"The Talk of the Town"
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration succeeded in blocking a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after a federal court issued an administrative stay of a hearing set for Friday.
The alleged 9/11 mastermind was expected to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement worked out by military prosecutors that would have removed the death penalty as a possibility in his case.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s administration is filling one of the State Department’s top positions with a controversial conservative journalist who has promoted conspiracy theories related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and was fired as a speechwriter by the first Trump administration when it was revealed that he had spoken at a conference tied to White nationalists, sources familiar with the move told ABC News.
The sources said that the man, Darren Beattie, will now be the acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, a so-called “Top 10” position that, as the State Department’s website describes it, “leads America’s public diplomacy outreach, which includes messaging to counter terrorism and violent extremism.”
“The Under Secretary oversees the bureaus of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Global Public Affairs, and participates in foreign policy development,” the website adds.
Beattie is slated to start in the position on Monday, sources said. He was already serving in another senior role within the State Department, but the new move to such a high-level position has raised concerns among many of its employees, sources said.
More than two years ago, Beattie launched a right-wing media outlet called Revolver News, which has raised funds in part by selling pro-Trump apparel and merchandise.
“It’s OK to deny 2020,” reads two shirts still being sold on the outlet’s website. Another shirt promotes the refuted claim that Jan. 6, 2021, was an “FBI setup to frame Trump supporters as insurrectionists,” as the shirt says.
And Beattie has become a frequent guest on other right-wing media, often promoting conspiracy theories related to Jan. 6.
On Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast last month, Beattie repeated his claims that the FBI knows who’s behind the pipe bombs left at DNC and RNC offices on Jan. 6 but “what they found out was profoundly embarrassing to the government and to the narrative that the Biden regime wanted to promote, and so instead of following that investigation further, they basically just killed it,” Beattie said.
Beattie also claimed that surveillance video released by the FBI to seek help in identifying the perpetrator was “clearly tampered with.”
In mid-August 2018, he made national headlines, with the Washington Post reporting then that he “was terminated last week after revelations that he had spoken at a conference attended by well-known white nationalists” two years earlier.
According to the Washington Post, Beattie – who is Jewish – insisted that he was not racist and said in a statement.
“In 2016 I attended the [H.L. Mencken Club] conference in question and delivered a stand-alone, academic talk titled ‘The Intelligentsia and the Right.’ I said nothing objectionable and stand by my remarks completely,” the statement said. “It was the honor of my life to serve in the Trump Administration. I love President Trump, who is a fearless American hero, and continue to support him one hundred percent.”
At the end of the Trump administration, in November 2020, the Trump White House appointed Beattie to a three-year term with the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, which helps preserve sites related to the Holocaust.
The Anti-Defamation League strongly objected to the appointment, issuing a statement at the time saying, “It is absolutely outrageous that someone who has consorted with racists would even be considered for a position on a commission devoted to preserving Holocaust memorials in Europe.”
The New York Times then asked Beattie for comment, and he told the paper: “The ADL pretends to be an organization that protects Jews, but it really exists to protect Democrats. As a Jewish Trump supporter, I consider it an honor to be attacked by the far-left ADL and its disgraced leader, Jonathan Greenblatt.”
Asked about Beattie’s new position at the State Department, a White House spokesperson referred ABC News to the State Department. First reached on Friday, the State Department has so far not commented.
On Sunday, Beattie did not immediately respond to a request for comment by ABC News.
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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Maryland is set to consider whether President Donald Trump will be able to redefine the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment to exclude the children of undocumented immigrants from birthright citizenship.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman has scheduled a 10 a.m. ET hearing on Wednesday to consider a request by five pregnant undocumented women to issue a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s Day-1 executive order on birthright citizenship.
The women and the two nonprofits filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that the executive order — which challenged the long-settled interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause — violated the constitution and multiple federal laws.
“If allowed to go into effect, the Executive Order would throw into doubt the citizenship status of thousands of children across the country, including the children of Individual Plaintiffs and Members,” the lawsuit said.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice have claimed that Trump’s executive order attempts to resolve “prior misimpressions” of the Fourteenth Amendment, arguing that birthright citizenship creates a “perverse incentive for illegal immigration.” If permitted, Trump’s executive order would preclude U.S. citizenship from the children of undocumented immigrants or immigrants whose presence in the United States is lawful but temporary.
“Text, history, and precedent support what common sense compels: the Constitution does not harbor a windfall clause granting American citizenship to, inter alia: the children of those who have circumvented (or outright defied) federal immigration laws,” DOJ lawyers argued.
The executive order has already been put on hold by a federal judge in Seattle, who last month criticized the Department of Justice for attempting to defend what he called a “blatantly unconstitutional” order.
“I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar can state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It boggles my mind,” said U.S. District Judge John Coughenour. “Where were the lawyers when this decision was being made?”
Because Judge Coughenour’s order only blocked the executive order temporarily, Judge Boardman will consider a longer-lasting preliminary injunction of the executive order.
“The hearing that’s coming up is a proceeding that essentially puts a longer pause,” explained Loyola Marymount University professor Justin Levitt. “It’s an order saying, ‘Don’t implement this,’ because the plaintiffs have shown a likelihood that they’ll succeed when we finally get to a final resolution, but many substantive legal claims are effectively decided on preliminary injunctions.”
With Trump vowing to appeal a ruling that finds his executive order unconstitutional, a preliminary injunction — if granted after Wednesday’s hearing — could be his first opportunity to appeal to a higher court.
Members of the Trump administration spent months crafting this executive order with the understanding that it would inevitably be challenged and potentially blocked by lower courts, according to sources familiar with their planning.
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(WASHINGTON) — ABC projects that Democrat Adam Gray will win the race for California’s 13th Congressional District, unseating incumbent Republican John Duarte and flipping the final unresolved seat in the 2024 election.
With all 435 House races projected, ABC News estimates Republicans will hold 220 seats and Democrats 215 in the 119th Congress.
“People are excited about what we were able to achieve in electing another Republican House majority, keeping the majority,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday morning.
But it’s not clear how vacancies — or, illness or other absences — will impact the day-to-day division of power when the House convenes on Jan. 3.
President-elect Donald Trump initially tapped three House Republicans for positions in his upcoming administration: Florida Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik. Gaetz has already resigned from Congress and withdrew last month from consideration to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general. And though he won reelection to his seat last month, he said he won’t serve another term.
Republicans could have a 217-215 majority while their seats are vacant — the narrowest GOP majority in history — and special elections to fill those seats can take months to complete.
In this case, any single Republican can hold Johnson’s agenda hostage: Losing just one Republican on a vote would result in a 216-216 tie.
But several elderly Democrats have missed votes recently, which could give Republicans a little more breathing room next year.
In California’s 13th District, Duarte conceded to Gray on Tuesday, according to the Turlock Journal.
“I’m a citizen legislator, and I didn’t plan on being in Congress forever,” Duarte told the newspaper. “But whenever I think I can make a difference, I’ll consider public service in different forms, including running for Congress again.”
Gray released a victory statement on X Tuesday evening, extending his gratitude and saying the “final results confirm this district is ready for independent and accountable leadership that always puts the Valley’s people ahead of partisan politics.”
-ABC News’ Marilyn Heck and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
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