Vice President Harris, Hillary Clinton to address AAPI 'unity summit'

Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Asian American to serve in that post, will be  the keynote speaker for a virtual unity summit for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Wednesday.

Harris, 56, will headline the virtual event hosted by the AAPI Victory Fund, a political action committee which aims to mobilize voters in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, alongside a slate of other high-profile political figures and celebrities.

"The AAPI Victory Alliance couldn't be more thrilled that our favorite daughter, Vice President Kamala Harris, will deliver the keynote address for our first-ever unity summit," AAPI Victory Alliance Executive Director Varun Nikore said in a statement. "Vice President Harris is an inspiration for all of our AAPI children who now know the sky's the limit and you can be anything in this country that they strive for."

Harris' participation at the summit is her latest outreach to the AAPI community that is facing  a wave of racially motivated crimes during the pandemic and is growing as a voting bloc.

In addition to Harris, former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will speak at Wednesday's event, which is co-hosted by the AAPI Victory Alliance, and the AAPI Victory Fund. Several Democratic U.S. senators of color, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Hawaii's Mazie Hirono and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, are also expected to appear.

The event is an attempt to harness the influence of the AAPI electorate, which proved to be influential in some key races, most notably helping President Biden win Georgia, which historically voted Republican. AAPI voters came out in huge numbers in favor of the Democrats, which also won the two U.S. Senate seats, which were held by GOP incumbents.

“It’s time we call our communities together to discuss strategies for engaging and mobilizing in the future,” said Nikore.

"AAPIs are rising. As the fastest growing group in the country, we witnessed a 46% increase in turnout from 2016 to 2020 despite a rise of hate and violence against our communities," Nikore said. "This isn't just a conference, it is a recognition of all that we have worked hard for and achieved. We are here, we are rising, and we are proud to be AAPI Americans."

The virtual summit will be 6 p.m. ET or 3 p.m. PT.  Wednesday, May 19. Sign up here to receive an invitation to this exclusive event.

Trump targets Clinton aide Huma Abedin

Huma Abedin has always been at Hillary Clinton's side since Clinton's was in the U.S. Senate.

DONALD TRUMP says Hillary Clinton's closest aide, Huma Abedin, should be punished and possibly jailed for her handling of certain emails while she was working in the State Departent.

"Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid [sic], Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others," he wrote.

"Calling for the imprisonment of political rivals is a clear attempt by President Trump to further politicize the Department of Justice," said Robert McCaw, Government Affairs Director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. 

"Every American who values the constitutional guarantee of due process should be outraged by the president's statements," he said.

RELATED: Who is Huma Abedin?

Abedin has been with Hillary Clinton since her days in the U.S. Senate and arguably the closest advisor over the last 20 years. She  has an Indian father, Syed Zainul Abedin, and a Pakistani mother, Saleha Mahmood Abedin. Both parents held doctorates from the University of Pennsylvania.

The emails to which Trump referred were released last week in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch.

The emails are the same ones uncovered during the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election. Former FBI director James Comey's disclosure to Congress that it was examining the emails in relation to its closed investigation of Clinton’s use of a personal email server during her tenure as secretary of state. Clinton has blamed her loss in large part on the FBI’s resurfacing of the email scandal.

According to Comey, Abedin would send them to her husband so he could print them out as "a matter of convenience."

Comey later said days before the 2016 election that the FBI and couldn't prove there was any criminal intent, which is required in order to classify something as a criminal act in this situation with Abedin.

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