(NEW YORK) — The United States Marshals Service (USMS) was hit with a ransomware attack, the agency said in a statement. The incident occurred on Feb. 17, and “officials determined that it constitutes a major incident,” according to an agency spokesperson.
Ransomware is a type of malware that locks up computer systems until a “ransom” is paid to unlock the system.
“Shortly after that discovery, the USMS disconnected the affected system, and the Department of Justice initiated a forensic investigation,” according to the spokesperson. “The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of USMS investigations, third parties, and certain USMS employees.”
The nation’s oldest law enforcement agency did not say who was behind the attack nor did they say if they paid the ransom to unlock the affected system.
The government warns against paying the ransom.
The USMS released a statement regarding the ransomware attack acknowledging that a current investigation is underway.
“The Department’s remediation efforts and criminal and forensic investigations are ongoing. We are working swiftly and effectively to mitigate any potential risks as a result of the incident,” the agency said.
(NEW YORK) — For more than 27 years, Colleen Nick has been living with a void in her heart that she said will never be filled.
On June 9, 1995, her 6-year-old daughter Morgan was watching a Little League game at a ballfield near Alma, Arkansas, and went missing. Nick recalled the last time she saw her daughter was when she was running near the field with some friends during the game.
“I just looked up as they were running across. She had on her little green Girl Scout T-shirt,” Nick said. “But I looked at her running across with them and I turned back to the game.”
To this day, neither Morgan nor her remains have been found, and for years investigators have pursued every clue and every avenue for answers in Morgan’s disappearance.
But in the last two years, investigators said they may have received a huge lead that could bring more closure to the family.
An ABC News Studios docuseries now streaming on Hulu, “Still Missing Morgan,” chronicles the investigation into the missing child and features exclusive interviews with local detectives and FBI agents, and offers new key evidence that may lead to a suspect in the case.
Nick, who runs the Morgan Nick Foundation, an organization that helps find missing children, said she has never given up hope that Morgan would be found and her family would get justice.
Investigators said that one of the most important clues in the case was a red pickup truck with a camper that was parked near the ballfield at the time of the girl’s disappearance. The local police said that they received reports of a man who was inside the vehicle approaching children at the time.
For years, detectives and FBI agents didn’t have any suspects despite getting tips and information from thousands of people.
In November 2021, the FBI announced they had a break.
Investigators officially named Billy Jack Lincks as a person of interest. Lincks was convicted of sexual indecency after attempting to abduct a child two months after Morgan Nick’s disappearance.
During the incident, the victim of the attempted kidnapping told police that Lincks had pulled up in a red pickup truck that resembled the one linked to Morgan’s disappearance.
Lincks had previously been charged with sexual abuse in 1992, according to police records. He died in 2000 while serving his prison sentence in the sex abuse case, and the FBI is still seeking any information about connections he had with Morgan’s disappearance.
“I think the part that bothers me the most is that the [alleged] perpetrator is deceased, which means at the end of the day, at the end of the day, it means there’s no justice,” Nick said. “That no one is held accountable. No one has to stand and face us for what they did, that there’s just no justice for Morgan in this. And that’s something I have a really hard time getting my head around.”
The FBI was able to take possession of Lincks’ pickup truck and broke it down to try and find any evidence that would confirm it was used to abduct Morgan.
Initial crime lab reports found that blood was identified on part of a seat inside the truck and there were hair samples. However, those items didn’t have enough DNA information for a match to Morgan.
FBI investigators did, however, find a crucial piece of evidence inside the vehicle. A blue-green cotton fiber was discovered in the mat under the seats and in metal pieces of the truck.
Investigators said the strand could have been from Morgan’s Girl Scout shirt that she was wearing during the Little League game.
“Our hope was to get that information back very quickly,” Nick said before she found out the results.
An analysis found the fiber matched the same Girl Scouts shirt.
“The lab technician was able to determine that it is highly unlikely that the fibers found within the truck would come from a different material,” FBI Special Agent Ruben Gay said.
Although Lincks has yet to be formally charged with the abduction, FBI Special Agent Rob Allen said that the new evidence gives investigators a more explicit link between him and Morgan’s abduction.
“Now we can push away effort and resources on other subjects and reallocate them to this one and do a full-court press on this one subject,” he said.
Nick said that she is still holding out hope that she will find peace after all of these years.
“The possibility is that 2% [of missing children] do survive. That means that until someone can prove that Morgan didn’t survive, the possibility remains that she survived until someone can prove it,” she said. “My fight is for that small percentage in case Morgan fell into that 2% for the possibility, the tiny little possibility. As long as that possibility is there, that’s my fight to bring.”
(CAPE COD, Mass.) — Twelve years after a shooting death on Cape Cod, the alleged killer was caught, in part, thanks to a root vegetable used in the commission of the crime, according to prosecutors.
On Feb. 27, 2011, Todd Lampley was found shot to death in a Hyannis, Massachusetts, home.
Devarus Hampton, 40, was arrested Friday in Massachusetts and was arraigned Monday — exactly 12 years after the crime. Hampton pleaded not guilty and was held without bail.
At the time of the murder, police found three shell casings and a sweet potato with a hole in it at the scene, according to a prosecutor with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said they found DNA on the sweet potato that was a match for Hampton.
“The sweet potato appears to be used as a silencer,” the prosecutor, First Assistant District Attorney Jessica Elumba, told ABC News.
Fans of the HBO drama series “The Wire” may recall an episode in which a sweet potato was used as a silencer, spawning numerous internet demonstrations to test whether it actually worked. The alleged killer may have been a fan of the show because police also found a cellphone at the murder scene registered in the name of Marlo Stanfield, a fictional character on “The Wire.”
“It’s an interesting fact pattern,” Elumba said in a phone interview.
In court, Elumba said there is other evidence to place Hampton at the home at the time of Lampley’s shooting death but she declined to comment when asked why it took 12 years to make the arrest. Elumba said in court Monday that Hampton was wearing a GPS monitor from a different crime at the time of the shooting, which placed him at the scene. The gun allegedly used in the crime was also fished out of a nearby lake, prosecutors said.
Hampton is due back in court in Barnstable County on April 5.
(NEW YORK) — Residents in Jackson, Mississippi, continue to be hit with boil water notices, water shortages and other water infrastructure problems that have lingered for decades.
Over the last two years, Jackson residents have been hit with more problems that left them without clean water for weeks at a time.
On Feb. 27, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba spoke with GMA3 about the latest updates on the efforts to solve this crisis.
GMA3: The issues here range from a lack of water pressure in schools. You also have storms knocking out water for residents. But you say that a lot of these issues, these water issues, they’ve been going back decades and really are deep rooted. So what’s going on here? What’s driving all of these problems and where is that infrastructure now?
MAYOR CHOKWE ANTAR LUMUMBA: Absolutely. So, I moved to Jackson in 1988. I fondly, or not fondly, distinctly remember in 1989 when we had a winter freeze that debilitated our water system. For some residents, their memory and reflection go back further than that. And so it’s been decades long. This is due to decades of neglect through a deliberate indifference or a willful neglect from state leadership to fund what many leaders in the city have been begging for years. I give my predecessors credit that they’ve been lifting this issue up, but these calls have been falling on deaf ears.
And so through the support of the Biden administration for the first time, we can say that there’s light at the end of this tunnel. We were able to receive, through a combination of the end-of-the-year omnibus bill and other federal resources, more than $800 million to go toward our system. And so now we have to build not only a sustainable and equitable and dependable system, but a system that the community is at the root of making sure that it reflects what they deserve and what they need.
GMA3: Let’s talk about the light at the end of that tunnel. We know that when it comes to fixing these types of problems, there’s no easy solution. So what kind of timeline are we looking at now?
LUMUMBA: Well, this isn’t a problem that we got into overnight. And so consequently, it won’t be a problem that we get out of overnight. We have more than 50% loss within our system. Standard within the industry is about 15% loss. And so it will be a significant undertaking just to replace pipes in addition to the capital improvements that are needed with the water treatment facility itself, making sure that it’s functional, and that it operates as it should. Fortunately, not only do we have the resources now, but we also have the technical expertise. We were able to reach an agreement where we have a third-party manager, a gentleman who has more than 40 years [experience] in water utilities. And so he will be directing the prioritization of those projects. We were able to receive support from the Army Corps which gave us a resiliency playbook. And so now we’re going to be executing on that. But we can’t design and defend. What I mean by that is we can’t design solutions and defend the merits of those solutions to our community. We have to make certain that they’re engaged from the very onset of this fix.
GMA3: And so now the city has received, what is it, more than $100,000 in water crisis donations. But you said in January that that money hadn’t been touched yet. So what’s going on with that money?
LUMUMBA: Yeah, so to be clear, in terms of the effort, the robust effort to support the residents of Jackson that has actually been in the millions of dollars, a lot of that has been reflected in water donations, providing residents water. At the very beginning of this crisis, the challenge was getting water to residents. The $100,000 was money that was provided in large part by UnitedHealthcare, a partner who works with the city in order to provide water filters. Those filters will help build confidence with residents in the quality of water as we make these repairs. The first step is to make sure that they have water first. And so the filters would not have been the best solution early on because there was no actual water coming out of the taps. And so these filters that we’re looking at because you don’t know what you might meet when you get in people’s homes, the variation of plumbing that takes place.
So we’re looking at pitchers that will be able to provide these residents so that when the water is consistently flowing through the tap, they’ll be able to fill the pitcher and they’ll have an extra layer of comfort in what they’re being provided. And so through our relationship, through the request of UnitedHealthcare, we’re grateful that they were a willing partner to meet us. And now that we’re at that phase, we just recently had additional conversations with them, making certain that what we purchase is consistent with their mission of supporting the city of Jackson.
GMA 3: And let’s talk about the city of Jackson. It is 80% black. And the EPA recently launched a civil rights investigation into whether state officials deprived Jackson of bipartisan infrastructure funds on the basis of race. So who or what is to blame for this?
LUMUMBA: Well, you know, as I said before, there’s been a deliberate indifference or a willful neglect of the needs of our city. I believe that that is being taken to task now and the investigation is ongoing. I think that not only based on Jackson being a blue city in a red sea and having the partisan divide, but it is also the blackest city in the nation. And so there are racial dynamics at play. And we have to ensure that the past, that we know Mississippi to be a part of, isn’t reflective of our present or our future. And so I do believe that this investigation is necessary.
I think that it is part and parcel of a process that we’ve seen for many decades now, generations where the state is not a willing partner. As we speak there are legislative measures going forward to attack the black leadership, not just me as mayor, but Black judges, attack Black prosecutors, and instead appoint leadership over a city similar to a system of apartheid. And so, you know, we want to make certain that we’re on the right side of history. And this isn’t the narrative of Mississippi and certainly not the narrative of Jackson, Mississippi.
(NEW YORK) — At least nine tornadoes were reported in Kansas and Oklahoma on Sunday night as a massive winter storm moves eastward across the country, according to the National Weather Service.
One tornado destroyed a home, toppled trees and knocked over power lines in Liberal, Kansas, near the state line with Oklahoma, according to local authorities.
At least 12 people were injured due to the severe weather in Oklahoma’s third-largest city, Norman, located about 20 miles south of the state’s capital. None of the injuries were critical and there were no reported fatalities, according to a press release from the city. Sections of highways and roads had to be closed “mostly due to downed power lines,” the city said.
“The extent of damage will likely not be known until daylight,” the city added.
Wind gusts over 70 mph and hail measuring 1 inch in diameter were reported in Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, gusts of 114 mph were recorded in Memphis, Texas, near the state line with Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service.
As of Monday morning, more than 120 million people across 42 U.S. states were on alert for strong winds, heavy snow, ice and avalanches. Data collected by the website PowerOutage.us shows over 220,000 customers were without power nationwide as of 7:38 ET.
The storm is the same weather system that left California buried under 84 inches of snow and flooded with more than 11 inches of rain last week. After sweeping the Great Plains on Sunday night, the fast-moving system is forecast to hit the Midwest before reaching the Northeast by Monday evening. Severe thunderstorms are possible in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and northern Kentucky on Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, where a mixture of ice and snow is in the forecast.
Areas from New York City to Boston could see 3 to 5 inches of snow on Monday night before the precipitation changes to rain. Farther north and in higher elevations, parts of New York and New England, including Connecticut, could get up to 9 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
Meanwhile, yet another storm is forecast to slam California and much of the West Coast, from Los Angeles to Seattle. The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for northern California mountains in the Sierra Nevada range, where up to 6 feet of snow is possible. Southern California won’t get as much rain as last week but could see an additional 2 to 3 inches. Heavy snow is also expected in the Rocky Mountains this week, with a potential 12 to 24 inches from Idaho to Arizona.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Flor DeMaria Tolentino contributed to this report.
(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — Joint teams from multiple federal agencies have started canvassing homes in a tiny Ohio village upended by a hazardous train derailment to help provide support for affected residents.
Interagency teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began the door-to-door outreach in East Palestine, Ohio, on Saturday. The teams are “equipped with the most up-to-date and accurate information, meeting impacted residents where they are in order to better connect them with resources from government and non-profit organizations, gather situational awareness about ongoing concerns and identify any unmet needs,” according to a joint press release.
As of Sunday afternoon, the teams have had “more than 350 interactions” with East Palestine residents, answering questions and distributing information, according to FEMA Region 5 Administrator Tom Sivak. FEMA also has 49 personnel on the ground to support the larger federal effort, Sivak said.
“We understand residents have a lot of questions and we will continue to ramp up our efforts to provide information needed so families can begin to feel safe again in the community,” Sivak told reporters during a Sunday afternoon press conference.
“Every disaster is different and we want to hear from the impacted residents. We want to hear your concerns, your needs and your worries,” he added. “And we will work with you to match you with the assistance you need.”
A source familiar with the federal interagency outreach told ABC News that it’s essentially a concerted effort to ensure the community has awareness of and access to all of the resources available to them.
On the night of Feb. 3, about 50 cars of a freight train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed in a fiery crash on the outskirts of East Palestine, which is nestled near Ohio’s state line with Pennsylvania. Eleven of the derailed cars were transporting hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses. Several cars were also carrying ethyl acrylate and isobutylene, which are considered to be very toxic and possibly carcinogenic. There were no injuries reported from the accident, according to officials.
Efforts to contain a fire at the derailment site stalled the following night, as firefighters withdrew from the blaze due to concerns about air quality and explosions. About half of East Palestine’s roughly 4,700 residents were warned to leave before officials decided on Feb. 6 to conduct a controlled release and burn of the toxic vinyl chloride from the five tanker cars, which were in danger of exploding. A large ball of fire and a plume of black smoke filled with contaminants could be seen billowing high into the sky from the smoldering derailment site as the controlled burn took place that afternoon, prompting concerns from residents about the potential effects.
A mandatory evacuation order for homes and businesses within a one-mile radius of the derailment site was lifted on Feb. 8, after air and water samples taken the day before were deemed safe, officials said.
FEMA deployed a team to East Palestine on Feb. 18 to help support the ongoing operations there.
On Feb. 23, the National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings from its ongoing investigation into the Feb. 3 derailment. The NTSB report reads, in part: “Surveillance video from a local residence showed what appeared to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment. The wheel bearing and affected wheelset have been collected as evidence and will be examined by the NTSB.” During a press conference, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy called the derailment “100% preventable” and said it was “no accident.”
U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced on Feb. 21 that his agency is ordering Norfolk Southern “to conduct all necessary actions associated with the cleanup from the East Palestine train derailment.” The Atlanta-based rail operator will be required to continue cleaning up the contaminated soil and water and transport it safely; reimburse the EPA for cleaning services; and attend public meetings at the EPA’s request and share information. If Norfolk Southern does not comply, the company will be ordered to pay triple the cost, according to Regan.
As of Feb. 22, Norfolk Southern said it has excavated more than 4,800 cubic yards of soil — “or approximately 400 truckloads” — from the derailment site. In addition, 1.7 million gallons of liquid — “or approximately 200 tanker loads” — have been collected for disposal, according to the company. Norfolk Southern has not said which chemicals were found in the material that was removed.
The office of Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine announced on Feb. 25 that the removal of hazardous waste from the derailment site has been paused by the U.S. EPA. After learning that “Norfolk Southern had chosen to contract with licensed hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities in Texas and Michigan,” the U.S. EPA “ordered the transport be stopped so that additional oversight measures could be put in place to supervise where Norfolk Southern disposes of the contaminated materials,” according to a press release from DeWine’s office. Of the 20 truckloads — or approximately 280 tons — of hazardous solid waste hauled away from the derailment site, 15 truckloads of contaminated soil had already been disposed of at the Michigan facility. Five truckloads of contaminated soil were returned to East Palestine, the governor’s office said.
The Texas facility “will dispose of liquid waste that has already been trucked out of East Palestine,” DeWine’s office said, but will not accept any additional liquid waste from the derailment site “at this time.” Currently, about 102,000 gallons of liquid waste and 4,500 cubic yards of solid waste remain in storage on site in East Palestine, not including the five truckloads returned to the village. Additional solid and liquid wastes are being generated as the cleanup progresses, according to the governor’s office.
DeWine’s office said the U.S. EPA has conducted indoor air testing at a total of 574 homes in East Palestine and no contaminants associated with the Feb. 3 derailment have been detected. Meanwhile, outdoor air monitoring remains ongoing with 15 air monitors in the area, which similarly have not yet detected any contaminants associated with the incident.
The Ohio EPA will continue to test East Palestine’s municipal water supply once a week “out of an abundance of caution” to ensure it is safe to drink, the governor’s office said. While the majority of homes in the area get drinking water from the municipal supply, some get theirs from private wells. The Columbiana County General Health District has received verified laboratory results from 12 private water systems that were sampled between Feb. 10 and 14. Of those, eight showed no detectable contaminants while three had trace detections at levels well below safe drinking water standards. There was no evidence linking those trace detections to the Feb. 3 derailment. To date, the Columbiana County General Health District has sampled 119 private wells in the East Palestine area, with the final testing results pending, according to DeWine’s office.
The governor’s office said residents whose drinking water is sourced from private wells should continue drinking bottled water until the testing results are returned. Officials have underscored that those who get their drinking water from private wells should get it tested, especially since those wells may be closer to the surface than municipal water wells and thus potentially easier for any contaminants to seep into.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio, Peter Charalambous, Brandon Chase, Meredith Deliso, Stephanie Ebbs, Alexandra Faul, Julia Jacobo, Mary Kekatos, Amanda Maile, Will McDuffie and Alex Presha contributed to this report.
(ST JOHN, US Virgin Islands) — The sudden death of former American swimming champion Jamie Cail is under investigation by authorities in the U.S. Virgin Islands, authorities said.
The 42-year-old Cail was found unresponsive in a residence she shared with her boyfriend in St. John, the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department said in a statement.
“This case is presently under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Bureau,” according to the police statement.
Cail’s boyfriend, whose name was withheld by police, told investigators he left a bar and went back to their residence to check on Cail just after midnight on Tuesday, according to police.
“Upon his arrival, he discovered his girlfriend on the floor,” police said.
The boyfriend and a friend took Cail in a private car to the Myrah Keating-Smith Clinic, where efforts to save her life failed, police said.
Police were notified of the death about 2:39 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said.
No additional information on Cail’s death was disclosed by police, who urged anyone with any information to contact the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
Cail was originally from Claremont, New Hampshire, and was a star swimmer for much of her youth, her family told ABC affiliate station WMUR in Manchester.
She was also a member of the University of Maine’s women’s swim team in the 2000-2001 academic year, according to the school’s alumni association.
As a teenager, Cail was a member of a relay team that won a gold medal at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, according to SwimSwam.com, an online swimming news site.
“She was just she was she was a very beautiful person,” a friend told WMUR. “She had a huge heart. She was really loving and kind and well-loved and popular on the island and everybody knows her.”
(GOODYEAR, Ariz.) — A pickup truck driver is facing manslaughter and aggravated assault charges after he crashed into a large group of cyclists Saturday in Arizona, killing two and injuring 11 others, police said Sunday.
The Goodyear Police Department said officers were called to the scene of a “very serious crash” shortly before 8 a.m. local time in Goodyear, a suburb west of Phoenix, after a male pickup truck driver collided with a group of adult cyclists on the Cotton Lane Bridge.
A woman died at the scene and a man died at a local hospital following the crash, Goodyear police said. Eleven other cyclists were transported to three different area hospitals with “various injuries,” police said.
The pickup truck driver, identified by police as 26-year-old Pedro Quintana-Lujan, remained at the scene following the crash, police said.
After being questioned, Quintana-Lujan was arrested on multiple charges and booked at the Maricopa County Jail, where he was being held Sunday on $250,000 bond pending a court hearing on Friday, according to online jail records.
Goodyear police said Quintana-Lujan was arrested on two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of endangerment and two counts of causing serious injury or death during a moving violation. Police did not disclose what the moving violation was.
One of the injured cyclists remained in life-threatening condition Sunday, police said.
At least one of the cyclists is from Goodyear and one was visiting from out of state, police said.
(NEW YORK) — The massive winter storm that brought rare snowfall to parts of Californias is threatening to do the same on the East Coast as it moves furiously across the country.
Southern California will finally get a reprieve on Sunday from the intense rain and snow. The major storm system is now bringing damaging thunderstorms to the Great Plains.
Western Oklahoma will see the bulk of the severe weather on Sunday but a large swath from northern Texas through southeastern Kansas will experience storms with damaging winds, large hail and scattered tornadoes, forecasts show.
The line of storms will initiate in the Texas Panhandle during the late afternoon on Sunday before continuing with a damaging wind threat through the overnight hours in parts of Missouri.
By Sunday night, the Midwest will also be experiencing pouring rain that changes to a wintry mix by Monday morning, making for a challenging commute for those in the Chicago region.
The storm system is then expected to slingshot eastward after lingering on the West Coast and dumping several inches of rain and snow to some regions.
In the Great Lakes region, snow is expected in Wisconsin, Michigan and the Northeast. Hundreds of thousands of customers in Michigan are already without power. Utility companies DTE Energy and Consumers Energy said power would be restored before the upcoming storm hit.
On Monday evening and into Tuesday, a period of snow and wintry mix will likely bring accumulations to cities along the I-95 corridor.
The snow deficit in cities like New York City, New Haven, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston will likely chip away with several inches of snow and slush expected from this storm system. Tuesday morning could be a messy commute across the Northeast.
A rare blizzard warning was issued for Southern California, bringing several feet of snow to the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains. A dusting of snow even reached the Hollywood Hills and the hills around San Francisco.
At one point over the weekend, snow was falling at rates of 2.5 inches in places like Lake Arrowhead, California. In the mountains outside of Los Angeles, anywhere from 2 to 6 feet of snow have fallen since Wednesday.
On Saturday, more than 126,000 customers were without power in California. More than 2,500 flights were canceled last week in anticipation of the storm.
Another storm system is also moving on shore in Northern California later on Sunday, bringing more gusty winds and incredible amounts of mountain snow.
Winter alerts are in effect on the West Coast from Seattle to Sacramento as the weather moves in.
Others parts of California will see more waves of rain and snow moving onshore on Monday morning.
(WASHINGTON) — Following warnings from the Biden administration that China is weighing whether to provide Russia with lethal aid for their war in Ukraine, the White House’s national security adviser said Sunday that “at this point” they have “not seen them take the step of providing weapons” to Moscow.
“We are watching closely,” Jake Sullivan told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “We know they haven’t taken it off the table. And we are sending a clear message, as are our European allies, that this would be a real mistake because those weapons would be used to bombard cities and kill civilians, and China should want no part of that.”
Sullivan said it was difficult to say whether China is “backing on, backing off” of the decision but that “what I can say is so far, we have not seen them do it.”
Chinese officials have defended their relationship with Russia as “built on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third countries.”
But President Joe Biden told ABC’s David Muir in an interview last week that the U.S. stood ready to respond if Beijing moved forward with sending weapons.
Biden has ruled out giving Ukraine F-16 fighter jets “for now,” despite repeated requests from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sullivan said on “This Week.” He called it a “question for later.”
Sullivan said that the U.S. government’s focus right now is to help Ukrainians “retake territory on the ground” in its southern and eastern territories.
Asked if it’s possible the U.S. provides F-16s in the future, Sullivan reiterated that that the White House has been prioritizing the immediate needs of this war and will continue to do so.
“Every phase of this war, the president has tried to make sure that the Ukrainian military gets what they need. In the first phase, as they were defending Kyiv, that was Javelin anti-tank weapons and Stinger anti-air systems. And that worked. It helped Ukraine defend Kyiv. In the second phase, it was heavy artillery to help them hold against the Russians pushing in eastern Ukraine. In this phase, the critical element is ground maneuver capability. And that means tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles,” Sullivan said. “And so what the president is saying is he’s focused on those capabilities.”
Pressed further by Raddatz on the possibility the U.S. could eventually approve fighter jets — a move endorsed not just by Zelenskyy but some leading lawmakers like House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul — Sullivan told her, “We will cross the bridge of future phases of this war when they come.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Raddatz a week ago, on “This Week,” that one reason Biden is not supplying Ukraine with F-16s is because of the required training and maintenance.
“So why not teach them now? So if they need them, if you want to approve it in the future, they’ll have them ready to go,” Raddatz said to Sullivan.
“From our perspective, the most important thing that we can do is make sure that we maintain focus on what is the highest priority and honestly, Martha, the highest priority right now is to move as rapidly as possible to build up their capacity to de-occupy those portions of Ukraine that are still being occupied brutally and bloodily by Russian forces,” he said. “We expect that that will be the central focus of the Ukrainians as well as of our support for the Ukrainians in the weeks and months ahead.”
In January, Biden approved 31 Abrams tanks to be sent to Ukraine, but last week the Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said those vehicles may not even get to the country this year.
“How is that helpful if you don’t approve them in time and get the speed to get things like that over there?” Raddatz asked on “This Week.”
Sullivan defended the decision, saying the release of Abrams tanks was done in coordination with Germany as a precondition so they would send German-made Leopard tanks to the battlefield, which will arrive much more quickly.
He said this was “an example of Joe Biden rallying the global coalition to get Ukraine what it needs.”
“The president said, ‘OK, I’m going to be the leader of the free world, I will send Abrams down the road if you send Leopards now.'”
Separately, following the shoot-down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over U.S. airspace and three unidentified flying objects over North America, there have been no other instances of the military downing any possible threats.
Raddatz asked if this was because radar has been recalculated once again, but Sullivan said the NORAD Commander “has not recalibrated our radar.”
“We continue to be vigilant for unidentified objects coming into U.S. territory,” he said. “What we did do at President Biden’s direction, Martha, is put in place a set of policy parameters for when we would take lethal action against an object, to shoot it down, as opposed to deal with it in other ways.”
A “leading explanation” for the three additional objects is that they were commercial or civilian balloons, government officials have said.
