Once the presumptive nominee, President Biden to spend Election Day at White House with no public events
ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua
(WASHINGTON) — For the better part of 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden plotted a course to Nov. 5, 2024. As the incumbent, the veteran politician was the presumptive Democratic nominee, clinching enough delegates in March, and locked in a tight race with former President Donald Trump.
But instead of spending Election Day preparing for an evening speech, the president’s daily schedule is empty beyond his daily briefing by aides: No public events.
The president and first lady Jill Biden will spend election night watching the election results in the White House residence with “long time aides and senior White House staff,” according to a White House official.
“The President will receive regular updates on the state of races across the country,” the official added.
Monday night, Biden also held calls with Democratic state party chairs across the country. Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin state Democratic Party, told ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks that the call was “electrifying.”
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote, in part, in a letter posted on social media. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Biden created last-minute controversy on Oct. 29 when he seemed to call Trump supporters “garbage” during a campaign call hosted by the nonprofit Voto Latino.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden said.
Trump quickly seized on the comments, saying Biden “meant it,” though the president posted a clarification, saying his comment was about the comedian who made the joke and “referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it.”
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden said in the post on X.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and his senior aides are discussing possible preemptive pardons for people who might be targeted by the incoming Trump administration, according to a source close to the president.
Possible names include current and former officials such as retired Gen. Mark Milley, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, Sen.-elect Adam Schiff and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Politico was first to report the news.
The consideration comes after Biden issued a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, on Dec. 1. The move sparked backlash from Republicans and criticism from many Democrats.
The White House said Biden did so, despite his past pledges not to pardon his son, because “it didn’t seem his political opponents would let go of it.”
Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to exact “retribution” on his political enemies.
Milley, who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year, has long been a target of Republican attacks over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
He also stoked Trump’s ire over a report that Milley secretly called his Chinese counterpart before and after the 2020 election to dispel China’s fears Trump was not planning an attack. Trump accused Milley of “treason” after the report.
Cheney and Schiff have also long been criticized by Trump over their investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021. The two were part of the House Jan. 6 committee’s yearlong probe, which concluded with the recommendation of criminal charges against Trump. Schiff also was the lead House prosecutor in Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial.
Cheney lost her reelection bid in 2022 to a Trump-backed Republican challenger. Cheney endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump, and appeared with Harris several times on the campaign trail.
Schiff is now the senator-elect from California after winning the seat held by late Sen. Dianne Feinstein in November.
Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, faced intense scrutiny over the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He’s been called to Capitol Hill to testify on school shutdowns, the virus’ origins and more by House Republicans since retiring in 2022.
White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer acknowledged “significant support” from President-elect Donald Trump’s team to secure the ceasefire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas in an interview Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week.”
The bulk of implementing the deal is expected after Trump takes office on Monday, which Finer said President Joe Biden’s administration was conscious of.
“They’re fully up to speed, and we have been as transparent and supportive as we can as we hand this off,” he said.
But while Finer praised the Trump team’s cooperation, he told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl that it was his boss’ “persistence” that saw the deal through.
“But ultimately, at the end of the day, it was our team that was in the driver’s seat for the negotiations directed by President Biden with their support,” he said.
The interview came minutes before the first three Israeli hostages were released from captivity in Gaza, the first step in the implementation of a ceasefire deal that also involves the freeing of Palestinian prisoners.
“The attention of the world, of the press, of maybe even other governments around the world had moved on to other issues, but President Biden literally just about every day would call [national security adviser] Jake Sullivan or me or others on our team and ask for an update on the deal, what he could do to help push things forward, who he could deploy to the region, who he could call on the phone,” Finer said. “And he made, you know, dozens of calls to heads of state involved in negotiating this deal, to ultimately get it done.”
“It never escaped his attention and it really was his persistence that ultimately led to the day that we’re going to have today and the opportunity for a better future in the region that this unlocks,” Finer added.
“The Israeli government made a very difficult decision but I think had reached the same conclusion that we have reached over a long period of time, which is that ultimately, the only way to end this war, bring the hostages home, secure humanitarian relief for Gaza was some sort of exchange along the lines that was negotiated,” Finer told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of Israeli-American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen — who is expected to be one of the 33 hostages released — told Karl he was “thrilled” to hear of the first three hostages being released in the first phase of the ceasefire, and expressed his hope that the remaining hostages, including his son, return home safely.
It’s been over a year since Dekel-Chen received a “positive sign of life” of his son, he said.
His son’s wife was seven months pregnant with their third child on Oct. 7, Dekel-Chen said.
“She only knows her dad as a poster on the wall, and not the man himself,” he said.
Dekel-Chen plans to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday and expressed “immense gratitude” to the president-elect for his work on the deal.
“The Biden team absolutely did extraordinary work in getting the superstructure of this deal together,” he said. “However, it took a tweet, the subsequent statements from President-elect Trump, to get this home.”
US House Speaker Mike Johnson (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson met Thursday with Republican holdouts to his bid to retain the gavel in the new Congress, one day before the House convenes and votes for a speaker, which could come down to a single Republican vote.
Behind the scenes, President-elect Donald Trump and his top advisers were working to strike a deal with one lawmaker in particular, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, sources told ABC News.
Johnson does appear to have the support of the majority of his conference and has the endorsement of Trump. But there are at least 16 hardliners who won’t commit to voting for Johnson and at least one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, has said publicly he won’t vote for Johnson.
Several members of the House Freedom Caucus, including those who won’t commit to backing Johnson, were spotted entering the speaker’s office on Thursday, including Republican Reps. Roy, Michael Cloud, Eli Crane, Ralph Norman, Victoria Spartz, Andy Harris, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry, Andrew Clyde and Andy Ogles.
Spartz told ABC News that she will decide on Friday whether she will vote for Johnson.
Most of the members leaving the 2 1/2-hour meeting dodged questions from reporters. The few who did talk said they thought they were making progress but none had committed to voting for Johnson.
Norman did speak to reporters after the meeting, saying that he was happy with how the meeting went but that the group who convened with Johnson weren’t yet committed to voting for him on Friday.
Asked if he was still far from voting for Johnson, Norman said, “No I wouldn’t say that.”
“A day in politics is like a minute. It’s always changing, we’ll see. I was very happy with the discussions, we’ll see,” Norman added. “He’s listening, Mike is listening, he’s a good listener…. Are we there yet on everything? No. But we will continue the discussions.”
Asked before the meeting if he and other Republicans are defying Trump by withholding support for Johnson, Norman defended their push for certain concessions from the speaker.
“We haven’t done anything yet. We are discussing it. We are discussing it. Look, the vote will take place,” Norman said. “You’ll see how it comes out.”
“Trump’s behind him. He does make a lot of difference. Donald Trump says he’s his chosen speaker. So, we will see how that goes,” Norman added.
Roy placed his hand in front of his face when asked after the meeting if he had spoken with Trump about the speaker’s vote.
Cloud wouldn’t answer questions, either, but said later in a post on X that he’s still “working to help find a third option” as he thinks Johnson’s speakership, or the “status quo,” would “undoubtedly fail Trump’s agenda” but that any delay in this process would also push back Trump’s ability to enact it.
Johnson told ABC News the conversations on Thursday were “going well” and he believed the election on Friday is “going to go smoothly.”
“People are talking through process changes they want and those kinds of things. And I’m open to that. And I think tomorrow is going to go well,” he said.
Johnson is navigating the speakership battle with a historically narrow House majority.
The resignation of former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz in December left the House with 434 members, 219 of whom are Republicans and 215 Democrats. That means if all members are present on Friday, Johnson could afford to lose only one Republican vote.
There is also an all-out push from Trump’s advisers to come to an agreement with Roy.
The Texas congressman, who posted on X on Wednesday that he was undecided, has spoken to both Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, who are personally involved in striking a deal with Roy, sources told ABC News.
In a call on New Year’s Day, Trump praised Roy’s work in the House but encouraged him to support Johnson, who was also on the call along with Vice President-elect JD Vance.
The sources told ABC News that discussions with Roy include making him the chair of the Rules Committee, one of the most powerful committees in the House that can block any legislation from advancing to the House floor. Roy also has indicated privately that he wants a commitment to major cuts in government spending.
The House will gavel in at noon Friday to embark on the start of the 119th Congress, in which Republicans will have control of both the House and Senate.
The first order of business in the House is its constitutional obligation to elect its speaker, a process that has created high drama in recent years as Kevin McCarthy took 15 ballots to ultimately seize the gavel at the beginning of the 118th Congress.
McCarthy later became the first lawmaker vacated from the speaker’s office after a revolt by a handful of Republican hardliners led by Gaetz.
Republicans then took three weeks to decide on a new leader and ultimately settled on Johnson as the 56th speaker of the House in October 2023.
The House cannot conduct any business until a speaker is elected, such as certifying Trump’s 2024 election victory — a process set for Jan. 6.
Johnson has expressed confidence that he will be successful, despite at times acknowledging the “numbers game” he faces.
Asked about his message to undecided Republicans, Johnson replied: “We need to stay unified so we can save the country. And I think that’s an important message.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, an assistant Republican whip who backs Johnson’s bid to remain speaker, said on CNN on Thursday she wouldn’t be surprised if the vote goes to multiple rounds.
“I don’t know if he has the votes right now, but I do believe that he will have the votes,” Malliotakis said. “And I’m not sure that it will be on the first round, but I do think by tomorrow we will have a speaker and that speaker will be Mike Johnson.”
Asked what would it say about House Republicans if he were to lose on the first ballot, Johnson said he hopes to have the necessary votes.
But if not, Johnson said, “That’s the process of Congress with a small majority, that’s what that says.”
