Talk of the Town
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women — a move that could alter guidance for doctors as well as some insurance coverage.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Kevin O’Connor, former President Joe Biden’s physician, appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for a closed-door, transcribed interview.
O’Connor was subpoenaed by Committee Chairman James Comer as part of a Republican-led investigation into Biden’s mental fitness and use of a presidential autopen while in office.
O’Connor didn’t take any questions from reporters when he arrived and left the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday morning.
Ahead of the meeting, Comer said the committee has “a lot of questions” for the doctor.
“Dr. O’Connor’s reports were glowing with how healthy the president was. I think the president — the state of the president’s health is the transparency that we all expect. The president of the United States is the most powerful person in the world. The American people have a right to know the health condition of the president, both fiscal and mental,” Comer said.
The House Oversight Committee has requested interviews with several of Biden’s former White House aides in light of a reports questioning his mental fitness in his final year in office and alleged efforts by those around him to cover it up.
Neera Tanden, who served as the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Biden, sat for testimony in late June. When asked after by reporters if there was an effort to disguise Biden’s condition, Tanden replied: “Absolutely not.”
The committee intended to get answers from O’Connor about his medical assessments of Biden.
“The Committee continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding your assessment in February 2024 that former President Biden was ‘a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,'” Comer wrote in his letter to O’Connor in May.
The White House waived executive privilege for O’Connor ahead of his appearance. The House Oversight Committee previously requested O’Connor and aides sit for interviews while Biden was president, but Biden blocked the request.
Months after leaving the White House, Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
Biden rejected reports of cognitive decline during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” in early May, before his office announced his cancer diagnosis.
“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden said at the time.
Former first lady Jill Biden, in the same interview, pushed back forcefully to accusations she shielded Biden from allies and the public.
“I did not create a cocoon around him. I mean, you saw him in the Oval Office. You saw him making speeches. He wasn’t hiding somewhere,” she said.
Since then, former president Biden has spoken at some events, including at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in San Diego last week, where he reflected on his leadership and career.
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(WASHINGTON) — In a phone interview Friday morning, hours after his blistering exchange with Elon Musk, President Donald Trump sounded remarkably unconcerned about their feud, as if it weren’t even the most interesting thing that happened Thursday.
Speaking on a phone call Friday morning shortly before 7 a.m., ABC News asked him about reports he had a call scheduled with Musk for later in the day..
“You mean the man who has lost his mind?” he asked, saying he was “not particularly” interested in talking to him right now.
He said Musk wants to talk to him, but he’s not ready to talk to Musk.
Trump then talked for a couple of minutes about other things — referring to inflation (down), foreign investment (up) and his plans for a visit to China (huge).
People close to Trump have described him as more sad than angry at Musk. One adviser who was with Trump on Thursday night said he seemed “bummed” about the breakup. And that’s the way he sounded on Friday morning.
Trump is considering either giving away or selling the red Tesla he purchased to support Musk, a senior administration official told ABC News’ Rachel Scott Friday morning. The Tesla was parked just on West Executive Avenue on Thursday. Trump made a show of checking out Tesla models at the White House in March as Musk’s company took a hit as he arrived in Washington.
The war of words on Thursday, stemming from Musk’s criticism of Trump’s signature tax and immigration bill, had Musk suggesting Trump would have lost the 2024 election without him, backing calls for Trump’s impeachment and even claiming Trump was “in” the Epstein files regarding the investigation into the accused sex trafficker.
“That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk posted.
Trump, in turn, had said Musk had gone “CRAZY” and suggested terminating Musk’s government contracts and subsidies.
Vice President JD Vance expressed his support for Trump amid the public dispute in a brief post to X — albeit hours after the back-and-forth between Trump and Musk began. The post didn’t directly weigh in on Musk’s attacks or criticize the Tesla billionaire, with whom Vance has his own history with that predates his time as Trump’s running mate and vice president.
“President Trump has done more than anyone in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I am proud to stand beside him,” Vance wrote on social media.
Vance still hadn’t directly responded to Musk’s accusations against Trump when he posted again on Friday morning.
“There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he’s impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that’s ridiculous,” Vance wrote, focusing his fury on the media.
The White House called the public feud between Trump and Elon Musk “an unfortunate episode from Elon, who doesn’t like the One Big Beautiful Bill because it doesn’t include his policies.”
“The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Just hours after accusing Trump, without evidence, of appearing in the Epstein files, Musk showed some signs of trying to soften his tone — even appearing to agree with a post on X calling for the two to “make peace.”
The first sign Musk was starting to walk things back came thanks to an account with just over 141 followers on X who suggested to “cool off” and “take a step back.”
The post from the seemingly random user led Musk to reverse his threat to decommission the spacecraft used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, a threat Musk had made just hours earlier.
“Good advice,” Musk responded to the user. “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
ABC News’ Will Steakin and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
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(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the Secret Service caught the person who swiped her bag from a Washington restaurant on Easter Sunday while she was dining with her family.
“Thank you to @SecretService @ICE and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant,” Noem posted on X.
Authorities said a man wearing a mask took Noem’s bag, which contained $3,000, her DHS access card, passport, makeup bag, apartment key and other items.
Noem said in her post that the person arrested is “a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years.”
“Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that’s why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets,” she said.
Later Sunday, the Secret Service said it had made two arrests in the case — one in Washington and one in Miami.
The Secret Service said the defendant arrested in D.C., who it didn’t identify, is a serial offender and said the theft “had no protective nexus to Secretary Noem or her role as Secretary of Homeland Security.” It also said its investigation revealed alleged potential device and credit card fraud and would maintain jurisdiction over the case.
The person arrested in Miami is believed to be a co-conspirator with the first person in a pattern of thefts and robberies in D.C. and is believed to be the primary defendant in stealing Noem’s bag, the Secret Service said. The person is being held on an immigration detainer and their name will be released when charges are finalized, the Secret Service said.
In an interview on Thursday, Noem said she thought the theft was “professionally done.”
“It was kind of shocking, actually, because it was sitting right by my feet, actually felt my purse, he hooked it with his foot and dragged it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it,” Noem said on “The Vince Show.”
Noem said she wasn’t sure if she was targeted because she was the DHS secretary. She said she felt something brush against her leg where the bag was at her feet, but thought it was one of her grandchildren.
“I think I was a busy grandma with four grandkids under the age of 4, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yeah, but certainly had my purse even touching my feet,” she said.
A DHS official said the secretary had the cash with her because her family was in town and she was treating them to Easter festivities.
“Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren — she was using the cash withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,” the official said.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
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