New federal rule bans ‘junk fees’ on hotels, live-event tickets
Mandel Ngan via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — In a sweeping change that could American save consumers time and money — the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday finalized a rule that would ban surprise “junk fees” for live event tickets, hotels and vacation rentals.
The rule would require businesses to disclose total prices upfront, rather than tacking on extra costs like “convenience fees” or “resort fees” when consumers check out online.
“Whatever price you see is the price that you are paying at the end, no more mystery surprise fees at the very end of the process, which really cheat consumers and also punish honest businesses,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.
The FTC said the final rule, which takes effect around April of next year, could save consumers 53 million hours in wasted time searching for the total price of live event tickets or short-term lodging — equal to about $11 billion in savings over a decade.
The rule would not stop businesses from charging fees. But they would be required to list prices clearly from the onset and to display the total cost more prominently on a website than any other price.
“This should really provide the American people with just some more clarity and confidence so they don’t feel like they’re getting cheated or having to be bait and switched by all of these deceptive pricing tactics,” Khan said. “This is really about saving people money and saving people time.”
The change is part of a broader push from the administration of President Joe Biden to lower costs as households have been plagued by stubborn inflation. Last week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a final rule to curb bank overdraft fees.
In a statement to ABC News, Biden said: “Today’s announcement builds on work across my Administration to ban junk fees and lower costs — saving many families hundreds of dollars each year.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has opposed the rule, calling it “nothing more than an attempt to micromanage businesses’ pricing structures, often undermining businesses’ ability to give consumers options at different price points.”
The business lobbying group has already sued the FTC over other regulations, including a rule to ban noncompete agreements for millions of workers.
Asked about the likelihood the junk fee rule would face challenges in court, Khan told ABC News the FTC is on “firm legal grounds.”
“We’ve also seen bipartisan proposals in Congress to take on these junk fees in these in these industries,” Khan said. “I can’t predict the future, but I’d be very surprised if something that’s just common sense was going to be stripped away.”
At the helm of the FTC, Khan has been credited with ushering in a new era of anti-trust regulation, challenging the business models of major corporations in industries ranging from Big Tech to pharmaceuticals. Her aggressive approach quickly made her a prominent target among conservatives and Wall Street investors.
President-elect Trump announced last week he nominated Andrew Ferguson, a current Republican FTC commissioner, to replace Khan.
“These junk fees have really proliferated across the economy, and I would want to make sure that future enforcers and future policy makers were taking on these junk fees across the economy,” Khan told ABC News.
As for her political future, Khan said she’s still laser-focused on her current role.
“I’m just focused on doing my job in the in the days and weeks we have left,” she said. “I’ve just been really thrilled to see the enormous support across the country for a strong and vigorous FTC.”
Photo Credit: Prince Williams/WireImage/James Devaney/GC Images
(WASHINGTON) — The race for the White House remained essentially a dead heat on Friday — with 11 days to go until Election Day.
Kamala Harris was headed to Texas to highlight abortion access and Donald Trump was set to appear on Joe Rogan’s highly-popular podcast.
More than 31 million have voted as of Friday morning
As of Friday morning, more than 31 million Americans had voted early, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
Of the total early votes numbering 31,402,309, in-person early votes accounted for 13,687,197 ballots and mail-in ballots numbered 17,715,831.
This means that more than 16 million people have voted since Monday.
-ABC News’ Emily Chang
Harris to hit Trump for not releasing medical records at Texas rally on abortion rights
Harris will go after Trump in her speech in Houston, Texas, on Friday night that will focus on reproductive rights.
“The Attorney General of Texas is suing the United States Government so that Texas prosecutors can get their hands on the private medical records of women who leave the state to get care,” Harris will say, according to released excerpts of her speech.
“So, see what is happening: Donald Trump won’t let anyone see his medical records. But these guys want to get their hands on yours? Simply put: They are out of their minds,” she will say.
The vice president will reiterate her campaign pledge to push Congress to pass a bill restoring Roe v. Wade if elected.
“We are fighting for an America where, no matter who you are, or where you live, you can make that decision based on what is right for you and your family,” Harris will say.
ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie
Harris rips Trump over his ‘garbage can’ comments
Speaking to reporters before her event later today in Houston, Harris said she wanted to address Trump’s comment that America has become a “garbage can” and “dumping ground” for migrants from around the world.
“You know, it’s just another example of how he really belittles our country,” Harris said. “This is someone who is a former president of the United States, who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it, to tell the rest of the world that somehow the United States of America is trash.”
“And I think, again, the president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are and invest in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are,” the vice president added.
Trump’s comments are the latest example of his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Walz says it’s time to ‘execute’ at fundraiser
In what could have been his final financial event of the campaign, Tim Walz, at a fundraiser in Pennsylvania, said it was now time to use all that money to focus on the ground game.
“Now it’s time to execute … Never in my lifetime, would I have believed that the choice would be so stark,” he said.
The Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee entered the final three weeks of the election with a clear cash advantage over the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, latest FEC records show.
As of Oct. 16, the Harris campaign, the DNC and their joint fundraising committees reported having nearly $270 million in cash on hand compared to $202 million the Trump campaign, the RNC and their joint fundraising committees had in the bank, the new filings show.
The Trump campaign committee, in particular, had $36 million in the bank as of Oct. 16 compared to the Harris campaign committee having $119 million in cash on hand.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray and Soorin Kim
Trump repeats threat to jail election officials
Trump on Friday reposted his earlier message promising, before any evidence of fraud, to prosecute and deliver long prison sentences for election workers and others who he deems to have cheated during November’s election.
“Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”
Election officials had called such a threat “dangerous” given the heightened threat environment.
“It makes me concerned that this will set other people off. I think the one thing that we’ve seen before is that words have consequences and meaning,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told ABC News last month.
“And while we are concerned, we are also prepared. Elections officials across the country have been working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to monitor and track threats, to make sure we’re keeping our voters safe and make sure we’re keeping our elections officials safe,” Fontes said.
Harris says she hasn’t voted yet but it’s on ‘priority list’
Harris, taking reporter questions on Friday, was asked if she’s cast her ballot yet.
Her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, voted with his wife and son in Minnesota earlier this week.
Harris said she hasn’t voted but “it’s on my priority list for these next few days.”
Trump to call into Virginia rally after voter purge program halted Trump is attempting to place doubt about voter rolls in Virginia after a judge ordered voters purged from election rolls as a result of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s directive to be reinstated.
A federal judge said on Friday Youngkin’s program violated the National Voting Rights Act of 1993.
“This is a totally unacceptable travesty, and Governor Youngkin is absolutely right to appeal this ILLEGAL ORDER, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hopefully fix it! Only U.S. Citizens should be allowed to vote. Keep fighting, Glenn – AND REPUBLICANS IN VIRGINIA, KEEP VOTING EARLY!” Trump posted on his social media platform.
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump is set to rally with Youngkin on Saturday. Trump said he plans to call into the rally to highlight the issue.
“I will be calling in to Glenn’s Rally with Lara Trump tomorrow morning to talk about this crazy Ruling, and announce my final stop in Virginia before Election Day.”
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Pennsylvania county says it stopped thousands of voter registration fraud incidents
Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County Board of Elections said that approximately 2,500 suspected fraudulent voter registration applications were dropped off at the election office in two batches around the deadline to register.
The deadline to register in the swing state was Oct. 21.
The board said “concerns were raised” during the normal review process and law enforcement was alerted.
Notably, the board says in its statement that the fraud was “identified and contained” and lauded this incident as one that shows that the election “system is secure.”
“Our system worked,” the board declared. “We will continue to operate with the highest levels of veracity, integrity, and transparency so that Lancaster County voters can be confident in our election.”
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin
The Washington Post won’t endorse a presidential candidate
The Washington Post announced Friday it will not issue an endorsement in this year’s election — a first for the legacy newspaper in more than three decades.
“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” publisher William Lewis wrote in a note explaining the decision.
The Post follows the Los Angeles Times in not backing a candidate.
Both newspapers had endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020 against Trump.
McConnell, Johnson rebuke Harris for calling Trump ‘fascist’
In a rare joint statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell strongly condemned Harris calling Trump a “fascist” and comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
The two Republican leaders say Harris’ remarks have “only fanned the flames beneath a boiling cauldron of political animus. Her most recent and most reckless invocations of the darkest evil of the 20th century seem to dare it to boil over. The Vice President’s words more closely resemble those of President Trump’s second would-be assassin than her own earlier appeal to civility.”
McConnell and Johnson say they have been briefed on the “ongoing and persistent threats to former President Donald Trump.”
Harris quickly seized on John Kelly’s comments to The New York Times this week that he believed Trump fit the description of a fascist. Kelly served as Trump’s chief of staff and is a retired general.
Trump has claimed for months that Harris is a “fascist” or “communist” or “Marxist.”
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Virginia judge strikes down voter purge that impacted 1,600 people
A federal judge issued a partial ruling finding that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order to conduct a daily voter purge process violated the National Voting Rights Act of 1993.
A total of 1,600 voters removed from the rolls since August must be added back within the next five days.
The judge said the process left no room for individualized inquiry, which violated the act’s requirement that “when in the 90-day provisional, it must be done on an individualized basis.”
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
Trump zeroes in on ‘blue wall’ states
Trump will embark on a rigorous schedule making his final pitch to voters. The former president is focusing on the “blue wall” states this weekend and early next week, specifically targeting Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
After stops in Michigan and Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump will culminate his weekend campaigning with a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, in which the former president has coined as a “celebration of the whole thing” with his nine years of campaigning coming to close.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim
Americans accused of noncitizen voter fraud face doxxing
Eliud Bonilla, a Brooklyn-born NASA engineer born to Puerto Rican parents, was abruptly purged from the voter rolls as a “noncitizen.”
Bonilla later voted without issue, but the nuisance soon became a nightmare after a conservative watchdog group published his personal information online after obtaining a list of the state’s suspected noncitizen voters.
“I became worried because of safety,” he told ABC News, “because, unfortunately, we’ve seen too many examples in this country when one person wants to right a perceived wrong and goes through with an act of violence.”
Bonilla’s story highlights a real-world impact of aggressive efforts to purge state voter rolls of thousands of potential noncitizens who have illegally registered. Many of the names end up being newly naturalized citizens, victims of an inadvertent paperwork mistake or the result of a clerical error, experts say. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
Read more about Bonilla’s story and a fact check of noncitizen voting claims here.
Half of Americans see Trump as fascist, Harris viewed as pandering: POLL
A new poll from ABC News and Ipsos found half of Americans (49%) see Trump as a fascist, or “a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against their opponents.”
A majority of voters (65%) also said Trump often says things that are not true.
But Harris also faces perception headwinds, though far fewer Americans (22%) said they viewed her as a fascist.
Fifty-seven percent of registered voters said Harris is making proposals “that just are intended to get people to vote for her,” not that she intends to carry out. Just more than half (52%) said the same about Trump.
Trump to appear on Joe Rogan podcast in play for young male voters
Former President Donald Trump sits down with podcast host Joe Rogan for the first time Friday, appearing on the highly popular “The Joe Rogan Experience,” as he reaches out to an audience of mostly young males as potential voters.
The podcast, which boasts approximately 15.7 million followers, a Spotify representative confirmed to ABC News, is greater than the population of any of the seven election battleground states.
(GREENBELT, Md.) — As Democrats in Maryland tell it, the state’s key Senate race isn’t about any particular person — even the candidates themselves.
On the campaign trail, you’ll hear Democrats vying to keep an open Senate seat blue knock former Gov. Larry Hogan, the GOP nominee. But you’ll also hear lamentations about Sens. Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, firebrands who are primed for committee chairmanships in a potential Republican-controlled Senate.
In paid television ads, you’ll see videos painting Hogan as a partisan, not the moderate he cast himself as during two terms in Annapolis. But you’ll also see attacks on outgoing Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, a vaunted political knife fighter and self-proclaimed “grim reaper” of liberal legislation.
That duality is a core feature of the campaign for Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic nominee and Prince George’s County executive — as much as she’s talking about her opponent, she’s also sounding the alarm about a Senate she’s hoping to join.
There are few motivators in politics as potent as fear and anger. But Alsobrooks is at a disadvantage in that regard — Hogan left office in 2023 as a popular two-term governor with a reputation as a pragmatist before running for a Senate seat in a year when any race can determine the chamber’s majority.
And while Alsobrooks and her allies are still casting Hogan as a Republican whose values are misaligned with deep-blue Maryland, particularly on abortion, they’re also diverting some of their fire at prominent Senate Republicans and what they could do with committee gavels.
“Marylanders are very savvy. They understand that this race is about the 51st vote and about control of the Senate. It is bigger than Larry Hogan. It’s actually bigger than me,” Alsobrooks told ABC News Monday at an annual community barbecue her family hosts in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It is much bigger than any one person. It is about the future of our state and of our country and the kind of country that we want to build for our children.”
The Senate race is tight, especially by Maryland’s standards.
The 538 polling average shows Alsobrooks up by nearly 6 points in a state where Democratic presidential candidates typically romp by at least 25, a difference universally attributed to Hogan’s entry into the race.
Hogan has continued to reinforce his reputation as a moderate, saying he’d vote to restore abortion protections that existed under Roe v. Wade and serve as a check on the GOP’s more hard-line impulses. However, he has still said that as a lifelong Republican, he’d caucus with the GOP in the chamber, and Alsobrooks has made hay of his past record, including vetoing state legislation to expand abortion protections.
Still, the need to tie Hogan to bogeymen like Cruz, Graham and McConnell was underscored Monday, when conversations with nearly a dozen of Alsobrooks’ most vocal supporters revealed little negative to say about the former governor, but a greater eye on the levers of power in Washington.
“I guess he’s OK. He hasn’t really done a bad job since he’s been here in Maryland, but I think it’s time for a fresh face,” said Bertley Thomas, a retired teacher, about Hogan. “I am a lifelong Democrat, and so is Angela. Hogan happens to be a Republican, it doesn’t mean I don’t like him any less. However, I think we would like to see the Democrats control the Senate.”
Waymon Lynch, a small business owner, said she voted for Hogan twice, but praised Alsobrooks’ record as a local politician.
“He’s definitely not the Trump wing of the party, no, not at all. That’s not his history,” Lynch said of Hogan. “And if it were someone other than Angela running against Mr. Hogan, I might consider him. But in this particular case, it goes a little bit further than that.”
That’s not to say voters aren’t also considering the issues and where Hogan stands.
“I was really kind of concerned when all of a sudden he came out to run against her. I just feel that Democrats serve me and my needs, and I am for women’s rights,” said Valerie Callender, a dermatologist. “I know Angela is going to fight. She’s a mother, and she believes in women’s rights. And to take total control of their body, as a physician, I feel that’s very important.”
Nevertheless, the race’s dynamics have left Alsobrooks with limited ability to run against her actual opponent, instead making future colleagues of the very chamber she hopes to join top antagonists in the race.
“Angela Alsobrooks is playing the best card she has to play. She is never going to win a contest of personality or popularity with former Gov. Hogan. He is just far too known and too well liked for her to change public opinion on that front. So, she has to run exclusively on the notion that, regardless of how one feels about Gov. Hogan personally, he can and would be the deciding vote in favor of tipping the Senate over to Republicans,” said Maryland Democratic strategist Len Foxwell.
The argument requires voters to generalize the importance of the race beyond their state’s borders, but Democrats are betting that Marylanders — living in proximity to Washington and many working for the federal government — are more attuned than the average voter on the current 51-49 Senate majority and the importance of chamber control.
“The beauty of it is that the voters we’re talking about are voters in Maryland, and this is about one of the most savvy electorates that you can find, not just in the Washington suburbs, but throughout the state,” said Maryland Democratic Party Chair Ken Ulman. “We know what this is about.”
At the same time, Alsobrooks has work to do to define herself more concretely outside of her powerbase in Prince George’s County, particularly in the vote-rich areas in and around Baltimore.
Alsobrooks is working to boost her own policy bona fides with a new ad out Wednesday, noting the threat of GOP Senate control but adding what she would “also” do as Maryland’s senator, including taking on “price gouging” and standing “up for a woman’s right to choose.”
Hogan and his allies are trying to do the same, with a well-heeled supportive super PAC releasing an ad Wednesday hitting her over a CNN story alleging she improperly took tax deductions on properties in Maryland and Washington.
“Raising her name ID, especially in the Baltimore suburbs, is really important. When you see the polling, you still see Hogan has pretty universal name ID. We’ve got room to grow her ID,” Ulman said.
To be certain, Alsobrooks is still viewed as having an advantage.
Vice President Kamala Harris is anticipated to win Maryland, one of the nation’s bluest states, by as many as 30 points, possibly creating tailwinds long enough to carry Alsobrooks over the finish line and forcing Hogan to lean on a potentially unrealistic number of ticket splitters, voters who support one party for president and another in down-ballot races.
“If Larry Hogan doesn’t win this race, from what I’ve seen thus far, it has very little to do with whatever Angela Alsobrooks is doing,” Doug Mayer, a former Hogan aide. “If Larry Hogan doesn’t win this, it’s just because it’s extremely difficult to have a million switch voters. If anyone can do it, it’s him.
And while operatives of all stripes agreed that Hogan is the only person who could make the race competitive, Democrats’ emphasis on the threat of Republicans who Marylanders are less familiar with and more aligned with former President Donald Trump could help Alsobrooks lean into her state’s existing partisan advantage, experts said.
“With the base energized in a presidential year, I find it implausible to think that there will be enough ticket splitters, and we’re reminding people every day what the stakes are,” said Ulman, who was the Democratic lieutenant governor nominee in 2014 when Hogan won his first term. “Nobody will take the former governor more seriously than me, having seen his success in the past, but it just makes the math very, very hard in a presidential year.”
People inspect the remains of an Iranian missile that fell into the home of a Bedouin family in the Negev desert near Arad, Oct. 2, 2024, in the aftermath of an overnight Iranian missile attack on Israel. (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Even as Iranian missiles were streaking across the skies over Israel this week, U.S. officials say they were actively engaging with their Israeli counterparts to game out an appropriate response to the attack and underscore the need to avoid escalation.
Now that the fog of war has subsided to reveal that Iran’s barrage on Tuesday did not incur massive loss of life or widespread damage, several Biden administration officials tell ABC News they’re more optimistic they can persuade Israel to carry out a measured response — but said they still fear a significant counterattack could trigger additional military action from Iran that leads to spiraling escalation in the Middle East.
One U.S. official said Israel aims to reestablish deterrence through its response by putting on a show of force. However, the official said Israel is unlikely to hit Iran’s nuclear facilities — a move that would spark ire from Tehran and one President Joe Biden made clear he does not support following a conversation with other members of the G7.
“We’ll be discussing with Israelis what they’re going to do,” Biden said Wednesday. “All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion.”
Another U.S. official said Israel could opt to go after other targets critical to Iran’s economy, like the country’s energy grid or its oil production infrastructure, but that striking a military installation would be the route with the lowest risk of escalation.
They added that the Biden administration believes Israel is still evaluating its options and has not yet set a firm timeline for its response.
An Israeli official told ABC News on Wednesday that its retaliation would be “significant” and “come fast.”
The Iranian regime has issued a range of messages following Tuesday’s attack on Israel, blaming the presence of the U.S. and some European nations in the Middle East for the turmoil in the region and declaring that peace depends on “rooting out the evil of these countries” while also declaring Tehran doesn’t want a broader war.
“We don’t seek war, it is Israel that is forcing us to react,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a press conference in Qatar on Wednesday.
Tehran said its attack was incited by the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil in July, which was widely attributed to Israel, and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike last week.
The Biden administration has lauded the killing of Nasrallah, saying Israel acted to bring the leader of a designated terror organization to justice. But the killing of the Iranian proxy group’s leader has also complicated the leverage the U.S. has over Israel.
In April, Tehran launched a drone and missile attack at Israel to settle the score following an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria. Then, the tit-for-tat ended with a murmur — a muted counterblow from Israel on a single Iranian military site.
But in the spring, Israel still wished to avoid provoking Hezbollah, making the country more amenable to the Biden administration’s pleas for caution. Now, Israel is actively carrying out ground incursions into Lebanon and has greatly diminished the militant group’s capability.
The Biden administration initially responded to Israel’s actions in Lebanon by urgently calling for a cease-fire.
Now, U.S. officials say they are still pursuing a diplomatic solution, but the public messaging from Washington has pivoted back to one of support for Israel rather than calls for truce in Lebanon.
“Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully supportive of Israel,” Biden said.
