(WASHINGTON) — Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges has become a symbol of the violence officers endured while protecting lawmakers and the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Hodges had responded to the building as Capitol Police units were overrun, and ended up pinned down by the crowd, between a door and a crush of rioters intent on getting through police lines and into the building. One of those rioters, attacking him — as Hodges screamed, trying to set himself free. Video of that attack now seen around the world.
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“I remember just the intensity of his guttural screams and I swear I remember him foaming at the mouth and just grabbing at my mask and … ripping it off my head, straining my neck, ripping away my baton, beating me in the head with it,” Hodges told “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir. “It crossed my mind at the time that, you know, this might be it.”
Muir sat down with Hodges and Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell — all of whom were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year. It was the first time the three officers sat down together for an interview since they, and former Capitol Police officer Michael Fanone, detailed the horrors they endured on Jan. 6 during a congressional hearing six months after the attacks.
“The absolute zealotry of these people was unreal. They — they were completely convinced that — without any evidence whatsoever ever, that the election was stolen and that they were doing the right thing,” Hodges told Muir.
For Hodges, the lack of accountability so far for people in power he says are responsible for the attack is both frustrating and troubling.
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
“It’s frustrating that we’re a year on and no one higher up at all has been charged with anything save, you know, contempt for not responding to a subpoena,” Hodges told Muir. “I’m very sensitive to telling other professionals how to do their job. You know, I’m not a fed, I’m not a lawyer, I’m not a prosecutor … I just have to hope that they’re doing everything they can to see that the– the people in power get what they deserve.”
Hodges, who remains an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, warns — if there are no consequences — a new attack is imminent.
“You’ve got to deal with this harshly and quickly in order to squash any thoughts of this happening again, which I guarantee you, people are imagining this happening again,” he told Muir.
“Right now?” Muir asked.
“Right now,” he warned.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Ely Brown and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As the nation approaches one year since the violent siege on the U.S. Capitol that sent shocking images worldwide of America’s democracy under attack, Democrats in Washington are planning to mark the anniversary with somber tributes from the building that was stormed.
Thursday’s events will include a moment of silence, first-hand testimonies from lawmakers, a panel discussion with historians and a prayer vigil on the Capitol steps.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to deliver remarks to kick off the ceremonies at 9 a.m. with the president expected to highlight the “historical significance” of Jan. 6, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, and address “what it means for the country one year later.”
“The president is going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the peril it has posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance,” Psaki said at a press briefing Tuesday.
She said Biden will take the chance to commemorate law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol and those inside.
Approximately 140 police officers were injured at the Capitol on Jan. 6 including about 80 U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department, according to the Department of Justice. At least five people died during or after the attack, including four protestors and one law enforcement officer.
“Because of their efforts, our democracy withstood an attack from a mob and the will of the more than 150 million people who voted in the presidential election was ultimately registered by Congress,” Psaki said.
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
Biden is also expected to preview the “work we still need to do to secure and strengthen our democracy and our institutions to reject hatred and lies,” Psaki added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has unveiled a full program as well, based on member input.
“These events are intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness,” Pelosi said in a letter to House Democrats last week.
The schedule Pelosi outlined begins at 10 a.m. with a statement from the speaker and a moment of reflection on the House floor, followed by a moment of silence in the chamber at noon. Then, Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden will moderate a “Historic Perspective” panel discussion with historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham “to establish and preserve the narrative of January 6th.”
In the afternoon, in a large room in the Cannon Office House Building, Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a decorated Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran who was sworn in for his second term on Jan. 6 — will lead members in sharing their experiences and reflections.
The schedule is set to conclude at 5:30 p.m. with a prayer vigil on the U.S. Capitol center steps. Members of the House and Senate were invited to observe the anniversary with prayer and music.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is expected to appear with Pelosi at the day’s events, has tied the anniversary to a push for voting rights legislation that the House passed last year but which is stalled in the Senate.
Republican leaders, meanwhile, are not expected to be at the Capitol on Thursday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is instead planning to attend the funeral of late Sen. Johnny Isakson in Georgia. And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has repeatedly accused Democrats of politicizing the day after saying on Jan. 6, 2021, on the House floor that “President Trump bears responsibility” for the “attack on Congress by mob rioters.”
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned press conference from Mar-a-Lago, and House Republicans will be at home “talking to their constituents about things that actually affect them” like inflation and high gas prices, according to a House Republican leadership aide.
With more than 700 accused Capitol rioters facing charges from the Department of Justice, Attorney General Merrick Garland is also scheduled to address Americans and Justice Department employees on Wednesday, the day before the anniversary, regarding how the agency is holding those responsible for the attack accountable.
Last year, speaking at the time from a podium labeled “Office of the President-Elect,” Biden called on then-President Trump to put an end to the “siege” as his supporters stormed the building.
“At this hour, our democracy’s under unprecedented assault, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times. An assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself,” Biden said from Wilmington, Delaware. “This is not dissent, it’s disorder. It’s chaos. It borders on sedition, and it must end now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.”
Following pleas from allies and critics alike, Trump released a one-minute video on social media several hours after he finished speaking to supporters at the Ellipse and the attack began. “Go home,” he told the group, adding, “We love you.”
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday will deliver a rare address on the Justice Department’s sweeping investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection, in remarks one official said will outline DOJ’s “efforts to hold accountable those responsible” attack on the Capitol.
One year after the assault, more than 700 people across nearly every state in the U.S. have faced federal charges for joining the riot — and the FBI continues to seek tips on hundreds more still-unidentified individuals, including more than 350 who committed violent acts while on Capitol grounds.
More than 70 people have been sentenced for their criminal conduct on Jan. 6, including 32 who were ordered to time behind bars. A New Jersey man seen hurling a fire extinguisher at police during the siege received the harshest sentence handed down by a judge thus far of more than five years in prison, an ominous sign for the more than 200 individuals currently facing charges of assaulting law enforcement.
According to the Justice Department, more than 270 face charges like conspiracy or obstruction that carry potential maximum sentences of 20 years in prison, and prosecutors have said in hearings for several alleged rioters that they’re weighing potential terrorism enhancements for those DOJ can prove were driven by political motivation in their crimes.
But even as the federal investigation into those who carried out the attack on the Capitol charges forward, DOJ and specifically, Garland himself, have increasingly found themselves the subject of public scrutiny over what critics have argued is a seeming hesitance to hold accountable those like former President Donald Trump or his allies who urged the rioters to march toward Congress or otherwise worked to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The criticism has been levied by numerous legal experts, former prosecutors and lawmakers in editorial pages and cable news appearances — and has even extended to at least one of the federal judges overseeing the prosecutions of the Jan. 6 rioters.
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
In a November sentencing hearing for Jan. 6 rioter John Lolos, for instance, District Judge Amit Mehta described Lolos as a “pawn” being punished even as those who “created the conditions” for the insurrection “in no meaningful sense of the word have been held to account.”
Garland has acknowledged the commentary as recently as October in an appearance at the New Yorker Festival, where he said he’s aware “there are people who are criticizing us for not prosecuting sufficiently and others who are complaining that we are prosecuting too harshly.”
Specifically asked at the event about Trump’s alleged role in inciting the riot, Garland declined to answer directly noting Justice Department policy against commenting on potential investigations.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that the perpetrators of Jan. 6 are brought to justice,” Garland said. “We will follow the facts and the law where they land.”
A DOJ official said that Garland’s remarks Wednesday will similarly “not speak to specific individuals or charges,” but rather will “discuss the department’s solemn duty to uphold the Constitution, follow the facts and the law, and pursue equal justice under law without fear or favor.”
The speech comes as a parallel investigation by the Jan. 6 House select committee investigating the Capitol siege continues to trickle out details of Trump’s actions before, during and after the attack as well as the activities of his inner circle who were seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory.
The co-chairs of the bipartisan committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., have said in recent weeks that potential criminal referrals to DOJ for specific individuals could be on the table if they find what they believe amounts to evidence of unlawful conduct.
The committee has already made two referrals to DOJ for former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows over their defiance of congressional subpoenas. DOJ indicted Bannon in November on two counts of contempt of Congress and his trial is currently set for July.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. has yet to take action against Meadows after receiving his contempt referral in mid-December.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats are using the impending one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to put a fine point on their efforts to shore up the nation’s election system.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in floor remarks Tuesday, said the same misinformation and malice that led a mob seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election to storm the Capitol is fueling voter suppression laws in GOP-controlled statehouses.
“As we remember January 6 this week and as we confront state level voter suppression, we must be clear they are not isolated developments. They are all directly linked to the same anti-Democratic poison of the big lie,” Schumer said, referencing misinformation about the election results espoused by former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters.
Democrats have for months been trying to push some sort of voting reform through the chamber, citing research from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan independent organization that analyzes election rules, that found that 19 states have enacted 33 laws that make it harder for Americans to vote.
But those legislative efforts have faced an unrelenting blockade from Republicans, who oppose federal election reform because they say it is unnecessary and takes power away from the states to control their own elections.
“There’s been a lot of talk about big lies, the big lie on the other side is that state legislators controlled by Republicans are trying to make it difficult for people to vote,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at a press conference Tuesday. “If you actually read the legislation that has been passed that’s clearly not the case.”
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
Multiple attempts at passing legislation have fizzled because of the Senate filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to begin debate on a piece legislation. Continued Republican blocks have prompted Democrats to up the ante and many, including Schumer, are calling for a revision to the rules to allow voting reform to pass with a simple majority.
This is far from the first call for a change to the filibuster rules made by Democrats in the evenly divided Senate, but a rule change would require unanimous support from all Senate Democrats, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have been clear they won’t support a carve out, even for voting rights.
But on Tuesday, Manchin moved slightly off his hardline stance, refusing to rule out a Democratic-only solution on voting rights if Republicans refused to negotiate. Manchin called passing a change to the Senate rules a “heavy lift” while speaking to reporters and emphasized that his “preference” would be Republican buy-in, but he stopped short of calling Republican support a “red line”
“That’s my preference,” Manchin said when asked if GOP support was necessary. “I would have to exhaust everything in my ability to talk and negotiate with people before I start doing things that other people might think need to be done.”
It was enough to give some Democrats a sliver of hope that the West Virginia moderate might be softening his position after months of talks.
But later in the day, after a one-hour, closed-door meeting with Schumer and a handful of key Democrats on voting rights and rules changes, Manchin insisted, “The filibuster needs to stay in place in any way, shape or form that we can do it.”
The senator did, however, express support for making it easier to begin debate on a bill.
(WASHINGTON) — The family of Guy Reffitt, who has been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, says it is not the same family as a year ago.
Extremism has torn the Reffits apart, they say, stirring up feelings of fear, loss and anger among family members.
Authorities say Reffitt attended former President Donald Trump’s rally and protest at the Capitol on that fateful day, and is now awaiting trial among the more than 700 who have been indicted in connection with the insurrection.
He has pleaded not guilty. Reffitt’s attorney, William L. Welch, III, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Watch the full story airing on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7 and 9 p.m. EST.
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
Reffitt is accused of obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting; obstructing justice by hindering communication through physical force or threat of physical force; entering and remaining in a restricted building; and civil disorder, according to court documents.
“There were clearly signs he was getting involved with a lot of different people and a lot of bad people,” said Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, in an interview with ABC News’ Mireya Villareal.
“Hearing my father was there — it was absolutely disgusting. And pretty much demoralizing. And I really lost all respect for him in that moment,” Jackson added.
Reffitt’s wife, Nicole, said that her husband is a member of the Three Percenters, a group the Anti-Defamation League calls “anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement.”
Jackson said he went to the FBI with concerns about his father in the days leading up to the insurrection. “If something is to really happen, then I do not want this on my shoulders as the only one that actually sees what he’s doing right now,” Jackson said he felt at the time.
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, professor and director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University, told ABC News she’s seen an increase in polarization among families in recent years.
“What we’re facing here in this country — both related to a lot of the things that happened on Jan. 6, but more broadly — whenever you have rising political violence or extremism or hateful acts or other kinds of violent crimes, families are shattered,” Miller-Idriss said. “The family that’s left behind needs a lot of support and therapeutic intervention.”
Shortly after Reffitt returned from the Capitol, he allegedly threatened his son and daughter over his involvement in the attack, according to court documents. Around Jan. 11, Reffitt told his children that the FBI was watching and ordered them to “erase everything.”
“My father brought up that, ‘if anyone turns me in, like, you know what happens to traitors, traitors get shot,'” Jackson said. “And that spooked me and my sister.”
According to court documents, Reffitt allegedly told Jackson that if he “crossed the line and reported Reffitt to the police, putting the family in jeopardy, Reffitt would have no option but to do Reffitt’s duty for Reffitt’s country, and ‘do what he had to do.'”
Reffitt’s daughter and wife have both denied that he meant anything threatening by that language and the daughter said she did not feel threatened, according to the documents.
Reffitt was arrested on Jan. 16 at the family’s home, as his wife, daughter and son watched. Soon after, Jackson said that he finally decided to leave home.
“I don’t really feel like he’ll forgive me or really take into consideration what he’s been a part of,” Jackson said.
For the rest of the family, they say the insurrection and Reffitt’s arrest has continued to affect their daily lives.
“It has been so difficult,” Nicole said. “The void that’s been left by Jackson and Guy, the girls and I have a very hard time.”
Peyton, Reffitt’s youngest daughter, says she’s “ready to move on” and heal from the situation.
“I have anger, but I love him,” she said of her father.
Reffitt spoke to ABC News from jail in December, saying, “This has been disastrous for me and my family, especially for my girls, my son — actually, all of my family.”
He added: “I never expected anything like this to happen.”
Reffitt says he believes he’ll be exonerated.
“It’s not that hard to prove that I didn’t do anything,” Reffitt said. “It should be pretty easy.”
He said he hopes to have a relationship with his son, someday.
But a full family reunion will take place in federal court when Reffitt’s trial begins in February.
“The whole situation is just going to be so nerve-wracking,” Jackson said. “Once it’s all set in stone, we can go back and really start, I guess, hanging out and getting back together and catching up.”
ABC News’ Seiji Yamashita contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is expected to ask Fox News host Sean Hannity to cooperate with its investigation, a development first reported by Axios.
A conservative media star and close ally of former President Donald Trump, Hannity was one of the many prominent Trump associates who texted Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, during the Capitol riot last year.
“Can he make a statement?” Hannity asked Meadows of Trump, according to text messages Meadows voluntarily turned over to congressional investigators. “Ask people to leave the Capitol.”
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., revealed the exchanges in a Dec. 14 committee meeting, reading them and others aloud.
Hannity later defended the messages on his nightly Fox News program — where he frequently criticizes the select committee investigation and accuses the panel’s lawmakers of trying to politically damage Trump.
“Surprise, surprise, surprise: I said to Mark Meadows the exact same thing I was saying live on the radio at that time and on TV that night on Jan. 6 and well beyond Jan. 6,” Hannity said.
Jay Sekulow, Hannity’s attorney, tells ABC News they have not been contacted by the panel.
“If true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press,” Sekulow told ABC News.
A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., confirmed the committee’s plans in an afternoon MSNBC appearance, suggesting the missive to Hannity could be released as early as Tuesday evening.
(ROCKY MOUNT, Va.) — A year after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol 260 miles away, a quiet community in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains is still reckoning with the fallout and ties to its Confederate past and conservative politics.
Rocky Mount, which is predominantly white and staunchly Republican, was thrust into the national spotlight on Jan. 6 after two of its active police officers were spotted among the crowd rampaging through the halls of Congress.
Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson, both military veterans, are among the 17 current or former law enforcement officers charged by federal authorities for alleged participation in the riot, according to an ABC News tally.
“They needed to be exposed, because it is not only just them. They’re just the body of the evil here,” said Rocky Mount native Bridgette Craighead, a small business owner, Black Lives Matter activist and former candidate for state delegate.
While the passions poured out at the Capitol surprised few – and have long since subsided, many residents say– the high-profile alleged involvement of two of their neighbors continues to roil the close-knit town.
“Everyone I’ve talked to was totally shocked that those two men would do that,” said Carol Yopp, a local artist and informal Rocky Mount historian. “In fact, I’ve never heard anyone say that they applaud them whether they agreed with what was happening or not.”
It was seven months before the riot that Fracker and Robertson were celebrated by local African American residents for standing in solidarity with demonstrators at the town’s first protest for Black Lives Matter. Cellphone video even shows the cops holding signs for racial justice and dancing the Electric Slide with organizers.
“I really felt we were the example of what a community needed to do to get through this type of trauma,” said Craighead who was encouraged by positive relationships forged that day.
On Jan. 6, however, that shining example of unity and budding personal friendships were shattered, she said. Circulation of Fracker and Robertson social media posts ripped open a deep and longstanding racial and political divide.
“I don’t see how you can support Black Lives Matter but then support the insurrection of the Capitol,” Craighead said, citing elements of racism and white power in the events that day. “It’s also hypocritical: You want us to be peaceful protesting but then you go be a part of a riot that was not so peaceful.”
Robertson wrote on Instagram that the men “attacked the government” to “stand up for their rights,” according to federal court documents. Fracker posted to Facebook: “I can protest for what I believe in.”
Craighead led calls to get the officers fired, which in turn made her a target of their supporters.
Both now-former officers have pleaded not guilty to federal charges of disorderly and disruptive conduct and obstruction of Congress. In local media interviews the men have insisted they didn’t participate in violence and that their message is not incompatible with support for black lives. Trial dates have not yet been set.
“They were both very polite gentlemen, and they were both town police officers. However, it is unfortunate that they are no longer employees of the town,” said J. Tyler Lee, a town councilman and friend of the former officers.
Lee, who at 29 is the youngest person ever elected to Rocky Mount government, has been urging his neighbors for the past year to turn the page.
“I think we have to leave the stuff a year ago, a year ago,” Lee said. “Because if we keep bringing up what happened a year ago, it’s still gonna keep punching us in the mouth. If we can just teach compassion, communication and how to balance a checkbook, those three things, I think you’re golden.”
By many accounts, healing has been slow going, and beneath the surface in Rocky Mount, emotions are still raw.
“People like to fantasize, I call it, saying you know it’s a good old Southern town and all the families get along, and everybody’s happy, etc. And I call that ‘the fantasy,’” said Franklin County school board member and Rocky Mount native Penny Blue.
Blue, who has led a campaign against the town’s Confederate monuments and symbols, considers the riot an extension of painful divisions over race, history and politics that date to the Civil War.
“It was an insurrection, and that’s what [the Confederates] did. It was an insurrection,” Blue said in an interview beside the town’s monument to Confederate dead, newly erected in 2010 after an older version was damaged.
“Trump did not radicalize these people,” she added of the rioters, “he took advantage of what was already here in Franklin County and America.”
The influence of Donald Trump is already shaping Rocky Mount’s next chapter.
Town voters last fall broke heavily for pro-Trump Republican Glen Youngkin for Virginia governor in a campaign dominated by debate over Critical Race Theory.
The town also tapped a new, more conservative representative to the state House of Delegates: a former member of Trump’s 2020 legal team who fought the election results, Wren Williams.
“Church and God is a big thing for us. History – we’re steeped in history and we feel as though people who don’t understand our way of life or they don’t resonate or connect with us,” Williams said of his landslide victory against Craighead in November.
Williams said he condemns the events of Jan. 6 as “riot” but that his constituents are not fixated on what he considers a small group of lawbreakers. “Go out into these small towns and actually see if anybody is talking about Jan six anymore because they’re not. They’re not discussing it,” he said.
While Williams is convinced Trump will run for president again in 2024, others in the community wait anxiously for word of the former president’s intentions. The omnipresence of Trump is complicating a path forward, some residents said.
“If you have any hope of healing, you’ve got to talk about what’s hurting,” said Rocky Mount United Methodist Church Pastor Will Waller. “I tend to believe honesty is the best policy. So, ripping off the band aid is the best way to move forward. So we talk about it. We’re unafraid here.”
A willingness to keep talking to each other was one of the few areas of common ground expressed by Rocky Mount residents on both sides of the political divide.
“We bringing up all these hurtful topics and subjects not to rub it in your face and bring up the past,” said Craighead, “but we have to bring up the past to learn from it, to move on and to heal.”
Lee agreed that respectful dialogue is essential. “At the end of the day, we all may disagree, but you still have to be able to stick your hand out and face it as a champ,” he said.
Waller said faith also has a role to play. “To grow some flowers, you got to disturb the dirt. This has been a disturbing year just like 2020 was, but I believe in growth, and it comes through sometimes seeing things messed up for a bit,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — COVID treatments that work against the new omicron variant are in short supply, and Republican governors are accusing President Joe Biden of preventing their distribution by purchasing them in such bulk amounts that it prevents states from making their own purchases.
The alternative, though, could be a serious bidding war among states for treatments like antiviral pills and sotrovimab, the only monoclonal antibody believed to be effective against omicron. That’s what happened in the early days of the pandemic when governors fought over the purchase of ventilators, tests and masks and drove up prices.
Still, after an almost singular focus on buying vaccine doses, Biden is now under pressure to find new ways to boost production of treatments for people who become seriously ill from COVID, most of whom are unvaccinated.
“The federal government has cornered the entire market,” declared Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference Monday.
Likewise, in Texas, the health department there said several of its regional infusion centers had exhausted its supply of sotrovimab. Texas tied the shortage directly to Biden, noting in a statement “the federal government controls the distribution of monoclonal antibodies” and that the state ran out “due to the national shortage from the federal government.”
The Biden administration has acknowledged that life-saving treatments are in short supply because production has been unable to keep pace with omicron, which has rendered some treatments less effective and caused a sudden spike in cases.
“The low supply is something we need to worry about,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told governors in a private call last month about sotrovimab, according to a readout obtained by ABC News.
Another promising treatment — the new antiviral pill Paxlovid — is expected to begin rolling out this month, but probably won’t be widely available for several more months.
President Biden announced on Tuesday that he planned to double the federal purchase of pills from 10 million courses of treatment to 20 million with the first half available by June, rather than September. The pill is found to be 89% effective at reducing the risk of severe illness and death.
The practice of buying treatments and vaccines in bulk as a way to manage shortages and prevent bidding wars was initiated by the Trump administration. After then-President Donald Trump declared the federal government wasn’t a “shipping clerk” in early 2020, Republican and Democratic governors complained of inflated prices because they were directly competing with one another online.
Then, New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo compared it to “being on eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator.”
The Trump administration then slowly began amassing a stockpile of supplies that could be distributed around the country based on need. Trump’s Health and Human Services Department initiated bulk purchases of vaccines and therapeutics like Regeneron – a monoclonal antibody taken by Trump when he became ill with COVID.
Biden continued the practice, negotiating with companies to purchase additional vaccine shots and therapeutics and distributing to states for free based on population and risk factors.
But the spike in omicron cases has reignited a political debate on whether that’s the right approach.
Compounding the problem is that two monoclonal antibody treatments are believed not to work as well against omicron, at one point prompting the government to stop distributing them. The federal government has since resumed shipments upon finding it overestimated the number of omicron cases.
The Biden administration now says it will not distribute these types of monoclonal antibodies to regions where omicron comprises more than 80% of cases. The omicron variant is now estimated to account for 95% of new cases in the U.S., as of Jan. 1, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.
Not every Republican governor is blaming Biden for treatments being in short supply.
In a statement Monday, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said monoclonal antibody teams expected to arrive on Monday were delayed due to overwhelming demand.
“While we were surprised by the delay in their arrival, we are appreciative of the federal government’s assistance,” said Sununu in a statement. “Since making our initial request a month ago, their assistance has become even more critical now as we manage the peak of the winter surge.”
ABC’s Karen Travers, Will McDuffie and Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Biden administration officials further outlined a plan for the implementation of the “MPP” or “Remain in Mexico” policy on a conference call with reporters Monday while underscoring a commitment to ending the program and describing safeguards designed to improve conditions for asylum seeking enrollees.
A central criticism of the MPP program — which bars asylum seekers from entering the U.S. while immigration courts review their claims — was the lack of access to U.S. legal services for enrollees forced into makeshift Mexican border camps. Now, the Biden administration is working with legal service providers and promising 24-hour consultation windows to assist with screening interviews and immigration court cases.
The Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review is working to increase legal representation rates for asylum seekers while distributing “self-help materials” for immigrant applicants who need information on the process.
Improving conditions south of the border was another component in securing the Mexican government’s cooperation. U.S. humanitarian workers have built up WiFi access at shelters, and Mexican authorities have stepped up security including at transportation hubs.
Now, migrants enrolled in MPP will have access to transportation services at the port of entry, something Biden administration officials said is a necessary security measure given the level of crime taking place at border crossings.
Over the holidays, the Biden administration submitted a request to the Supreme Court for expedited briefings on the case to end MPP. The administration previously lost lower court appeals against efforts to reinstate the protocols.
Under the latest iteration of MPP, migrants who receive an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be judged on whether there’s a “reasonable possibility” they have a fear of returning to Mexico rather than the previously used and more restrictive “more likely than not” standard.
The new standards are accessible to those like the group of 36 migrants brought to El Paso Monday for court hearings, making them the first to be processed under the new rules.
Officials did not provide information on the number of asylum seekers subjected to MPP under the Biden administration’s latest implementation efforts, but they did confirm enrollments have started in the El Paso and San Diego regions.
One senior Biden administration official estimated on Monday that the program was costing the U.S. government in excess of “tens of millions of dollars.”
(NEW YORK) — The Manhattan District Attorney’s office will not file criminal charges in connection with the handling of coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes during the tenure of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his representative said Monday.
“I was contacted today by the head of the Elder Care Unit from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who informed me they have closed its investigation involving the Executive Chamber and nursing homes,” said Elkan Abromowitz, an attorney who represented the governor’s office. “I was told that after a thorough investigation – as we have said all along – there was no evidence to suggest that any laws were broken.”
The DA’s office had no comment.
Cuomo had come under fire for a policy early in the pandemic that returned nursing home residents to their facilities upon discharge from the hospital, even if they hadn’t tested negative.
He came under additional scrutiny when the New York attorney general found his office undercounted nursing home deaths.
Cuomo said last February that nearly all nursing homes that accepted recovering patients already had COVID cases.
And he said at that time that his handling of the fatality data created a “void” filled by misinformation and conspiracies.
“The void we created by not providing information was filled with skepticism and cynicism and conspiracy theories which fueled the confusion,” Cuomo said then. “The void we created disinformation and that caused more anxiety for loved ones.”
The state assembly considered whether it could be grounds for Cuomo’s impeachment before deciding to take no action.
