Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — An alleged private message from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife Ginni to the leader of First Liberty Institute, which describes itself as the nation’s largest religious liberty organization, has triggered a wave of criticism from top Democrats, including a new call for the justice to recuse himself from future cases involving that organization.

First Liberty frequently petitions the high court and is behind a number of landmark conservative victories, including those protecting the ability of public school teachers to pray on the job; helping families obtain state funding to attend religious schools; and, forcing private employers to be more accommodating of religious observance.

On a late July conference call with supporters, according to a recording obtained by ProPublica, First Liberty CEO Kelly Shackelford is heard reading aloud an email from Ginni Thomas cheering on the group’s efforts to oppose a White House push to legislate Supreme Court term limits and an enforceable ethics code, prompted in part by controversy last year over her husband’s previously undisclosed financial ties and luxury travel with a GOP billionaire.

“YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES,” Ginni Thomas apparently wrote to First Liberty head Kelly Shackelford, according to ProPublica. “CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.”

Critics said the message suggests Clarence and Ginni Thomas are beholden to First Liberty and benefit directly from its advocacy.

“The reported comments by Ginni Thomas are deeply problematic,” said Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a statement Monday. “She’s testified before Congress that she and Justice Thomas do not discuss each other’s work. That defense now rings hollow. Whether she’s inflating her knowledge of judges’ views on ethics reform or telling the truth, her apparent comments on behalf of judicial officers create a clear appearance of impropriety for Justice Thomas.”

Durbin, who has previously called on Thomas to sit out cases stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot because of his wife’s activism, newly demanded the senior conservative justice also recuse himself from future cases involving First Liberty.

The couple did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. The justice has previously declined to address Democrats’ demands for recusal. First Liberty Institute does not currently have an active case under consideration by the Supreme Court.

Ginni Thomas and the couple’s Republican allies believe Justice Thomas has been the target of a left-wing smear campaign aimed at undermining the conservative-majority court’s credibility. They oppose changes to the Supreme Court’s structure and function and insist the institution must remain insulated from lawmaker meddling.

“People in the progressive, extreme left, upset by just a few cases,” want to change the Court to “really destroy the court, the Supreme Court,” Shackelford says in the recording.

Two members of the court this summer — Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — publicly came out in favor of adopting an enforcement mechanism to ensure compliance with the ethics code. Chief Justice John Roberts opposes such a step on constitutional grounds but said publicly last year the matter should be studied. His position has not changed.

“The path forward is clear: Chief Justice Roberts can use his existing power to implement binding ethics reforms,” Durbin said. “Until he does, I will continue pushing to pass our [Supreme Court Ethics, Reform and Transparency] Act and deliver the ethics reforms that the American people—and our democracy—demand.” 

The measure cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2023 but has not yet received a vote by the full Senate.

While Justice Thomas signed on to the court’s ethics code in late 2023 — which says a justice must avoid the mere appearance of a conflict of interest — it does not apply to spouses, who are not forbidden from engaging in political activity as private citizens. Ginni Thomas has spent decades publicly advocating for conservative causes and was a high-profile supporter of the “Stop the Steal” effort to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election.

Some legal scholars have pointed out that Ginni Thomas was taking a position on court-related legislation long shared — and publicly expressed — by members of the court from both ends of the ideological spectrum.

Neither the recording nor Ginni Thomas’ email has been independently obtained by ABC News.

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(WASHINGTON) — GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance on Monday magnified a false claim that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

In a post on X, Vance published a video of himself at a July Senate Banking Committee hearing, reading a letter from Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck about the city’s challenges in keeping up with housing for the growing Haitian immigrant population.

In the post, Vance pushed the false claim that Haitian immigrants are kidnapping and eating people’s pets in Springfield.

“Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” Vance wrote on X. “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?” he asked, a term that Republicans have attempted to tag Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris with, although she has denied holding that role.

But Heck debunked those claims about Springfield in a statement to ABC News.

“In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Heck said in his statement.

“Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic,” Heck said.

According to the Springfield News-Sun, the Springfield Police Department has not received any reports of pets being stolen and eaten.

The false claim that immigrants are targeting people’s pets stemmed from a social media posting originally from a Springfield Facebook group that went viral, where the poster wrote that their neighbor’s daughter’s friend had lost her cat. The poster went on to make an unsubstantiated claim of Haitians allegedly taking the cat for food.

The post was picked up by people on social media, including rightwing activist Turning Points’ Charlie Kirk and Elon Musk.

Springfield, Ohio, has been at the center of several rumors concerning Haitian immigrants. The city even created a webpage debunking some claims.

Migrants have been drawn to the region because of low cost of living and work opportunities, the city says on its site. The city estimates there are around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants living in the county, and that the rapid rise in population has strained housing, health care, and school resources. But the city also says that the migrants are in the country legally and that many are recipients of Temporary Protected Status from the federal government.

On Monday, Ohio Attorney General David Yost said the population in Springfield has grown by more than a third. In a statement, he announced he’s directing his office to “research legal avenues to stop the federal government from sending an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities.”

“The problem is not migrants, it is way, way too many migrants in a short period of time,” Yost said in his statement. “The problem is a massive increase in the population without any communication or assistance from the federal government.”

A spokesperson for Vance did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley pushed back against criticism from former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Haley’s support for former President Donald Trump despite previous comments saying she found him unfit for office.

In an exclusive This Week interview on Sunday, ABC News co-anchor Jonathan Karl asked Cheney about Haley saying she’s on “standby” to campaign for Trump after the former South Carolina governor openly opposed him in the Republican primaries.

Cheney, who last week endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, told Karl, “I can’t understand [Haley’s] position on this in any kind of a principled way. I think that, you know, the things that she said, that she made clear when she was running in the primary, those things are true.”

During the Republican presidential primary, Haley said Trump lacked focus and that “chaos follows him.” Months later, Haley said she would vote for Trump despite her disappointment with him.

Reacting to Cheney’s remarks, Haley told Fox and Friends Monday morning, “I respect her decision, but she can’t say my decision is not principled. It actually is.”

“We can either vote based on style or we can vote on substance. I’m voting based on substance,” she continued. “I’m looking at the fact we can’t live the next four years like we did the last four years. This is no contest.”

Seeking to contrast Trump with Harris on the economy, border and energy, Haley added, “We should be very clear, if you don’t like him, say you don’t like him, but you can’t say that his policies are worse than Kamala Harris’.”

Haley also directly criticized Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance when asked about the “gender gap” with women supporting Harris more than Trump.

“I think it’s because Donald Trump and JD Vance need to change the way they speak about women. You don’t need to call Kamala dumb. She didn’t get this far, you know, just by accident — she’s here. That’s what it is. She’s a prosecutor,” Haley said. “You don’t need to go and talk about intelligence, or looks or anything else. Just focus on the policies. When you call even a Democrat woman dumb, Republican women get their backs up too.”

Last month, Trump said he’s “entitled” to the personal attacks aimed at Harris — because he doesn’t respect her and doesn’t “have a lot of respect for her intelligence.”

Haley reiterated that Trump should ditch those attacks to focus on substance.

“The bottom line is, we win on policy. Stick to the policies, leave all the other stuff. That’s how he can win,” Haley said.

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(HAMPTON BEACH, N.H.) — New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu jumped into action to save a contestant after they began choking at a lobster roll eating contest on Sunday.

In a statement to ABC News, Sununu said he hurried to help the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition participant after he noticed he was choking.

“In the commotion and excitement of the contest, I was the first to notice that the gentleman at the far end of the row of contestants was choking. So, I moved forward and immediately started giving him the Heimlich,” Sununu said.

The contestant, Christian Moreno, had begun tapping on his chest to indicate he couldn’t breathe, according to New Hampshire ABC affiliate WMUR.

Sununu gave Moreno four or five abdominal thrusts before emergency responders jumped in, continuing the Heimlich maneuver until the chunk of lobster was dislodged from his windpipe.

Despite the dangerous medical incident, Moreno didn’t give up on the seafood eating competition.

“After the lobster roll was dislodged Christian went right back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe,” Sununu added. “He ate another seven lobster rolls after that!”

Moreno told WMUR he was not wearing his glasses at the time of the incident, so he did not initially realize it was the governor who had come to his rescue.

“My counter came up to me and, like, made a joke. And was like, ‘Oh, like, I bet nobody else can say that they’ve gotten the Heimlich from the governor before,'” he said. “And I looked at him, was just like, that was, that was the governor?”

Moreno lost the contest, but vowed to try again next year.

“I will be there for my redemption, 100%,” Moreno said.

Sununu said he was grateful to the first responders who treated Moreno.

“Here in New Hampshire we never hesitate to jump in to help,” he added. “I’m just glad I paid attention in my high school health class.”

Sununu, 49, is a rising star in the Republican Party and flirted with running for president in 2024 until blaming a “crowded field” for his decision to hold off. He’s been governor of New Hampshire since 2017.

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will meet for the first time on Tuesday for a presidential debate hosted by ABC News.

The two are facing off at a pivotal time, with just weeks until Election Day and days before some states begin the early voting process.

The ABC News presidential debate will take place on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. EDT and air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.

Hot-button political issues that are likely to be discussed by Harris and Trump include the economy, immigration, reproductive rights, crime, and more.

Here is a brief look at where each of them stand on key election-year topics as reflected in recent ABC News/Ipsos polling.

Economy, inflation

Trump has been a vocal critic of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the economy, saying their policies are to blame for inflation, which reached a 40-year high in 2022 but has since cooled to 2.9% year-over-year as of July.

On policy, he’s pledged to cut costs by restoring “energy independence” through drilling more oil and lowering gas prices. He’s also said he would reduce the national debt, eliminate regulations and implement a variety of tax cuts for domestic corporations as well as tariffs on foreign imports.

Harris has presented a plan for what she’s calling an “opportunity economy” that builds on what the administration’s done on drug pricing and the Child Tax Credit but also goes further on several fronts.

Her proposal includes $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time homeowners, construction of 3 million new housing units, raising the minimum wage and a federal ban on corporate price-gouging on food and groceries. She’s also pitched a $50,000 tax benefit for new small businesses and a lower long-term capital gains tax of 28%.

Immigration

Trump has made immigration and border security a focal point of his campaign, often going further in his anti-immigrant rhetoric than he did in 2016.

He said if elected, he plans to finish the U.S.-Mexico border wall, revive “Remain in Mexico” and asylum restrictions and “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American History” of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission. Trump has also promised to sign an executive order to end birthright citizenship.

Harris has defended the administration’s handling of the issue, specifically her role in taking on root causes of migration from Central America.

She’s also railed against Republicans for rejecting a bipartisan border bill that would have tightened asylum rules and implemented other immigration restrictions while also increasing resources to improve legal immigration pathways. Harris said if elected, she would continue to push for the legislation and pledged to sign it if it came to her desk. She also wants comprehensive reform that includes an earned pathway to citizenship.

Reproductive rights

Harris became the face of the administration’s fight for reproductive rights and abortion access after the fall of Roe. v. Wade, traveling the country to speak on the issue.

She has called on Congress to pass a law restoring protections to the right to abortion that were guaranteed by Roe. She’s been highly critical of state-level restrictions, questioning why Republican lawmakers don’t “trust women.”

Trump frequently touts his role in nominating three Supreme Court justices who voted to overrule Roe but has changed his stance on some issues as the campaign’s gone on. While he previously voiced support for a nationwide ban, he now says it should be up to states to regulate abortion access.

Recently, he declared that under his administration, the government or company insurance would be mandated to pay for all costs associated with in vitro fertilization or IVF. Though he didn’t specify how exactly the program would work or be funded.

Crime, gun violence

Gun violence is back in the news after two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia.

Harris called the shooting a “senseless tragedy” and said it “doesn’t have to be this way.” She has called for nationwide red flag laws, universal background checks and an assault weapons ban.

Trump blamed a “sick and deranged monster” for the shooting. He has often argued in the wake of mass shootings that guns were not to blame but rather mental health issues. He’s referred to himself as the “most pro-gun” president in history and has not signaled he would enact any gun control measures if elected.

Overall, Trump has frequently claimed crime rates are rising despite violent crime being down across the country overall compared to last year. Harris, meanwhile, has leaned into her background as a prosecutor, saying she has a record of taking on drug cartels and corporations in the interest of everyday Americans. She also pledged to continue funding law enforcement agencies, touting the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan for investing $15 billion in public safety.

Foreign policy

Harris has, so far, adopted much of President Biden’s foreign policy stances. She said as president, she would continue to stand with Ukraine and NATO. She’s also pledged to “never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to protect U.S. forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.”

On the Israel-Hamas war, Harris has reiterated support for Israel’s security but also expressed sympathy for the plight of civilians suffering in Gaza. She’s called for a cease-fire with hostages returned and said she is working with Biden to secure such a deal.

Trump has claimed neither the Israel-Hamas war nor the Russia-Ukraine war would have started if he were president. He’s signaled he would cut back U.S. aid to Kyiv and continues to criticize NATO allies who he says are not doing enough. He’s also expressed staunch support for Israel’s right to defense and to go after Hamas, but has also called for a quick end to the war.

Trump’s also sought to make Afghanistan a key topic in recent weeks after the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal of troops from the country. He’s slammed the Biden-Harris administration for the chaotic withdrawal, blaming them for the death of 13 U.S. service members who were killed in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate. Harris defended the decision to end America’s “longest war” and said she would take action to protect Americans against terrorist threats.

Democracy

Trump continues to make false claims about the 2020 election, asserting without evidence it was rigged or stolen. He currently faces state and federal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his election loss, to which he pleaded not guilty. Last week, he appeared to admit he lost the 2020 election, saying he got more votes in his reelection campaign than in 2016 but still “lost by a whisker.”

In a major escalation of that rhetoric, Trump said that if he wins this race, those who “cheated” would “be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences.” He suggested his apparent threat of “legal exposure” applies to “Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.”

Trump’s also sent mixed messages on voting methods this cycle, often doubling down on his calls for Election Day voting only and making groundless claims that mail-in voting is ripe for abuse while also encouraging supporters to cast their ballot whether it’s early voting, mail-in voting or other forms of voting.

Trump’s also accused Democrats of a “coup” after President Biden exited the race and endorsed Harris, who quickly secured enough party support to become the nominee.

Harris has been critical of efforts to cast doubt on the election, claiming Trump tried to “throw away” people’s votes and blaming him for what happened at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

She’s said as president, she would advocate for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to bolster voting rights and vowed to “hold sacred America’s fundamental principles, from the rule of law, to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power.”

ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Hannah Demissie, Fritz Farrow, Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim, Will McDuffie and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Much of the work of election campaigning goes on beneath the radar, where campaigns fight furiously to identify and register potential supporters and ensure their participation. Identifying likely voters, as such, is a moving target — but with absentee voting now beginning, an initial look reveals some intriguing patterns.

As previously reported, Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump by a slight 4 percentage points, 50-46%, among all adults and registered voters alike, and by 6 points, 52-46%, among likely voters in the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll. While those numbers are virtually identical, closer assessment shows movement to Harris in some groups when comparing all adults with likely voters — notably, those younger than 40, younger women in particular and Black people.

This analysis, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, finds that support for Harris goes from 54% of all adults younger than 40 to 64% of those identified as likely voters. Trump’s support, meanwhile, drops from 42% of adults in this age group to 33% of those likely to vote.

That shift is driven largely by women: Harris’ support increases from 60% of all women younger than 40 to 73% of those in this age group who are likely to vote. Trump sees a corresponding drop in support, from 35% among all women younger than 40 to 24% of those likely to vote.

Harris has 82% support among all Black people, rising to 93% among those who are likely voters. Trump, for his part, goes from 15% support among all Black people to 7% among those who are likely to vote. Harris also gains among liberals.

Countervailing movement in Trump’s direction doesn’t reach the level of statistical significance in any group. He has, for example, 52% support among all 50- to 64-year-olds (his best age group) and 56% among likely voters in this group. He goes from 85% to 88% among conservatives and from 52% to 54% among people who don’t have a four-year college degree.

But it’s not all about who receives more support in likely voter groups; it’s also about the size of those groups. Harris, for example, leads Trump by 23 points, 60-37%, among likely voters with four-year degrees — and, as such, benefits from the fact that this group makes up 45% of likely voters, vs. 35% of the general population.

Trump pushes back with his 10 point likely voter advantage among white people: they account for 61% of all adults but 71% of likely voters. He’s also aided by a lower prevalence of adults younger than 40; they make up 36% of all adults vs. 25% of those identified as likely to vote.

All told, it’s the combination of group sizes and preferences among groups that add up to keep the race a close one. Likely voters are defined here, in part, by people saying they are certain to vote. Motivating them actually to do so is what both campaigns are all about — starting now.

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(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a weekend letter to Congressional appropriators urging them to pass government funding bills after the election in the “vulnerable time around transitions” to “uphold the bipartisan tradition of funding our nation’s defense prior to the inauguration of a new president,” a source in the department told ABC News.

In his letter to bipartisan committee chairs on government funding, Austin urged lawmakers to avoid a six-month stopgap funding measure, calling a regular funding bill for the Pentagon “the single most important thing that Congress can do to ensure U.S. national security.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed the six-month continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the inauguration of a new president. The government funding deadline is September 30.

Austin’s letter does not signal opposition to a one-month stopgap – but he urges “action immediately after the election.”

“The repercussions of Congress failing to pass regular appropriations legislation for the first half of FY 2025 would be devastating to our readiness and ability to execute the National Defense Strategy,” Austin writes.

The defense secretary points out to Congressional leaders that a six-month continuing resolution “would represent the second year in a row, and the seventh time in the past 15 years” the Pentagon has been stalled until midyear in receiving its funding orders from the legislative branch.

“I am fully aware of the political pressures that will challenge the Congress from fulfilling its duty before our national elections conclude,” he writes. “No matter who wins this election, there will be a Presidential transition. I urge you and your colleagues to take up action immediately after the election to limit damage to our national security during this vulnerable period around transitions and uphold the bipartisan tradition of funding our nation’s defense prior to the inauguration of a new President.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will need to navigate the pitfall-filled debate of their political lives on Tuesday as each tries to persuade millions of voters and viewers that they’re the one best suited to be president.

Harris, whose wave of momentum has brought Democrats back to a neck-and-neck presidential race, will have to prosecute the case against Trump while also laying out how her agenda could help the country — particularly beleaguered middle- and working-class Americans.

Trump, meanwhile, has the task of casting his record on the economy and immigration as superior to Harris’ while avoiding distracting personal attacks on Harris.

The ABC News presidential debate will take place on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET and air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.

The showdown in Philadelphia is taking place months after the last debate ended President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, sending Harris rushing to stand up an eleventh-hour campaign and Trump scrambling to figure out how to negatively define a new opponent voters are less familiar with.

“I think there’s an outsized expectation of ‘gosh, the last guy dropped out, let’s watch it.’ So, I think that there’s a lot more at stake than normally I would ever say is at stake,” said Sean Spicer, Trump’s first White House press secretary.

“I’m not a huge believer that debates move the needle that much,” he added, “but I do think that because of the nontraditional nature of what’s happening right now, there’s going to be an outsized degree of attention.”

Democrats who spoke to ABC News said that Harris has two main goals: affirm to voters that she is ready to lead the country and the free world and to describe in more detail what policies she’d pursue as president.

Some Democratic sources said that voters could be concerned by Harris’ rapid ascension as the Democrats’ nominee and — unjustly, they said — her gender when thinking of the kind of president they’d feel comfortable with.

A strong debate performance could allay worries and cement the momentum she’s enjoyed to date.

“I think she has to answer the overarching question, which is, can she lead the country, and what type of president will President Harris be? People just want to be comfortable in that decision,” said Bakari Sellers, a prominent Harris ally. “I don’t want her to be timid at all. Just be yourself, be comfortable, answer questions and turn around and hammer him.”

Trump has sought to cast Harris as “dangerous” by painting her as a “California liberal” who was soft on crime and generally out of step, referencing her time as state attorney general and senator and relying on voters’ perceptions of the progressive bastion to fill in the blanks.

That’s something Harris could use the debate stage to push back on, possibly repeating parts of her stump speech in which she details her efforts as California attorney general combating transnational gangs operating across the southern border.

One source familiar with the Harris campaign’s thinking said the vice president should “clearly [stake] out where she stands on issues like the border and crime and [talk] about her record on those issues as a prosecutor and attorney general to demonstrate that the portrayals are misrepresenting her actual views on those issues.”

That defense will likely be complemented by an effort to highlight Harris’ economic policies, which she’s recently begun to roll out, to also address voter worries about inflation.

Harris has introduced plans to make it easier to buy a house and start a small business, while, in a nod to the business community, saying she’d also increase the capital gains tax by less than Biden has proposed.

“It’s an important opportunity for her to continue to lay out her economic vision, to demonstrate both through talking about her experience and her vision, that she will be a strong leader, as she has said, for all Americans,” one source close to Harris’ team said.

However, Harris is facing off against maybe the most unpredictable non-traditional figures in modern politics, and Trump is likely to throw in curveballs that could take the vice president off her talking points.

Trump has already launched a fusillade of personal attacks, including questioning Harris’ race and intelligence and highlighting vulgar suggestions about sexual acts.

So far, Harris has barely responded, casting the barbs as the “same old, tired playbook.”

Now, some allies would like to see her fight back.

“I think there is a mechanism whereby you stand up to bullies and you call it out for what it is and simply say that, ‘while the former president is using racism as political currency, I represent a new future, one where we don’t divide people and use such degrading terms to anyone,’ Sellers said. “I would look him dead in the eye and say, ‘former President Trump, we are better than you right now.'”

Others weren’t so sure.

“I would ignore what are likely to be rude, disrespectful behaviors from Trump, and stay focused on the substance, because by doing so, it will further highlight for people just how disgusting his behavior can be,” said the source close to Harris’ team.

Republicans, for their part, hope to avoid that scenario altogether.

GOP operatives who spoke to ABC News said Trump should focus on policy contrasts, boasting that he has the edge on issues like inflation and immigration and can try to pin her down on her policy reversals on things like fracking – while he himself searches for consistent stances on issues like abortion.

“He’s not going to have many other windows where Kamala Harris is going to be asked tough questions and tough follow up questions, and so he needs to keep his responses and very focused on her issue positions that have come out of her mouth and make her reconcile what she’s saying now with what she said in 2020,” said GOP strategist Brad Todd.

“When she says, ‘I’m not for banning fracking,’ then he needs to say, “so, you wrong before? What caused you to believe that your previous position was wrong? Or are you just worried about Pennsylvania'” Todd said, referencing the swing state’s economic reliance on the practice.

Trump has at times knocked leaned into that message, knocking her promises for “day one” by noting she’s already been in office for almost four years serving a president facing severe disapproval ratings when he dropped out of the race.

It’s unclear precisely how effective that tie could be — an ABC News/Washington Post poll last month showed that only 11% of voters said Harris had a great deal of influence over economic policy, and just 15% said the same of immigration policy. But Republicans urged Trump to hammer the connection.

“For him to be viewed as having a successful debate, he has to continue that assault,” said one former campaign aide in touch with Trump’s current team. “She’s the vice president United States seeking the second term of Joe Biden. We can make that case.”

Still, Trump has a proven penchant for veering off into unrelated attacks, whether it be against opponents or moderators — a strategy that has helped him on the stump but one that could backfire on Tuesday.

“If he takes the bait and makes some kind of one-off comment about her and calls her names, I think that’s going to be the story the next day,” Spicer said.

“He’s a field player and he’s an improviser, and that’s what’s made him effective as a communicator,” Todd added. “But this is a time for discipline.”

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(WASHINGTON) —  House Republicans on Monday released the results of a sweeping three-year investigation they say is the most detailed public accounting yet of the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that left behind hundreds of Americans and thousands of allies, some so desperate they clung to U.S. planes as the last military aircraft departed Kabul in 2021.

The report by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul — which relied on interviews with 18 top officials and 20,000 pages of documents — blames the White House, its National Security Council and the State Department for being slow to listen to military generals who warned the security situation would deteriorate quickly once U.S. troops began to depart.

The investigation did not, however, find evidence that Vice President Kamala Harris played any role in the planning or execution of the evacuation, although she expressed public support for President Joe Biden’s decision at the time.

Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have suggested Harris is culpable, noting past comments by the vice president that she was the “last person in the room” when Biden decided to leave Afghanistan.

“Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world,” Trump told National Guard members and their families in Detroit last month on the anniversary of the 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport during the evacuation, which killed 13 U.S. service members and some 170 Afghans.

The Biden administration pushed back on the findings by Republicans, calling it a partisan effort that sought to cherry-pick facts ahead of an election.

The Republican probe also is being released ahead of the first political debate between Harris and Trump, which ABC News is hosting on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. Trump and GOP loyalists are expected to hammer the Democratic administration for failing to prepare for a Taliban takeover once U.S. troops began to depart.

“The chaos and devastation that took place in August of 2021 has forever damaged U.S. credibility in the eyes of our allies, while emboldening our adversaries like China, Russia and Iran,” said McCaul, R-Texas. “Yet, not a single person was fired and, to this day, no one was ever held accountable by President Biden or Vice President Harris.”

Last week, McCaul issued a subpoena for Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony on the withdrawal, threatening to hold him in contempt if he doesn’t testify on Sept. 19. In a written statement, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller noted that Blinken has already testified on Afghanistan and the State Department provided the 20,000 pages of documents the committee was relying on to inform its investigation.

“Though the secretary is currently unavailable to testify on dates proposed by the committee, the State Department has proposed reasonable alternatives to comply with Chairman McCaul’s request for a public hearing,” Miller said. “It is disappointing that instead of continuing to engage with the Department in good faith, the committee instead has issued yet another unnecessary subpoena.”

On the investigation, Miller accused Republicans of politicizing the war and “presenting inaccurate narratives.”

“The State Department remains immensely proud of its workforce who put themselves forward in the waning days of our presence in Afghanistan to evacuate both Americans and the brave Afghans who stood by our sides for more than two decades,” he said.

While many of the details included in the Republican investigation have already become public through media reports and internal government reviews, among the more interesting details come from inside-the-room accounts of U.S. Embassy personnel.

At one point, according to Republicans, staff grew so panicked at the rushed evacuation that they began filling Tupperware containers with passports and visa foils to burn as Taliban forces arrived outside their building. Classified documents were eventually left behind in the scramble, according to the report, although the report doesn’t say how many or what type.

Meanwhile, the NSC was slow to establish criteria for who was eligible for evacuation, a standard the report says changed hourly. At one point, electronic visa letters known as “hall passes” were given to eligible Afghans, but the documents were so easily replicated that bootleg copies began circulating and the U.S. quickly scrapped the plan, according to the report.

The report also paints a picture of a State Department and NSC slow to understand the danger U.S. personnel were in as the Afghanistan government collapsed and the Taliban took control.

Ambassador Ross Wilson, who was brought out of retirement in the Trump administration to serve in Afghanistan and was the top American diplomat in Kabul at the time of the withdrawal, was allegedly reluctant to trigger a military-led evacuation, according to the report. Wilson has spoken publicly before that his staff worked feverishly in those final days to try to process as many travel documents as possible to help qualified people evacuate.

Biden has defended the State Department’s handling of the evacuation in the wake of the operation.

“In the 17 days that we operated in Kabul after the Taliban seized power, we engaged in an around-the-clock effort to provide every American the opportunity to leave. Our State Department was working 24/7 contacting and talking, and in some cases, walking Americans into the airport,” Biden said in 2021 in the wake of the withdrawal.

Biden and other Democrats have also defended the decision to pull out U.S. troops and shutter the embassy after 20 years in the country, saying their options were limited after Trump struck a deal with the Taliban to depart by May 1, 2021.

Trump’s agreement with the Taliban included the departure of U.S. troops and the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters from Afghan prisons so long as the Taliban promised not to collaborate with al-Qaeda or engage in “high-profile” attacks.

Wanting to bring an end to the war and concerned that Taliban fighters might target American service members if the U.S. reneged on the deal, the Biden administration stayed the course but amended the U.S. withdrawal deadline to Aug. 31, 2021.

“He could either ramp up the war against a Taliban that was at its strongest position in 20 years and put even more American troops at risk or finally end our longest war after two decades and $2 trillion spent,” said Sharon Yang, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations. “The President refused to send another generation of Americans to fight a war that should have ended long ago.”

Military generals in charge at the time have previously testified that their recommendation to Biden earlier that year was to maintain some 2,500 troops beyond that date regardless of what Trump had agreed to.

“At the end of 20 years, we the military helped build an army, a state, but we could not forge a nation. The enemy occupied Kabul, the overthrow of the government occurred and the military we supported for two decades faded away,” Gen. Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time of the withdrawal, testified last March.

“That is a strategic failure,” he said.

ABC News’ Emily Chang, Matthew Seyler and Shannon Kingston contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump’s advisers may have publicly insisted he doesn’t need any debate prep, but the former president is preparing more than he’s letting on, sources tell ABC News.

Trump is holding informal policy sessions with a small team of advisers, including GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who once challenged Vice President Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2019, the sources said.

Gaetz has been firing questions at Trump around some of the more challenging issues, such as his legal troubles, including his federal indictments on election interference and retaining classified documents, criminal conviction in the New York hush-money case and stance on abortion, according to the sources.

Two people familiar with Trump’s preparation also told ABC News that Trump has been briefed on Harris’ past debates, including the headline-making moment when she hit back at former Vice President Mike Pence with the words, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” That exchange went viral then, and Trump has privately told his allies he won’t let that happen to him.

Sources told ABC News that Trump’s recent press address on Friday has left some on the GOP side with pre-debate concerns.

While Trump has continued with his campaign schedule, his movements on Friday puzzled some Republicans. Trump, following his appeal of the $5 million a federal jury awarded writer E. Jean Carroll after finding him liable for sexually assaulting and defaming her, came before the cameras rattling off — in often vivid detail — the accusations of sexual misconduct from multiple women over the years. All of which he has denied.

Meanwhile, as ABC News previously reported, Harris has been engaged in traditional debate prep in Pittsburgh.

The cameras caught her in the city on Sunday on a walk with second gentleman, Doug Emhoff. But, she ignored two shouted questions on Trump’s claims that he’ll jail his political opponents and how she plans to respond to personal attacks from Trump on the debate stage.

On Saturday, Trump posted on TruthSocial, writing, “… the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.”

Trump’s false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election have continually been disproven.

Harris, on Sunday, did respond to a third question shouted at her by the media about whether she was ready by echoing, “ready,” and giving a thumbs up before disappearing around the side of a building.

In related news, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, will appear in the spin room following the debate, ABC News has confirmed.

The ABC News presidential debate will take place on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET and air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.

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