Speaker Johnson to visit southern border in California amid attacks on Harris’ policies
(WASHINGTON) — Speaker Mike Johnson will make a trip out West late Thursday to visit the southern border shared with California and Mexico — an effort to take criticisms of the Biden administration’s border policies outside Washington, D.C.
The visit will include a press conference along a border fence called “Whiskey 8” in San Ysidro, California — south of San Diego — with California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa as well as a tour of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry and Imperial Beach locations, Johnson’s office told ABC News.
During the press conference, the speaker is expected to illustrate what Republicans count as failures on the Biden administration’s part to secure the border and highlight the SAVE Act, a bill the House recently passed to ban noncitizens from voting in elections.
The border and immigration are key issues for voters who are set to head to the polls to decide the next president in what’s expected to be a close contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who has secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee if they all honor their commitment when voting.
In recent weeks, San Diego has had the highest number of encounters of any border region in the U.S., according to a senior CBP official. But those numbers have declined by 60 percent since the new asylum restrictions from the Biden administration were put in place earlier this summer.
Details of Johnson’s visit come hours after the House approved a resolution to condemn Harris’ border policies. Six Democrats in vulnerable House races — Reps. Mary Peltola, Don Davis, Henry Cuellar, Yadira Caraveo, Gluesenkamp Perez and Jared Golden — voted with Republicans to pass the measure.
Ahead of the vote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the resolution “fake and fraudulent” during his weekly press conference.
“[Kamala Harris] was never assigned border czar. [Republicans] are making that up,” Jeffries said.
Johnson last visited the border in January 2024 when the speaker led a delegation of 64 Republicans to tour the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry.
The House has passed its own border bill called the Secure the Border Act, but rejected the bipartisan Senate border bill after Trump pressured Republicans to kill the deal.
(WASHINGTON) — Three of the five 9/11 defendants at Guantanamo — including mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad — have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
The trial of the five 9/11 conspirators had been stuck in legal delays for a very long time. No details about the specific terms and conditions of the pre-trial agreement have been made public. The other two conspirators who have agreed to the agreement aside from Mohammad are Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
Last September, ABC News reported that President Biden rejected a set of demands to form a basis for plea negotiations offered by the five defendants.
Biden agreed with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s recommendation not to accept their demands known as a “joint policy principles” that they wanted prior to entering into plea agreement talks with prosecutors. According to the the New York Times, those demands included avoiding solitary confinement and receiving health treatment for injuries the detainees claim were a result of CIA interrogation methods when they were in the CIA’s
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris has secured enough Democratic Party delegate votes to become the party’s nominee when voting ends on Monday, according to the Democratic National Committee. And Harris is close to naming her running mate.
Former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, have spoken to voters across the country this past week as they sharpen their attacks on Harris.
Here’s how the news is developing:
JD Vance to also give remarks in same states as Harris this week
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is scheduled to give remarks in the same states on the same days as Vice President Kamala Harris this week, the Trump-Vance campaign announced, as Harris embarks on a battleground state tour.
Vance is scheduled to speak at noon ET in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The event comes as Harris is set to hold a rally with her yet-to-be-announced running mate Tuesday night in the city.
On Wednesday, he is scheduled to deliver remarks in the Detroit suburb of Shelby Township, Michigan, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, as Harris also campaigns in those states then.
Then on Thursday, he is set to speak in Raleigh and Oakboro in North Carolina, aligning with Harris’ scheduled visit to the state.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Bon Iver to campaign with Harris in Wisconsin
Bon Iver will join Harris and her running mate on Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin — where the Grammy-winning indie folk band was founded — for a “special performance” as part of the campaign’s battleground state tour, the Harris campaign announced on Monday.
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Will McDuffie and Isabella Murray
Harris still deliberating on VP pick: Source
At this moment, Vice President Harris has not decided on a running mate and is still deliberating, according to a source.
More than 10K people expected at Harris’ Philly rally: Source
More than 10,000 people are expected to attend Harris’ rally Tuesday night in Philadelphia, where she’ll be joined by her new running mate, according to a source familiar with the plans.
That would make this the biggest event yet for the Harris campaign.
Harris is looking to build off her momentum. Pennsylvania kicks off her swing through seven battleground states in five days.
The pace of her campaign is in stark contrast to Trump’s, which has only one rally scheduled this week — in Montana on Friday.
Usha Vance says husband’s ‘childless cat ladies’ comment was a ‘quip’
In her first interview since her husband was named former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Usha Vance sat down with Fox & Friends where she discussed her husband’s “childless cat ladies” comment that has gained attention recently — calling it a “quip.”
“The reality is, JD made a quote – I mean, he made a quip, and he made a quip in service of making a point that he wanted to make that was substantive,” Usha Vance said of the comments her husband made in 2021. “And I just wish sometimes that people would talk about those things and that we would spend a lot less time just sort of going through this three-word phrase or that three-word phrase.”
She continued, “What he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder.”
She added that her husband “would never ever ever want to say something to hurt someone who was trying to have a family who really was struggling with that.”
JD Vance has called the comments “sarcastic.”
“Let’s try to look at the real conversation that he’s trying to have and engage with it and understand for those of us who do have families, for the many of us who want to have families, and for whom it’s really hard,” Usha Vance said on Monday. “What can we do to make it better? What can we do to make it easier to live in 2024?”
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Hannah Demissie, Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim
Pelosi says she spoke with Biden ahead of his withdrawal ‘asking for a campaign that would win’
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopolous on Monday morning, said that she spoke with President Joe Biden ahead of his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race “asking for a campaign that would win.” She also said Biden was “the only person that I spoke to” about Biden possibly withdrawing.
“The only person that I spoke to about this was the president. Other people called me about what their views were about it, and — but I rarely even returned a call, much less initiated one,” Pelosi said.
Later, she added, “I wasn’t asking him to step down. I was asking for a campaign that would win, and I wasn’t seeing that on the horizon.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice for her running mate is a the “most important” decision she has to make as her campaign gets started, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
All of her choices appear to be good, Pelosi added.
“It’s a difficult decision because they are all so great,” she told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Monday. “It is the most important decision for her to make. Not just about who can help win, but who can help serve and lead and whose confidence she trusts.”
Harris and to-be-announced running mate to launch seven-state tour Tuesday
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, who is yet to be named, will go on tour, hitting seven battleground states in five days, the Harris campaign said Monday.
The tour will be an effort to “introduce the new Democratic ticket” and “speak directly with voters in their communities and cement the contrast between our ticket and Trump’s,” campaign said.
The tour, which kicks off Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will feature rallies in cities and stops at college campuses, including HBCUs, union halls, family-owned restaurants and their field offices, the campaign said.
The tour will continue through Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Durham, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Phoenix, Arizona; and Las Vegas, Nevada, the campaign said.
Harris interviewing top VP contenders today at her residence: Source
Vice President Harris is meeting with top running mate candidates Sunday at her residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., according to a source familiar with the matter.
Harris is meeting with at least three leading contenders — Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, according to the source.
The meetings were earlier reported by The New York Times.
Sen. JD Vance says he wears VP pick criticism as a ‘badge of honor’
In a Fox News interview Sunday, Sen. JD Vance responded to criticism of him being picked as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, saying he takes it as a “badge of honor.”
“All I can do is go out there and prosecute the case against Kamala Harris to remind people that things were more prosperous and more peaceful when Donald Trump was president,” Vance said. “Look, I recognize there are a lot of folks even in the GOP establishment and certainly on the far left who don’t like the fact that Donald Trump picked me, I actually take their criticism as a badge of honor.”
Vance also hit back at Democrats who’ve called him “weird,” calling it “a lot of projection.”
“They can call me whatever they want to. The middle school taunts don’t bother me,” he said. “What offends me is what Kamala Harris has done to this country over three and a half years.”
Harris campaign launches ‘Republicans for Harris’ outreach program
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign announced Sunday that it would be launching a “Republicans for Harris” program aimed at reaching Republican voters who could be convinced to vote for Harris. The program will include digital advertising, phone banking, events and other initiatives, according to the campaign.
The program — and Harris herself — have been endorsed by a number of Republican figures, including former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
“I might not agree with Vice President Kamala Harris on everything, but I know that she will fight for our freedom, protect our democracy, and represent America with honor and dignity on the world stage,” Grisham wrote in a statement released by the Harris campaign.
The “Republicans for Harris” program will hold kickoff events starting this week, per the campaign.
(NEW YORK) — Sen. JD Vance affirmed former President Donald Trump’s assertion that the vice presidential pick doesn’t matter to the vast majority of voters. However, Vance stressed he’s “absolutely” sure Trump is confident he could step up as commander in chief if needed.
“Trump was asked recently very directly, ‘Would you be ready to be president on day one’ … Are you ready?” “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl asked as part of a wide-ranging interview that will air in full Sunday morning.
“He made it the main focus of his vetting process, is, ‘Do I think this person can be president on day one if, God forbid, something happens?’ Yes,” Vance said.
The Ohio senator said voters are more focused on the candidates at the top of the ticket instead of the vice presidential pick.
“They’re voting for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris, not for JD or Tim Walz,” he said. “I also think that he’s right that the politics of this really don’t matter that much.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.