Democrats announce themes for 4 nights of convention, including ‘bold vision’ for America
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(CHICAGO) — Vice President Kamala Harris will set out what Democratic officials are touting as a “bold vision for America’s future” at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, as her campaign looks to maintain the momentum that has so irked former President Donald Trump.
The Democratic National Convention Committee on Sunday released a list of speakers for the Chicago event, which will run from Monday to Thursday. Each day will have a dedicated theme, bullet-pointing Harris’ presidential pitch to voters.
Primetime speakers will include former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, DNC officials have confirmed to ABC News.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will both speak on Monday night. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will speak on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will give his vice presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday, with Harris taking the stage on Thursday to accept her nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Democratic officials have said that the convention will open on Monday with the theme, “For the people.” Tuesday will be dedicated to “a bold vision for America’s future,” and Wednesday to “a fight for our freedoms.”
Thursday, when Harris takes the stage, will be themed: “For our future.”
ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — With Sen. Bob Menendez having been found guilty by a jury, calls for him to resign are coming from the highest levels, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
But Menendez, at least for the time being, continues to hold his position as New Jersey’s senior senator.
Here’s what we know about what might happen to Sen. Menendez’s Senate seat.
Not required to resign There’s no law that says Menendez cannot serve in the Senate despite a guilty conviction.
He can technically continue to serve until he is up for reelection if he so chooses not to step aside.
It was not immediately clear whether Menendez, who is currently running to reclaim his seat as an independent, will heed calls from fhis fellow New Jersey lawmakers and Senate leaders to resign.
If he chooses to hold on to his seat, the Senate does have a constitutionally-mandated option on disciplining its members: expulsion.
Expelling Menendez would require a vote of two thirds of the Senate. A senator would need to bring forward a resolution to expel him and then work it through the floor process. It’s unclear if there would be the votes necessary to expel him at this time.
Some Democratic senators are opening the door to an expulsion vote, however.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., for example, said in a post on X that Menendez should “resign or face expulsion from the Senate.”
If the Senate did manage to successfully expel Menendez, it would be truly historic. Only 21 members of Congress have ever been expelled and the Senate has expelled only 15 members. Fourteen of them were expelled during the Civil War for supporting the Confederacy.
There have been other instances when expulsion was considered, but the Senate either dropped the matter or the member left office before a vote. The last case of a senator being formally expelled from the upper chamber happerned in 1862.
Six House members have been expelled: Three of them were expelled for supporting the Confederacy, two of them Democrats. Rep. George Santos, who was booted from his House seat in December, made history as the first Republican House member to be expelled.
Menendez already voluntarily gave up his position as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September. It’s unclear what if any security clearances Menendez currently holds, but his conviction could affect his ability to hold a clearance.
If he resigns or is expelled, Governor Phil Murphy chooses his replacement Menendez is up for reelection this fall, so New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy would be responsible for appointing someone to temporarily fill the vacancy left by Menendez until his term expires.
Murphy issued a statement shortly after the jury announced its verdict in Menendez’s case reiterating his calls for Menendez to resign and calling on the Senate to act if he does not.
“I reiterate my call for Senator Menendez to resign immediately after being found guilty of endangering national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system,” Murphy said. “If he refuses to vacate his office, I call on the U.S. Senate to vote to expel him. In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve.”
The already-scheduled election would go forward as usual this November to select a new permanent replacement for Menendez who would then be installed in January.
(WASHINGTON) — The Arlington National Cemetery staffer who tried to stop the Trump campaign from filming a video among the graves of recently fallen service members has declined to press charges, according to a statement released Thursday by the Army that said the “employee and her professionalism was unfairly attacked.”
The updated statement also defended the actions of the employee, who the military has opted not to name publicly due to privacy and safety concerns.
“This employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” according to the statement.
The Army said the incident was reported to Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia, which has jurisdiction over the cemetery, “but the employee subsequently decided not to press charges. Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed.”
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the Army continued. “ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.”
Trump campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, has said his team was given permission to have an official photographer and videographer outside the main press pool.
According to the Army statement, public wreath laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are routinely allowed. However, it said participants from Trump’s campaign were told in advance there should be no photography or video taken in “Section 60,” where recently fallen service members are buried.
Federal law prohibits campaigns from using the military cemetery for political campaigning or election-related activities.
Virginia Democrat Rep. Gerry Connolly has called for the public release of the police report with the names redacted.
“The public has a right to know. It must be released protecting the staffers’ identities,” he said.
In response to the Army statement, Cheung said, “This employee was the one who initiated physical and verbal contact that was unwarranted and unnecessary.”
ABC News’ Soorin Kim. Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump voted early in the Florida Republican primary on Wednesday, casting his ballot at a polling location near his home in Palm Beach. But Trump’s participation in early voting offers a stark contrast to some of his previous criticisms of the practice.
Walking out of the polling site on Wednesday, Trump called it a “great honor to vote” and praised the “fantastic job” done by the poll workers.
However, he has repeatedly flip-flopped in his messaging to supporters, sometimes encouraging them to vote early or by mail — while at other times making false and misleading claims about the security of the process.
“Mail-in voting is totally corrupt,” Trump falsely claimed in February at a campaign rally in Michigan. “Get that through your head. It has to be.”
In March, Trump again falsely claimed that “anytime the mail is involved, you’re going to have cheating,” which he said during an interview with the far-right British politician Nigel Farage.
That rhetoric was central to Trump’s attempt to undermine the results of the 2020 election false claims pushed by him and his supporters that electoral fraud stole victory from him in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that year.
No widespread vote-by-mail fraud has ever been found despite the claims.
A Washington Post analysis of data collected in three vote-by-mail states from 2016 and 2018 showed that instances of double voting and people voting on behalf of deceased people made up just 0.0025% of the more than 14.6 million ballots cast. That amounts to 372 possible instances of fraud, far from what would be required to swing a national election.
With polls predicting neck-and-neck races in crucial battleground states, Trump and his allies have sought to retool their message around early and absentee voting in recent months while still trying to hold on to the hard line Trump drew against those practices in 2020.
“President Trump has been very clear in his remarks and rally speeches throughout this campaign cycle that Americans should vote early if their states allow,” Trump campaign’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to ABC News.
“[Elections] used to be one day, now it’s, you know, two months,” Trump said, complaining about early voting at a Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in June. But then, during the same speech, he urged his supporters to vote early if they wanted.
“Do it early. Do it. Just do it. You’ve got to vote. And watch your vote, guard your vote, and follow your vote,” he said.
Republican National Committee Co-Chair Mark Whatley, who was hand-picked by Trump following the ouster of former party chair Ronna McDaniel, has advocated for creating a “national early-vote program” that will target and encourage voters to get to the ballot box.
“Voters can vote early. They can vote on Election Day. They can vote by mail. Do I care how they vote? No, I do not,” Whatley said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in June. “I care that they vote.”
Asked about Trump’s comments against mail-in voting, Whatley claimed the Republican Party is investing a significant amount of resources “protecting the vote” to ensure “election integrity” so voters can trust the system.
“We are spending a very significant amount of our time protecting the vote. We are building the Protect the Vote campaign around it,” Whatley said, referring to the latest iteration of the Republican Party’s get-out-the-vote effort.
At campaign rallies in recent weeks, the former president’s campaign has also promoted mail-in and early voting, putting up signs encouraging supporters to request mail-in ballots or pledge to vote early in person.
Trump echoed that message during a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, last month while still falsely alluding to the idea that the 2020 election was stolen.
“If you want to save America, get your friends, get your family, get everyone you know, and vote,” Trump said in the state, which will kick off early voting for the general election on Sept. 16 — the first in the country. “Vote early, vote absentee, vote on Election Day. I don’t care when you vote, but whatever you do, you have to vote and make sure your ballot counts.”
