Trump team warns Republicans to support Cabinet picks or face primary funded by Musk
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As controversy continues to cloud some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, his team has an ominous warning for Republicans who don’t fall in line behind his nominees.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports that one senior Trump adviser said the message to lawmakers is, “If you are on the wrong side of the vote, you’re buying yourself a primary.”
“That is all,” the adviser told Karl. “And there’s a guy named Elon Musk who is going to finance it.”
“The president gets to decide his Cabinet. No one else,” the adviser added.
The threat came as Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth (tapped for attorney general and defense secretary, respectively) made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to shore up support. They were escorted by Vice President-elect JD Vance, the junior senator from Ohio.
Gaetz announced Thursday afternoon he was withdrawing his name from consideration, stating his confirmation bid was “unfairly becoming a distraction.”
Gaetz faces allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, which he’s long denied, that was the subject of a federal investigation and a House Ethics Committee probe. Hegseth has been accused of sexual assaulting a woman in 2017, an encounter Hegseth told police was consensual.
Trump stood firm with the selections, which also raised eyebrows for their relative lack of experience to lead the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense. Trump said it was ultimately Gaetz’s choice to withdraw.
Some of the president-elect’s other picks have similarly faced scrutiny over their qualifications, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.
Trump previously made a demand for Republican leadership to back so-called “recess appointments” to skirt the traditional confirmation process. That route would require lawmakers to adjourn and for senators to give up the “advice and consent” role they play in nominations, as laid out in the Constitution.
But his demand is being met with some resistance from some Senate Republicans.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a senior Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said recess appointments for Cabinet posts should be “absolutely off the table.”
“And quite honestly, any serious candidate for Cabinet-level position, I would really have to wonder if they would want it or be willing to accept it under a recess,” Tillis said. “These positions are too important. They carry too much weight internationally to take a short cut.”
Several senators have said they want the full “process” and vetting of candidates to play out.
Sen. Josh Hawley said on Wednesday his intention to vote for all nominees.
“The Constitution gives us a role in personnel called advice and consent. My view is that’s exactly what will unfold here when these nominees are actually sent forward, and we’ll treat them like we’ve treated all others with the proper vetting,” said longtime Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who recently stepped down from the role.
(WASHINGTON) — As many key battleground states prepare to send out mail-in ballots to voters for the November general election, former President Donald Trump has been escalating his false and unsubstantiated rhetoric on mail-in voting, most recently even floating possible court action in what could be a repeat of the onslaught of legal battles on election results that followed the 2020 presidential election.
But the former president’s messaging on mail-in voting has been anything but consistent with his allies at the Republican National Committee often cleaning up Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting and urging voters to embrace different voting methods as the party attempts to expand voter turnout for November.
Trump, during campaign rallies and interviews throughout this election cycle, often speaks about the need to “protect the vote,” repeating false and unsubstantiated claims that “cheating” or “fraud” occurs every time mail-in voting is involved.
“The elections are so screwed up. We have to get back in and we have to change it all,” Trump falsely said during a campaign rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, last month. “We want to go to paper ballots. We want to go to same-day voting. We want to go to citizenship papers. And we want to go to voter ID. It’s very simple. We want to get rid of mail-in voting.”
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in July, he said, “the mail-in voting isn’t working. It’s corrupt. But until then, Republicans must win.”
At those very rallies, however, and at many other rallies over the last few months, his campaign has been actively promoting mail-in voting with staffers helping supporters register for mail-in ballots on site. Additionally, large screens at rallies show messages urging supporters to request mail-in ballots, update their voter registration or “pledge” to vote early in-person as a part of their voter registration effort.
He has also pushed mixed messaging on other forms of voting, sometimes urging voters to go out to vote during early-voting periods, while other times saying he wants to enforce same-day voting.
Trump himself voted early in the Florida Republican primary last month, casting his ballot at a polling location near his home in Palm Beach.
Most recently, Trump has more specifically directed his attacks on the United States Postal Service, making baseless statements that the agency is in a “bad shape” and is unable to process mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day in November.
“They are saying they’re in very bad shape, that they cannot deliver the mail well, and we’re relying on them,” Trump falsely claimed during an interview with a far-right outlet last week.
“We ought to go to court, bring a lawsuit, because they’re going to lose hundreds of thousands of ballots, maybe purposely, or maybe just through incompetence,” he continued.
On Thursday, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy dismissed claims from the man who appointed him to the job: “My response is like my response to everyone who says that we’re not prepared for the election — it’s that they’re wrong.
“We recognize that election officials are under an extreme amount of pressure, and will remain so for at least the next two months,” DeJoy said. “We also recognize that the American public will become increasingly alarmed if there is ongoing dialogue that continues to question the reliability of the Postal Service for the upcoming elections.”
“Let me be clear,” DeJoy continued. “The Postal Service is ready to deliver the nation’s mail-in ballots.”
DeJoy, who reiterated that the agency had been delivering ballots since 1864, said the Postal Service delivered 99.89% of ballots from voters to election officials in the 2020 election, which he called a “highly sensitive, sensationalized environment.”
At times, Trump himself has urged his supporters to go out and vote regardless of the voting method, including earlier this month, ahead of what was originally supposed to be the start of North Carolina’s mail-in voting.
“This will be the most important election in the history of our country. So whether it’s mail-in ballots, early voting, voting on the day, you got to get out and vote,” Trump told his followers in a social media video earlier this month, stressing the importance of this election.
Days later, Trump on his social media platform made a baseless claim that “20% of the Mail-In Ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent.” Without evidence, he also accused Democrats of cheating and called on the attorney general and the FBI to launch an investigation.
Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair and Trump’s daughter-in-law, the next day attempted to clean up his comments on CNN, saying he was referring to the 2020 election — while still not providing evidence of such fraud in 2020.
She then stressed that for this election, the party is focused on making sure voters can participate in any way they can, whether it’s by mail, early voting or in-person voting on Election Day.
“What I can tell you is we worked very hard on the ground at the RNC to make sure every voter in this country feels like when you cast a ballot, whether it’s via mail, whether it’s early voting in-person, or whether it’s on Election Day in an election office, around the country, your vote matters, and your vote counts,” Lara Trump said.
“And Donald Trump very much wants every Republican voter to vote however they feel most comfortable,” she continued.
But Republicans aren’t giving a carte-blanche blessing of the process, already launching a series of legal actions in key battleground states.
On Sept. 5, the RNC filed a lawsuit against North Carolina’s Board of Elections over a state law that governs mail-in ballot curing, claiming the state election board’s rules are “inconsistent with state law and diminishes protections for absentee ballots.”
“We have filed suit to uphold election integrity and ballot safeguards. State law lays out clear requirements, and the NCSBE must follow them — we will continue to fight for election integrity in the Old North State,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley wrote in a statement.
After a delay over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s legal battle to remove his name from the ballot, absentee ballots are finally set to go out in North Carolina next week.
The RNC this week also launched a petition to the state Supreme Court against Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Al Schmidt, saying the state’s instructions for voters to cast a provisional ballot if they do not follow the instructions for completing and returning mail ballots is illegal.
Under the current Pennsylvania law, some counties have created procedures to notify voters if there’s any issue with their mail-in ballot to provide them the opportunity to fix that ballot or to cast a provisional ballot in person on Election Day.
“Secretary Schmidt’s policy ignores the law and has caused great confusion to Pennsylvania voters,” Whatley wrote in a statement. “This clearly undermines election integrity, diminishes fairness for voters, and threatens to erode public confidence in our elections. We have filed suit to force election officials to follow the law in the Keystone State.”
The RNC also recently sued the city of Racine, Wisconsin, claiming a lack of Republican election inspectors hired by the city, signaling a general election full of legal battles, as Trump and his allies continue to stress the importance of “protecting the vote.”
“As the president has said, it is great to vote early, it’s great to vote by mail, absentee, and it’s great to vote on Election Day,” Whatley said in June when asked about Trump’s disparaging comments on mail-in voting. “The key is you got to make a plan.”
“We are spending a very significant amount of our time protecting the vote,” Whatley said. “We are recruiting hundreds of thousands of volunteers that we’re going to recruit and train and make sure that we deploy to serve as observers, poll workers and full judges all across the country.”
“And we want people to have a comfort level knowing that their vote is going to be preserved and it’s going to be. We protect the sanctity of the vote,” he continued. “So when people have comfort that we’re going to have election integrity, they’ll feel more comfortable voting.”
Asked for a comment, Trump’s campaign pushed early voting.
“This election cycle, President Trump, the RNC, and our campaign have been consistent and clear: vote early,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.
ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman and Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, September 21, 2022, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden delivered his farewell address to world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, seeking to burnish his foreign policy legacy amid international turmoil.
“This is the fourth time I’ve had the great honor speaking to this assembly as president of the United States,” Biden said as he began his remarks. “It will be my last. I’ve seen a remarkable sweep of history.”
Biden also took a moment, near the end of his speech, to poignantly reflect on his decision to end his campaign for reelection.
“There’s so much more I want to get done,” Biden said. “As much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided after 50 years of public service, it’s time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward.”
“My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power. It’s your people,” he said, prompting applause. “It’s your people that matter the most. Never forget, we are here to serve the people, not the other way around.”
Even though Biden came into office with decades of foreign policy experience, he leaves behind a mixed record.
Biden touted his administration’s rebuilding of alliances, saying when he came into office he was “determined to rebuild my country’s alliances and partnerships to a level not previously seen.”
“We did just that,” Biden said.
But the two wars that started under his administration have no clear end in sight.
His presidency is winding down as the conflict in Ukraine continues to rage and the risk of an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon increases.
The president has said a top priority before the end of his administration is to end Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, but negotiations to achieve a cease-fire have stalled.
Tuesday’s speech marked one of his last high-profile chances to rally world leaders.
“Will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war and preserve its freedom, or walk away, let aggression be renewed and a nation be destroyed? I know my answer,” Biden said. “We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away and we will not let up on our support for not Ukraine.”
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet separately with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House later this week. Harris will not be at UNGA.
With nearly 500 people killed in Lebanon on Monday alone from Israeli strikes, the escalating tensions in the Middle East and the threat of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, will surely overshadow other topics at the U.N.
Speaking on the escalation, Biden warned in his speech that “full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest.”
“A diplomatic solution is still possible,” he said. “In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents of both countries to return to their homes on the border safely. That’s what we’re working tirelessly to achieve.”
A senior administration said this meeting will allow for a range of officials to be in the same room to talk about the situation.
“This is one of the advantages of U.N. General Assembly. You literally have the whole world here. So, when you do have crises of the day, they’ll be addressed. And I have no doubt that the situation in the Middle East will be an important theme in a lot of a lot of the meetings, not just that the president has, but other senior U.S. officials who will be convening to talk about — about various aspects of the crisis and what we can do to stabilize the situation,” the official said.
“I think it’s an opportunity to talk about what we have achieved and what we what we still need to do, given a situation that is just heartbreaking where hostages have not been returned, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and as you know, just such a sensitive issue, and such a delicate and dangerous situation between Israel and Lebanon right now,” the official said.
The president “should’ve been more outspoken from the beginning about what Israel is doing,” said Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, adding that “Netanyahu constantly bites the hand that feeds him.”
Notably, even though Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be at UNGA, there are currently no plans for Biden and Netanyahu to meet on the sidelines.
Where Biden has made strides is in stabilizing relations with China and strengthening alliances in the Indo-Pacific region: Biden launched a new security partnership with Australia, the U.K. and U.S. (AUKUS); he brought together Japan and South Korea — two countries with a rocky history — to work with the U.S. on defense and economic cooperation; Vietnam upgraded the U.S. to its highest level of diplomatic relations. (Biden is meeting with Vietnam’s general secretary this week.)
All of those relationships are part of Biden’s strategy to counter China’s influence in the region.
“These partnerships are not against any nation,” Biden said at UNGA. “They’re building blocks for a free, open, secure, peaceful Indo-Pacific.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Tuesday failed for a second time to advance an in vitro fertilization (IVF) protection bill by a vote of 51-44.
The legislation needed 60 votes to advance. Republican Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted in favor of the bill along with all Democrats.
The legislation was largely dismissed by Republicans as a political stunt meant to drum up support for vulnerable Democrats.
“Republicans support IVF. Full stop. No question about that,” Republican Whip John Thune said during a news conference shortly before the vote. “This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to get an outcome or to legislate. This is simply an attempt by Democrats to try to create a political issue where there isn’t one.”
Collins and Murkowski voted for Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth’s Right to IVF Act when it failed to advance in June. But as reproductive rights continue to be a flashpoint in the upcoming election, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dared Republicans to block the bill again.
“If the Senate votes no today and strikes IVF protections down yet again, it will be further proof that Project 2025 is alive and well,” Schumer said on the Senate floor earlier Tuesday. “Remember Donald Trump’s Project 2025 is tied to the Heritage Foundation, one of the most important and extreme conservative think tanks in the country, and earlier this year, they came out fiercely against today’s bill protecting IVF.”
The vote came after Trump on the campaign trail reaffirmed his support for IVF.
During a town hall in August, Trump said he and his team had been exploring ways to help those wanting in vitro fertilization.
“I’ve been looking at it, and what we’re going to do is for people that are using IVF, which is fertilization … the government is going to pay for it, or we’re going to get — we’ll mandate your insurance company to pay for it, which is going to be great. We’re going to do that,” Trump said then.
Then, during his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said he has “been a leader on IVF.”
In response, Schumer said he’d again bring the bill to the floor for a vote to give Republicans another chance to support it. It would need 60 votes to advance.
“We have seen the Republican Party’s nominee for president claim to be “a leader in fertilization” and come out in support of expanding access to IVF by requiring insurance companies to cover IVF treatment — a key provision included in the Right to IVF Act,” Schumer wrote in a letter to his colleagues on Sunday. “So, we are going to give our Republican colleagues another chance to show the American people where they stand.”
“So to my Republican colleagues today, you get a second chance to either stand with families struggling with infertility or stand with Project 2025, which aims to make reproductive freedoms extinct,” Schumer said.
The Right to IVF Act combines several Democratic bills. It establishes a nationwide right for access to IVF, expands fertility treatments for veterans, and seeks to increase affordability for fertility care.
Efforts to advance this bill accelerated over the summer after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children, which temporarily upended IVF access in the state.
But Republicans, who say they support IVF and note it is not currently illegal to access it in any state, criticized the bill before the vote in June, calling it a political stunt and opposing the legislation as being an overreach.
Before the vote, Republicans attempted to unanimously pass a separate piece of IVF legislation. That bill, sponsored by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would have prohibited states from receiving Medicare funding if they banned access to IVF.
Their bill was blocked from advancing by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who said the GOP offer was inadequate.
“I have been perfectly clear about the glaring issue with this Republican bill,” Murray said on the Senate floor. “The cold hard reality is that this Republican bill does nothing to meaningfully protect IVF from the biggest threats from lawmakers and anti-abortion extremists all over this country. It would still allow states to regulate IVF out of existence.”
