Politics

(WASHINGTON) — With power players flocking to a crowded Washington hotel ballroom for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday, many itching to mingle after a two-year COVID-induced hiatus, the virus appears to be creeping closer to the gala’s star guest — President Joe Biden — with a positive test for a top aide on Friday.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield is the latest in Biden’s inner circle — following Vice President Kamala Harris — to test positive for COVID this week, tweeting on Friday that she last saw the president two days before in a “socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask.”

This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19. I last saw the President Wednesday in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask, and he is not considered a close contact as defined by the CDC.

— Kate Bedingfield (@WHCommsDir) April 29, 2022

Saturday’s event now coincides with concerns it could become a superspreader like the Gridiron Club Dinner, after which at least 72 attendees reported testing positive. Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, dropped out of the dinner earlier this week — citing his individual assessment of his own personal risk CNN first reported — while White House COVID coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha has said it should go forward.

“These are the strategies we have learned over the last two years, and if we implement them, do I think it’s safe for people to gather together indoors? Absolutely,” Jha said earlier this month on “Fox News Sunday.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked Wednesday about the discrepancy between Biden and Fauci’s plans and whether there’s concern Biden would be considered as “not following the science.”

“Every individual will make their own decisions about whether they attend this event, other events, whether they wear a mask at it or not,” Psaki said, noting the COVID protocols in place for guests.

“He [Biden] has made the decision he wants to attend, in a safe way, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to show his support,” she continued. “That does stand in stark contrast to his predecessor, who not only questioned the legitimacy of the press on a nearly daily basis, but also never attended the dinner, I don’t believe.”

Unlike former President Donald Trump, who notably skipped the event while in office, Psaki said Americans can have eyes on Biden for what she called “his roasting, where he will be on the menu, as he likes to say, when Trevor Noah is speaking.”

She also stressed that Biden, who is also slated to deliver a routine of his own, is taking extra precautions like skipping the dinner portion of the event. She said she expects he’ll be at the event “for about an hour or 90 minutes.”

“He’s not attending the dinner portion. He’s coming for the program. So and he will likely wear a mask when he’s not speaking,” Psaki said on Friday. “And then he’s of course sitting on the dias up in the front of the interaction and is not attending any of the receptions.”

She added that Biden tested negative on Thursday, “but I don’t have anything to predict in terms of the future,” she said.

Asked what to expect from his remarks, Psaki said, “The president has a very good sense of humor and is working hard on his own speech.”

In recent weeks, as the BA.2 subvariant has spread around Washington, the White House changed its messaging to say that Biden, like any other American, could test positive “at some point,” but stressed that he has the capacity to “run the country from anywhere” and is up-to-date on COVID boosters.

“Just like anything, it’s a risk assessment, and a decision he made on a personal basis,” Psaki said this week.

Comedian Trevor Noah is set to host Saturday’s dinner, for which guests are required to show proof of vaccination and a day-of negative COVID test. Drew Barrymore, Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are among celebrities planning to attend, according to a Deadline report.

Earlier this month, two Cabinet members and three lawmakers were among those who tested positive after attending the Gridiron Club Dinner. Speaker Nancy Pelosi also tested positive in early April, days after attending two events with Biden at the White House without a mask. Psaki and White House deputy press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre both tested positive in late March.

Despite the close cases — not deemed close contacts — the positive tests have not had any impact on the president’s plans to take part in large events. He attended the funeral of Madeleine Albright on Wednesday and is scheduled to also travel to Minnesota for the memorial of Walter Mondale on Sunday.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump, in a sworn affidavit, said Friday he possesses no documents subpoenaed by the New York Attorney General’s Office — but the judge overseeing the case declined to end his contempt finding and the $10,000 daily fine.

“To the best of my knowledge, (i) I do not have any of the documents requested in the subpoena dated December 1, 2021 in my personal possession; and (ii) if there are any documents responsive to the subpoena I believe they would be in the possession or custody of the Trump Organization,” Trump’s affidavit said.

“At all relevant times, I have authorized, and continue to authorize, the release of a responsive document to the Office of the Attorney General,” Trump said in the document.

The same document that contains the affidavit also contained a detailed review by Trump’s attorney of the steps taken to look for the documents in question.

But Judge Arthur Engoron remained unsatisfied, and denied Trump’s motion to purge the contempt finding and the fine that accompanies it.

“This Court has improperly held my client in contempt for a violation that he did not commit solely because the OAG declared it ‘insufficient’ without any basis,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in response to the ruling. “We will zealously prosecute our appeal of the Court’s improper application of both law and fact.”

The subpoena was issued as part of the attorney general’s civil investigation into the way Trump valued his real estate empire.

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(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, has promised the panel will tell the “story about what happened” when the first of at least eight public hearings starts on June 9, he told reporters Thursday.

“We’ll tell the story about what happened. We will use a combination of witnesses, exhibits, things that we have — to the tens of thousands of exhibits we’ve interviewed and looked at as well as the hundreds of witnesses we deposed or just talked to in general,” Thompson said, as the committee works to wrap up more witness interviews in the coming weeks.

“It will give the public the benefit of what more than a year’s worth of investigation has borne to the committee,” he added.

Thompson told reporters that the eight hearings on tap so far will be held in a “mixture” of daytime and prime-time programming. The committee has set a self-imposed fall deadline to share its findings with the American public — coinciding with the 2022 midterm elections which will determine the balance of power in Congress.

He also said the panel will re-invite House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans linked to the Jan. 6 conversations inside the Trump White House to cooperate with their investigation “before the week is out.”

“We’ve collected an awful lot of information. And some of that information has bearing on members. And we want to give those members an opportunity to tell their side,” he said, adding that senators will also be invited to cooperate.

Asked what the panel will do if lawmakers refuse, as they have in the past, Thompson said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Thompson was also asked Thursday about the tranche of text messages that former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows handed over to the committee late last year before he decided not to cooperate with the panel. The authenticity of the messages, first reported by CNN, was confirmed to ABC News by people who have seen them.

“It does not bode well for members of Congress,” Thompson said. “People send us here to be truthful. People send us here to make sure that we present the facts. People don’t send us here to lie.”

Meadows was held in contempt by the House in December for not complying with his subpoena, but has yet to face charges from the Justice Department.

The Jan. 6 committee held its first public hearing in July 2021 and featured emotional testimony from Capitol Police officers who protected the complex on Jan. 6, 2021.

The four officers testifying then — Capitol Police officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges — flatly rejected what they called attempts to rewrite history and downplay the attack as one that shouldn’t be investigated further, telling lawmakers they all feared for their lives on Jan. 6.

All four said they also wanted the panel to investigate whether those in power may have aided and abetted rioters.

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(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — The fight to pass the Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act in South Carolina is now intensifying, as several Republican state senators hold out against it. The state is one of only two in the U.S. that does not have hate crime legislation signed into law.

Pinckney, a state senator and pastor, was one of nine Black parishioners murdered by Dylann Roof in a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015. Roof was sentenced to death in 2017 after being convicted on federal hate crime charges.

The proposed bill aims to enhance the sentencing and penalties under state law against perpetrators convicted of crimes proven to be fueled by hatred. The only other state without such a law in the books is Wyoming.

The bill has stalled in the state senate for months following objections from eight Republicans, including state Sens. Brian Adams and Larry Grooms, who represents the district where the shooting occurred.

The South Carolina Republican Party and the offices of Adams and Grooms did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News.

Black lawmakers gathered in front of Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s office inside the South Carolina State House on Wednesday to urge Republicans to allow the bill to be taken up for a debate on the Senate floor.

McMaster’s office did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

They played a two-minute video statement from Polly Shepard, a survivor of the massacre, who called out the Republican lawmakers by name.

“Eight members of the South Carolina Senate are giving a safe haven to hate. Everytime you look at Sen. Pinckney’s photograph, you should be reminded that hate killed him,” Sheppard said.

She pleaded with lawmakers: “Why are you holding up this bill? What is wrong with protecting us from hate crimes?”

Democratic state Sen. Mia McLeod slammed Republicans, telling reporters that “there is no appetite on the Republican side for conversations or remarks.”

State Rep. JA Moore, whose sister was among the nine shooting victims, told ABC News that he spoke with Adams after the press conference over his lack of support.

“No piece of legislation, no speech, no demonstration, no removal of any flag or monument is going to remove the type of hate that was in Dylann Roof’s heart when he shot and killed my sister and eight other parishioners,” Moore told ABC News.

He continued, “I’m a different person because of the hate that Dylann had in his heart for Black folks. But what this legislation will do is hold people accountable when they commit hateful actions.”

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(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — The Oklahoma legislature gave final approval Thursday to a so-called “heartbeat bill” that seeks to ban most abortions in the state.

It is the latest bill in the U.S. modeled after the strict Texas law that prohibits abortions after six weeks, before most women know they’re pregnant.

Formally called S.B. 1503, but known as the “Oklahoma Heartbeat Act,” the bill bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo or fetus. There are exceptions for when the mother’s life is at risk, but not for rape or incest.

This is not the first abortion ban that Oklahoma has passed in 2022. Earlier this month, lawmakers passed a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to several years in prison.

S.B. 1503 also allows any private citizen to sue someone who performs an abortion, intends to perform an abortion or helps a woman gets an abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. These citizens could be awarded at least $10,000 for every abortion performed.

However, a civil lawsuit cannot be brought against a woman who receives an abortion. Additionally, someone who impregnated a woman through rape or incest would not be allowed to sue.

The bill is now heading to the desk of Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it. Because of the bill’s emergency clause, it will go into effect once signed by the governor.

“We want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country,” Stitt said when he signed the previous abortion bill. “We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.”

The governor’s office told ABC News in a statement it “does not comment on pending legislation.”

“The Texas law has already saved the lives of many unborn children,” Republican state. Sen. Julie Daniels, who sponsored S.B. 1503, said in a statement last month. “We can achieve the same result in Oklahoma with SB 1503.”

Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights said they plan to ask the Oklahoma State Court to block the bill before it goes into effect and ends most abortion care in the state.

“Unless these abortion bans are stopped, Oklahomans will be robbed of the freedom to control their own bodies and futures,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. “Unless these bans are blocked, patients will be turned away, people seeking abortion will be unable to access essential care in their own communities, and their loved ones could be stopped from supporting them due to fear of being sued.”

Since the law in Texas went into effect in September 2021, thousands of women have flocked to Oklahoma to receive the procedure.

A recent study from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas Austin found that of the 1,500 women that traveled out of state every month to receive abortion since September, 45% visited Oklahoma.

Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said the organization has served hundreds of women who have traveled from Texas to Oklahoma to seek abortion care.

“Now, rather than serving as a haven for patients unable to get care at home, Oklahoma politicians have made outcasts of their own people,” Wales said in a statement. “With today’s filings, we lift up the patients who will otherwise be unable to get care and ask the court to do its most essential function: honor the constitution and the individuals who need its protections.”

Under the bill making performing abortion a felony, any medical provider who performs an abortion would face a fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison. The only exceptions for performing an abortion would be if the mother’s life is in danger.

Several Republican-led states have been passing abortion legislation ahead of a Supreme Court decision in June that will decide the future of Roe v. Wade. The court will review a 15-week ban in Mississippi and decide whether or not it is constitutional. If the ban is declared constitutional, it could lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned or severely gutted.

ABC News’ Ely Brown contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump said his head of security “did nothing wrong” during a 2015 protest at Trump Tower at which five Hispanic men allege they were assaulted.

Trump called the protesters “troublemakers” during a deposition last October, according to a transcript made public Wednesday in Bronx Supreme Court, where Trump, his campaign, and his head of security, Keith Schiller, are being sued by Efrain Galicia and other demonstrators who say they were “violently attacked” during a protest over Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.

“I think they were troublemakers, yes I do. I think they were,” Trump said of the plaintiffs during the deposition.

“He did nothing wrong,” Trump said of Schiller. “He went out — I didn’t know about it — but he went out, he heard there was a disturbance and he went out.”

Video of the altercation showed Schiller smacking a protester in the face after he appeared to reach for a sign that said “Trump: Make America Racist Again.”

“And he went out, he took the sign down. He then walked away. And he was attacked from behind, and they tried to get his gun. I don’t even know if he was carrying a gun. But if he was, they were obviously trying to get it,” Trump said.

Trump denied having any knowledge of the protests in real time, despite attorneys for the demonstrators saying they have evidence to the contrary.

Toward the end of the deposition the questioning turned to a 2016 Trump campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during which Trump told the crowd, “If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you?”

The plaintiffs’ attorney asked whether Trump meant to incentivize the crowd to engage in violence.

“No,” Trump replied. “I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. And some fruit is a lot worse than — tomatoes are bad, by the way.”

Trump said it would be OK with him for his security to use force to stop someone from throwing fruit.

“To stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that — yeah, it’s dangerous stuff,” Trump said, according to the transcript.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden formally asked Congress on Thursday for $33 billion in supplemental aid for Ukraine over the next five months to help counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion over the long term.

“The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen,” Biden said. “It’s critical this funding gets approved and approved as quickly as possible.”

“We’re not attacking Russia. We’re helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression,” he added. “And just as Putin chose to launch this brutal invasion, he could make the choice to end it, this brutal invasion. Russia is the aggressor, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Russia is the aggressor, and the world must and will hold Russia accountable.”

Biden said the supplemental budget request will allow weapons and ammunition to flow “without interruption to the brave Ukrainian fighters” and the U.S. to continue delivering economic and humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people, whom he said are paying the real price of this fight with their lives.

Over $20 billion of the $33 billion would be for military and other security systems, the White House said. Biden is also asking for an additional $8.5 billion in economic assistance to help provide basic services to the Ukrainian people and $3 billion in humanitarian assistance and food security funding.

Part of the package also includes targeted funding to address economic disruptions in the U.S. as a result of the war in Ukraine, like helping increase U.S. production of wheat and soybeans, “and funding to allow the use of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of critical reserves — of reserves of critical minerals and materials that have been disrupted by Putin’s war and are necessary to make everything from defense systems to cars,” a senior administration official said ahead of Biden’s remarks.

Biden said he was also sending lawmakers another comprehensive package to enhance our effort to sanction Russian oligarchs and “take their ill-begotten gains.”

As billions in additional COVID funding remains stalled in Congress, asked if that funding should be tied to the Ukraine aid, Biden said, “I don’t care how they do it — I’m sending them both up.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Judge Robert Summerhays of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Department of Homeland Security from phasing out Title 42 for at least the next two weeks.

Title 42 is a policy instituted under the Trump administration that allowed migrants seeking asylum along the southern border to be expelled under the public health emergency authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

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(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill Tuesday that bans the use of nonbinary gender markers on state birth certificates.

It’s the first ban of its kind in the U.S., according to LGBTQ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal. Several states have done the exact opposite in recent years, allowing citizens to use nonbinary gender markers on state documents.

States like Colorado, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Indiana and Hawaii have adopted the gender-inclusive policy. The federal government now also allows nonbinary gender markers on passports.

The bill follows a 2021 civil case against the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The agency was sued after it refused to allow a nonbinary option on a birth certificate. The department settled the lawsuit and allowed the use of the nonbinary option.

Despite the settlement, Stitt issued an executive order that would prohibit people from changing their gender on birth certificates. A federal lawsuit against the state from Lambda Legal is ongoing and seeks to allow transgender people to correct the gender marker on their Oklahoma birth certificates.

This ban on gender markers is the latest bill targeting the LGBTQ community that Stitt has signed into law.

Just a few weeks earlier, Stitt signed a bill banning transgender women and girls from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams in state public K-12 schools and higher education institutions.

Across the country, similar Republican-led efforts have succeeded.

Tennessee signed a trans sports ban into law on Monday and the Kansas Senate voted on Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a similar transgender athlete ban.

Other governors, including Republican governors in Utah and Indiana, have vetoed such bills to protect LGBTQ youth from the social and emotional harms they say these bans can have on individuals.

LGBTQ advocacy groups have slammed legislative efforts.

“We should be increasing access to the things that can help protect this group of young people that already face increased risk for suicide. But a small group of anti-LGBTQ politicians is instead fighting to decrease it,” said Sam Ames, the director of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project.

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(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans on Wednesday rallied behind Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as he defended himself over audio recordings surfaced of him blaming former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 riot and suggesting that some GOP lawmakers were inciting violence and should be kicked off social media platforms.

In the first closed-door GOP meeting since the New York Times released recordings of a Jan. 10, 2021, leadership call in which McCarthy was sharply critical of Trump and some hard-right members of Congress, the California Republican argued that he was speaking hypothetically and walking through various “scenarios” following the attack on the Capitol as Congress met to certify the 2020 election results.

“He said that, you know, they were speculating on different scenarios,” Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., told ABC News. “He said they were laying out different things of what could be, and he said he never accused anyone of anything.”

“I think the majority of the conference understood,” one GOP member told ABC News, adding that McCarthy claimed the tapes were “taken out of context by the New York Times.“

McCarthy received a standing ovation and a round of applause after his remarks, multiple lawmakers told ABC News.

“We’re coming together as a team,” Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, told ABC News, adding that Republicans wouldn’t “let leaked audio tapes sent to the press pose a part we’ve got bigger things to do. We’re all on the same page.”

Still, his explanation did little to satisfy some of McCarthy’s persistent critics, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

Asked if he had confidence in McCarthy after the meeting, Gaetz replied, “No more or less than usual.”

Gaetz criticized Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in the meeting over comments made on the recording obtained by the New York Times. The Louisiana Republican suggested Gaetz’s comments attacking Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in television appearances after the Capitol riot were “potentially illegal.”

The discussion quickly turned “heated” between Gaetz and Scalise after Gaetz confronted him about the comments, sources told ABC News. Gaetz directly asked Scalise to explain his rationale for calling Gaetz’ comments “potentially illegal,” the sources said.

At one point, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., even chimed in and demanded Scalise apologize to Gaetz. An apology was not offered, according to a source familiar with the exchange.

McCarthy was also critical of Gaetz on the recording, and discussed Greene as well as GOP Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Mo Brooks of Alabama.

Of Trump, McCarthy said, “I’ve had it with this guy,” and told other GOP leaders on the recorded call that “what he did is unacceptable.”

He also suggested he would tell Trump “it would be my recommendation you should resign,” and that some Republicans who made inflammatory comments on and around the Capitol riot should be taken off Twitter.

“Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” he said, according to the audio.

McCarthy initially denied the New York Times reporting, calling it “false.” After the reporters published the audio recordings of the comments, McCarthy told GOP lawmakers that he had spoken with former President Trump and that he still supported McCarthy.

McCarthy later told Fox News he never told Trump to resign.

“He basically said we need to keep on track and keep pushing forward with what we’re doing,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia, said after the meeting. “This is a distraction by the left trying to drive a wedge in a very unified Republican Party.”

“Kevin McCarthy is a great leader and he will be a great speaker,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga.

While few Republicans publicly criticized McCarthy after the meeting, others suggested they still needed to digest the episode and McCarthy’s actions.

“I think I’m going to talk to him in private,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. “I’m glad he talked about what was said.”

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