Month: May 2025

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Joe Biden, after delivering his first public remarks since his office announced last month that he had been diagnosed with ‘aggressive” prostate cancer, told reporters on Friday that he was feeling “optimistic” about his prognosis.

“Well, the prognosis is good. You know, we’re working on everything. It’s moving along. So, I feel good,” Biden said.

He said he had decided on a treatment option, mentioning that he would be taking various medications.

“The expectation is, we’re going to be able to beat this … it’s not in any organ. My bones are strong. It hasn’t penetrated so I’m feeling good,” he added, later saying his family is also optimistic about the diagnosis and said “one of the leading surgeons in the world” is working with him.

Asked about the recent controversy over his mental and physical capabilities while in office, Biden joked, with a smile, “You can see that — I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk.”

And asked about Democrats who say he shouldn’t have run again, Biden said, “Why didn’t they run against me then? Because I’d have beaten them.” He added he has no regrets.

“There’s a lot going on. And I think we’re in a really difficult moment, not only in American history, in world history. I think we’re one of those inflection points in history where the decisions we make in the next little bit are going to determine what things look like for the next 20 years,” he added, saying he is proud of his record as president.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that former first lady Jill Biden should “speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew,” accusing her of lying.

Asked about Leavitt’s comments, Biden smiled and said, “I don’t know who the press secretary is,” but afterward said he was joking and that the media would play that straightforwardly.

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

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Trump announced Thursday night that he was tapping Paul Ingrassia, a former far-right podcast host, to lead the Office of Special Counsel — an independent watchdog agency empowered to investigate federal employees and oversee complaints from whistleblowers.

The Trump administration has previously taken aim at the Office of Special Counsel, firing the head of the agency, Hampton Dellinger (a Biden appointee) in February. Dellinger expressed opposition to the Trump administration’s firing of federal employees under DOGE-led cuts, noting that many had been fired or laid off without notice or justification.

Dellinger challenged his firing in court and was briefly reinstated to the post until a federal appeals court allowed for his dismissal. Dellinger decided to drop the challenge.

ABC News exclusively reported in February about how Ingrassia, in his role as White House liaison to the Department of Justice, was pushing to hire candidates at the DOJ who exhibited what he called “exceptional loyalty” to Trump. His efforts at DOJ sparked clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top aide, Chad Mizelle, leading Ingrassia to complain directly to President Trump, sources told ABC News.

Ingrassia was pushed out of DOJ and reassigned as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, where he was serving prior to Trump announcing his new role, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.

In a post on X, Ingrassia wrote in response to his nomination: “It’s the highest honor to have been nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel under President Trump! As Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement.”

For the Senate-confirmed five-year term, Ingrassia will likely face tough questions over his lengthy history of media appearances and posts on social media promoting Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election as well as his ties to far-right media figures.

He was previously spotted at a 2024 rally hosted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes and has publicly praised figures like Andrew Tate — who has faced criminal charges for alleged sexual assault (Tate denies all wrongdoing).

Ingrassia, in a comment to NPR, maintained he did not intend to go to the Fuentes rally and instead was there for another event. “I had no knowledge of who organized the event, observed for 5-10 minutes, then left,” he wrote to NPR. He added that the notion that he is an extremist is “lacking in all credibility.”

Before joining the Trump administration, Ingrassia led communications efforts for a nonprofit legal organization that promotes itself as “the answer to the useless and radically leftist American Civil Liberties Union,” and he was a writer for the right-wing website Gateway Pundit.

Trump has also been known to post some of Ingrassia’s pro-Trump stories on social media.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(PITTSBURGH) — President Donald Trump on Friday visits Pittsburgh to celebrate what he says is a “planned partnership” between U.S. Steel and the Japanese company Nippon Steel, after previously opposing a merger.

Trump is set to deliver remarks at 5 p.m. ET about the “U.S. Steel Deal” at a rally at the Irvin Works in Allegheny County, according to the White House.

Trump announced the agreement on his conservative social media platform last week. He said it will create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 billion to the American economy. The “investment,” he wrote, would take place over the next 14 months and keep U.S. Steel headquartered in Pennsylvania.

Trump, during the 2024 campaign, pledged to block the Japanese steelmaker from purchasing U.S. Steel. As president-elect, he repeated that vow.

“I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media platform in early December.

The Biden administration in January blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel over national security concerns. The White House said at the time it was important to keep one of the largest steel producers in the nation an American-owned company.

The reaction was mixed. The president of the United Steelworkers union, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers, celebrated the move while local leaders expressed concern about U.S. Steel’s future in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Weeks after the inauguration, Trump met with U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt at the White House. In early April, he ordered a new national security review of Nippon Steel’s proposed bid to acquire U.S. Steel.

The White House has provided few details, other than those mentioned by Trump in his social media post, about the agreement.

Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, insisted on Thursday that U.S. Steel “owns” the company.

“Nippon Steel is going to have some involvement but no control of the company,” Navarro told reporters outside the White House, though he didn’t take any more questions on the agreement.

Nippon was seeking 100% ownership of U.S. Steel in talks with Trump, Nikkei Asia reported earlier this month.

U.S. Steel issued a brief statement last week in which it said Trump “is a bold leader and businessman who knows how to get the best deal for America.”

“U. S. Steel will remain American, and we will grow bigger and stronger through a partnership with Nippon Steel that brings massive investment, new technologies and thousands of jobs over the next four years,” the company said without sharing more specifics.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The FBI is investigating mysterious texts and calls from someone reaching out to governors, members of Congress and others who has claimed to be White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, sources familiar with the matter said.

The calls and texts appear to use Wiles’ voice but are believed to be from an imposter who will on occasion ask for money, the sources said.

Wiles is seen as one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers and managed his 2024 presidential campaign, and she has access to many top officials in Republican circles. It is unclear who and how many people have received messages from the imposter.

“The White House takes the cybersecurity of all staff very seriously, and this matter continues to be investigated,” a White House official said when asked about the matter.

The story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

“The FBI takes all threats against the President, his staff, and our cybersecurity with the utmost seriousness; safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the President’s mission is a top priority,” FBI Director Kash Patel told ABC News in a statement.

Earlier this month, the House sergeant at arms sent a notice to members and staff about phishing emails and ways to protect themselves from scams, according to multiple sources who received the notice.

The FBI and White House did not indicate who could be behind the impersonation, and it is unclear how the person was able to access Wiles’ phone contacts.

The incident follows Trump’s campaign, led by Wiles, being the target of a phishing campaign by Iran last summer, during the 2024 election campaign season, and Iranians were able to access internal campaign materials.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s request to categorically revoke humanitarian parole for more than 530,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and order them out of the country.

The court did not explain its order staying a lower court decision that temporarily blocked the administration’s abrupt policy change.

In March, the Department of Homeland Security revoked protections for migrants from five countries issued by the Biden administration. The agency gave them 30 days notice to leave the country unless they had legal protection under another program.

A number of migrants and immigrant advocacy groups sued over the move, alleging that federal law did not give DHS Secretary Kristi Noem discretion to categorically eliminate humanitarian protections — only to do so on a case-by-case basis. A federal district court agreed.

The high court’s decision means the Trump administration can move forward with it’s policy change even as the litigation continues in lower courts on the merits.

Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

Jackson, writing in opposition, accused the court’s majority of callously “undervalu[ing] the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.

“Even if the Government is likely to win on the merits, in our legal system, success takes time,” Jackson wrote, “and the stay standards require more than anticipated victory. I would have denied the Government’s application because its harm-related showing is patently insufficient.”

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to terminate “Temporary Protected Status” for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans who were protected from deportation and allowed to work in the United States.

While the administration’s moved to restrict immigration and turn away refugees from countries like Afghanistan and Haiti, it recently accepted white South African refugees — prompting criticism.

The administration’s falsely claimed a genocide is taking place against white Afrikaner farmers, which South Africa’s president pushed back on during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.