Like Trump, Vance to campaign behind bulletproof glass at Michigan rally
(WASHINGTON) — Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will deliver remarks on the economy on Tuesday in Big Rapids, Michigan, at an outdoor farm — during which he will speak from behind bulletproof glass, the first time there has ever been one at a solo event for Vance
It’s similar to the new safety measures in place for former President Donald Trump’s outdoor rallies following his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
Vance did have bulletproof glass in Asheboro, North Carolina, last week, but that was a joint event with the former president.
The U.S. Secret Service made arrangements for Trump to resume outdoor campaign rallies by surrounding his podium with bulletproof glass, multiple sources told ABC News earlier this month.
The Secret Service recommended Trump stop holding outdoor rallies last month after a gunman in Butler, Pennsylvania, fired at him from a rooftop 400 feet from the stage, hitting his ear. A man in the crowd was killed in the attack.
Between July 13 and Aug. 20, Trump held nearly a dozen campaign events, all of them indoors.
However, since being announced as Trump’s running mate on July 15, Vance has held several outdoor campaign events without bulletproof glass.
(NEW YORK) — Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, schemed to advance the interests of China while working in New York State government, federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The indictment charges Sun with failure to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy.
Her husband, Christopher Hu, allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain, prosecutors said.
Sun and her husband were arrested at their Long Island home Tuesday morning, according to federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York and the FBI. The FBI had searched the Manhasset home in July.
Both are due in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday afternoon. It was not immediately clear whether they are represented by attorneys.
Sun was hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago, before being fired last year, according to Avi Small, Hochul’s press secretary.
“We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” Small said in a statement to ABC News.
Sun worked in state government for about 15 years before she was fired last year from her job as deputy commissioner for strategic business development at the New York State Department of Labor. She previously served as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff and in the administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The indictment alleges that, acting at the request of Chinese government officials and representatives of the Chinese Communist Party, Sun blocked Taiwanese government officials from having access to high-level New York State officers, changed New York State officers’ messaging about China and arranged meetings for visiting delegations from the PRC government with New York State government officials.
In return for these and other actions, Sun allegedly received economic and other benefits from China, including the facilitation of millions of dollars in transactions for the China-based business activities of Hu; travel benefits; tickets to events; promotion of a close family friend’s business; employment for Sun’s cousin in the PRC; and Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a PRC government official’s personal chef that were delivered to the residence of Sun’s parents, according to the indictment.
“As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”
(WASHINGTON) — In remarks on Thursday at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden will celebrate the progress of the American economy, but stop short of declaring victory, senior advisors told ABC News on a call previewing the remarks.
Biden said in a post on X that he will speak about what the first key rate cut since 2020 and falling inflation “means for Americans.”
“President Biden is going to speak to a new milestone, inflation and interest rates are falling at the same time, employment, wages and GDP are rising,” White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told reporters. “I want to be really clear, this is not meant to be a declaration of victory. It’s meant to be a declaration of progress, significant progress. The President believes it’s important to mark this moment for the country by laying out how far we’ve come, while also outlining the work we still have to do.”
Zients added that Biden will lay out the three big pillars of his economic playbook: the historic response to the COVID-19 crisis, the administration’s work to address global inflation and efforts to build an economy that invests in all Americans.
But Zients added that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are still looking ahead to the work that is not finished, pointing to the cost of childcare and housing as two of the biggest areas.
“The president knows this is no time for a victory lap, which is why he will talk about the work ahead every single day, the president and vice president, both, on what more can be done to make the economy stronger, create more jobs and, importantly, lower costs, the President will lay out how we build on the progress that we’ve made across these three and a half years, and what’s at stake,” Zients said.
National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard also talked about the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday rate cut announcement and how recent data is a good sign, but also noted that costs are still high for American families.
“The president will note this hard won progress, but emphasize that we must continue to work together to tackle long standing affordability challenges for middle class families,” Brainard said. “America needs more housing. That’s why it’s critical to move forward on ambitious plans to bid to bring housing costs down by building millions of new affordable homes and providing incentives for states and localities to remove outdated obstacles to building it’s essential we continue to enable more workers to participate in the labor force and to make it easier and more affordable to raise a family.”
One White House official on the call was asked about whether the administration was concerned about rising unemployment in response to Wednesday’s rate cut, but the official brushed off the concern, saying that the Fed’s data shows “the labor market remaining solid,” and adding that unemployment has “remained the lowest on average of any administration in 50 years.”
A reporter also asked whether rising tensions in the Middle East could be a setback in the fight against rising inflation. The different White House official said that it is one of the “geopolitical risks that we consistently monitor.”
“But our assessment, you know, right now is that the economy is in a healthy place, and that the kind of range of risks, while we continue to monitor them are do not pose a significant risk to the to the outlook,” the White House official added.
(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.