Biden to apologize for government forcing Indian children into boarding schools
ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua
(PHOENIX) — President Joe Biden was in Arizona on Friday to apologize to Native Americans for the federal government forcing Indian children into boarding schools where the White House said they were abused and deprived of their cultural identity.
Departing the White House Thursday, Biden said he was going to Arizona “to do something that should have been done a long time ago.”
He said he would make “a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years.”
The White House called his trip to Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix — his first to Indian Country as president — “historic.”
Officials said he will discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s record of delivering for tribal communities, including keeping his promise to visit the swing state, which is happening close to Election Day.
“The president also believes that to usher in the next era of the Federal-Tribal relationships we need to fully acknowledge the harms of the past,” the White House said.
“For over 150 years, the federal government ran boarding schools that forcibly removed generations of Native children from their homes to boarding schools often far away. Native children at these schools endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and, as detailed in the Federal Indian Boarding School Investigative Report by the Department of the Interior (DOI), at least 973 children died in these schools,” the White House said.
“The federally-run Indian boarding school system was designed to assimilate Native Americans by destroying Native culture, language, and identity through harsh militaristic and assimilationist methods,” it said.
(BUTLER, Pa.) — Former President Donald Trump is set to return to the site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, for a rally marked by enhanced security measures around the fairground as supporters call Saturday’s rally a healing moment.
With security at the forefront of people’s minds, officials have taken extra precautions to keep Trump and his supporters safe in the wake of enhanced threats. Semi-trailers have formed a perimeter around the fairgrounds so nobody outside can see in, a contrast to the summer’s rally where spectators had a clear vantage point inside from outside the rally perimeter.
Additionally, the unmanned building that Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to scale and get a clear shot at Trump is now barely visible, with semi-trailers and a tall riser placed in between. Multiple counter snipers are making themselves very visible on the roof of every surrounding building.
Saturday’s rally is expected to feature extensive programming focused on remembering the events of July 13, as well as honoring the resiliency of the Butler community before the former president takes the stage to finish his speech from the summer.
The campaign is also dedicating several moments throughout the program to Corey Comperatore, the rallygoer who was killed while shielding his family. His firefighter uniform is in the stands of where he was sitting in July in memory of him.
Several first responders spoke ahead of Trump, including the doctor who was attending Trump’s rally and attempted to save Comperatore’s life along with Sally Sherry, an ER nurse who helped treat Trump.
“The man that we all see on TV with the strong personality, who sometimes doesn’t mince words, or who is seen as a wealthy, powerful businessman, was not the man that I stood beside that evening. What I saw was a man that in the aftermath of one of the most terrifying experiences of his life, showed resiliency,” Sherry said.
“He showed strength and courage. He showed that his family was at the forefront. He was a husband, a father and a grandfather. He was compassionate and grateful,” she continued.
Many of the rally attendees ABC News spoke with on Saturday said they were here in July, clearly remembering the moment shots rang out in the midst of Trump’s speech nearly three months ago.
They said the violence and tragedy that took place here on July 13 did not discourage them from coming back, instead the experience reinforced their support for Trump.
“There’s an electricity that’s here in this crowd,” said Barry Murray, 29, of Butler, Pennsylvania, who was at the July rally with his girlfriend. “I think a word that could describe it is, altogether, is just strength – strength and unity. I think one of the main goals of being the leader of a nation like America is to be able to unite people, not divide people.”
Brooke Goshen of Beaver, Pennsylvania – a mother of four – attended the July rally with two of her teenage kids and came back to Butler Farm Show with one of them.
“I knew that the security presence was gonna be upgraded a lot this time, so we decided to give it a shot and come back to this historic rally,” Goshen told ABC News about her decision to come back. She also said she was excited to see Elon Musk.
Dave Nacey of Apollo, Pennsylvania, wasn’t at the July Butler rally but decided to attend today’s rally because he felt the need to show more support today.
“I feel that the support needs to be there 100% from everybody,” Nacey said.
(WASHINGTON) — For the better part of 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden plotted a course to Nov. 5, 2024. As the incumbent, the veteran politician was the presumptive Democratic nominee, clinching enough delegates in March, and locked in a tight race with former President Donald Trump.
But instead of spending Election Day preparing for an evening speech, the president’s daily schedule is empty beyond his daily briefing by aides: No public events.
The president and first lady Jill Biden will spend election night watching the election results in the White House residence with “long time aides and senior White House staff,” according to a White House official.
“The President will receive regular updates on the state of races across the country,” the official added.
Monday night, Biden also held calls with Democratic state party chairs across the country. Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin state Democratic Party, told ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks that the call was “electrifying.”
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote, in part, in a letter posted on social media. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Biden created last-minute controversy on Oct. 29 when he seemed to call Trump supporters “garbage” during a campaign call hosted by the nonprofit Voto Latino.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden said.
Trump quickly seized on the comments, saying Biden “meant it,” though the president posted a clarification, saying his comment was about the comedian who made the joke and “referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it.”
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden said in the post on X.
(WASHINGTON) — The House is expected to hold a vote Wednesday afternoon on a bill that would avert a government shutdown at the end of the month.
House leaders are confident the short-term measure, which will keep the government funded until Dec. 20, will achieve a two-thirds majority and pass the chamber under a suspension of the rules with the help of Democrats.
The move comes after Speaker Mike Johnson’s push to pass a funding measure that included the SAVE Act — a bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote — failed last week due to Democratic opposition and several Republican defections.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he supports the funding measure, but he pointed out that it has been House Democrats that have helped Republicans avoid shutdowns during the current Congress.
“Can anyone name a single thing that extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have been able to do on their own to make life better for the American people? A single thing? Just one,” he asked. “Can the American people name a single thing that extreme MAGA Republicans have done to make their lives better? Zip, zero. So that is the track record that will be presented to the American people,” he said.
Former President Donald Trump had called on congressional Republicans to allow the government to shut down over the SAVE Act.
Johnson told ABC News, “I am not defying President Trump” when asked if the former president approved of the new solution to avoid a shutdown.
“I’ve spoken with him at great length, and he is very frustrated about the situation,” Johnson said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “His great concern is election security, and it is mine as well. It is all of ours.”
Johnson asserted Trump “understands the current dilemma” with House Republicans and said, “there’s no daylight between us.”
The White House and congressional Democrats all slammed Johnson’s attempt to tie the voter eligibility legislation to government funding, noting that it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
But the “clean” short-term measure to avert a shutdown was praised by Democratic leaders and the Biden administration.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday said the Senate will “immediately move” to pass the measure as soon as the House sends it over, and “if all goes well in the House, the Senate should be sending President Biden a bill before the end of today.
“Americans can breathe easy that because both sides have chosen bipartisanship, Congress is getting the job done,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “We will keep the government open. We will prevent vital government services from needlessly coming to a halt. We will give appropriators more time to fully fund the government before the end of the year. And I’m especially pleased we’re getting the job done with some time to spare.”
In addition to funding the government through Dec. 20, the bill includes funds to replenish FEMA and $231 million for the U.S. Secret Service in the wake a second apparent assassination attempt against Trump.
The White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday released a statement calling for “swift passage of this bill in both chambers of the Congress to avoid a costly, unnecessary Government shutdown.”
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
