US is engaged in formal ‘armed conflict’ with ‘terrorist’ drug cartels, Trump says
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has determined that the United States is in now engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels, which the administration has deemed as unlawful combatants, according to a confidential memo obtained by ABC News Thursday.
It comes after recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean.
The notice was sent to several congressional committees and was first reported by The New York Times.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, said Sunday that the suspect in the shooting that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk is not cooperating with authorities.
“He has not confessed to, to authorities. He is, he is, he is not cooperating, but, but, but all the people around him are cooperating. And I think that’s, that’s, that’s very important,” Cox told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Authorities identified Kirk’s alleged shooter as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who now remains in custody. Charges are expected to be formally filed on Tuesday, Cox said.
Cox was also asked about a Sunday New York Times report that alleged Robinson had communicated with others on Discord after the shooting. The Times reported Robinson had made jokes about being the alleged gunman.
ABC News has not independently confirmed the Discord messages.
“All we can confirm is that those conversations definitely were happening, and they did not believe it was actually him. It was, it was all joking until, until he, you know, until he admitted that it actually was him,” he said.
The Utah governor, who has been the public face of the investigation, also addressed reports Saturday that the suspect’s roommate is transitioning from male to female.
Cox previously told the Wall Street Journal that Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.” Asked if investigators have uncovered evidence to show that, Cox replied, “Well, so far that — that has come from his acquaintance and his family members. That’s where that initial information has come from. Certainly, there will be much more information that is released in the charging documents as they’re bringing all of that together.”
Cox said there will be “much, much more information” revealed in the coming days when charges are filed. The governor urged Americans to choose kindness in a time of high political tension.
“These are very tragic circumstances that impact all of us,” Cox said.
Here are more highlights from Cox’s interview and those with Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah:
On Trump not talking about political violence against Democrats Raddatz: President Trump said nothing about the political violence against Democrats. In fact, he blamed the radical left. What’s your reaction to that? Is that something you think he should be doing?
Cox: Well, look, President Trump is very angry and, Charlie is his close personal friend. There is a lot of anger, a lot of anger on the right, on my side of the aisle. And I’ve certainly felt that. And in this case, it does appear that that’s true. Again, more, more information is coming and we’ll learn more over time.
You know, I don’t know that that that matters as much as the the radicalization piece. I brought up the, the Democrats who were assassinated recently. And how quickly we move on from these things. But, but the body count is, is piling up. And so I’m so concerned about this radicalization piece. And that’s what we’re trying to understand. Again, this person made a choice, and it was this person’s choice. And this person will be held responsible.
Cox on how to get out of the ‘dark place’ the country is in Cox: Right now, we’re in a dark place. Everybody gets that, I think, and we have choices and we in my political philosophy and my, and my religious philosophy, we believe in agency, that every one of us gets to make our own decisions … Every one of us has to make a decision. Are we going to hate our neighbor? Are we going to hate the other side? Are we going to return violence with violence? Or are we going to find a different path? Are we going to get out of those social media, those dark places of the internet where the conflict entrepreneurs reside, who are praying upon us, these, these companies with trillion dollar market caps who are using dopamine just like fentanyl, to addict us to their product and, and lead us again — those algorithms — lead us to more outrage. Can we put that aside? Can we go and serve our fellow human beings? Can we do some good in our neighborhood? Can we hug a family member? Can we talk to a neighbor that we disagree with? That’s, that’s up to us. And that’s the only way out of this. There is nothing else we can do to, to solve this, this dark chapter in our history.
Polis on the country’s political division Raddatz: How did we get to these moments?
Polis: I think, as Governor Cox said, it really is an important reflection point. Violence in political theater, in our schools, on college campuses, is unacceptable. It’s fine, and we should even celebrate, having different opinions on things, right? Charlie Kirk’s catchphrase, “prove me wrong,” encouraging peaceful debate, discussion.
But it’s wrong to resort to violence and killing. And I think that’s a message we need to reemphasize in this age when sometimes there’s to many conflicting messages out there. We need to speak unequivocally, celebrate our differences. They should lead to discussion, not violence.
Curtis on the pervasiveness of political violence Curtis: If it were up to me, I think you need to take the word “radical” and remove “right” or “left,” and radical coming from any direction is not good, it’s not healthy, and it should be called out. And that’s, that’s my mission, is to say, look, this to me, this is this is not right. This is not left. We’re talking about radicals, and that’s where we need to put our attention…
Raddatz: Senator, how do you think we got to this point in this country with so much political violence?
Curtis: You know, I was — you mentioned I live not far from the university. I was mayor of Provo, Utah, right next to it. I know you know where that is. That was just a decade ago, and it wasn’t like this.
And I think a number of things have come along. I don’t think COVID helped. I think — we have to look really hard. I mentioned social media before. I think we have to look really hard at what’s just occupying nearly 100% of brain weight of not just the youth, but of all generations, and what’s coming across, and actually what we’re allowing to come across, and there’s just zero liability for what people are putting out there. And I just think that’s if we’re going to fix this, we have to look really hard at that.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Democratic statehouse legislators are planning to leave Texas on Sunday in order to break the quorum of a special legislative session in which Republican state legislators are aiming to pass a new congressional map that could create up to five new GOP seats.
The move comes after a marathon public hearing on the plan in the state Capitol on Friday and less than a week after state Republican legislators proposed the new maps. Republicans hold a majority in the Texas state legislature; Democrats had said they would consider all options to stop the maps from being passed, although their options for striking back have been limited.
“We’re not walking out on our responsibilities; we’re walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent. As of today, this corrupt special session is over,” state Rep. Gene Wu, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.
After news broke of Democratic legislators breaking quorum, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote in a post on X that Democrats who left should be arrested and brought back to the state capitol.
“Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately,” he wrote. “We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.”
Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott issued a blistering statement Sunday evening, accusing the House Democrats who fled the state and prevented quorum of doing so for illegitimate reasons. He said their premeditated decision could result in forfeiture of elected state office and demanded they must return when the statehouse reconvenes for special session at 3:00 p.m. CT on Monday or risk losing their jobs.
“This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House,” part of Abbott’s statement read.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus issued a four-word response to Abbott’s letter, “Come and take it.”
The walkout itself cannot stop the passage of the bill, but Democrats aim to run out the clock on the 30-day special legislative session, which would mean Abbott would have to call another one. Texas House Democrats previously broke quorum in 2021 to try to stop an elections bill and in 2003 to try to stop a similar redistricting effort by Republicans. Republicans eventually managed to pass the bills both times.
President Donald Trump has previously said he wanted Texas legislators to draw five new Republican districts.
More than 51 legislators are leaving the state, denying the state House the two-thirds majority out of 150 legislators it needs to have a quorum. An exact number of how many of the 62 Democratic legislators from the state House were leaving was not immediately available.
Democrats who break quorum risk accruing a $500-a-day fine, according to the state House rules, and potential legal action.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, speaking with “War Room” host and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, said on Thursday, “The House rules and the Senate rules both allow for these people to be arrested if they leave … The challenge is, if they go out of state, we lose jurisdiction, and that — it’s been a challenge in the past, but in the end, as long as the governor is willing to keep calling sessions, ultimately they have to come home.”
Paxton also said he was not worried about defending the maps in court: “We’ve got, we’ve got good maps. And the legislature has the right to draw the maps they want. They’re politically based, not race-based. And if they’re politically based, then they’re defensible.”
Some of the Democratic legislators fleeing the state will appear on Sunday evening with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker at a press conference. Pritzker has been a staunch supporter of Texas Democrats and has floated the possibility of getting Illinois’ own congressional maps redrawn if Texas redraws its maps. Illinois’ maps have been criticized by outside observers as highly partisan in favor of Democrats.
In late June, the chair of the Texas Democrats, Kendall Scudder, flew from Dallas to Oklahoma to see Pritzker, who was giving remarks at the state Democratic Party’s dinner. The pair had a private meeting during that time to talk about the possibility of lawmakers fleeing the state to Illinois — and if they were to flee the state, that they would have a place they would feel safe and supported.
Since then, Pritzker and Texas Democrats have been in touch, and a small group of them traveled to Chicago in July when members of the delegation left for Illinois and California for brief meetings.
Pritzker and his team have been helping behind the scenes to help find hotels in the area for the Democrats, help their operation, and grease the wheels so things go smoothly for them as they head to Illinois.
The bill containing the maps had been scheduled to be taken up on the state House floor on Monday.
(WASHINGTON) — House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told reporters that former Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Jill Biden “should” be subpoenaed in the panel’s investigation into former President Joe Biden‘s mental capacity while in office after another top Biden official pleaded the Fifth today.
“Well, I think they should,” Comer told ABC when asked if the committee should subpoena Harris and Jill Biden. “They should have already issued statements. They should have already done public relations campaign to sit down and answer questions. They should go on FOX, they should go on CNN and answer questions.”
Comer also said the committee has scheduled a slate of depositions with former Biden officials in the GOP’s investigation of the Biden administration’s use of the presidential auto-pen. At President Donald Trump’s urging, Republicans have taken aim at Biden’s clemency actions signed during his final hours in office — wondering whether staff acted on their own accord or at the direction of the president.
“So we’re going to bring in everyone. We’re moving up the line,” Comer later added. “So we’ve started with the lower-level staffers that we think were the ones that actually put the documents in the autopen and pressed power. Now we’re moving up to the people that we think told the staffers to use the autopen. So we’ll — we’ll see where that takes us. But I think the possibility is very good that — that we’ll be asking members of the family to come in and talk.”
Anthony Bernal, a veteran aide of three Democratic presidential administrations — Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden — whose service culminated as assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady, on Wednesday invoked the Fifth Amendment twice during a closed-door deposition before the committee investigating former President Biden’s mental capacity while in office.
“Well, unfortunately, that was quick,” Comer said after the deposition. “This is the second witness that we’ve brought in via subpoena for a deposition that has pleaded the Fifth and they’ve stated they’re not going to answer questions.”
In a letter obtained by ABC News, Bernal’s lawyer told the committee he invoked the Fifth Amendment, arguing “it is entirely appropriate and justified for Mr. Bernal to invoke his rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.”
“The record is also clear that persons of the full range of the political spectrum, in recent and historical Congressional investigations, have invoked their Fifth Amendment rights to decline to answer questions from Congress. Any suggestion that such an invocation is itself evidence of wrongdoing would be highly irresponsible and flatly wrong, particularly from those elected to represent the people and uphold the Constitution,” the letter states.
Bernal “respectfully” declined to answer any of the committee’s questions in the deposition, according to the letter.
The committee believes Bernal may have insight into the Biden’s cognitive decline — as he was one of just four aides present at Biden’s beach home in Rehoboth, Del., last July when Biden decided to drop his bid for reelection amid overwhelming pressure from the Democratic Party following his disastrous debate performance against Trump the month before.
Last week, Biden’s former White House physician, Kevin O’Connor, also pleaded the Fifth and asserted patient-doctor confidentiality in response to questions from Republican investigators.
Another Republican present at Wednesday’s deposition, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, expressed disdain for Bernal’s testimony — calling it “crazy.”
“First thing’s first, that’s just crazy,” Donalds began. “You can’t answer a simple question about the former president’s ability to discharge duties and you worked in the White House as chief of staff to the first lady.”
Donalds corroborated Comer’s statement that Bernal pleaded the Fifth and added that he did not read his own testimony, which was read by his lawyer.
“He can say whatever he wants in his testimony, by the way his attorney read,” Donalds said. “He wouldn’t even read his own statement, his attorney read his statement for him.”
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas said “They still look like losers” of her Republican colleagues as she left the Bernal deposition.
