Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Two Iranian nationals have been charged in a disinformation campaign meant to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including by threatening physical violence if registered Democrats failed to switch their affiliation and vote for then-President Donald Trump.

Seyyed Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian obtained confidential information about American voters from at least one state election website, sent those people threatening emails and gained access to a news network’s computer system that would have allowed them to disseminate false claims about the election, according to the indictment.

ABC News reported in October 2020 Iran and Russia had obtained voter information.

 

“As alleged, Kazemi and Kashian were part of a coordinated conspiracy in which Iranian hackers sought to undermine faith and confidence in the U.S. Presidential elections,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams.

The indictment did not name the state infiltrated, but Florida law enforcement and the FBI previously had said they were investigating the threatening emails sent to registered voters.

The Iranians, both of whom are believed to be in Iran and out of reach of U.S. law enforcement, claimed to be a group of Proud Boys volunteers, according to the indictment. They allegedly sent Facebook messages and emails to Republican officials that claimed Democrats were going to exploit vulnerabilities in voter registration websites. They also allegedly sent registered Democrats messages that threatened physical injury if they did not change their affiliation and vote for President Trump, the indictment said.

“We are in possession of all your information (email, address, telephone … everything). You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure. You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for,” the indictment quoted the emails as saying.

There was no evidence the campaign successfully convinced any voter to actually change their registration, according to a Justice Department official.

“State-sponsored actors, including Iranian groups, have engaged in covert and deceptive activities to disseminate disinformation through websites and social media designed to undermine Americans’ faith in U.S. elections,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Thursday. The U.S. government took decisive and disruptive action against those seeking to interfere with the sanctity of our elections, including the FBI warning the public of the attempts ahead of the 2020 elections.”

The day after the election, the Iranians tried to use stolen credentials to hack their way into an unnamed American media company’s computer networks, the indictment said. The company alerted the FBI, which stopped them from altering any content or disseminating false claims, according to a Justice Department official.

Prosecutors described Kazemi and Kashian as experienced computer hackers who worked as contractors for an Iran-based company formerly known as Eeleyanet Gostar, which the U.S. believes is linked to the Iranian government.

In conjunction with the Dept. of Justice, the U.S. Treasury has also sanctioned the Iranian company and six of its employees, who it said were involved in this disinformation campaign to influence the 2020 U.S. elections.

The firm, now known as Emennet Pasargad, was previously sanctioned under its former name by the Trump administration for supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its electronic warfare wing.

Kazemi and Kashian were employees at Emennet and actually “executed cyber-enabled operations,” according to the Treasury. Four other Iranians serve on Emennet’s board of directors and are being sanctioned for their role at the firm.

“This indictment details how two Iran-based actors waged a targeted, coordinated campaign to erode confidence in the integrity of the U.S. electoral system and to sow discord among Americans,” Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen said.

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(WASHINGTON) — In an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” Co-Anchor George Stephanopoulos, Vice President Kamala Harris defended her job performance, insisting she and President Joe Biden have been able to deliver for the American people.

“Vice presidents always face chatter about their role and their relevance. You’re no exception to that. Even your close friends and allies like the lieutenant governor of California, Eleni Kounalakis, have expressed some frustration because they think you can be more helpful than you’ve been asked to be. Do you share that frustration? What do you say to your friends who are frustrated?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“This was a good week, and this week, when we got this Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed and signed by the president, makes a statement about all of the hard work that has gone into it, month after month after month. I’ve traveled around the country, as has the president,” Harris answered. “We have convened members of Congress, we have convened people around our nation, asking, ‘what do you want?’ And this is a response to what they want. And it’s actually going to hit the ground in a way that is going to have direct impact on the American people. We’re getting things done, and we’re doing it together.”

“So, you don’t feel misused or underused?” Stephanopoulos followed up.

“No,” Harris said. “I don’t. I’m very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished. But I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do, and we’re gonna get it done.”

Harris’ defense comes in the wake of a CNN report that alleges the West Wing has grown frustrated with Harris and her staff, describing dysfunction within her office and frustration with her lack of visibility with the American people.

Her chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, pushed back on the depiction of Harris in the report, saying in a statement, “It is unfortunate that … some in the media are focused on gossip — not on the results that the President and the Vice President have delivered.” Harris’s team members echoed solidarity with their boss, saying they were “honored” and “proud” to work for her.

The negative report comes as the White House is eager to tout passage of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package. Harris was front and center at Biden’s signing ceremony for the bill Monday, introducing the president and standing over his shoulder as he signed the bill into law.

But even as the White House celebrates that victory, Americans continue to feel the effects of the steepest rise in inflation in 30 years.

“It’s real. And it’s, it’s rough. Groceries — the cost of groceries — has gone up, the cost of gas has gone up. And, as this is all happening, in the context of two years of a pandemic. Over 700,000 lives lost much less the loss of livelihoods and, and a sense of normalcy. So, it’s a lot. And it’s one of the highest priorities actually, for the president and for me,” Harris said of the challenge inflation poses.

“Essentially what we need to do is, we need to bring down the cost of living and so we’re dealing with this issue in a number of ways,” she said. “The short-term issue, and the long-term issue.”

“We passed this week, the infrastructure bill, bipartisan infrastructure bill, and that’s going to be about repairing roads and bridges and bringing internet and high speed internet to all families. But also we need to deal with the cost of child care, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of housing, and that’s what we intend to do when we get the Build Back Better agenda passed,” Harris said, referring to Biden’s next major priority — the $1.75 trillion social spending package.

“I know you hope to get that passed, but as you know, several people including Senator Manchin, who could be the key vote on Build Back Better, believe that the bill is actually going to make inflation worse,” Stephanopoulos said. “That’s why they’re holding back.”

Harris responded, “So, here’s the thing, talk tot 17 Nobel laureates who are economists, who actually have studied the issue and have indicated that we’re not looking at a contribution to inflation, but actually we’re going to bring prices down. In fact, today Moody’s and a number of others have said, listen, when you look at the numbers, the whole point about inflation and why it hurts us is because prices go up. With the Build Back Better agenda, it’s gonna bring the cost down, again, cost of child care, elder care, housing. These are very critical issues for American families, who have to make very difficult choices about whether they can afford to pay for child care, or prescription drugs, or, or pay the rent. So, that’s what we’re going to actually accomplish, accomplish with this, is to bring the prices down.”

While Harris has been involved in negotiations on the spending packages, making phone calls to lawmakers and hosting groups like the Congressional Black Caucus, she has also lately been bolstering her credentials on the world stage, traveling last week to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron and participate in multiple international conferences. The trip abroad was her third as vice president, after a trip to Asia overshadowed by the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and a thorny trip to Guatemala and Mexico to discuss the root causes of migration.

Addressing historic levels of illegal border crossings, Harris told Stephanopoulos it will not be a quick fix.

“It’s not going to be overnight. We can’t just flip a switch and make it better,” she said. “The reality is that we inherited a system, an immigration system that was deeply broken, and it’s requiring us to actually put it back together in terms of creating a fair, um, process that is effective and efficient.”

Stephanopoulos asked Harris about reports the Department of Justice was weighing making payments of as much as $450,000 to migrant families forcibly separated at the southern border under a Trump administration policy. Biden has indicated the payments won’t be that large, but that he does support payments to the families in general.

“Is there going to be compensation? How much is it going to be?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“Well, as you know, there’s, there’s apparently some litigation around that, and that will be resolved in court,” Harris said.

“So, but, but the White House is open to it?” Stephanopoulos pressed.

“Well, the, usually courts rule on that kind of thing,” Harris demurred.

Stephanopoulos asked Harris whether Biden has told her whether he’s going to seek reelection in 2024. Harris maintained that she and Biden are focused on infrastructure, national security and other priorities.

“So, you’re not discussing 2024 yet?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“Absolutely not,” Harris insisted.

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(WASHINGTON) — Reeling from Republican wins in elections earlier this month, Democrats are pounding the pavement ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

But President Joe Biden’s success passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill is bumping up against the facts that the country’s inflation rate has reached a 30-year high and Americans increasingly feel the economy is in trouble.

A new ABC News / Washington Post poll found that 70% say the economy is in bad shape, a 12-point increase since last spring. More than half of those polled — 55% — disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy while 39% say they approve. But that approval number has plummeted six points since September and 13 points since the spring.

 

While only 50% blame Biden directly for inflation — which has now reached a 6.2% increase compared with the same period last year, 3% of Democrats say the economy is excellent, 47% say it’s good, 35% say it’s not so good and 14% say it’s poor.

In a series of ABC News follow-up interviews with poll respondents who were Biden voters but expressed disappointment with the state of the economy, people expressed a range of views about what they think went wrong and who is to blame.

Judith Steele, a registered Democrat from California, told ABC News she feels the Biden administration did a bad job in preparing for economic woes faced by certain Americans.

“His administration has been behind the curve in anticipating how bad this was going to get for lower- and middle-class families — that they tend to take a ‘wait and see approach,’ or, ‘this is going to pass,’ and then it’s too late,” Steele, who plans to switch her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, said in an interview.

Steele assigns some of the blame for the poorly-performing economy to legislative squabbles in Congress.

“They should have gotten the infrastructure bill done months ago. They had the votes to do it. But they had to push. I do like the second bill, but they should have gotten the first one passed and signed, and started putting people back to work at decent union jobs,” she said. “I don’t know what they’re ever going to get done with this. And they’re always consumed with investigations and committee work and not getting anything done.”

Although Biden’s overall approval rating reached a new low (41%) in a new ABC/ Washington Post poll, his legislative plans have majority approval among respondents, with 63% support for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress and 58% support for the now nearly $2 trillion social spending bill still under debate.

The White House is set to launch a nationwide tour to continue pitching Biden’s plans to voters and Democrats are rolling out 1,000 events before the end of the year to promote the Biden agenda.

Still, disapproval of Biden on the economy is six points higher than former President Donald Trump’s highest disapproval rating on the same issue, which came in September 2017, nearly the same amount of time into his presidency as Biden is now. In November 2018, Republicans relinquished control of the House, with 68% of the country overall saying in exit polls they felt the economy was in good shape.

Steele isn’t the only Democrat who supported Biden but doesn’t feel good about the economy. Norman Hall, an 82-year-old Pennsylvania voter who has been a Democrat since he was 21, is trying to stretch his social security checks and doesn’t think Biden is doing enough to address the issue.

“All them prices went up, my check disappeared real quick, my social security check. It’s usually around hundred-and-some dollars a month when I buy groceries. It was $217 for almost the same thing I buy all the time,” said Hall, who voted for Biden last year. “I have to cut down. I have to quit spending.”

“I don’t know who’s to blame for it, but he’s not doing anything to help it,” he added of Biden.

Hall said he plans to vote for Republicans on his midterm ballot unless he sees Democrats “do things differently.”

The ABC News / Washington Post poll found that if the midterm elections were held today, 51% of registered voters say they’d support the Republican candidate in their congressional district, 41% say the Democrat. That’s the biggest lead for Republicans in the 110 ABC/Post polls that have asked this question since November 1981.

Tiffany Woods, a community health care worker from St. Louis, told ABC News she typically votes for Democrats and was excited to cast her ballot for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Since then, though, Cross said she hasn’t been impressed with Biden’s accomplishments in Congress and is seeing the economic effects of the pandemic continue to take a toll in her community.

Woods pointed to heightened utilization of her local food banks as her friends and family struggle to make ends meet with inflation and unchanged qualifications for government assistance programs.

“While these qualifications are not changing, the price of products are going up, and people can’t afford it,” she said. “People are depending a lot more on our food banks now. Now they need it for themselves.”

Woods lives in progressive Democrat Rep. Cori Bush’s Missouri district. She said if Biden and Harris are on the ticket again in 2024, she doesn’t think she’ll cast a ballot for them, but she does plan to vote next year for Bush, who fought into the summer to extend eviction moratoriums put in place due to the pandemic.

“I really do think that I will continue to vote Democrat because of people like her, who I do think are doing a wonderful job. I just don’t think that I would just vote for Biden, Kamala,” she said.

Margaret Johnson, a retiree in Georgia, was a lifelong Republican before Trump entered the party. She broke her dedication to the GOP in 2020 — casting ballots for Biden and both Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — but she regrets her decision.

“I went against my Republican instincts and voted for Biden, which I’m very sorry with. If I had to do it over again. I wouldn’t vote for either one of them. I would have just stayed out of it,” she said. “Everybody I know is having to pinch pennies. To me, more and more people are using less and less … But it’s not just groceries. It’s everything.”

Johnson said that despite her discontent with the GOP, she doesn’t think she’ll cast a ballot for a Democrat again, including for Warnock when he is up for reelection next year.

“I don’t think I would ever vote Democrat again. I really don’t think I would,” Johnson said.

ABC News’ Danielle DuClos contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House voted for a resolution on Wednesday that both censures Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and removes him from his committee assignments after the Arizona congressman tweeted an edited Japanese anime cartoon last week showing him stabbing President Joe Biden and killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., before he deleted it.

The vote was 223-207, largely along party lines. GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming voted with all Democrats to censure Gosar. Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, voted “present.”

Gosar, flanked by nearly two dozen colleagues in the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, stood in the well of the House as the censure resolution was read aloud.

Democrats spent hours on the House floor Wednesday excoriating GOP leaders for not publicly condemning the Twitter post from Gosar, an ardent Trump supporter who has espoused conspiracy theories and associated with white nationalist groups in the past.

“This is not about me,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an impassioned floor speech. “This is not about representative Gosar. This is about what we’re willing to accept. “

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the first to kick off debate on Gosar’s actions which, she said, “demand a response.”

“We cannot have members joking about murdering each other or threatening the president of the United States. This is both an indictment of our elected officials and an insult to the institution of the House of Representatives. It’s not just about us as members of Congress. It is a danger that it represents to everyone in the country,” Pelosi said.

“When a member uses his or her national platform to encourage violence, tragically, people listen to those words,” Pelosi added, before condemning House GOP leadership for, in her view, not holding their colleague accountable. “It is sad that this entire House must take this step because of the refusal of the leadership of the other party.”

She said it took nine days for Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to speak out publicly about the incident and that when he did, he “merely” said there was no harm intended.

Sources confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday that Gosar apologized for the tweet behind closed doors during a GOP conference meeting. McCarthy said he had also spoken privately with Gosar about the tweet, but he did not appear to take further action against him.

McCarthy opposes the Democratic move to censure Gosar and remove him from his committee assignments, but instead of defending Gosar’s actions ahead of the vote, he blasted Democrats for what he deemed was an overreach of power.

“The speaker is burning down the House on her way out the door,” McCarthy said. “Let me be clear. I do not condone violence, and representative Gosar has echoed that sentiment.”

Gosar, speaking publicly about the video for the first time, which he said in an earlier statement was an attempt by his staff to reach a younger audience, said he doesn’t condone violence but appeared to accept his fate as Democrats barrel towards the vote.

“I do not espouse violence or harm towards any member of Congress or Mr. Biden,” Gosar said, notably not calling Biden “president.”

“If I must join Alexander Hamilton, the first person attempted to be censored by this House, so be it. It is done,” he added.

Ocasio-Cortez urged her colleagues to vote “yes” and said the depictions are part of a larger trend of misogyny and racism in America.

“Can you find anyone in the chamber that finds this behavior acceptable?” she asked her colleagues. “Would you allow that in your home? Do you think this should happen on a school board…a church?”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said to reporters during a press call on Tuesday, “I have never in 40 years seen such a vile, hateful, outrageous, dangerous, and inciting to violence against a colleague, ever.”

“The fact that they would not take some action themselves or make some comments themselves, which I have not seen, is a testament that perhaps they are rationalizing, as they rationalize other items of criminal behavior, this particular action,” Hoyer said of Republicans.

The resolution would boot Gosar from the Oversight and Reform Committee, which he serves on alongside Ocasio-Cortez. It would also remove him from the Committee on Natural Resources.

Late Monday night, Pelosi told reporters it was up to McCarthy to rein in and reprimand his conference members — but Democrats, outraged over Gosar’s behavior, insisted on a floor vote. On Tuesday, she deemed the resolution as an appropriate measure.

“Why go after [Gosar]? Because he made threats, suggestions about harming a member of Congress…We cannot have members joking about murdering each other as well as threatening the president of the United States,” Pelosi said.

A censure resolution requires a simple majority of lawmakers present and voting. If it is approved, Gosar could be forced to stand in the center of the House chamber as the resolution condemning his actions is read aloud.

Later on, Gosar tweeted out a meme that says, “God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers.”

Twenty-three members of Congress have been censured for misconduct, according to a 2016 Congressional Research Service Report.

Former Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., was the last member of Congress to be censured — in December 2010 — accused of nearly a dozen ethics violations.

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(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Catholic bishops on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a controversial teaching document on who should receive Holy Communion that many believe was aimed at President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

But the document, passed by a vote of 222-8 at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore, does not mention Biden or any other politician by name, avoiding a more direct confrontation.

It appeared, however, to empower individual priests to deny Communion to pro-abortion rights politicians should they encounter them.

“It is the special responsibility of the diocesan bishop to work to remedy situations that involve public actions at variance with the visible communion of the Church and the moral law,” the document reportedly said.

The vote is the culmination of year-long debate between America’s largely conservative bishops and the Vatican about whether punitive measures should be taken against public officials who are at odds with the church’s teaching on abortion.

Biden, only the nation’s second Catholic president, who has said his “personal” views were a “private matter,” has openly professed his faith throughout his political career — diligently attending Sunday Mass, infusing speeches with scripture and wearing his late son Beau Biden’s rosary beads.

After his meeting last month with Pope Francis before the G-20 summit, and amid criticism from conservative bishops, Biden said that the pope told him that he should continue receiving Communion and said the pope called him a “good Catholic.”

Some bishops, however, see things differently, citing Biden’s vocal public support of abortion rights as a key reason why clarification on who can receive Communion is necessary.

Prominent Catholic politicians, including Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have typically been careful about where they attend Mass so as to avoid controversy.

While Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington has said that he doesn’t plan to deny Biden Communion, he has publicly questioned whether the president is living up to Catholic Church teachings on controversial issues, including abortion.

“The Catholic Church teaches, and has taught, that life — human life — begins at conception,” Gregory told journalists at the National Press Club in September. “So, the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”

While the document does not mention Biden or other pro-abortion rights Catholic politicians by name, its intent is to issue a stern rebuke of individuals, especially of public officials, who present themselves for Communion after breaking with church teaching on fundamental issues.

In a leaked draft of the document before the conference, the bishops reportedly wrote “there are some sins, however that do rupture the communion we share with God and the Church.”

“As the Church has consistently taught, a person who receives Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin not only does not receive the grace of the sacrament, he or she commits the sin of sacrilege by failing to show the reverence due to the Body and Blood of Christ,” the document said.

An official at the bishop’s conference insisted that they are staying true to their mission of defending church teachings, pointing to the conference’s outspoken disagreement with the Trump administration’s policies regarding undocumented migrants.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, many American Catholics are divided about whether Biden should be denied Communion over his support of abortion rights.

A majority of U.S. Catholic adults say Biden should be allowed to receive Communion during Mass, while nearly 30% say Biden should not be allowed to receive Communion.

The divide underscores a growing tension amongst American Catholics about who they see as the true authority on matters of faith and what they should believe.

“The U.S. bishops, and Pope Francis see things in very different ways,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University. “American Catholics for the first time in many decades have to decide if they want to follow Pope Francis or U.S. bishops, which is new, because U.S. bishops are traditionally very Roman, loyal to the pope.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate if “illegal conduct” is to blame for surging gas prices hurting Americans’ pocketbooks.

Fuel prices are averaging above $3.40 a gallon, according to the American Automotive Association, which forecasts more than 48 million Americans are likely to hit the road next week to drive to Thanksgiving celebrations.

“The bottom line is this: gasoline prices at the pump remain high, even though oil and gas companies’ costs are declining. The Federal Trade Commission has authority to consider whether illegal conduct is costing families at the pump. I believe you should do so immediately,” Biden wrote in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan.

High gas prices can pose a big political problem for the president as a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows 70% of those surveyed rate the economy negatively, including 38 percent who say it is in “poor” condition. About half of Americans overall and political independents blame Biden for fast-rising inflation.

The administration had previously asked the commission to monitor the gasoline market for any illegal conduct earlier this year, leading to the FTC increasing their oversight on mergers of oil companies that result in fewer options for consumers.

Biden argues the math doesn’t add up when it comes to pricing, noting that while the price of unfinished gasoline (for example, before ethanol has been added) has been down more than 5% in the last month, prices at the pump are up 3%. Usually, the prices for unfinished gas correlates with what is used to fill up car tanks, he said.

“The unexplained large gap between the price of unfinished gasoline and the average price at the pump is well above the pre-pandemic average. Meanwhile, the largest oil and gas companies in America are generating significant profits off higher energy prices,” Biden wrote.

“I do not accept hard working Americans are paying more for gas because of anti-competitive or otherwise potentially illegal conduct. I therefore ask the commission to further examine what is happening with oil and gas markets, and that you bring all the commission’s tools to bear if you uncover any wrongdoing,” he added.

Biden’s call for a probe is not likely to lead to any immediate relief at the pump.

The move prompted swift pushback from the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, which argued bad administration policy decisions, coupled with a market shift, have caused spiking prices.

“This is a distraction from the fundamental market shift that is taking place and the ill-advised government decisions that are exacerbating this challenging situation. Demand has returned as the economy comes back and is outpacing supply,” said Frank Macchiarola, API’s senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs.

“Rather than launching investigations on markets that are regulated and closely monitored on a daily basis or pleading with OPEC to increase supply, we should be encouraging the safe and responsible development of American-made oil and natural gas,” he added.

The administration has been pressed in recent weeks about how Biden planned to address the soaring costs of fuel Americans are feeling at the pump, with many particularly wondering if the he planned to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to alleviate some of the price spike.

The administration largely stayed mum on specifics, arguing instead there were a range of options they were considering to address the issue.

“The message to Americans is that we’re not just closely and directly monitoring the situation, which of course we’ve been doing, but we’re looking at every tool in our arsenal,” Psaki told reporters Nov. 12. “The president is quite focused on this as is the economic team.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The question of whether President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion rights should receive Holy Communion is at the center of a controversial draft document the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is expected to vote on Wednesday.

The vote is the culmination of year-long debate between America’s largely conservative bishops and the Vatican about whether punitive measures should be taken against public officials who contradict the church’s teaching on abortion.

Biden, only the nation’s second Catholic president, who has said his “personal” views were a “private matter,” has openly professed his faith throughout his political career — diligently attending Sunday Mass, infusing speeches with scripture and wearing his late son Beau Biden’s rosary beads.

After his meeting last month with Pope Francis before the G-20 summit, and amid criticism from conservative bishops, Biden said that the pope told him that he should continue receiving Communion and said the pope called him a “good Catholic.”

Some bishops, however, see things differently, citing Biden’s vocal public support of abortion rights as a key reason why clarification on who can receive Communion is necessary.

Prominent Catholic politicians, including Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have typically been careful about where they attend Mass so as to avoid controversy.

While Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington has said that he doesn’t plan to deny Biden Communion, he has publicly questioned whether the president is living up to Catholic Church teachings on controversial issues, including abortion.

“The Catholic Church teaches, and has taught, that life — human life — begins at conception,” Gregory told journalists at the National Press Club in September. “So, the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”

While the document is expected to make no mention Biden or other pro-abortion rights Catholic politicians by name, its intent is to issue a stern rebuke of individuals, especially of public officials, who present themselves for Communion after breaking with church teaching on fundamental issues.

In a leaked draft of the document before the conference, the bishops write “there are some sins, however that do rupture the communion we share with God and the Church.”

“As the Church has consistently taught, a person who receives Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin not only does not receive the grace of the sacrament, he or she commits the sin of sacrilege by failing to show the reverence due to the Body and Blood of Christ,” the document said.

An official at the bishop’s conference insisted that they are staying true to their mission of defending church teachings, pointing to the conference’s outspoken disagreement with the Trump administration’s policies regarding undocumented migrants.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, many American Catholics are divided about whether Biden should be denied Communion over his support of abortion rights.

A majority of U.S. Catholic adults say Biden should be allowed to receive Communion during Mass, while nearly 30% say Biden should not be allowed to receive Communion.

The divide underscores a growing tension amongst American Catholics about who they see as the true authority on matters of faith and what they should believe.

“The U.S. bishops, and Pope Francis see things in very different ways,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University. “American Catholics for the first time in many decades have to decide if they want to follow Pope Francis or U.S. bishops, which is new, because U.S. bishops are traditionally very Roman, loyal to the pope.”

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(WASHINGTON) — White House officials insisted Tuesday that President Joe Biden does not consider China’s President Xi Jinping a “friend” after Xi, speaking through an interpreter in a virtual meeting with Biden Monday night, referred to his American counterpart as “my old friend.”

“Thank you,” Biden responded at the time.

Asked what Xi was getting at — and if Xi was trying to undermine the U.S. — White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates didn’t answer directly, but reiterated that Biden doesn’t see Xi as an “old friend.”

“I’m not going to speak for President Xi,” Bates told a reporter on Air Force One as Biden headed to New Hampshire.

“But like you just mentioned,” Bates continued, “you’ve heard explicitly from the president himself, that he has a longstanding relationship with President Xi. They’ve spent a great deal of time together. They are able to have candid discussions, be direct with each other, which helps them be productive. But he does not consider President Xi an old friend.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday said the same ahead of the leaders’ meeting when asked how Biden views the relationship.

“He still does not consider him an ‘old friend,’ so that remains consistent,” she said.

“President Xi is somebody he has spent time with, he’s had face-to-face conversations with. And because of that, the president feels that he’s able to have candid discussions with President Xi,” she added.

Biden on Tuesday in New Hampshire called it a “good meeting” with “a lot to follow up on.”

“We set up four groups, and we’re gonna get our folks together on a whole range of issues. I’ll have more to report for you in the next two weeks,” he told reporters.

Biden has often spoken of his long-term relationship with Xi and the time they spent together in person when they were both served as vice presidents.

But this June, Biden made clear he didn’t think of Xi as an “old friend,” saying in response to a question at a news conference in Geneva: “Let’s get something straight. We know each other well; we’re not old friends. It’s just pure business.”

Experts have tried to interpret Xi’s use of the phrase — whether it was genuine goodwill or meant to gain control of the narrative over Biden.

Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, told Reuters Xi’s use of the phrase is a show of genuine goodwill, while Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, told the news outlet “an ‘old friend’ doesn’t necessarily mean he is still a real friend.”

The two world leaders spoke for about three and a half hours via videoconference on Monday evening, amid continued tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade issues, climate change and human rights and in the wake of China recently upping its military pressure on Taiwan.

In a readout of the call, the Chinese government blamed the Tsai government for increased tensions between the U.S. and China for Taiwan’s attempt to “rely on the United States for independence” with Xi likening independence talk to “playing with fire” — in an apparent warning to both nations.

Xi said that Beijing is patient over reunification with Taiwan but independence is a red line they will take “decisive measures” on.

Biden, asked Tuesday in New Hampshire if the leaders made “progress on Taiwan,” said they had.

“Yes,” Biden answered. “We have made very clear, we support the Taiwan Act, and that’s it. It’s independent, makes its own decisions.”

The fact that he called Taiwan “independent” was certain to upset China and Biden spoke a second time to reporters traveling with him in New Hampshire to clarify his earlier comments.

“We’re not going to change our policy at all,” he said, referring to U.S. policy on Taiwan.

Asked about his remark about “independence,” he replied: “No, no, I said that they have to decide – they, Taiwan, not us,” adding, “And we are not encouraging independence. We’re encouraging that they do exactly what the Taiwan Act requires. That’s what we’re doing. Let them make up their mind. Period.”

Taiwan’s Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement after the Biden-Xi meeting, saying it “insists that China has no say in the fate of Taiwan.”

While the meeting did not establish any specific new guardrails over Taiwan, the White House said the meeting itself was intended to allow the two leaders discussing ways to manage competition between one another and characterized the conversations as “respectful and straightforward and open.”

“The sense of US-China relationship having up and downs is the old model of how to think about the relationship between the US and China. We sort of think of this as a steady state,” a readout from the White House said. “The President has been quite clear that he will engage in that stiff competition.”

Xi, on the call, compared China and the U.S. to two giant ships sailing in the sea that must stabilize to move forward together and prevent a collision, according to a readout of the meeting from the Chinese government.

Psaki said Friday that Biden may have the chance to talk more about the phone call on Thursday when he hosts leaders of Canada and Mexico for a North American summit at the White House.

Monday’s meeting marked the third time the two leaders will have spoken since Biden took office.

ABC News’ Karson Yiu contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House plans to vote Wednesday on a resolution that both censures Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and removes him from his committee assignments, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC News.

Gosar last week tweeted an edited Japanese anime cartoon showing him stabbing President Joe Biden and killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. He later deleted the tweet.

On Tuesday, sources confirmed to ABC News that Gosar apologized for the tweet behind closed doors during a GOP conference meeting. Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said he had also spoken privately with Gosar about the tweet, but it appears he did not take further action against him.

Gosar said his video was an attempt by his staff to reach a younger audience and was not meant to condone violence. He has not publicly apologized.

“I have never in 40 years seen such a vile, hateful, outrageous, dangerous, and inciting to violence against a colleague, ever,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said to reporters during a press call Tuesday.

“The fact that they would not take some action themselves or make some comments themselves, which I have not seen, is a testament that perhaps they are rationalizing, as they rationalize other items of criminal behavior, this particular action,” Hoyer said of Republicans.

The resolution would boot Gosar from the Oversight and Reform Committee, which he serves on alongside Ocasio-Cortez. It would also remove him from the Committee on Natural Resources.

Late Monday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters it was up to McCarthy to rein in and reprimand his conference members — but Democrats, outraged over Gosar’s behavior, insisted on a floor vote.

On Tuesday, Pelosi deemed the resolution as an appropriate measure.

“Why go after [Gosar]? Because he made threats, suggestions about harming a member of Congress…We cannot have members joking about murdering each other as well as threatening the president of the United States,” Pelosi said.

A censure resolution requires a simple majority of lawmakers present and voting. If it is approved, Gosar could be forced to stand in the center of the House chamber as the resolution condemning his actions is read aloud.

On Tuesday evening, Gosar tweeted out a meme that says, “God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers.”

Twenty-three members of Congress have been censured for misconduct, according to a 2016 Congressional Research Service Report.

Former Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., was the last member of Congress to be censured — in December 2010 — accused of nearly a dozen ethics violations.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Daniel Goldman, the former federal prosecutor who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment investigation of former President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday he will run for New York attorney general.

His announcement came in a two-minute video in which he cast himself as a public servant with a deep commitment to civil rights and equal justice.

Goldman told ABC News he decided to run because “democracy is under attack” and hoped to use the “broad authority” of the New York Attorney General’s Office to fight back.

“It started with Trump and now continues with Trumpism,” Goldman said. “There is a swath of the country that no longer believes in free and fair elections.”

Goldman joins what is expected to be a crowded and diverse field now that the current occupant, Letitia James, has announced a run for governor. Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout and state Sen. Shelley Mayer have announced their candidacies. State Sen. Mike Gianaris, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz are also said to be considering runs.

If elected, Goldman pledged to use the power of the office to uphold voting rights, reproductive rights and to fight the effects of climate change. While there is not always a legal avenue for the state attorney general in those pursuits, Goldman told ABC News “there is a pulpit and perch of a national relevance” and “vast authority within the attorney general’s office in upholding one standard of law.”

Recent occupants of the office, including the incumbent James and her predecessors Andrew Cuomo and Elliot Spitzer, used it as a springboard. Goldman spoke of no such ambitions.

“I’m doing this because I want to be the people’s lawyer,” he said. His decision to run became firm after Cuomo resigned as governor and James was rumored to be exploring a run for the office.

Goldman said he would work to make voters understand his “lifelong calling” as a champion of civil rights and criminal justice reform

Goldman, 45, is married with five children and lives in Manhattan. He was a history major at Yale and earned a law degree at Stanford before two judicial clerkships and a 10-year stint at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted organized crime and securities fraud. Then there was the 2019 role that made him a familiar face on television: lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment.

“Impeachment is the highest profile and most well-known moment of my career in public service but it demonstrates I’m unafraid, aggressive and will fight for what I believe is right,” Goldman said.

 

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