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In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News. The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump...

Over 1,300 federal employees impacted by the Department of Education’s March 11 reduction in force received their official separation notices Thursday, according to copies reviewed by ABC News. “It is with great regret that I must inform you that your position is being abolished and you have been reached for reduction in force (RIF) action,” the notices read, in part. The RIF was one of the first major steps in massively reducing the Education Department after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to close the agency on March 20. Both Trump and McMahon...

The deadline has quietly passed on Attorney General Pam Bondi delivering a report to President Donald Trump on whether any leftover Biden administration policies infringe on Americans' right to bear arms. It came just days after Democratic leaders sent her a letter suggesting there is "plainly no need for any new plan of action." Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 7 after making campaign promises to gun-rights groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) that "no one will lay a finger on your firearms." The president instructed Bondi to "examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other...

Clinton reduced the federal workforce by more than 377,000 employees. Within weeks of his inauguration, he signed an executive order calling on agencies to cut 100,000 jobs over three years, with 10% or more coming from high-level federal workers. In 1994, Clinton signed the bipartisan Federal Workforce Restructuring Act, which offered $25,000 to buyout non-Defense Department workers. By the end of his term, Clinton reduced the federal government's workforce by more than 377,000 employees. But that all unfolded over several years, and with the help of Congress. In an attempt to defend the Department of Government Efficiency's controversial moves, Elon...

Among the hundreds of people chanting "Elon Musk has got to go!" and "No one elected Elon!" in front of the U.S. Capitol on Monday were recently fired federal workers left devastated and uncertain by their terminations. "Elon Musk doesn't even know my job exists, right? But like, we do a lot. I mean, I'm a public servant, and I do this job because I love it. So, yeah, I'm devastated, and my whole community lost their jobs. And I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I'm going to keep fighting. And you know, this stuff really...

Climate change has played a major role in the unprecedented wildfires that are raging through Southern California. Five wildfires -- the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Woodley and Lidia fires -- were burning through Ventura and Los Angeles counties on Wednesday. At least five people have been killed and several others injured by the disaster, according to officials.

Alex Consani has made history as the first transgender woman to be named the Fashion Awards' Model of the Year. Celebrated for her striking bleached eyebrows and hair, the 21-year-old rising star was honored on Monday at the 2024 Fashion Awards, which were held at London's Royal Albert Hall. The annual event is organized by the British Fashion Council as "a key fundraiser for the BFC Foundation," according to a release. The recognition follows Consani's standout appearances with renowned fashion houses such as Chanel, Isabel Marant, Alexander McQueen, Versace, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Mugler, Stella McCartney and more, as well...

As President-elect Donald Trump fills out his Cabinet and chooses his closet advisers ahead of Inauguration Day, many African American leaders are asking why more Black people haven't been appointed to key positions. ABC News spoke to more than a half dozen longtime and new African American conservatives and Republicans within Trumpworld, in and outside of Washington. Last month, the president-elect appointed Scott Turner, who was executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump's first term, to serve as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. ...

Officials in a number of states are responding to reports of racist texts received by residents in the days after the 2024 election. The text language corresponds with the text reportedly received by an employee at ABC affiliate 13News Now in Norfolk, Virginia, which read: "You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12 pm sharp with your belongings. Our executive slaves will come get you in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched down once you've enter the plantation. You are in plantation group W." Reports of mass "disparaging" texts were also...

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that there was no lie too big for former President Donald Trump or his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH). Partial transcript as follows: MARTHA RADDATZ: A lot of hard work ahead. I’d like to hear a quick reaction to what you heard J.D. Vance talk about. BESHEAR: It’s just amazing. Apparently, there is no lie too big for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. I mean, when you ask him about the last election, all you’re asking him to do is admit reality, and we deserve to have a vice...

With Kamala Harris and Donald Trump set to face off in their only scheduled debate Tuesday night on ABC News, a new study highlights a significant bias in the news outlet's coverage leading up to the event. The Media Research Center’s analysis reveals ABC’s World News Tonight has aired overwhelmingly favorable coverage of Harris, while casting Trump in a predominantly negative light. Media Research Center analyzed 100 campaign stories on World News Tonight, showing 100% positive coverage for Harris and 93% negative coverage for Trump. *** ABC's David Muir, who will moderate Tuesday's debate, has overseen this one-sided coverage, raising...

Vance is one of the least popular vice-presidential picks this century. It's important to make a good first impression — whether you're on a first date, interviewing for a job or running to be vice president of the United States. And the two men who recently joined the Republican and Democratic presidential tickets have made very different first impressions. According to 538's new polling average of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's favorable and unfavorable ratings, the Democratic candidate for vice president has an unusual quality for a modern politician: He's well liked. As of Aug. 15 at 1 p.m. Eastern, 38...

Two-thirds of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll – including a majority of Joe Biden’s own supporters – say he should step aside as his party’s presumptive nominee for president given his debate performance two weeks ago. That’s even as Biden continues to run evenly with Donald Trump, with no meaningful post-debate change in vote preferences. Americans divide 46-47% between Biden and Trump if the election were today, almost identical to a 44-46% ABC/Ipsos poll result in April. Among registered voters (though there’s plenty of time to register) it’s an absolute tie, 46-46%. Were Vice President Kamala Harris...

Former President Donald Trump's guilty verdict on all 34 counts in his hush-money trial appears to have a majority of independents and "double haters," those who have an unfavorable view of both Trump and President Joe Biden, feeling that the former president should end his bid for the White House, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll -- a number that could have a ripple effect on the election in November. Among independents, 52% said they believed Trump should end his 2024 presidential campaign and within the even more specified group of "double haters," 67% said they felt the same...

Here's a look at what's gone wrong at both chains.. These are tough times for two big US dollar store chains. In the past month, Family Dollar said it will close nearly 1,000 stores and 99 Cents Only said it will go out of business. Both companies said inflation and shoplifting have contributed to their troubles. While inflation has pressured the companies' low-income customer base and shoplifting has squeezed their profits, those factors alone can't explain their difficulties. Years of strategic mistakes and underinvestment have plagued Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only, retail analysts say. Both brands were acquired by...

Now that the presidential primaries are over, one question is on everybody’s lips: Whom will Republicans nominate for vice president? Unfortunately, former President Donald Trump’s campaign hasn’t been cc-ing me on its internal strategy emails, so your guess is as good as mine on that one (although I recommend our recent politics chat for some informed speculation). But I might have an answer for you on when Trump will announce his running mate. Choosing a No. 2 is a big decision — so, unsurprisingly, campaigns tend to take their time making it. Since 1972, when the modern presidential primary era...

ABC legal analyst Sunny Hostin told her co-hosts Monday on “The View” that Republicans were “intentionally dumbing down our electorate” to remain in power. Hostin said, “What we’re seeing by the Republican Party, and I give it to them, we’re seeing a long game. We’re seeing that they are dismantling or attempting to dismantle institutions. All of a sudden, the most elite colleges and universities in the world, which, by the way, they all went to, everybody on the Supreme Court went there, Elise Stefanik went there, all the congresspeople went there, Ted Cruz went there. Those schools are not...

Trump was privately pressing Pence to reject certain votes at the Jan. 6 proceedings and block certification of the election -- and Trump even suggested to Pence that perhaps he should skip the session altogether, Pence allegedly told Smith's team. But, according to sources, Pence told investigators that he "clearly and repeatedly" emphasized to Trump that rejecting certain votes would violate the Constitution. "I told him I thought there was no idea more un-American than the idea that any one person could decide what electoral votes to count," Pence allegedly told Smith's team, echoing what he has said before in...

Donald Trump has claimed that he won all 50 states in the 2020 US election at a Florida event where two of his rivals for the Republican presidential primaries were booed for suggesting the party should dump the former president before his legal woes catch up with him. "We won, the last time, 50 states, think of it, 50 states," he told the Freedom Summit, outside Orlando, Florida, on Saturday night. "We won every state. We then did great in the election. We got 12 million more votes or so … 12 million more votes than we got the first...

ABC legal analyst Sunny Hostin told her co-hosts Monday on “The View” that she thinks “Jesus would be the grand marshal at the Pride parade.” Hostin said, “I keep on wondering if you don’t want to go to a gay club because you don’t like gay people, don’t go to the club. Why do you got to shoot up the club? If you don’t want to be a person married to a gay person, then just don’t get married to a gay person.”