Harris preparing for upcoming Trump debate in battleground Pennsylvania
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(PITTSBURGH) — Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday to hunker down and prepare for the ABC News Sept. 10 debate with former President Donald Trump, according to a campaign aide.
Choosing to stay in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state, could potentially allow Harris to continue campaigning while she prepares for the debate — and what will be her first in-person meeting with Trump.
The debate is a critical moment for Harris as it could be her last opportunity to pitch herself to a large television audience.
Harris has been preparing for the debate for weeks now. She has been holding mock debates at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, D.C., with former Hillary Clinton aide Phillips Reines playing the part of Trump while wearing a wig, according to a source.
Reines isn’t the only one assisting Harris in her preparation — she’s also enlisted former White House aides Karen Dunn, Sean Clegg and Rohini Kosoglu. All three worked with her during her 2020 vice presidential debate against Mike Pence.
Asked by reporters Wednesday how her debate preparations were going, Harris responded, “So far, so good.”
While in Pittsburgh, Harris will work on maintaining a calm demeanor as she makes a case for her own presidency while holding Trump accountable for his, according to a source familiar with Harris’ debate preparations.
If Trump dodges a question or begins launching attacks, she wants to be able to successfully pivot the conversation, the source added.
That same source said the vice president will also focus on avoiding going down policy rabbit holes, which the source said was something she did during her 2019 debates.
Harris’ latest high-profile debates were during her presidential run four years ago and her vice presidential debate with Pence. This cycle, Trump debated President Joe Biden in June.
The ABC News debate will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m ET. A prime-time pre-debate special will air at 8 p.m. ET.
(WASHINGTON) — While the House Ethics Committee will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, it’s possible that Congress could go around the committee to release the panel’s findings.
According to House rules, any member of Congress can go to the floor and tee up a vote on a “privileged resolution” that would force the Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz within two legislative days.
The member would only have to argue that not releasing the report impacts the “dignity” or “integrity” of the House or “reputation” of its members.
The action would be unusual, but not unprecedented. In the 1990s, Democrats repeatedly tried to force the Ethics Committee to divulge information about investigations into then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Those efforts came up short because Republicans closed ranks around Gingrich and the majority. But Gaetz is incredibly unpopular on Capitol Hill, and it would only take a handful of Republicans — along with all Democrats — to pass the resolution.
“If you’re a member of Congress, do you really want to be in the business of defending Matt Gaetz?” former Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, who led the Ethics Committee, told ABC News Monday.
Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said there are “plenty” of precedents of the committee disclosing reports even after a member has resigned.
Wild said that all members of the committee have access to the report and hopes that “one or more” Republicans will vote with Democrats for its release.
Asked if that’s a possibility, Wild said, “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to all of them. I mean, everybody, everybody on the committee now has the report, so they’ve got the opportunity to be reviewing it.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson has opposed releasing the report, saying he’s protecting an “important guardrail for out institution” that any ethics investigation ends once a member leaves the House.
On Tuesday, Johnson denied that Trump or Gaetz have pressured him to bury the report or that he had discussed it with them or Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss.
“I wouldn’t have that conversation with [Gaetz]. Because that’s not appropriate for us to do that,” Johnson said. “President Trump respects the guardrails of our institution as well, and I’m very guarded about those things. So neither of those gentlemen would breach that.”
“I haven’t talked to Michael Guest about the report. I talk to all my colleagues, but I know where the lines are. I have no idea about the contents of the report,” Johnson told reporters as he walked back to his office from a news conference.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a brief “Yes” when asked Tuesday if the Gaetz report should be released to the public.
If the Ethics Committee doesn’t vote to release its findings, Democrats could raise the possibility of forcing a floor vote – which would put Republicans on the record about Gaetz.
(CHICAGO) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is on the defensive after all seven members of the Chicago Board of Education announced their resignations Friday, an unprecedented moment in the city’s history, in protest of a $300 million loan Johnson proposed to fund teachers’ contracts and pensions.
The Chicago City Council called a special meeting for Wednesday afternoon to address the crisis, and to hear testimony from the former school board members who resigned, all of whom were hand-picked by Mayor Johnson just last year.
For months, board members for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) – the country’s fourth-largest public school system – had been under pressure by Johnson to fire CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was appointed in 2021 by Johnson’s predecessor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, for his objection to Johnson’s proposed $300 million short-term, high-interest loan to pay for the first year of the Chicago Teaches Union’s (CTU) contract. Martinez and the school board pushed back against Johnson, saying the extra borrowing would worsen the city’s already significant debt burden.
In an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune last month, Martinez said Johnson subsequently demanded his resignation, which he also refused, saying it would cause disruption during current union negotiations. Martinez added that the extra borrowing was fiscally irresponsible.
“I remain against exorbitant, short-term borrowing, a past practice that generated negative bond ratings for CPS,” Martinez wrote, in part, adding that repaying the bond and its debt service would “take away dollars from the classroom – all of which means that future generations of Chicago’s children and taxpayers will ultimately pay the price.”
The CPS board ended up passing a school budget without Johnson’s desired pension payment. The school system faces a nearly $1 billion shortfall in 2025, Martinez announced in August .
A former Cook County commissioner, Johnson worked as an organizer for the CTU beginning in 2011 and helped organize the 2012 teachers strike. Illinois State Board of Elections records show that the CTU contributed more than $2.3 million to his 2023 mayoral campaign. Johnson also received nearly $2.2 million from the American Federation of Teachers and nearly $1 million from the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Alderman Gilbert Villegas accused Johnson of “wanting to take care of his former employer” by forcing the resignations of the board amid contract negotiations with the union. “The mayor was elected to serve the whole city, not serve the CTU,” he said.
“We agree we want to make sure CPS teachers have a fair contract, but we also want to make sure taxpayers have fair contract. Right now, the mayor has the thumb on the scale and it’s not right,” Villegas told ABC News.
Spokespersons for Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union, and Chicago Public Schools did not respond to ABC News requests for comment.
At a press conference Monday, Johnson attacked his critics, whom he compared to supporters of slavery.
“The so-called fiscally responsible stewards are making the same argument [as] when our people wanted to be liberated and emancipated in this country,” Johnson said. “The argument was you can’t free Black people because it would be too expensive. They said that it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people.”
Johnson also announced six new appointees to the board Monday, saying he would name a seventh at a later date. Under state law, the appointees aren’t required to be vetted by the city council, although Villegas said that “in the spirit of transparency and collaboration,” councilmembers ought to have the opportunity to ask them questions.
Villegas is a member of the city’s progressive caucus, which initially supported Johnson’s agenda. In an unprecedented show of unity, most of that caucus joined 41 other council members from across the political divide in signing a public letter dated Oct. 5 that said the mass resignations of the Board of Education’s former members bring “further instability to our school district” and are deserving of a public hearing.
Johnson indicated Tuesday that he would not send his new appointees to Wednesday’s meeting, saying in part that “every single mayor in the history of Chicago has had the authority to appoint board members to multiple boards. Guess who still has that authority? This mayor does.”
The CPS funding crisis is also alarming Chicago’s business community. This week, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago released a joint statement saying their concerns over Johnson’s push for extra borrowing and the Board of Education resignations have “escalated” their concerns about Johnson’s actions, and further said that the quality and stability of Chicago Public Schools is directly tied to “the success of Chicago businesses of every size and the long-term economic future of our city.”
The statement also called for the school board to “keep CEO Martinez in his place,” and to “reject the misguided proposal to borrow more money, and work with all parties to bring transparency and long-term fiscal stability and quality education to the school system.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump will visit the city of Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on the area over the last few days, while Vice President Kamala Harris is cutting short a campaign swing through Las Vegas to return to Washington to be briefed on the hurricane response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
On Monday, Trump will receive a briefing on the hurricane as well as facilitate the distribution of relief supplies, his campaign said. He is then expected to deliver remarks to reporters in front of the Chez What Furniture Store, whose owners posted pictures online of their store completely demolished by the storm.
Harris said she intends to visit communities impacted by Hurricane Helene “as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations,” according to a White House official. Harris, who was briefed by FEMA on the federal response to the hurricane, reached out to local officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
“We are deploying food, water and generators, and working to restore state and local leaders, we will provide whatever help they need in the days and weeks ahead,” Harris said Sunday while rallying in Las Vegas.
She will learn more from FEMA during meetings in Washington on Monday, according to a White House official.
Trump’s visit to Georgia comes after his recent criticism of President Joe Biden and Harris for their response to the natural disaster.
“She ought to be down in the area where she should be. That’s what she’s getting paid for, right? That’s what she’s getting paid for,” Trump said at his rally Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Trump has attacked Harris’ response to Hurricane Helene specifically, saying her delay in visiting the impacted region demonstrates that she isn’t qualified to become president.
Biden, while returning home from the beach on Sunday, was adamant that his administration was doing everything possible to help the affected communities.
Asked by ABC New is there are more resources the federal government could be giving, Biden responded, “no, we’ve given them.”
“We have pre-planned a significant amount, even though they didn’t ask for it yet — hadn’t asked for it yet,” Biden said Sunday.
Hurricane Helene’s storm surge, wind damage, and inland flooding caused deviation and casualties in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, flooding neighborhoods, stranding residents, demolishing homes and toppling trees. The storm has killed at least 107 people and left dozens missing.
