Former President George W. Bush will not make formal election endorsement, office says
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(DALLAS) — Former President George W. Bush doesn’t plan to make an endorsement or voice how he or his wife Laura will vote in November, his office told ABC News Saturday.
The announcement came a day after Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, announced he would cross party lines and vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Cheney said former President Donald Trump “can never be trusted with power again.”
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him,” he said in a statement.
Cheney’s daughter, former Wyoming member of the House Liz Cheney, also announced this week that she would be voting for Harris.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Julia Beverly/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As we head into the final full week of campaigning before Election Day, the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll shows Kamala Harris with a slight 51-47% lead over Donald Trump among likely voters nationally — but the polls in the battleground states remain essentially deadlocked within the margin of error.
Fallout continues over racist comments made at Trump’s big rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden and Harris is preparing for her “closing argument” Tuesday night on the Ellipse near the Capitol and White House in Washington.
Of the 41,989,199 total early votes, 21,111,171 were cast in person and 21,338,290 were balloted returned by mail.
On Monday, voters in Washington, D.C., can start casting their ballots early, in person. Almost all of the states that offer in-person early voting have begun offering it by now.
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
Michelle Obama uses op-ed to reiterate message imploring men to support women’s reproductive health
The former first lady repeated her passionate message on women’s health being at stake this election in an op-ed published by the New York Times on Monday,
The op-ed featured excerpted remarks from her rally in Michigan on Saturday in which she blasted Trump’s record on the issue in comparison to Harris’, and made an appeal to men to support the women in their lives. The rally marked her first campaign appearance since her speech at the Democratic National Convention this summer.
“I am asking you, from the core of my being, to take our lives seriously,” she said. “Please do not put our lives in the hands of politicians, mostly men, who have no clue or do not care about what we as women are going through, who don’t fully grasp the broad-reaching health implications that their misguided policies will have on our health outcomes.”
Despite her stated aversion to partisan politics, the former first lady is ramping up her involvement in the final stretch of the 2024 campaign. She will headline a rally on Tuesday in battleground Georgia.
Harris counters dark and racist comments at Trump’s MSG rally
Harris is countering the dark and racist comments made by speakers at Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden, while the former president’s campaign tries to distance itself from the comedian who referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Harris will stump in two critical counties in the battleground state of Michigan to kick off the final full week of campaigning. First, she will visit Corning’s manufacturing facility in Saginaw before getting a tour at a union training facility in Macomb County.
The vice president will cap the day with a rally with her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, in Ann Arbor. The rally will feature a concert by musician Maggie Rogers.
Trump will be in Georgia to deliver remarks at National Faith Advisory Board in Powder Springs before a 6 p.m. ET rally in Atlanta.
People inspect the remains of an Iranian missile that fell into the home of a Bedouin family in the Negev desert near Arad, Oct. 2, 2024, in the aftermath of an overnight Iranian missile attack on Israel. (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Even as Iranian missiles were streaking across the skies over Israel this week, U.S. officials say they were actively engaging with their Israeli counterparts to game out an appropriate response to the attack and underscore the need to avoid escalation.
Now that the fog of war has subsided to reveal that Iran’s barrage on Tuesday did not incur massive loss of life or widespread damage, several Biden administration officials tell ABC News they’re more optimistic they can persuade Israel to carry out a measured response — but said they still fear a significant counterattack could trigger additional military action from Iran that leads to spiraling escalation in the Middle East.
One U.S. official said Israel aims to reestablish deterrence through its response by putting on a show of force. However, the official said Israel is unlikely to hit Iran’s nuclear facilities — a move that would spark ire from Tehran and one President Joe Biden made clear he does not support following a conversation with other members of the G7.
“We’ll be discussing with Israelis what they’re going to do,” Biden said Wednesday. “All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion.”
Another U.S. official said Israel could opt to go after other targets critical to Iran’s economy, like the country’s energy grid or its oil production infrastructure, but that striking a military installation would be the route with the lowest risk of escalation.
They added that the Biden administration believes Israel is still evaluating its options and has not yet set a firm timeline for its response.
An Israeli official told ABC News on Wednesday that its retaliation would be “significant” and “come fast.”
The Iranian regime has issued a range of messages following Tuesday’s attack on Israel, blaming the presence of the U.S. and some European nations in the Middle East for the turmoil in the region and declaring that peace depends on “rooting out the evil of these countries” while also declaring Tehran doesn’t want a broader war.
“We don’t seek war, it is Israel that is forcing us to react,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a press conference in Qatar on Wednesday.
Tehran said its attack was incited by the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil in July, which was widely attributed to Israel, and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike last week.
The Biden administration has lauded the killing of Nasrallah, saying Israel acted to bring the leader of a designated terror organization to justice. But the killing of the Iranian proxy group’s leader has also complicated the leverage the U.S. has over Israel.
In April, Tehran launched a drone and missile attack at Israel to settle the score following an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria. Then, the tit-for-tat ended with a murmur — a muted counterblow from Israel on a single Iranian military site.
But in the spring, Israel still wished to avoid provoking Hezbollah, making the country more amenable to the Biden administration’s pleas for caution. Now, Israel is actively carrying out ground incursions into Lebanon and has greatly diminished the militant group’s capability.
The Biden administration initially responded to Israel’s actions in Lebanon by urgently calling for a cease-fire.
Now, U.S. officials say they are still pursuing a diplomatic solution, but the public messaging from Washington has pivoted back to one of support for Israel rather than calls for truce in Lebanon.
“Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully supportive of Israel,” Biden said.
(WASHINGTON) — Former first lady Melania Trump described the July 13 assassination attempt on her husband, former President Donald Trump, as “a horrible, distressing experience” in a new video.
She also questioned official accounts of the security failure at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally, suggesting there’s “more to this story.”
Melania Trump has been posting videos defending her husband ahead of tonight’s presidential debate as a part of her promotional campaign for her forthcoming memoir, titled “Melania.”
“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience,” Melania Trump said in the short video, posted Tuesday morning on X. “Now, the silence around it feels heavy. I can’t help but wonder why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?”
“There is definitely more to this story, and we need to uncover the truth,” she continued.
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the shooter. Crooks, who also shot and killed a spectator at the rally and injured two others, was killed at the scene.
In an Aug. 28 media call, Kevin P. Rojek, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office, said that their investigation to that point had provided “valuable insight into [Crooks’] mindset, but not a definitive motive” for the shooting.
“To date, we have not uncovered any credible evidence indicating the subject conspired with anyone else,” Rojek also said, adding that the FBI will “continue to pursue all investigative leads to determine any possible links to co-conspirators.”
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who came under scrutiny for the agency’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt, resigned her position on July 23.
In an audio clip posted to X on Monday, the former first lady described how the 2020 election “changed” some people’s lives forever, and said that there are “efforts to silence” her husband.
“The 2020 election results changed our lives forever. It impacted our quality of life, cost of food, gasoline, safety, and even the geopolitical landscape,” Melania Trump said. “America is more divided today than ever before. It has become increasingly apparent that there are significant challenges to free speech, as demonstrated by the efforts to silence my husband.”
Both the video and the audio clip end with promotional messaging for her memoir and where to order the book.
In yet another video posted last week on X, Melania Trump described the experience of writing the memoir as a “deeply personal and reflective journey.”
“As a private person who has often been the subject of public scrutiny and misrepresentation, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts. I believe it is important to share my perspective, the truth,” Trump said.
Melania Trump’s memoir, which she began promoting in July, is scheduled to be released on Oct. 8. Her website describes it in part as “the powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has defined personal excellence, overcome adversity, and carved her own path.”
“The former First Lady invites readers into her world, offering an intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life,” and includes “stories and images never before shared with the public,” the according to the website.
“Melania” is available in three editions ranging in cost from $40 to $250 for a signed, expanded “collector’s edition.”
