Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Top members of the Department of Justice last year rebuffed another DOJ official who asked them to urge officials in Georgia to investigate and perhaps overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the state — long a bitter point of contention for former President Donald Trump and his team — before the results were certified by Congress, emails reviewed by ABC News show.

The emails, dated Dec. 28, 2020, show the former acting head of DOJ’s civil division, Jeffrey Clark, circulating a draft letter — which he wanted then-acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue to sign off on — urging Georgia’s governor and other top officials to convene the state legislature into a special session so lawmakers could investigate claims of voter fraud.

“The Department of Justice is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President of the United States,” the draft letter said. “The Department will update you as we are able on investigatory progress, but at this time we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.”

The draft letter states: “While the Department of Justice believe[s] the Governor of Georgia should immediately call a special session to consider this important and urgent matter, if he declines to do so, we share with you our view that the Georgia General Assembly has implied authority under the Constitution of the United States to call itself into special session for [t]he limited purpose of considering issues pertaining to the appointment of Presidential Electors.”

The vote count in Georgia became a flashpoint for Trump and his allies and Trump at one point falsely claimed that it was “not possible” for him to have lost the state.

But to date, the Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would tip the results of the presidential election. Attorney General William Barr also announced in December that the department had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome of the election.” A statewide audit in Georgia last year also affirmed that Biden was the winner.

The emails were provided by the DOJ to the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating efforts to overturn the election results. And they come as the DOJ investigator general looks at whether any officials in the department sought to overturn the outcome of the election.

Last week the Department of Justice sent letters to six former Trump DOJ officials telling them that they can participate in Congress’ investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. One of those letters was to former Associate Deputy AG Patrick Hovakimian, who sources said sat for a transcribed interview Tuesday morning with the House Oversight Committee. Hovakimian is copied on the emails referenced above.

Notes from Donoghue released last week appeared to show that Trump tried to pressure the DOJ to assert that there was significant fraud in the election.

ABC News has requested comment from Clark but has not yet received a response. A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to request for comment, nor did an attorney for Donoghue.

Clark attached the draft letter in an email to Rosen and Donoghue telling them “I think we should get it out as soon as possible.”

“Personally, I see no valid downsides to sending out the letter,” Clark wrote. “I put it together quickly and would want to do a formal cite check before sending but I don’t think we should let unnecessary moss grow on this.”

Clark separately asked for Rosen and Donoghue to authorize them to receive a classified briefing led by then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe the next day related to “foreign election interference issues,” while referencing an unspecified theory about hackers having evidence that a Dominion voting machine “accessed the Internet through a smart thermostat with a net connection trail leading back to China.”

Donoghue responded a little more than an hour later shooting down Clark’s request to sign on to the draft letter.

“There is no chance that I would sign this letter or anything remotely like this,” Donoghue said. “While it maybe true that the Department ‘is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President’ (something we typically would not state publicly) the investigations that I am aware of relate to suspicions of misconduct that are of such a small scale that they simply would not impact the outcome of the Presidential Election.”

Donoghue closed his email response by stating that, while he was available to speak to Clark directly about his request, “from where I stand, this is not even within the realm of possibility.”

Donoghue cited former Attorney General William Barr’s previous statements that the department had no indication fraud had impacted the election to a significant degree, and that no information had surfaced since Barr’s departure that changed that assessment.

“Given that,” he said, “I cannot imagine a scenario in which the Department would recommend that a State assemble its legislature to determine whether already-certified election results should somehow be overriden by legislative action.”

He added that the draft letter’s statement that DOJ would update lawmakers on the investigatory progress was “dubious as we do not typically update non-law enforcement personnel on the progress of any investigations.”

Later that evening, Rosen responded as well, telling both Clark and Donoghue, “I confirmed again today that I am not prepared to sign such a letter.”

The New York Times reported in January about Clark appealing to Donoghue and Rosen to co-sign the draft letter.

In the days after the exchange, as ABC News has previously confirmed, both Rosen and Donoghue thwarted an attempt by Clark to have Trump appoint him acting attorney general.

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(WASHINGTON) — Two Washington, D.C.. Metropolitan Police Department officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot died by suicide in July, the department announced on Monday, nearly seven months after the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters.

Officer Kyle DeFreytag, who was on the force since November 2016, and Officer Gunther Hashida, an 18-year-veteran of the force, are among the three MPD officers who have so far died by suicide in 2021, the department said.

President Joe Biden expressed his gratitude toward the officers in a tweet on Tuesday morning, hailing them as “American heroes.”

“When the United States Capitol and our very democracy were under attack on January 6th, Officers Hashida and DeFreytag courageously risked their lives to defend them. They were American heroes. Jill and I are keeping their loved ones in our prayers during this difficult time,” he said.

It is not clear if the events of Jan. 6 contributed to the officers’ suicides, and research shows that law enforcement officers experience stressors as a regular part of the job and can struggle with mental health issues.

“On a daily basis, officers experience job-related stressors that can range from interpersonal conflicts to extremely traumatic events, such as vehicle crashes, homicide, and suicide. This cumulative exposure can affect officers’ mental and physical health, contributing to problems such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, substance misuse, depression, and suicidal ideation,” a research paper released by the Justice Department and Police groups said.

Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood also died by suicide in the months after responding to the Jan. 6 attack.

“After assisting riot control at the Capitol on January 6th, USCP scheduled Howie to work lengthy shifts in the immediate days following. He was home for very few hours over the course of four days,” Serena Liebengood, his wife, wrote to Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., in March.

In the nearly seven months since the attack, law enforcement suicide experts say the families of those who responded to the incident say they’ve behaved differently.

A Jan. 6 rally in support of then-President Donald Trump turned deadly after Trump encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s election win.

Rioters breached barricades and security checkpoints, forcing Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers to evacuate or shelter in place and temporarily disrupting the certification. At least 140 police officers were injured and the Capitol building suffered approximately $1.5 million in damage.

According to B.L.U.E. Help, a nonprofit that works to reduce stigmas tied to mental health issues for those in law enforcement., 87 police officers from across the country have died by suicide so far in 2021.

Karen Solomon, who runs Blue H.E.L.P, said officers are afraid to speak to the media about the Jan. 6 events because for fear of losing their jobs.

“It’s compounded by the public scrutiny and lack of support for the officers, not only by the public but from other officers who are still standing by the ‘it was one day’ suck it up mentality. We are now seven months out, what has been done? How are these officers being assisted?” she said. “This is one of the most talked about events in the country, yet we are still ignoring the needs of some of the victims of this event — the police officers.”

“There is still too much talk around first responder mental health, too much money being wasted discussing what needs to be done, and not enough action,” she added. “How many more families are going to watch their loved ones suffer, watch it sensationalized and then see it disappear again into yesterday’s headlines?”

Last week, the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held its first hearing in which lawmakers heard dramatic, emotional accounts from officers who defended the building.

Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn told lawmakers he is receiving private therapy for the “persistent emotional trauma” he faces from that day.

“I know so many other officers continue to hurt, both physically and emotionally. I want to take this moment to speak to my fellow officers about the emotions they are continuing to experience from the events of Jan. 6. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with seeking professional counseling,” Dunn said. “What we went through that day was traumatic, and if you are hurting, please take advantage of the counseling services that are available to us.”

He also pleaded with the panel, which hasn’t announced its next public hearing, to look into mental health resources available for officers to decide if they are “sufficient enough to meet our needs.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Despite taking place during a politically off-cycle campaign year, a major intraparty battle heavy with national implications is brewing in Tuesday’s Democratic primary special election for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District.

The contest presents an early test case of whether progressives can gain traction ahead of a pivotal midterm election cycle by going up against establishment-backed candidates. A slew of high-profile figures even descended on the Cleveland area in the lead-up to election day — including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

With Republicans simultaneously vying in another heated primary in the suburbs of Columbus in the state’s 15th Congressional District, Tuesday’s race in the 11th district takes place in one of Ohio’s few reliably blue areas and features more than a dozen Democratic candidates. Whoever comes out on top is all but guaranteed to go on to fill the seat left vacant by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge when she joined the Biden administration.

Over the last several months, the field narrowed down to two candidates — Nina Turner, former state senator and top Sanders campaign aide, and Shontel Brown, who currently serves as chairwoman of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

Regardless of who advances from the primary, either of the two candidates would continue the more than two-decade long tradition of Black women representing the 11th district in Congress. Although the pair of front-runners share the common cultural baseline in their goal of speaking on behalf of the majority-Black district in Washington, Turner and Brown approached the campaign trail from different ends of the Democratic political spectrum.

“I’ve talked to people, my team has talked to people, and although people … believe that things can change, they also say that they want a fighter, somebody that’s gonna push back,” Turner told ABC News in an interview.

As a former co-chairwoman of Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, Turner cultivated a firebrand, national image and went into the race as the early front-runner. Turner’s political ties helped her campaign rake in more than $4 million overall throughout her primary run and earned her the endorsements from well-known progressive figures on Capitol Hill including all of the “Squad” members, as well as Sen. Ed Markey and Sanders.

Beyond the high-profile figures in Washington, the former state senator also earned dozens of local endorsements that Ohio political experts said bolster her campaign’s vitality on a local level.

“Turner is not just a progressive candidate. She’s someone that’s been around and known and been in Cleveland for a long, long time as a city council member, as a state senator, as someone who’s got a lot of ties and connections. You can see that in some of the endorsements that she’s getting like the Cleveland mayor (Frank Jackson),” said former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft.

In broader statewide terms, progressive Democrats also see Turner’s candidacy as a potential spark that could reignite the party’s voter base in a state that has largely shifted to the right following the 2016 election.

“You’ve got a Democratic Party that’s been largely gutted in Ohio. It was part of the blue wall that’s been crumbling. Nina and her campaign could point a way for Democrats to rebuild the blue wall in the industrial heartland,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive political action organization, Our Revolution.

Despite the sweeping endorsements and high hopes for the future, Turner appears to be aware of potential minefields her past comments about her own party members opened up on the campaign trail. Following Sanders’ 2016 presidential primary loss, Turner heavily criticized the Democratic Party and in a January 2020 op-ed, she accused President Joe Biden of betraying Black voters by working with Republicans throughout his career. After Biden won the nomination, Turner made a now-infamous comparison during an interview with The Atlantic, in which she compared voting for Biden over former President Donald Trump to eating half a bowl of excrement rather than eating the entire bowl.

Going into the primary, Turner told ABC News that she is looking “forward to working with Democrats across the spectrum” if she wins and hopes that people will see her as a “coalition builder” even though “people might not always agree with (her).”

“What we can see is that the Biden administration is moving in a more progressive direction and I believe that is because of the progressive movement, and progressives have been principal partners with this administration, so this is about the future and not relitigating old primaries, and the only people who benefit from relitigation of this, are the very people who don’t want to see the change happen,” Turner said.

Although Turner may want to leave the past behind, many Democrats are indicating that they would have a hard time letting bygones be bygones and are instead choosing to funnel their support toward Brown after a hard-fought general election year in which Black voters mobilized in favor of Biden. Brown also received the endorsement of Sanders’ 2016 primary competitor, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who praised her for breaking barriers as the first Black woman to chair her county’s Democratic Party.

Among the nation’s heavyweight Black lawmakers who are rallying for Brown in the primary are members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who played a key role in landing Biden the presidency.

Two of the nation’s top Black lawmakers, Clyburn and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty, rallied across the district in the last weekend before the election, painting Brown as an inherent ally of the White House. During a campaign event on Sunday, Clyburn appeared to issue a veiled jab at Turner by saying Brown is the kind of candidate who is “interested in making headway than making the headlines” and “much more interested in getting results than spewing insults.”

“We need somebody from the 11th district here in Ohio who will work with Joe Biden, somebody who believes in his agenda that he’s put forth, not somebody who is going to insult the president,” Clyburn added to cheers and applause from supporters, while adding that he would not have to be concerned about counting on Brown’s positions as the majority whip if she were elected to Congress.

Biden has not issued an endorsement in the primary, but a recent ad from the Brown campaign that features Fudge’s mother, Marian Saffold, indicates the candidate’s intended ties to the administration.

“Marcia now serves in President Biden’s cabinet, so she can’t endorse in the race for Congress, but I can,” Saffold says in the ad.

“Shontel Brown is Marcia’s protege. She shares Marcia’s values and will continue her legacy in Congress. On August 3rd, we’re voting for Shontel Brown,” Saffold adds.

While the dueling endorsement camps set up high stakes for election day for both candidates, Tuesday’s outcome is likely to further direct the path Democrats forge beyond Ohio in 2022 and beyond.

“It’s a question of, do progressive politics only work in coastal cities, be they the East Coast, West Coast or the North Coast? And here we have a state that is certainly purple, and we have a city that is ripe territory for some of these progressive politics, but it also does have those suburbs and some of those more conservative regions,” Ben Bates, a professor at Ohio State University told ABC News.

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(WASHINGTON) — Some Democratic lawmakers are calling on House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to resign after he said over the weekend it would be “hard not to hit” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with the speaker’s gavel he hopes to win if Republicans take back the House chamber in next year’s midterm elections.

“I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It will be hard not to hit her with it,” McCarthy said at a GOP fundraiser in Nashville Saturday, after Tennessee’s Republican members of Congress gifted him with an oversized gavel.

McCarthy’s comment was met by laughter among the audience of 1,400, according to audio posted to Twitter by a Main Street Nashville reporter and not disputed by McCarthy’s office.

It comes nearly seven months after the attack on Jan 6. when a pro-Trump mob invaded the Capitol with some rioters taunting, “Where’s Nancy?” while they scouted her out, and one man, armed with a taser, kicked up his feet on a desk in her office.

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill responded on Twitter Saturday, saying “a threat of violence to someone who was a target of a #January6th assassination attempt from your fellow Trump supporters is irresponsible and disgusting.”

While McCarthy’s office hasn’t commented publicly on the growing backlash to his comments, an aide to McCarthy said “he was obviously joking” without commenting further.

The speaker herself has not weighed in.

But some of her Democratic colleagues have rushed to her defense with California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Ted Lieu calling on McCarthy to resign.

“America has suffered enough violence around politics. @GOPLeader McCarthy is now a would-be assailant of @SpeakerPelosi,” Swalwell wrote on Twitter.

Lieu posed a question to McCarthy: “Don’t you think America has had enough political violence?”

“You should never be encouraging or threatening or joking about causing violence to anyone, including the Speaker of the House. You need to apologize for your statement, or resign,” he said.

Other Democrats have put pressure on McCarthy to apologize. Republicans have largely stayed silent.

“Violence against women is no laughing matter,” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the No. 5 House Democrat, said on Twitter.

Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a former police chief who is challenging GOP Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for his Senate seat, also weighed in.

“Speaker Pelosi used her courage and moral compass to lead us to pass the Violence Against Woman Act. Kevin McCarthy thinks joking about hitting a woman is funny. When someone shows you who they are, believe them,” she said.

Some activists on Twitter — amplifying the hashtag “#ResignMcCarthy” over the weekend — raised how the GOP leader voted against the reapproval of the Violence Against Women Act in April 2019.

His comment and its backlash come after weeks of growing bitterness between lawmakers in Washington on issues such as mask mandates order by the Capitol physician and how to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the building they work inside.

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — With 3.6 million Americans at risk of being evicted as soon as Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeated her call to the Biden administration to immediately renew the now-lapsed eviction moratorium on Monday after House Democrats over the weekend failed to pass legislation via unanimous consent to extend it to Oct. 18.

“As they have called upon the American people to mask up, to be vaccinated and to take other public health precautions, it is critical, in recognition of this urgency, that they extend the eviction moratorium,” Pelosi said of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a new letter to Democratic colleagues Monday morning. “Putting people on the streets contributes to the spread of the virus.”

It comes after freshman Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who highlights how she was once homeless herself, spent her third night sleeping on the Capitol steps to protest the end of the moratorium even as most House lawmakers had already headed home for the August recess.

As Pelosi says she now awaits a new response from the administration, the White House said last week that it can’t unilaterally extend the moratorium because of a Supreme Court ruling in late June when Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the 5-4 majority, said he would block additional extensions unless there was “clear and specific congressional authorization.”

But Democratic leaders have put the responsibility to extend the measure — which they’ve called a “moral imperative” — back on President Joe Biden and the CDC, which first implemented the moratorium last September, after the Biden administration on Thursday, one day before the House adjourned for August recess, called on Congress to pass legislation.

Despite the 11th-hour scramble by lawmakers, the moratorium expired on Saturday.

With the Senate back in session to focus on unprecedented infrastructure legislation, the chances senators would pivot to a moratorium extension are slim.

“Action is needed, and it must come from the Administration,” Pelosi said in a joint statement with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark, D-Mass, on Sunday evening. “As the CDC doubles down on mask-wearing and vaccination efforts, science and reason demand that they must also extend the moratorium in light of the delta variant.”

The Democratic leaders also called on the Treasury Department to indicate how state and local governments can more efficiently deliver the billions in rental assistance Congress has authorized since last December. Of the $47 billion available, only $3 billion has been sent out so far.

Pelosi on Monday also announced House Democrats will have a presentation Tuesday from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, whose department transferred the funds earlier this year, which were intended to help renters and landlords with payments during the moratorium catch up — but dispersing those out has been a slow process.

While the House adjourned for its August recess, Pelosi has teased that she could call members back to bring legislation. However, without a desire in the Senate to pass an extension, she’s putting the onus back on Biden.

The president, who was leaving Camp David for the White House Monday, has not yet directly responded to Pelosi’s latest letters, but he has also called for the acceleration of congressionally-approved rental assistance funds.

“There can be no excuse for any state or locality not accelerating funds to landlords and tenants that have been hurt during this pandemic,” Biden said in a statement Friday.

Progressive lawmakers including Bush, who has been homeless, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have called on their colleagues to do more.

“We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have a majority,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “Now, there is something to be said for the fact that this Court order came down on the White House, a month ago, and the White House waited until the day before the House adjourned to release a statement asking on Congress to extend the moratorium.”

She and other progressive Democrats, who also penned a letter to urge the Biden administration to take action, joined Bush and activists outside the Capitol over the weekend to draw awareness to what they call a public health emergency.

“Extending the eviction moratorium is a matter of life and death for the communities we represent,” they said in the letter.

Bush, who was still on the Capitol steps Monday, told ABC News over the weekend that she was “frustrated” and “disgusted” that the moratorium was not extended and didn’t have plans to leave.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau survey from late June and early July, about 7.4 million adult tenants reported they were behind on rent.

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(WASHINGTON) — After days of deliberation, senators who negotiated a bipartisan infrastructure package unveiled the legislative text of the massive proposal Sunday night.

The 2,702-page bill was released after weeks of deliberation among a bipartisan group of 10 senators and members of the administration.

The bill, worth $550 billion in new spending, will address core infrastructure needs. It includes $110 billion in new funds for roads and bridges, $66 billion for rail, $7.5 billion to build out electric vehicle charging stations, $17 billion for ports, $25 billion for airports, $55 billion for clean drinking water, a $65 billion investment in high-speed internet and more.

The Senate will begin deliberation on amendments as it heads into the work week. Members of both parties have said they support a robust amendment process that will give lawmakers the chance to try to modify the bill.

There’s not yet an agreement on how many amendments will be considered, but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear late Sunday night that he wants to see the Senate act swiftly to pass the legislation.

“Given how bipartisan the bill is and how much work has already been put in to get the details right, I believe the Senate can quickly process relevant amendments to pass this bill in a matter of days,” Schumer said.

Members of the bipartisan group heralded the agreement as a triumph of bipartisanship.

In a politically contentious environment with an evenly divided Senate, the bipartisan group said they felt it was important to demonstrate that across-the-aisle work can yield results.

“This process of starting from the center out has worked,” Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican and the chief Republican negotiator in the bipartisan group, said on the Senate floor Sunday evening.

“I am delighted to demonstrate to the American people that we can work across the aisle in a bipartisan way to achieve real results that matter to the people of this country,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, added.

It is not yet clear how many Republicans will ultimately vote to pass the legislation after amendments are considered, but the bill enjoyed broad bipartisan support in a key procedural test vote last week. Seventeen Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — voted with all of the Democrats to advance the legislation.

The bipartisan agreement is just one part of the two-pronged approach Democrats are taking to try to pass President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan into law.

Schumer has long stated that after the bipartisan bill is passed Democrats will work on moving a separate $3.5 trillion budget bill using a process called reconciliation, which allows them to bypass the usual 60-vote threshold necessary to pass legislation in the Senate.

That second, larger package is expected to include funding for things like pre-K, housing, health care and other items that Republicans struck from the bipartisan plan in order to achieve a more narrowly tailored infrastructure proposal.

To pass the budget bill, Schumer will need the support of every Democrat serving in the Senate. It’s not yet clear he’ll have it.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., the chief Democratic negotiator on the bipartisan infrastructure deal, released a statement last week which said she does not support a bill that costs $3.5 trillion.

Several members of the Senate Budget Committee, which will handle that larger bill, say that for now, they’re focused on passing the bipartisan bill and on opening discussions about their package.

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(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Sunday he supports issuing subpoenas to anyone who has information about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and what action former President Donald Trump took — even members of his own party, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

“I would support subpoenas to anybody that can shed light on that, if that’s the leader that’s the leader,” Kinzinger told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “Anybody with parts of that information, with inside knowledge, can probably expect to be talking to the committee.”

“I would expect to see a significant number of subpoenas for a lot of people,” Kinzinger added.

Kinzinger, R-Ill., said that while some members of Congress attempt to brush off the events of Jan. 6 because it’s “politically inconvenient,” the committee is determined to get a full account of the truth.

“If anybody’s scared of this investigation I ask you one question, what are you afraid of? I mean, either you’re afraid of being discovered, of having some culpability in it or, you know what? If you — if you think it wasn’t a big deal, then you should allow this to go forward,” he said.

Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are the only two Republicans appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the House select committee spearheading the investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection. The panel held its first hearing Tuesday, with emotional witness testimony from four police officers who responded to the attack.

The committee plans to meet on Zoom during the August recess to plan next steps, including issuing “quite a few” subpoenas, Chairman Bennie Thompson, R-Miss., said on Friday. He added that staffers will meet with Justice Department officials next week and members have requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“This cannot continue to be a partisan fight,” Kinzinger said during Tuesday’s hearing. “I’m a conservative, but in order to heal from the damage caused that day, we need to call out the facts. It is time to stop the outrage and the conspiracies that fuel the violence and division in this country and — most importantly — we need to reject those that promote it.”

Karl pressed Kinzinger on how the committee intends to enforce subpoenas on fellow members of Congress if they refuse to comply.

“I intend, at least, on the committee, to get to a full accounting of the truth,” Kinzinger responded. “And if somebody thinks that they can stand up and use — maneuvers to try to string this investigation out and hope that people lose interest — at least me, and I know the other members of the committee, are determined that we are going to get to that answer.”

“So it may cost you a lot in legal fees to try to resist, but we’re going to get to that answer,” Kinzinger continued.

Karl also asked Kinzinger whether the committee would subpoena the former president.

“It seems clear that you would want to talk to Donald Trump himself, am I right?” Karl asked.

“We may not even have to talk to Donald Trump to get the information,” Kinzinger responded. “There were tons of people around him.”

The Republican House Leadership held a press conference an hour ahead of the hearing on Tuesday where members tried to blame Pelosi for the attack on the Capitol.

“The American people deserve to know the truth that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility as speaker of the House for the tragedy that occurred on January 6th,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said.

Karl asked Kinzinger about it Sunday.

“They protected Donald Trump from blame here and they’re blaming Nancy Pelosi for the fact that Trump supporters invaded the Capitol, and — including her office. Can you explain to me what they’re talking about?” Karl asked.

Kinzinger called Stefanik’s comments “insane.”

“To me it’s mind blowing and it basically shows the desperation to try to derail this,” Kinzinger said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump has not yet said whether he’ll run for president in 2024, but he’s already raising a huge war chest in case he does.

New disclosure reports filed Saturday night show that his affiliated political committees have a total of $102 million in cash on hand going into July, after bringing in more than $80 million in the first six months of 2021.

The massive fundraising sum the committees reported include transfers of donations dated December 2020, though the exact amount transferred from last year is unclear.

According to his team, the latest fundraising total, which spans from Jan. 1 through June 30, comes from 3.2 million contributions.

The money will also come in handy in the midterm elections in 2022, where he could pump tens of millions of dollars into a quest to take back the House and Senate from Democrats.

The latest figures are a show of continued fundraising prowess from Trump, whose massive post-election fundraising success has come amid baseless fraud claims about the 2020 presidential election.

Since the election, Trump and his team have solicited hundreds of millions of dollars for an “Election Defense Fund” and seeking support to fight the 2020 results. But little of that has actually gone to such efforts so far, disclosure filings show.

The latest filings show that much of the amount raised by Trump’s various committees in the first six months of this year have been saved in the bank, while much of the rest has been used for various fundraising and consulting expenses.

Roughly $3.8 million of the spending from Trump’s old presidential campaign committee were labeled as various “recount” expenses, including $2 million in recount legal consulting and $76,000 paid to Giuliani Security & Safety for “recount travel expenses.”

Another $5.8 million was reported as general legal consulting fees.

Trump’s newly formed PAC also reported giving $1 million in contributions to the America First Policy Institution, affiliated with pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.

More than $80,000 has also gone to lodging at Trump’s properties, filings show.

Trump has remained very popular among his base in the first six months of the Biden administration.

Over the past few months, the Republican National Committee as well as multiple Republican candidates vying for key races in the 2022 midterms have fundraised off of Trump, using his name and appealing to his supporters in fundraising emails and messages, hosting fundraisers at Trump properties and even flocking to Mar-a-Lago to feature the former president himself at supporter events.

ABC News’ John Santucci contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — In a new letter to President Joe Biden and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, progressive members of Congress are calling for the CDC to “leverage every authority available to extend the eviction moratorium” after the House failed to take action Friday to extend the eviction ban set to expire Saturday at midnight.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., along with Reps. Cori Bush, D-Mo., Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., signed on to the letter, seen first by ABC News, urging the administration, which has said its hands are tied by a June Supreme Court ruling, to act.

In June, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the eviction ban to continue through the end of July but signaled in its ruling that it would block any further extensions unless there was “clear and specific congressional authorization.”

In a statement Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would have supported the CDC extending the ban, but “the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available,” and called on Congress to take action.

That led to criticism by some progressive members of Congress that the call to action for addressing a known problem came too late, just as Congress was about to recess.

House Democrats launched a last-minute effort to pass legislation that would keep the protections in place but failed to pass it before gaveling out of session for recess Friday evening.

In their letter Saturday, the lawmakers said they will continue to work legislatively to address the expiring moratorium, as well as to get billions in previously approved funding out to help renters and landlords — a process that has gotten off to a slow start.

“In the meantime, we are continuing to work diligently to push for legislative action and ensure that states and localities in our districts are disbursing the billions in critical emergency rental assistance to renters and property owners that Congress passed most recently as part of the American Rescue Plan,” the lawmakers write.

“Extending the eviction moratorium is a matter of life and death for the communities we represent. The eviction moratorium expires tonight at midnight. We implore you to act with the urgency this moment demands,” they add.

Bush, who previously struggled with homelessness, took her protest to Capitol Hill Friday night, sleeping on the steps of the Capitol after Congress failed to act.

“This is personal for me. I lived in a car! I lived out of a car with two babies and my partner. I know what that’s like. And I will not sit by and allow it to happen to other people because it happened to me. I won’t,” Bush told ABC News in an interview Saturday.

“I will show up and I will speak up, not only me — Congresswoman Ayanna Presley was out here with us last night. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was out here with us last night. We are making sure that people know this is not OK and we won’t sit by,” she added.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren took to the Senate Floor Saturday to urge action as well, and later joined Bush outside the Capitol.

“Look, I agree that the eviction moratorium is not a long-term solution. But let me be very clear, it is the right, short-term action is how we keep families safely in their homes while states deliver emergency aid,” Warren said.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — In a new letter to President Joe Biden and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, progressive members of Congress are calling for the CDC to “leverage every authority available to extend the eviction moratorium” after the House failed to take action Friday to extend the eviction ban set to expire Saturday at midnight.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., along with Reps. Cori Bush, D-Mo., Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., signed on to the letter, seen first by ABC News, urging the administration, which has said its hands are tied by a June Supreme Court ruling, to act.

In June, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the eviction ban to continue through the end of July but signaled in its ruling that it would block any further extensions unless there was “clear and specific congressional authorization.”

In a statement Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would have supported the CDC extending the ban, but “the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available,” and called on Congress to take action.

That led to criticism by some progressive members of Congress that the call to action for addressing a known problem came too late, just as Congress was about to recess.

House Democrats launched a last-minute effort to pass legislation that would keep the protections in place but failed to pass it before gaveling out of session for recess Friday evening.

In their letter Saturday, the lawmakers said they will continue to work legislatively to address the expiring moratorium, as well as to get billions in previously approved funding out to help renters and landlords — a process that has gotten off to a slow start.

“In the meantime, we are continuing to work diligently to push for legislative action and ensure that states and localities in our districts are disbursing the billions in critical emergency rental assistance to renters and property owners that Congress passed most recently as part of the American Rescue Plan,” the lawmakers write.

“Extending the eviction moratorium is a matter of life and death for the communities we represent. The eviction moratorium expires tonight at midnight. We implore you to act with the urgency this moment demands,” they add.

Bush, who previously struggled with homelessness, took her protest to Capitol Hill Friday night, sleeping on the steps of the Capitol after Congress failed to act.

“This is personal for me. I lived in a car! I lived out of a car with two babies and my partner. I know what that’s like. And I will not sit by and allow it to happen to other people because it happened to me. I won’t,” Bush told ABC News in an interview Saturday.

“I will show up and I will speak up, not only me — Congresswoman Ayanna Presley was out here with us last night. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was out here with us last night. We are making sure that people know this is not OK and we won’t sit by,” she added.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren took to the Senate Floor Saturday to urge action as well, and later joined Bush outside the Capitol.

“Look, I agree that the eviction moratorium is not a long-term solution. But let me be very clear, it is the right, short-term action is how we keep families safely in their homes while states deliver emergency aid,” Warren said.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.