Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — A photography-related “incident” occurred at Arlington National Cemetery Monday during a visit by former President Donald Trump, leading to a report being filed, the cemetery said in a statement to ABC News.

While the cemetery did not immediately provide specifics, NPR reported that a source had told the publication that two Trump campaign officials engaged in a verbal and physical altercation with a cemetery staff member during Trump’s visit, which came on the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 service members during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The alleged altercation took place after the Trump campaign officials were asked not to take photos and videos in Section 60, a section of the cemetery where recent U.S. veterans are buried, NPR reported.

When contacted by ABC News on Tuesday night, a representative for the Arlington National Cemetery released a statement that confirmed an “incident” but didn’t provide specifics.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed,” the statement read.

On Tuesday, Trump’s campaign posted a video capturing moments from the former president’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery, including more images of his visit to Section 60 where the alleged altercation occurred, and appears to be an example of how the campaign violated the cemetery’s rules.

The TikTok video, which is overlayed by guitar instrumentals, shows a montage of Trump participating in the wreath-laying ceremony, taking photos with Gold Star families and visiting Section 60.

In the video, Trump can be heard making a political point throughout the video — blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. The video is also captioned “Should have never happened,” again condemning his political opponent’s previous actions.

In the TikTok video, Trump and some of the family members are seen smiling and holding thumbs up as they posed for photos, with overlaid captions claiming Trump didn’t lose a single soldier in 18 months, but that a “disaster” ensued after the Biden-Harris administration took over.

Trump campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, posted on X what he said was proof of the team’s approval to have an official photographer and videographer outside the main press pool.

“Only former President Trump may have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool,” a screengrab of what appears to be an access guideline posted by Cheung reads. However, it should be noted that campaign officials — not professionals — were also taking photos and videos of the day’s events.

Cheung also claimed on Tuesday night after the news broke that, “There was no physical altercation as described, and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made” in a statement to ABC News.

Trump campaign staffers posted multiple pictures and videos of Trump visiting Arlington Cemetery, including from what appears to be Section 60, using the moment to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris’ absence. Trump was at the cemetery on the third anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate during the withdrawal from Afghanistan to pay tribute to the 13 U.S. Service members killed in the incident.

In one video posted by Trump campaign’s senior adviser Chris LaCivita, Trump can be seen laying flowers on the grave of Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, who died in the attack. LaCivita wrote in the post that Trump was speaking on the phone with Knauss’ family, who couldn’t make it to the ceremony on Monday.

Multiple other Trump campaign staffers posted photos from there, and some of the images were then shared by the Trump campaign on their official X account.

Prior to the event, the cemetery had been explicit in its rule that no Trump activity could be filmed during his visit to Section 60.

Monday’s press pool note read: “The family visit to Section 60 following the wreath laying is private and at their explicit request, there will be NO coverage at that location. Your POOL will wait inside the press van during this visit. POOL will then be taken to an unknown location for an OTR stop to round out the morning.”

On Tuesday, following NPR’s report, Cheung said in a statement that “there was no physical altercation as described.” He also claimed someone “decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team.”

In a statement to ABC News, LaCivita, a combat-wounded Marine, stressed that Trump “was there on the invitation of the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families to honor their loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” calling the individual who attempted to block Trump campaign officials “despicable.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — With 70 days before Election Day as of Tuesday, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump get back to campaigning with Harris in Georgia on Wednesday and Trump in Wisconsin on Thursday.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, campaigned in Michigan while Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz picks up the trail on Wednesday in Boston.

Here’s how the news is developing…

Walz promises to fight for labor freedoms at International Association of Fire Fighters

Gov. Tim Walz addressed the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) convention on Wednesday in Boston, making the case that the Democratic ticket was the one that would fight for their freedoms, including labor protections.

“People tell me, look, I’m really not that into politics. My response to that is, too damn bad — politics is into you,” Walz said to what he acknowledged as a bipartisan audience.

Walz said that Harris “is proudly part of the most pro-labor administration in history,” and that when they “win this election, we’ll have your back like you’ve had ours.”

“We believe that you, not politicians, should be made free to make your own health care choices,” Walz concluded. “We believe that workers deserve to collectively bargain for fair wages and safe working conditions.”

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Harris-Walz campaign responds to superseding indictment

Quentin Fulks, the Harris-Walz campaign’s principal deputy campaign manager, reacted to the news of the superseding indictment against Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon on MSNBC and avoided remarking on “ongoing legal cases” but characterized Trump as a danger.

“They saw it with their own eyes, and so we’re going to continue to take the fight directly to Donald Trump on the issues that matter. But American voters aren’t stupid. They know who Donald Trump is, and they know what he will do if he gets more time in the White House,” Fulks told MSNBC.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie

Harris-Walz campaign responds to superseding indictment

Quentin Fulks, the Harris-Walz campaign’s principal deputy campaign manager, reacted to the news of the superseding indictment against Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon on MSNBC and avoided remarking on “ongoing legal cases” but characterized Trump as a danger.

“They saw it with their own eyes, and so we’re going to continue to take the fight directly to Donald Trump on the issues that matter. But American voters aren’t stupid. They know who Donald Trump is, and they know what he will do if he gets more time in the White House,” Fulks told MSNBC.

JD Vance responds to new special counsel indictment

Sen. JD Vance, asked by ABC News on the tarmac in Nashville about the superseding indictment in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case, framed the special counsel’s actions as an effort to influence the election.

“I haven’t read the whole thing, but it looks like Jack Smith doing more of what he does, which is filing these absurd lawsuits in an effort to influence the election,” the GOP vice presidential candidate said.

The new indictment adjusts the charges to the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.

Vance pushed back against the Harris-Walz campaign’s assertion that the Supreme Court ruling goes too far and grants the former president too much immunity, arguing that the president needs some immunity in order to do the job.

“If the president doesn’t have some level of immunity in how he conducts his office, in the same way that judges have to have immunity, police officers have to have immunity. There has to be some recognition that people can’t be sued for doing their job,” Vance said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The special counsel’s new indictment charging former President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election made changes large and small to accommodate the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity.

An indictment that once offered vivid details of Trump’s effort to enlist federal officials in his scheme to overturn the election removed any mention of the Department of Justice. Detailed accounts of how advisers corrected Trump about his claims of election fraud are gone along with Trump’s statements to his inner circle as rioters stormed the Capitol.

Prosecutors also made minor changes, such as describing Trump as “a candidate for President of the United States” rather than “the forty-fifth President of the United States” in the indictment’s opening lines. Trump’s official statements from within the White House were subtly removed, while other examples were framed as unofficial or “in his capacity as a candidate for office.”

“The Defendant had no official responsibilities related to the certification proceeding, but he did have a personal interest as a candidate in being named the winner of the election,” the new indictment said.

Special Counsel Jack Smith presented evidence to a new grand jury, which returned an indictment charging Trump with the same four criminal offenses he originally faced.

The indictment removes details about Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, including refusing to call off rioters.

The superseding indictment removes once-damning allegations about Trump’s refusal to act as rioters stormed the Capitol and his overall behavior as described by advisers.

According to the original indictment, Trump refused to approve a message directing rioters to leave the Capitol despite the urging of senior officials, including the White House counsel and his chief of staff.

Later that day, Trump allegedly resisted former House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s plea to call off rioters.

“The Defendant told the Minority Leader that the crowd at the Capitol was more upset about the election than the Minority Leader was,” the indictment said.

According to the original indictment, Trump also remarked to advisers in the Oval Office that “this is what happens when they try to steal an election. These people are angry. These people are really angry about it. This is what happens.”

On the evening of Jan. 6, Trump also rejected the request of his White House Counsel to withdraw any objections to the certification of the election, the indictment said.

The superseding indictment appears to have streamlined its account of Trump’s behavior while omitting the statements once included in the original indictment.

“He spent much of the afternoon reviewing Twitter on his phone, while the television in the dining room showed live events at the Capitol,” the superseding indictment said.

The indictment removes allegations about Trump’s use of the Department of Justice.

Compared to the original indictment, Tuesday’s superseding indictment removed five pages of allegations detailing how Trump allegedly used the Department of Justice to further his claims of election fraud.

Prosecutors originally alleged that Trump attempted to use the Department of Justice to further false claims of election fraud in key states to give Trump’s “lies the backing of the federal government.”

When DOJ officials rebutted Trump’s claims that the Justice Department could alter the outcome of the election, Trump allegedly responded, “Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” the original indictment said.

The indictment originally detailed how Trump allegedly worked with co-conspirator four — identified by ABC News as former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark — to have the Department of Justice send a letter to key states falsely claiming that the Justice Department “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election.” Trump allegedly planned to make Clark his acting attorney general in the final days of his presidency but was stopped when warned that such a move would result in mass resignations.

Once a core pillar of the case against Trump, all mentions of the Justice Department have been removed from the new indictment.

The indictment attempts to salvage key evidence.

The new indictment appears to make minor changes to salvage key evidence, including Trump’s call to Georgia officials about finding votes and Vice President Mike Pence’s notes.

The new indictment still describes Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, where Trump said he wanted “to find 11,780 votes” but added context to Meadows’ role in the call.

“On January 2, four days before Congress’s certification proceeding, the Defendant, his Chief of Staff – who sometimes handled private and Campaign-related logistics for the Defendant – and private attorneys involved in the lawsuit against Georgia’s Secretary of State called the Secretary of State,” the superseding indictment said.

The indictment still mentions Vice President Pence’s contemporaneous notes of a key meeting with Trump about the proposed plan to reject legitimate electors on Jan. 6.

“Did you hear that? Even your own counsel is not saying I have that authority,” Pence told Trump.

The new indictment only makes slight changes to the section referencing the notes, cutting a line that the “White House Counsel previously had pushed back on the Defendant’s false claims of election fraud.”

The new indictment also removes mention of a Dec. 29 phone call between Pence and Trump — memorialized in Pence’s notes — when the former president claimed the “Justice Dept [was] finding major infractions.”

The indictment overtly frames some of Trump’s statements as unofficial.

Prosecutors appear to have added phrases throughout the indictment to frame Trump’s statements as unofficial ones made as a candidate for office rather than official statements as president.

The indictment notably describes Trump’s statements at the Ellipse rally on Jan. 6 as a “campaign speech.”

Old Indictment: On January 6, the Defendant publicly repeated the knowingly false claim that 36,000 non-citizens had voted in Arizona.

New Indictment: In his Campaign speech on January 6, the Defendant publicly repeated the knowingly false claim that 36,000 non-citizens had voted in Arizona.

In two instances in the new indictment, prosecutors framed Trump’s actions as conduct made “in his capacity as a candidate for office.”

The indictment offers fewer details about officials correcting Trump on claims of voter fraud.

The original indictment previously went to lengths to detail how Trump’s closest advisers — including the vice president, members of the Department of Justice, the director of National Intelligence, and several White House attorneys — directly told the then-president that his claims of voter fraud were false.

The superseding indictment removes mention of federal officials notifying Trump that his claims were false, briefly mentioning Vice President Pence as Trump’s “own running mate.”

“The Defendant was on notice that his claims were untrue,” the new indictment said. “He was told so by those most invested in his re-election, including his own running mate and his campaign staff.”

The indictment originally detailed three instances in December 2020 when officials, including the acting attorney general and chief of staff, told Trump that his claims of fraud in Georgia — including at the Cobb County Civic Center and State Farm Arena — were false. The new indictment omits those details.

The indictment omits some of Trump’s statements from behind White House podiums or referencing the White House.

The superseding indictment surgically removes statements Trump made from within the White House behind official podiums.

In two instances from within the White House, Trump made remarks falsely alleging voter fraud in Michigan.

“In Detroit, there were hours of unexplained delay in delivering many of the votes for counting. The final batch did not arrive until four in the morning and—even though the polls closed at eight o’clock,” Trump said in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on November 5, 2020.

Unlike other instances in the indictment in which prosecutors clarified were made in Trump’s capacity as a candidate for office, Trump’s remarks made within the White House were struck from the indictment.

The indictment also removed mention of a January 5, 2021, Tweet when Trump told supporters heading to Washington, “We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office.”

Reacting to the indictment, Trump issued a statement saying, “Smith, has brought a ridiculous new Indictment against me, which has all the problems of the old Indictment, and should be dismissed IMMEDIATELY.”

He also called it “an attempt to INTERFERE WITH THE ELECTION.”

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, shared Trump’s sentiment, telling ABC News, “It looks like Jack Smith doing more of what he does, which is filing these absurd lawsuits in an effort to influence the election.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Arlington National Cemetery has confirmed to ABC News that during former President Donald Trump’s visit on Monday, an “incident” related to photos being taken at the site occurred, leading to a report being filed.

When contacted by ABC News on Tuesday night, a representative for the Arlington National Cemetery released a statement that confirmed an “incident” but didn’t provide specifics.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed,” the statement read.

Trump campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, posted on X what he said was proof of the team’s approval to have an official photographer and videographer outside the main press pool.

“Only former President Trump may have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool,” a screengrab of what appears to be an access guideline posted by Cheung reads. However, it should be noted that campaign officials — not professionals — were also taking photos and videos of the day’s events.

Cheung also claimed on Tuesday night after the news broke that, “There was no physical altercation as described [by some reports], and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made” in a statement to ABC News.

Trump campaign staffers posted multiple pictures and videos of Trump visiting Arlington Cemetery, including from what appears to be Section 60, using the moment to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris’ absence. Trump was at the cemetery on the third anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate during the withdrawal from Afghanistan to pay tribute to the 13 U.S. Service members killed in the incident.

In one video posted by Trump campaign’s senior adviser Chris LaCivita, Trump can be seen laying flowers on the grave of Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, who died in the attack. LaCivita wrote in the post that Trump was speaking on the phone with Knauss’ family, who couldn’t make it to the ceremony on Monday.

Multiple other Trump campaign staffers posted photos from there, and some of the images were then shared by the Trump campaign on their official X account.

Prior to the event, the cemetery had been explicit in its rule that no Trump activity could be filmed during his visit to Section 60.

Monday’s press pool note read: “The family visit to Section 60 following the wreath laying is private and at their explicit request, there will be NO coverage at that location. Your POOL will wait inside the press van during this visit. POOL will then be taken to an unknown location for an OTR stop to round out the morning.”

In a statement to ABC News, LaCivita, a combat-wounded Marine, stressed that Trump “was there on the invitation of the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families to honor their loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” calling the individual who attempted to block Trump campaign officials “despicable.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — With 70 days before Election Day as of Tuesday, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump get back to campaigning with Harris in Georgia on Wednesday and Trump in Wisconsin on Thursday.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, campaigned in Michigan while Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz picks up the trail on Wednesday in Boston.

Here’s how the news is developing…

Harris-Walz campaign responds to superseding indictment

Quentin Fulks, the Harris-Walz campaign’s principal deputy campaign manager, reacted to the news of the superseding indictment against Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon on MSNBC and avoided remarking on “ongoing legal cases” but characterized Trump as a danger.

“They saw it with their own eyes, and so we’re going to continue to take the fight directly to Donald Trump on the issues that matter. But American voters aren’t stupid. They know who Donald Trump is, and they know what he will do if he gets more time in the White House,” Fulks told MSNBC.

JD Vance responds to new special counsel indictment

Sen. JD Vance, asked by ABC News on the tarmac in Nashville about the superseding indictment in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case, framed the special counsel’s actions as an effort to influence the election.

“I haven’t read the whole thing, but it looks like Jack Smith doing more of what he does, which is filing these absurd lawsuits in an effort to influence the election,” the GOP vice presidential candidate said.

The new indictment adjusts the charges to the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.

Vance pushed back against the Harris-Walz campaign’s assertion that the Supreme Court ruling goes too far and grants the former president too much immunity, arguing that the president needs some immunity in order to do the job.

“If the president doesn’t have some level of immunity in how he conducts his office, in the same way that judges have to have immunity, police officers have to have immunity. There has to be some recognition that people can’t be sued for doing their job,” Vance said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Coming off of a brief respite from the campaign trail after a star-studded week in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz are heading to Georgia for a two-day bus tour that ends in a solo rally with the vice president in Savannah.

The tour will mark the first time the two campaigns will be in the crucial swing state together, with a planned stop for their first sit down interview since Harris ascended to the top of the ticket with CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash on Thursday.

Although there is no notable post-convention polling that has been released to date, the campaign saw a bump in donations of $82 million during the week of the DNC, bringing the total haul since launching her candidacy last month to $540 million, her campaign said.

Hoping to ride on that momentum, Harris and Walz are scheduled to travel through Georgia’s southeast where they will be meeting with supporters, small business owners and Georgia voters, according to the campaign. It will be their second venture on a tour with wheels following their Pennsylvania stops prior to the DNC.

President Joe Biden only narrowly won the state by some nearly 12,000 votes in 2020 that former President Donald Trump continues to heavily contest. Currently, she is neck-and-neck with Trump at the polls in the state, according to 538’s average.

“Campaigning in southern Georgia is critical as it represents a diverse coalition of voters, including rural, suburban, and urban Georgians – with a large proportion of Black voters and working class families,” said Harris-Walz Georgia state director Porsha White in a memo.

This is all in addition to their 35,000 new volunteers, as well as more than 190 Democratic campaign staff in 24 coordinated offices across the state, officials said.

Through extensive “Get Out the Vote” organizing efforts, Black voters were a huge contributing factor to Biden’s win in a state that former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had all but skipped during their presidential runs.

Harris’ tour is a testament that the campaign still feels like the Peach State’s 16 electoral votes are in play.

“We turned Georgia blue for the first time in three decades in 2020, and we’re seizing on the energy and putting in the work to win again in 2024,” White said in the memo.

Following CNN’s interview, Walz will head to Massachusetts for a solo rally on Thursday. Voters will see Harris, Walz and their spouses — second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz, respectively — on the trail again for a Labor Day blitz across several battleground states prior to ABC News’ debate on Sept. 10.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Arlington National Cemetery has confirmed to ABC News that during former President Donald Trump’s visit on Monday, an “incident” related to photos being taken at the site occurred, leading to a report being filed.

When contacted by ABC News on Tuesday night, a representative for the Arlington National Cemetery released a statement that confirmed an “incident” but didn’t provide specifics.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed,” the statement read.

Trump campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, posted on X what he said was proof of the team’s approval to have an official photographer and videographer outside the main press pool.

“Only former President Trump may have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool,” a screengrab of what appears to be an access guideline posted by Cheung reads. However, it should be noted that campaign officials — not professionals — were also taking photos and videos of the day’s events.

Cheung also claimed on Tuesday night after the news broke that, “There was no physical altercation as described [by some reports], and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made” in a statement to ABC News.

Trump campaign staffers posted multiple pictures and videos of Trump visiting Arlington Cemetery, including from what appears to be Section 60, using the moment to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris’ absence. Trump was at the cemetery on the third anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate during the withdrawal from Afghanistan to pay tribute to the 13 U.S. Service members killed in the incident.

In one video posted by Trump campaign’s senior adviser Chris LaCivita, Trump can be seen laying flowers on the grave of Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, who died in the attack. LaCivita wrote in the post that Trump was speaking on the phone with Knauss’ family, who couldn’t make it to the ceremony on Monday.

Multiple other Trump campaign staffers posted photos from there, and some of the images were then shared by the Trump campaign on their official X account.

Prior to the event, the cemetery had been explicit in its rule that no Trump activity could be filmed during his visit to Section 60.

Monday’s press pool note read: “The family visit to Section 60 following the wreath laying is private and at their explicit request, there will be NO coverage at that location. Your POOL will wait inside the press van during this visit. POOL will then be taken to an unknown location for an OTR stop to round out the morning.”

In a statement to ABC News, LaCivita, a combat-wounded Marine, stressed that Trump “was there on the invitation of the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families to honor their loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” calling the individual who attempted to block Trump campaign officials “despicable.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to headline a fundraiser for former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in Atlanta on Thursday alongside first lady Marty Kemp and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, multiple sources told ABC News.

It’s a signal of how Kemp is working to reelect Trump despite their public feud, and though Kemp voices his commitment to working to elect the entire Republican ticket, he previously revealed he didn’t vote for Trump during the state’s presidential primary.

Kemp’s anticipated participation in the fundraiser, first reported by ABC News, comes after Trump last week publicly praised the Republican governor after watching an interview he did on FOX News following months of criticizing Kemp and his family for Kemp’s refusal to give in to the former president’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Thank you to #BrianKempGA for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country,” Trump wrote on X last Thursday.

Before the praise, Trump spent much of his last Georgia rally lambasting Kemp for not doing enough to work towards his reelection campaign in the state, even going after Kemp’s wife for previously saying that she would write in Kemp’s name instead of voting for Trump.

“He’s a bad guy, he is a disloyal guy, and he’s a very average governor. Little Brian. Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy…and all he had to do is sign something where the senate would like to look at election integrity,” Trump said at his campaign rally in Atlanta earlier this month.

“Think of the wife. ‘We can never repay you for what you’ve done, sir. We could’ve never won.’ And now she said, two weeks ago, that ‘I will not endorse him because he hasn’t earned my endorsement.’ I haven’t earned her endorsement? I have nothing to do with her,” Trump continued.

The fundraiser, taking form as a cocktail party, was originally scheduled to be headlined by Pompeo, but Kemp and his wife were added as co-headliners after Kemp’s supporters attending the fundraiser invited him and urged him to attend.

A source familiar with how Kemp’s participation in the fundraiser came about told ABC News that multiple governors have expressed that Kemp had a “very supportive tone” of Trump and “getting support to those key states” at a recent Republican Governors Association meeting in Aspen.

“There is a lot of excitement in Georgia knowing that President Trump and Gov. Kemp have agreed to work together as they have in the past to achieve victories that are important for the future of the country and the future of Georgians,” the source said.

The fundraiser is hosted and co-hosted by former Trump State Department official Ulrich Brechbuhl, former Ambs. Duke Buchan and Ed McMullen and former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who have all been actively raising money for Trump’s campaign this election cycle.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is joining Georgia Democrats’ efforts against the Republican-controlled Georgia state election board after it implemented a series of changes to give local officials more powers, which Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said would cause “11th-hour chaos” due to concerns about delays in certification.

The Democratic Party of Georgia, the Democratic National Committee and the Harris-Walz campaign are asking a state court to intervene, alleging the state election board created an “uncertain legal regime” due to the changes.

“Indeed, county officials across Georgia have already sought to block or delay certification after recent elections, and the amended rules give them new tools to try again,” the petitioners wrote in their suit.

The petitioners are asking the court to make election certification mandatory by 5 p.m. on Nov. 12, “absent a valid judicial order to the contrary,” to ensure certification isn’t delayed by what they call rogue officials. It also asks the court to clearly state that it is the venue for resolving election disputes and not local election boards.

The Republican-controlled election board passed a rule earlier this month authorizing local boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certification.

Advocates of the rule change say it will bring more transparency to the election process; but critics say because there is not a clear definition of “reasonable inquiry,” local officials could make their own interpretation that could potentially postpone or prevent results from being certified due to challenges — especially as former President Donald Trump continues to push unfounded claims of potential election fraud in the upcoming election.

Then, in its most recent meeting, the board passed a rule requiring investigations into ballot discrepancies before county certification, instructing local election board members to “compare the total number of ballots cast to the total number of unique voter ID numbers” in each precinct.

Should there be a discrepancy between the number of ballots cast and the number of unique voters, local board members are now in charge of investigating them. While the investigation is ongoing, “no votes shall be counted from that precinct” until the results are presented to the board.

“For months, MAGA Republicans in Georgia and across the country have been trying to lay the groundwork to challenge the election results when they lose again in November,” said Quentin Fulks, Harris-Walz principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks in a statement about the lawsuit. “But Democrats are prepared, and we will stop them. Certifying an election is not a choice, it’s the law. A few unelected extremists can’t just decide not to count your vote.”

The Georgia Republican Party defended the board’s changes and slammed state Democrats’ actions, calling their rhetoric “dangerous.”

“In no way, do these rule changes interfere with anyone’s right to vote or cause undue burdens on election workers, but these steps will ensure transparency, accountability, accurate reporting and reconciliation, and preservation of the right for both parties to observe the processing of ballots,” Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon wrote in a statement.

Other Republicans in the state have also raised concerns about the new election changes. Raffensperger has been attempting to quell concerns about the rule change, doubling down on Georgia’s certification deadline.

“Georgia’s Election Integrity Act requires counties to certify the election results by November 12th and we fully anticipate that counties will follow the law,” Raffensperger posted on X.

At the same time, he has also advocated against the last-minute changes by arguing about the strength of Georgia’s election integrity laws, which were passed after the 2020 election.

“Activists seeking to impose last-minute changes in election procedures outside of the legislative process undermine voter confidence and burden election workers,” Raffensperger said.

“The General Assembly knew that quick reporting of results and certification is paramount to voter confidence and passed S.B. 202, but misguided attempts by the State Election Board will delay election results and undermine chain of custody safeguards. Georgia voters reject this 11th hour chaos, and so should the unelected members of the State Election Board,” he said.

The three Republican board members — Janelle King, Rick Jeffares and Janice Johnston — have been pivotal in securing the election changes as they comprise a majority voting bloc on the five-person board. At his most recent rally in Atlanta, Trump called the three members “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”

The former president has zeroed in on Georgia’s election process after narrowly losing the state to President Joe Biden in 2020.

It was a loss that Trump attempted to overturn by pressuring Republican officials, such as Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, to persuade the state legislature to overturn the state’s results.

Those actions were the center of a sweeping racketeering indictment in Fulton County, which charged Trump and 18 others for the alleged plot to subvert the will of Georgia voters.

Three defendants in that case, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall, took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify in the case.

Last month, however, the Georgia Court of Appeals halted the criminal case pending resolution of an appeal of a disqualification ruling that allowed District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on the case.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — After the supreme leader of Iran signaled a willingness to return to nuclear negotiations with the United States, the Biden administration cast doubt on the likelihood of resuming talks in the near future.

“We will judge Iran’s leadership by their actions, not their words,” a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday.

“If Iran wants to demonstrate seriousness or a new approach, they should stop nuclear escalations and start meaningfully cooperating with the IAEA,” they added, referencing the International Atomic Energy Agency, an intergovernmental watchdog that Tehran has often subverted.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave Iran’s newly installed president, reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, the go-ahead to relaunch talks with the U.S. on Tuesday while warning the country’s government against putting any trust in Washington.

“This does not mean that we cannot interact with the same enemy in certain situations,” Khamenei said, according to the official transcript of his remarks. “There is no harm in that, but do not place your hopes in them.”

The State Department spokesperson said the administration still saw a negotiated solution as the best way to contain Iran’s nuclear program, but that Iran’s failure to cooperate with the IAEA and its escalatory actions made diplomacy impossible.

“We are far away from anything like that right now,” they said.

Members of the administration also largely view the prospect of returning to indirect talks with Iran as a politically unfavorable step that could prove detrimental to Vice President Kamala Harris’ and other Democrats’ chances at winning in November, several officials told ABC News.

The doubtful outlook for resuscitating negotiations in the coming months further diminishes the already low odds of securing a deal with Iran before President Joe Biden’s time in the White House comes to an end, all but pushing his promise to negotiate a “longer and stronger” agreement out of reach.

Khamenei’s comments Tuesday echo the position he took around the time Tehran signed off on the 2015 nuclear pact known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA — a landmark accord that granted Iran relief from economic sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear program.

Former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in 2018, calling it “a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” and reimposing financial restrictions on Iran.

In the years since, Khamenei’s public comments on the matter have oscillated between encouraging negotiations with the U.S. and outright dismissing the possibility of a renewed pact.

Foreign policy observers say the upcoming U.S. presidential election is injecting even more uncertainty into the prospects of reaching another nuclear agreement with Iran.

Trump has previously made unsubstantiated claims that Iran was ready to accept conditions that were highly favorable to the U.S. at the end of his term and that he was “ready to make a deal.” But on the campaign trail, Trump — a sworn enemy of the Iranian regime — has taken an increasingly hawkish stance against the country, which reportedly carried out a cyberattack targeting his campaign and has plotted against him and his former Cabinet officials.

Harris has also promised to take an aggressive approach to curbing Iran’s malign influence in the Middle East, but she supported the JCPOA, as well as the current administration’s efforts to cut a new deal. However, she has not clearly said whether she would attempt to pick up where Biden left off.

Indirect talks with Iran under the Biden administration officially kicked off in April 2021. Despite mediators’ initial optimism, talks eventually sputtered out after multiple rounds of stop-start diplomacy failed to move both sides toward an agreement.

So far, Biden has made good on another of his major promises regarding Iran: his declaration that the country would “never get a nuclear weapon on my watch.”

However, officials within his administration say Tehran has made substantial progress toward that goal in recent years.

In July, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Iran was likely only “one or two weeks away” from having breakout capacity to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon, and that the U.S. was watching “very, very carefully” to see whether the country would move toward weaponizing its nuclear program, a step the administration says the regime has not yet taken.

The U.S. shutting down the possibility of any renewed talks with Iran right now comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, including Israel’s preemptive strike Saturday night on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

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