public school coach’s right to pray near students.
The case focusing on separation of church and state involved a high school football coach praying post-game at the 50-yard line, joined by his players.
The court held that the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance from government reprisal; the Constitution neither mandates nor permits the government to suppress such religious expression.
Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the opinion. The vote was 6-3.
“Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy’s,” Gorsuch wrote. “Nor does a proper understanding of the Amendment’s Establishment Clause require the government to single out private religious speech for special disfavor. The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
Gorsuch wrote for the majority, “the Constitution neither mandates nor permits the government to suppress such religious expression.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justice Stephen Breyer and Elana Kagan.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the opinion in its entirety
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
