Biden considering preemptive pardons for officials Trump might target: Source
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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and his senior aides are discussing possible preemptive pardons for people who might be targeted by the incoming Trump administration, according to a source close to the president.
Possible names include current and former officials such as retired Gen. Mark Milley, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, Sen.-elect Adam Schiff and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Politico was first to report the news.
The consideration comes after Biden issued a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, on Dec. 1. The move sparked backlash from Republicans and criticism from many Democrats.
The White House said Biden did so, despite his past pledges not to pardon his son, because “it didn’t seem his political opponents would let go of it.”
Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to exact “retribution” on his political enemies.
Milley, who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year, has long been a target of Republican attacks over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
He also stoked Trump’s ire over a report that Milley secretly called his Chinese counterpart before and after the 2020 election to dispel China’s fears Trump was not planning an attack. Trump accused Milley of “treason” after the report.
Cheney and Schiff have also long been criticized by Trump over their investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021. The two were part of the House Jan. 6 committee’s yearlong probe, which concluded with the recommendation of criminal charges against Trump. Schiff also was the lead House prosecutor in Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial.
Cheney lost her reelection bid in 2022 to a Trump-backed Republican challenger. Cheney endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump, and appeared with Harris several times on the campaign trail.
Schiff is now the senator-elect from California after winning the seat held by late Sen. Dianne Feinstein in November.
Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, faced intense scrutiny over the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He’s been called to Capitol Hill to testify on school shutdowns, the virus’ origins and more by House Republicans since retiring in 2022.
Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Catholic voters have always been a key voting bloc in every presidential election, with candidates vying hard for their support.
And this year, the battle for their votes has gotten aggressive as former President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Vice President Kamala Harris has been anti-Catholic.
While Harris has not said the same about Trump, she has sent a message to Catholic voters that her policies are in line with their social and political views and priorities. But in reality, academics who have been studying religion’s role in politics tell ABC News that it’s not easy to pin a single label on the nation’s Catholics.
“It’s really interesting that the Catholic Church is probably one of the few places where you find people with different perspectives sitting together at Sunday Mass,” Margaret Susan Thompson, a professor of history at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, told ABC News.
Thompson and others said that if past election results are any indication, Catholic turnout and the choices they make at the polls will depend on a variety of factors.
Changing demographics show schism in voting patterns
Thompson, who has been researching Catholic vote trends, said that, as a whole, Catholics have been voting more Republican in the last 44 years after abortion became a major campaign issue for the Christians as a whole.
But over those decades, she noted that the makeup of American Catholics has also changed as the number of non-white Catholics has grown.
Since 2007, the share of American Catholics who are white has dropped by 8 percentage points, while the share who are Hispanic has increased by 4 points, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
“It has changed the map a lot,” Thompson said. “Latino Catholics have risen in numbers in the South and in swing states like Arizona and have brought their own perspectives on their faith and their beliefs.”
Ryan Burge, associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, who has compiled data on the voting patterns of the county’s religious groups, agreed.
“The Catholic vote is full of contradictions,” Burge said. “There is a lot of cross-pressures that they face. They may be white, but also a union member. They may be against LGTBQ rights but want better immigration rights.”
Burge told ABC News that the increased diversity among Catholics has also reflected a shift in the presidential races.
In 2020, 56% of Catholic voters voted Republican, according to data he compiled from Harvard University’s Cooperative Election Study. However, when the community was broken down into race, 59% of white Catholics voted Republican last election while it was only 31% of non-white Catholics voted for the GOP.
“We see the same racial trends for most religious groups,” he explained.
Not in communion with the Catholic Church’s teaching
Thompson said the diversity also extends to Catholics’ political leanings.
For example, Pew found that 61% of all Catholics find abortion should be legal in all or most cases. An ABC News/Ipsos poll found 55% of Catholics would rather the federal government restore abortion access as it was before the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade.
“Just because the hierarchy says ‘this is right, this is wrong’ doesn’t mean that every Catholic is going to follow their lead,” she said.
Burge also noted that cultural ties outside of one’s religion have factored in individual leanings of certain Catholic groups.
For example, he noted that data has shown that Latino Catholics are less in favor of promoting LGBTQ rights and socialism ideals than their white and Black counterparts.
“I think they are pulled in two directions,” he said of Latino Catholics. “Traditionally they’ve been Democratic and we’ve seen them in a majority still vote Democratic but they’ve always been culturally conservative. I think that’s where you’re seeing the shift in some Latino circles voting Republican because of the party’s messaging on those issues.”
A recent ABCNews/Ipsos poll found that Catholic likely voters are closely divided in vote preference, 51-48% Trump-Harris.
“I think they seem to be a more moderate voting bloc. I don’t think they can be taken for granted,” Burge said.
Trump slams Harris over Catholic vote on the campaign trail
Since the start of the election season, the Trump, Biden and Harris campaigns have been trying to court various religious groups.
Trump, in particular, has been sounding off in rallies, social media and interviews against Harris, calling her anti-Catholic. He’s claimed in a Truth Social post that she lost the Catholic vote due to her stance on reproductive rights and that she was “persecuting” the group.
“Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined,” he said in a Truth Social post in September.
Harris has rarely made direct comments about the Catholic vote during the campaign and did not attend the annual Al Smith Dinner hosted by the Archdiocese of New York, saying it was due to schedule conflicts.
Even though she was the first presidential candidate not to attend the dinner in 40 years, she provided a video speech that included a skit with “Saturday Night Live” alum Molly Shannon.
“The Gospel of Luke tells us that faith has the power to shine a light on those living in darkness and to guide our feet in the path of peace. In the spirit of tonight’s dinner, let us recommit to reaching across divides, to seek understanding and common ground,” she said.
Trump, in breaking with the dinner’s soft-hearted roasting, continued his attacks on Harris at the dinner.
“You can’t do what I just saw on that screen, but my opponent feels like she does not have to be here, which is deeply disrespectful to the event and in particular to our great Catholic community. Very disrespectful,” he said.
Rhetoric does little to sway Catholic voters
Despite the media attention, the experts said that Trump’s rhetoric and back-and-forth with Harris over the Catholic vote isn’t going to move the needle.
Thompson said that there are very few undecided voters left and most voters’ preferences are locked in at this point.
She also noted Trump’s attacks and messaging are no different from the language he’s used for other religious groups, such as Jewish voters, Latino voters and Black voters.
“It’s his go-to phrase: ‘They should have their head checked,'” she said.
Thompson also noted that the sentiment applies to the Vatican.
Pope Francis weighed in on the election in September and appeared to take a middle ground, claiming “One must choose the lesser of two evils.”
“Who is the lesser of two evils? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know,” he told reporters during a news conference.
Francis did not directly name Trump or Harris or either political party, but even while noting the church’s opposition to abortion, he also emphasized a more moderate stance on social issues.
“To send migrants away, to leave them wherever you want, to leave them … it’s something terrible, there is evil there. To send away a child from the womb of the mother is an assassination, because there is life. We must speak about these things clearly,” he said.
Thompson said that the pope has contributed to a major schism among Catholics, with more conservative members dismissing his progressive stances on LGBTQ rights and the environment and more liberal members calling him out for not shifting the church’s stance on reproductive rights.
“There is selective listening to the pope by everyone,” she said. “I don’t think that his non-endorsement is really going to change people’s minds, either.”
Burge said that, at the end of the day, the moments that are going to affect the Catholic vote are in the rhetoric and actions of the candidates in the final days.
“Politicians have always had a problem speaking about religion without sounding pandering,” he said. “The public just cares about where they stand and how they are going to tackle the issues they feel are important.”
(NEW YORK) — Former president Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday was framed as his “closing argument” in his bid for the White House and as a way to bring a diverse group of supporters together.
Instead, it included divisive language and racist insults aimed at some of the very voters Trump has been working to attract.
Causing the most backlash were comments from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made explicit jokes about Latinos and turned to Trump recently calling the United States the “garbage can” of the world.
With just about a week until Election Day, the rally was an opportunity for the Trump campaign to connect with Hispanic and Black Americans, voters the Trump campaign is attempting to court in deep-Blue New York.
His campaign instead was forced to try to respond to distance Trump from the comedian the campaign had chosen to speak at his high-profile event.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump campaign’s senior adviser Danielle Alvarez wrote in a statement to ABC News about the “island of garbage remark.”
Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added on Fox News on Monday morning that Hinchcliffe’s joke was in “poor taste.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign immediately slammed Hinchcliffe’s comments, pointing to how Harris would work to support Puerto Rico — a key voting bloc that Harris targeted during a stop in swing state Pennsylvania over the weekend.
“Puerto Ricans deserve better,” she said in a Sunday video post on X.
The backlash to Hinchcliffe’s comments kicked up in Puerto Rico from both sides of the political aisle. Jenniffer Gonzalez, a Republican who is running to be the island’s governor, called the comedian’s comments “despicable, inappropriate and disgusting.” The Republican Party of Puerto Rico also denounced Hinchcliffe’s comments, with party chair Angel Cintrón writing that they were “unfortunate, ignorant, and entirely reprehensible.”
Hinchcliffe responded to criticism from Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz — who ripped the comedian for the “island of garbage comments.
“These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist,” Hinchcliffe wrote on social media. “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set.”
While Puerto Rico does not vote for president in the general election since it is a U.S. territory, the Republican Party of Puerto Rico held a primary in April as part of its presidential nominating process. That primary was won by Trump, who netted the territory’s delegates.
The controversy is not a first for Hinchcliffe, who has a history of making racially charged jokes.
In 2021, he came under fire after calling fellow comedian Peng Dang racist names in a mocking Chinese accent.
It was during a Big Laugh Comedy show in Austin, Texas, where Dang had just introduced Hinchcliffe to the stage after doing a series of jokes related to #StopAsianHate. During the set, Hinchcliffe reportedly further made racist jokes against Chinese people.
The incident led to the cancellation of several of Hinchcliffe’s upcoming shows and reportedly caused him to be removed from his agency, WME.
Other pre-program speakers at the Madison Square Garden rally also made false and harmful remarks about Harris. Businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris “and her pimp handlers will destroy our country;” Trump’s friend David Rem called her “the devil” and “the anti-Christ.”
Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson also made racially charged jokes aimed at Harris; radio host Sid Rosenberg used expletives to describe undocumented immigrants and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani also repeated disparaging rhetoric on Palestinians.
Trump’s campaign has still only condemned one comment — those from Hinchcliffe — in a long list of sexist, racist and profane remarks that were made during his Madison Square Garden campaign rally.
In the final weeks of his campaign, Trump has regularly used vulgar, dark and shocking rhetoric to paint a picture of a country being “destroyed” – attacking migrants and his opponent’s intelligence.
(Washington, D.C.) — With less than a week before the 2024 presidential election, the infrastructure has “never been more secure,” according to the head of the federal agency tasked with America’s cyber defense.
Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told ABC News’ Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas that she has “incredible confidence” in the security of the election.
“I understand why some Americans have questions, because they’ve been subjected for years to a fire hose of disinformation, and it has undermined confidence in the election systems and in our democratic institutions, but I have spent so much time on the ground over the past three plus years with state and local election officials who are on the front lines of running and managing and defending election infrastructure, and I can tell you, I have incredible confidence that our election infrastructure has never been more secure,” Easterly said during an interview at CISA headquarters.
“Election officials have never been better prepared to deliver safe and secure and free and fair elections for the people,” she said.
For example, she said that 97% of registered voters will cast a ballot in jurisdictions where they’ll get a paper record that they themselves can verify, which is “incredibly important,” she said.
Voting machines are not connected to the internet and that is a “great source of protection.”
That disinformation is being amplified by foreign adversaries, according to Easterly, who pointed to various examples of disinformation already being debunked — such as a fake video of ballots being destroyed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
She said foreign adversaries have two goals: to undermine American confidence in the election and sow discord in the country.
“Within a day, the federal government used our tools, our forensic analysis, to affirm that it was a fake video, that it was a Russian manufactured video,” she said. “So at the end of the day, we are going to lean very far forward when we see inaccurate information that could undermine Americans trust in elections.”
CISA is also responsible for advising election officials on the physical security of their election.
“As a retired Army officer, as a combat veteran who has been in very dangerous places where we’ve had flak jackets and, you know, we’ve been behind layers of security, it is disconcerting to me, as an American, to see election offices with bulletproof glass and panic buttons and barbed wire fences,” Easterly said. “That’s not the way it should be in America, and we know that these threats, harassment, bullying, swatting, threats of violence to election officials and their families, election officials of both parties largely stemming from unfounded claims that the 2020 election was rigged.”
She said election workers are not “faceless bureaucrats,” but rather friends and neighbors.
“They’re not doing it for pay or for glory. They’re doing it because they believe in our democracy, and they deserve respect, they deserve gratitude, and they deserve to be safe,” she said,
The director said recent incidents such as the ballot boxes being set on fire in Oregon and Washington and the denial of service attack against the Georgia Secretary of State’s office are expected to happen but voters should be assured there is no impact on their elections.
“What Americans should understand is these incidents will not impact the security or integrity of votes being cast or those votes being counted as cast. And election officials have trained for this, they’ve exercised for it, they’ve prepared for this – all manner of scenarios, whether it’s ballots that need to be replaced or cyber security threats that need to be dealt with, or for criminal activity like fraudulent registrations that need to be investigated And the perpetrators held criminally accountable. Election officials are prepared for this. They’re ready for this to meet this moment.”
