Trump tax release puts spotlight back on years of controversy over his finances

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines on Tuesday to release information from former President Donald Trump’s tax returns covering 2015-2020. That move capped a tumultuous legal battle over the documents and drew the spotlight back to the years-long controversy over Trump’s decision not to disclose financial information after launching his political career.

Trump broke decades of tradition when he first ran for president in 2016 and — after initially suggesting otherwise — refused to release his tax returns, claiming he was under audit by the IRS.

Democrats have long criticized that move and, since they retook the House in 2018, sought to obtain the records themselves, which they ultimately accomplished last month.

Trump isn’t the first president for whom his taxes were controversial: In 1973, Richard Nixon started the custom of presidents releasing their tax information — with Nixon’s release intended to assuage the public after scrutiny over some deductions he claimed.

Later, after the IRS began a policy of automatically auditing presidents and vice presidents’ taxes, then-Vice President George H. W. Bush paid nearly $200,000 in back taxes on previously undisclosed income from the sale of a home.

In Trump’s case, information released by the House panel on Tuesday — while they say they are redacting information from the wider records to come within days — showed that in some years between 2015 and 2020 he paid little to no taxes and, multiple times, reported tens of millions in losses.

In 2018 and 2019, when he reported positive income rather than losses, he paid a combined $1.1 million in taxes, according to the committee.

Republicans on the House committee warned Democrats were setting a dangerous precedent of using private financial records as partisan weapons, but the committee’s chairman, Richard Neal, D-Mass., said the decision “rises above politics.”

The committee highlighted how they found the IRS had not followed its automatic audit policy with Trump until 2019, after he was already in office.

Along with questions about auditing and privacy, political strategists said the tax release raises the possibility of damaging Trump’s standing with voters, who have said they want him to disclose more about his finances.

“With the exception of Donald Trump, every major party presidential nominee over the past 40 years has released their tax returns, so yes, I think Americans are entitled to know what’s in them,” said Democratic pollster Matt Hogan. “It’s not that the average American wants to know what’s in a candidate’s tax returns, it’s that if the candidate won’t release them, it sends a signal to voters that the candidate is hiding something.”

Polls have indicated that the public wants to know more about Trump’s taxes. An ABC News survey from 2017 — near the height of the debate over the documents — showed that 74% of adults thought his returns should be released.

At the same time, strategists like Hogan noted, Trump broke with other presidents and candidates in many ways. Democratic rival Hillary Clinton hammered the tax issue on the trail and he defeated her in 2016.

“Just as a president’s budget can help reveal their priorities, the refusal to release their tax returns can help reveal their character. But Trump broke so many political norms, that his refusal to release his tax returns barely registered among the most common critiques of him,” Hogan said.

During one 2016 debate, Clinton said that for several years Trump paid nothing in taxes — a barb he turned into a badge of honor.

“Why won’t he release his tax returns? Maybe he doesn’t want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he’s paid nothing in federal taxes,” she said in one debate. “Because the only years that anybody has ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license and they showed he didn’t pay any federal income tax.”

“That makes me smart,” Trump responded.

After taking office, Trump continued to maintain he was under audit — telling ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in 2018 that that was one reason he didn’t want to give Democrats his returns.

“If I were finished with the audit, I would have an open mind to it … but I don’t want to do it during an audit,” he said then.

But since becoming the leader of the Republican Party, Trump has continually declined to release details about his finances like his predecessors, who cited the need for transparency.

Nonetheless, some Trump tax information leaked to The New York Times in 2020 and, in November, an accountant described his financial losses about a decade ago while testifying in the trial of his company, the Trump Organization.

“This isn’t the first time Trump’s tax returns have been put out in the public sphere. It didn’t matter then, and it won’t matter now,” said one Trump ally, granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Sarah Longwell, a GOP pollster who has been critical of the former president, took another view.

“How much it matters is entirely dependent on what’s in them,” Longwell said. “Assuming it’s more of the same — not paying taxes and inflating valuations — then I don’t think it’ll make much public opinion difference. But if there’s something explosive, it can add to the accumulating perception of Republican voters that Trump has too much baggage to be electable.”

Some prominent conservatives in Washington are condemning the upcoming release while focusing on how it could affect the public — not Trump.

“It will be a regrettable stain on this committee,” Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters earlier this week.

“Let me be clear, our concern is not whether the president should have made his tax returns public as is traditional, nor about the accuracy of his tax returns,” Brady said then. “Our concern is that if taken, this committee action will set a terrible precedent that unleashes a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond the former president and overturns decades of privacy protections for average Americans.”

Missing Ohio baby: Suspect charged with kidnapping as search for her and child continues

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Nalah Jackson, a suspect in the disappearance of Kason Thomass, captured on video at a gas station in Huber Heights, Ohio. — Columbus Ohio Police

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — A woman who allegedly stole a car in Columbus, Ohio, with twin babies inside has been charged with two counts of kidnapping as the FBI joined a massive multi-state search for her and one of the missing infants police suspect is still in her possession.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said at a news conference Wednesday evening that detectives have found no trace of the suspect Nalah Jackson, 24, or the kidnapped 5-month-old baby, Kason Thomass, since early Tuesday morning when Jackson was allegedly caught on surveillance video abandoning Kason’s twin at the Dayton International Airport.

The search for Kason, who was last seen wearing a brown onesie, was launched Monday night after he and his twin brother, Kyair, went missing when Jackson, homeless woman, allegedly stole their mom’s running car. The twins were inside the vehicle as their mom stepped away to pick up a food order, police said.

Kyair Thomass was found around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday abandoned at the Dayton International Airport, more than 70 miles from Columbus, which a deputy police chief called, “a troubling aspect of this case.”

Bryant said two counts of kidnapping were filed against Jackson late Tuesday.

She said the FBI is assisting in the search for the suspect and Kason, providing personnel and technology.

She pleaded with the public Wednesday to come forward with any information no matter how small it may seem.

Bryant said the search has been expanded to five states surrounding Ohio.

Wednesday’s news conference came about 24 hours after Bryant made a direct appeal for Jackson to surrender the baby, saying, “we’re begging you to please return Kason.”

Surveillance images released by police captured Jackson at a gas station in the Dayton suburb of Huber Heights early Tuesday morning driving the stolen black 2010 Honda Accord. In a statement posted on Twitter, police said that while at the gas station, Jackson asked an employee for money.

Columbus Deputy Chief Smith Weir said Jackson was captured on the gas station’s surveillance cameras shortly before additional security video showed her dropping off Kyair at the Dayton airport.

Weir said several witnesses who encountered Jackson at the airport said she asked to borrow their cellphones to make a call.

He said it was “troubling aspect” that Jackson would leave one of the babies but keep the other.

“It’s perplexing as to why that would be,” Weir said. “Obviously we could all let our imaginations run wild, but we have to deal with what the facts are, and the facts are we’re still looking for one child.”

Bryant said the incident unfolded about 9:45 p.m. Monday while Kyair and Kason were alone in the Honda Accord their mother left running after stopping a Donatos Pizza restaurant in the Short North Arts District of northeast Columbus to pick up a Door Dash order.

The mother’s car was stolen soon after she went into the restaurant, police said. When the mother turned to look at her car from inside the restaurant, she noticed it was gone along with her twin babies, police said.

Bryant said witnesses told police that Jackson was seated inside the restaurant when the mother walked in.

The car has not been located and Bryant said it remained unclear if the suspect dumped the vehicle somewhere or was still driving it.

An Amber Alert was issued by the state Highway Patrol around 1:37 a.m. Tuesday. Police said the delay in issuing the alert was due to the stolen vehicle, which the mother recently purchased, not having license plates.

Bryant said at least 60 Columbus police officers have been assigned to the case and other law enforcement agencies were assisting in the search for the child. The chief said officers checked multiple residences around Columbus where Jackson once lived and searched several homeless encampments in Columbus she has been known to frequent.

Weir said he is worried about Kason’s well-being, saying, “We consider this child to be in danger.”

“This is a cry for help,” Weir said. “We’re asking the community to come forward and help us find this child.”

‘Super’ mosquitoes have now mutated to withstand insecticides, scientists say

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — One of the most vilified pest species on the planet continues to outsmart the ways in which humans attempt to get rid of them.

“Super” mosquitoes have evolved to withstand insecticides, according to new research — and the most “sobering” finding is the high rate in which a species known for carrying disease has developed mutations.

Researchers at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan studied mosquitoes in dengue-endemic areas in Vietnam and Cambodia and found that they harbor mutations that endow them with strong resistance to common insecticides, according to a study published in Science Advances on Wednesday.

One of the most concerning mutations appeared in about 78% in collected specimens of Aedes aegypti — one of the most infamous species of mosquito and a major vector of dengue, yellow fever and Zika virus, according to the study.

Developing resistance pyrethroids often occurs when mutations appear in the Vgsc gene, which encodes the molecular target of pyrethroids, the paper states. The researchers discovered 10 new sub-strains of Ae. aegypti and noticed that one Vgsc mutation — called L982W — endowed mosquitoes with high resistance to the pyrethroid insecticide permethrin in the lab.

This mutation appeared with a frequency of more than 79% in mosquitoes collected from Vietnam, and mosquitoes in Cambodia harbored combinations of L982W and other Vgsc mutations that displayed “extreme” levels of pyrethroid resistance, the researchers said.

The L982W mutation has not been detected outside of Vietnam and Cambodia, but the researchers believe that it could be slowly spreading to other parts of the Asia.

The findings could pose a serious threat to infectious disease control and eradication programs, as the mutation is some of the highest insecticide resistance seen in a field population of mosquitoes, the researchers said.

Many health initiatives rely on pyrethroids and other insecticides to control mosquito-borne infections, especially for those that don’t have a vaccine, like dengue.

“It is important to be aware that the insecticides we normally use may not be effective against mosquitoes,” Shinji Kasai, author of the study and senior research scientist of NIID’s Department of Medical Entomology, told ABC News.

It will be necessary to continue to monitor these mutant alleles, especially in southeast Asia, to in order to take appropriate countermeasures before they spread globally, Kasai said. In addition, rotation of different insecticide group is sometimes effective, Kasai added.

“Governmental health officers should chose appropriate, more effective insecticide for controlling mosquitoes,” he said.

Mosquitoes appear to be evolving both physically and instinctively to avoid human attempts to eradicate their presence.

In February, scientists published research that mosquitoes are learning to avoid pesticides used to kill them.

Scientists who studied two species of mosquitoes — Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus — found that the females learned to avoid pesticides after a single non-lethal exposure.

Boy Scout buys over $11,000 in Christmas gifts for kids in foster care, shelters

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — For the second year in a row, a 12-year-old Boy Scout has turned into secret Santa, buying Christmas presents for over a hundred children in foster care and shelters who might not otherwise get to enjoy the holiday season.

Jonathan Werner said he was inspired to carry out his philanthropy project after hearing about his father’s own childhood experience in foster care.

“Based upon stories that I have from him, it didn’t really sound like they had much of a Christmas,” he told “Good Morning America.”

“I was in foster care from the time that I was five to [when] I got adopted at about 12, so like seven years of my childhood and I don’t remember my Christmases ever really being very special until after I was adopted,” Jonathan’s dad, Steven Kolk, told “GMA.” “So having him do a project like this and knowing that where I was those years, I could have had somebody like [Jonathan], it would have been really special.”

This year, 138 children across four Minnesota counties – Kanabec, Isanti, Pine and Chisago counties – as well as some children in part of Anoka County will receive basic necessities and personal care items some requested and gift cards and toys Jonathan selected for them. He chose the items on multiple shopping trips based on lists that local social workers he partnered with would share with him to help guide the process.

“For example, if the kid had asked for a Lego set of some sort, we would go off of age and gender and then we would buy a Lego set for them and based upon other interests, we would also try to find a Lego set that also intertwines with those interests as well,” Jonathan said.

The seventh-grader said he bought about 600 presents overall, totaling approximately $11,300.

To fund the gifts, he sold popcorn to local community members and this year, he made more than he was expecting.

MORE: Boy Scouts jump into action after Amtrak derailment: ‘We’re really proud’
But throughout the journey, Jonathan said he’s simply happy to give back.

“I’ve definitely learned a lot throughout this. I’ve learned money management. I’ve learned other things of that nature as well. It also makes me really happy to know that kids that wouldn’t really get a Christmas are getting a Christmas because of my project,” Jonathan said.

His parents say they couldn’t be more impressed.

“I’m proud of what he chose to do and the number of people that he can reach with this project,” Steven Kolk told “GMA.”

“It’s really special. I have seen it move not even myself, it has inspired me personally. But I’ve also seen it inspire our other children and friends of ours and other people in the community at the stores and things like that and so it’s really special. It really brings a tear to your eye and makes you feel like he’s really making a difference for people,” Serena Kolk added.

Robberies affecting NYC’s gay nightlife scene illuminated by grieving mom: ‘This has gone on too long’

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A grieving mother’s fight to find answers about the death of her son has helped to shed light on a suspected rash of druggings and robberies affecting New York City’s gay nightlife scene.

Linda Clary’s 33-year-old son, John Umberger, was found dead in June after he was last seen walking out of a midtown Manhattan bar with two strangers. Umberger, who was visiting for work from Washington D.C., was out earlier with his friends, but was at the bar alone.

“It’s the worst phone call that any mother can ever get and ever want to get,” Clary told ABC News. “It’s the greatest pain and anguish of anything.”

Someone using Umberger’s phone and credit cards stole more than $20,000, Clary said. Lidocaine, a numbing agent, and fentanyl were both found in his system, according to police.

“Detectives presented it as, it looked like a drug overdose, and that perhaps John had gone out to the bars and had been robbed and was so depressed, he took a bunch of drugs,” Clary said.

Refusing to believe her son had done that to himself, Clary flew from Atlanta to New York, where she leaned on police and started talking to the media. Her phone started ringing from others with similar stories, many of whom have survived their ordeals.

Six months before Umberger died, Brian Luke says he was targeted by two men in a different part of the city.

“I feel like I was targeted, probably because I was alone and probably because I was already a bit drunk when I arrived at the bar. And my memory from that point is pretty fuzzy. I can’t say for sure whether or not they drugged me,” Luke said.

Luke says they stole his phone and wallet, and then made a long list of charges to his credit and debit cards — in all, about $20,000. He doesn’t feel ashamed that he took the men into his home, but says the police weren’t as understanding.

“I think they did some level of due diligence to look into what I had reported, but I don’t think I was taken quite as seriously as I would have hoped,” Luke said.

Oscar Alarcon tells a similar story. He says, more than two years ago, he went out to a bar in the same neighborhood where Clary’s son was last seen. He later woke up confused in the lobby of a nearby hotel with no memory of what happened.

“I went to the police. They never took me seriously. They made me feel like it was my fault, like I did it to myself,” Alarcon said.

Then in April, just outside the same gay bar that Alarcon went to, 25-year-old Julio Ramirez was seen getting into a cab with three unknown men. The three men disappeared, and Ramirez spent the last moments of his life alone in the back seat of the cab, according to authorities. He was a beloved social worker, and his death would bring people marching in the streets.

“People have been hurt. People feel scared and afraid, and this has gone on too long, because it is clear to me from people who have reached out to me, this has happened since 2018,” Clary said.

Despite her initial concerns, Clary added that she’s thankful for the New York Police homicide detective who’s now working the case.

New York City police declined comment to ABC News, citing that they’re dealing with an ongoing investigation.

Police have said it’s not just gay men who are getting targeted and that they know this is happening in both straight and gay nightclubs across the city.

After months of worry across New York, they say they’ve now arrested six men who are facing grand larceny, identity theft, assault and other charges. They also said that more arrests are coming.

There are many who believe that the police investigation wouldn’t have gotten this far without Clary’s help.

“Thank God for Linda. That’s what it says about her tenacity. Her strength was exactly what we needed and her conviction was what was needed here in this city,” said community organizer Christopher LeBron to ABC News.

Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington being treated as ‘mini-state visit,” sources say

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington is being treated as a mini state visit – one with extraordinary security implications, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans.

Hundreds of law enforcement and intelligence officials have been activated and the U.S. Secret Service will be the lead agency as he heads to the White House and speaks to Congress Wednesday.

“From the moment he lands and walks down those stairs of his plane, he will have a Secret Service security detail,” one official told ABC News.

“He will have that detail until he gets on the plane to leave,” the official said.

The Secret Service will provide the vehicles for his motorcade and will be assisted with the motorcade by Prince George’s County police and Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police.

Zelenskyy will have his own Ukrainian security detail with him as well.

Don Mihalek, a former United States Secret Service agent told ABC News the Secret Service protects all foreign heads of state while on U.S. soil.

“The Secret Service is responsible for the protection of all visiting foreign heads of state,” he said. “They will mobilize a multi-agency security umbrella to ensure his visit is kept safe.”

Security officials at the most senior levels of government are “very” concerned about the prospect of something happening during the visit and when he returns home, domestically or abroad, one source told ABC News.

Zelenskyy’s trip to Capitol Hill will be similar to State of the Union security preparations because of the high level nature of the address, the official said.

“Being that they are at war with the Russians, not only is there threats potentially from Russian agents, and Russian collaborators, but there will also be threats from those that oppose Ukraine’s independence and other nations that might have a vested interest in seeing that Ukraine is not successful,” Mihalek, an ABC News contributor said.

According to an email sent to staff at the Capitol and obtained by ABC News, security measures will be “significant.” The email says only staff and members will be allowed in the House wing past a certain time.

The Secret Service also is consulting with the Capitol Police, CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies about the security environment. Every Capitol Police officer will be on standby, according to one law enforcement official.

“We are very cognizant that Russia has assets in this country and might try to do something,” one senior official said. “We know what is at stake.”

The U.S. is aware that early on in the conflict the Russians apparently plotted to kill Zelenskyy and the official expressed concern that news of Zelensky’s visit broke so early about him coming to the United States. It would have been much better, he said, if our adversaries had less time, not more time, to think about doing something and to move assets and operatives around.

The official went on to say he is concerned about Zelensky’s security once he leaves the country.

“Putin and the Kremlin know he has to get back to home,” the official said.

Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to extradition, clearing path for transport to US

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to extradition in a Bahamian court on Wednesday, clearing the way for his transport to the U.S. to face federal charges.

The disgraced former CEO is expected to be put on a U.S. government plane for a flight to New York.

“I hereby consent in writing to be extradited without formal extradition proceedings,” Bankman-Fried said in a signed affidavit.

He took the witness stand to confirm his signature and that his decision was voluntary.

“I therefore formally commit you to custody while you await your extradition,” Magistrate Shaka Serville said.

The move came a day after Bankman-Fried signed extradition papers in the Bahamas, where he lived in a multimillion-dollar mansion, after waffling on the decision since his initial court appearance last week.

Bankman-Fried was arrested last week in the Bahamas after federal prosecutors in New York filed an eight-count indictment including allegations of fraud and conspiracy.

He had been expected in court Tuesday but did not appear, even as his lawyers and U.S. consular officials waited for two hours.

At a court hearing last week, Bankman-Fried declined to waive his right to challenge extradition to the U.S. However, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News ahead of a court hearing on Monday that Bankman-Fried had reversed his position and was prepared to waive extradition, setting up a move to custody in the U.S.

At the court hearing on Monday, however, Bankman-Fried did not waive his right to deny extradition as expected, instead asking to see a copy of the U.S. indictment and speak to his New York-based attorney.

Bankman-Fried has been held in the medical ward of the island’s Fox Hill prison, after an application for bail was denied when a judge determined he was too much of a flight risk.

In addition to the criminal charges, Bankman-Fried faces related civil lawsuits from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

There are more than $8 billion in customer losses, said Gretchen Lowe of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency.

Some crypto traders, who deposited their savings on the platform, fear they may never get their money back.

John Ray, the new CEO of FTX, who oversaw the dissolution of Enron, told members of the House last week that FTX lacked corporate controls to an extent he had never witnessed, characterizing the company’s conduct as “old-fashioned embezzlement.”

“I’ve never seen an utter lack of record keeping,” Ray said. “Absolutely no internal controls.”

Bankman-Fried, in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in November, denied knowing “there was any improper use of customer funds.”

“I really deeply wish that I had taken like a lot more responsibility for understanding what the details were of what was going on there,” Bankman-Fried told Stephanopoulos. “A lot of people got hurt, and that’s on me.”

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Washington live updates: Arrives in US for dramatic visit

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Celal GÃ¼nes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is making a dramatic visit to Washington Wednesday — his first trip outside Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February.

He’s set to visit President Joe Biden at the White House and address Congress as lawmakers vote on $45 billion more in emergency aid, and Biden is expected to announce the U.S. will send Ukraine a Patriot anti-missile battery to defend against devastating Russian attacks.

In a virtual address to U.S. lawmakers back in March, Zelenskyy emotionally pleaded for more aggressive measures to help fight the war. Invoking key American tragedies, including Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 attacks, Zelenskyy told members at the time, “Just remember it … Our country experiences the same every day right now.”

Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:

Dec 21, 1:34 PM EST
Zelenskyy arrives at Blair House

President Zelenskyy has arrived at Blair House, which now has a Ukrainian flag flying overhead. Blair House, located across the street from the White House, is the residence where foreign dignitaries often stay when visiting Washington.

Dec 21, 1:21 PM EST
McConnell says more Ukraine aid boosts ‘American interests’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made the case for more military aid for Ukraine on Wednesday as some in his party oppose sending more money to the nation.

“The reason that a big bipartisan majority of the American people and a big bipartisan majority in Congress support continuing to assist Ukraine is not primarily about inspiring speeches or desire to engage in philanthropy,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

“The most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical, American interests,” he continued. “Helping equip our friends in eastern Europe defeat this world is also a direct investment in reducing Putin’s future capabilities to menace America, threaten our allies and contest our core interests.”

But some in the GOP are questioning the amount of aid being sent to Ukraine, arguing the government should be investing that money domestically. “American taxpayers are literally paying to prop up many countries all over the world in foreign aid, but America is virtually crumbling before our eyes,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene argued in a series of tweets on Wednesday.

Other Republicans argue the need for more oversight of the funds being approved for Ukraine, stating they don’t want to write a “blank check” to Ukraine.

Dec 21, 1:02 PM EST
Zelenskyy continues to take risks for country

From the frontlines of the war in Ukraine to the political frontlines of Washington on Capitol Hill and the White House, Zelenskyy continues to take risks to defend Ukraine and show masterful skill at using language and symbolism to marshal international support.

“Remember Pearl Harbor. The morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you. Remember. Remember September 11. A terrible day in 2001 when people tried to turn your cities into battlefields. When innocent people were attacked from the air. No one expected it. You couldn’t stop it,” he said in his virtual speech to Congress in March.

“Our country experiences the same every day,” he said.

Zelenskyy made an unannounced visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut on Monday, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought a months-long battle. The comedian-turned-politician who was elected to lead Ukraine in 2019, was named Time’s person of the year earlier this month “for proving that courage can be as contagious as fear.”

Dec 21, 12:45 PM EST
Zelenskyy has landed in the US

A U.S. official confirms to ABC News that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has landed in the U.S.

–ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky

Dec 21, 12:27 PM EST
‘Significant’ security measures in place at Capitol

Zelenskyy’s trip to Capitol Hill will be similar to State of the Union preparations because of the high-level nature of the address. Security officials at the most senior levels of government are “very” concerned about the prospect of something happening tonight, domestically or abroad, one source told ABC News.

Another official said, “We are very cognizant that Russia has assets in this country and might try to do something. We know what is at stake.”

The source said the U.S. is aware that early on in the conflict the Russians apparently plotted to kill Zelenskyy. The official expressed concern that news of Zelensky’s visit broke so early about him coming to the United States. It would have been much better, he said, if our adversaries had less time, not more time, to think about doing something and to move assets and operatives around.

-ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas and Luke Barr

Dec 21, 12:19 PM EST
Secret Service leading security for Zelenskyy’s trip

Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington is being treated as a mini-state visit — a visit with extraordinary security implications, according to multiple sources. Hundreds of law enforcement and intelligence officials have been activated for this visit with the U.S. Secret Service tasked as the lead agency.

“From the moment he lands and walks down those stairs of his plane, he will have a Secret Service security detail,” one official tells ABC News. “He will have that detail until he gets on the plane to leave.”

Secret Service is also consulting with the Capitol Police, CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies about the security environment. One source told ABC News every Capitol Police officer is on standby.

-ABC News’ Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas and Luke Barr

Dec 21, 11:50 AM EST
Schumer compares Zelenskyy to Winston Churchill

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., compared Zelenskyy to Winston Churchill during floor remarks on Wednesday.

“Where Winston Churchill stood generations ago, so, too, President Zelenskyy stands not just as a president but also as an ambassador to freedom itself,” Schumer said.

Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, addressed U.S. lawmakers in a speech the day after Christmas in 1941 — just weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack.

“Sure I am, that this day, now, we are the masters of our fate,” Churchill told Congress. “That the task which has been set us is not above our strength. That its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our cause, and an unconquerable willpower, salvation will not be denied us.”

Schumer said he will “happily join” Congress in welcoming Zelenskyy, and urged Republicans to attend the joint meeting.

“It is a high honor to welcome a foreign head of state to Congress, but it is nearly unheard of to hear from a leader who is fighting for his life fighting for his country’s survival and fighting to preserve the very idea of democracy,” Schumer said.

Coldest Christmas in decades possible for parts of US: What to expect Christmas Eve

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — It’s time to bundle up: this could be the coldest Christmas in decades for parts of the country.

Here’s the latest forecast:

The bitter cold is first hitting Denver, where temperatures will fall from 47 degrees on Wednesday to minus 16 degrees by Thursday morning.

The cold blast will reach the Rio Grande River on Thursday and Friday, bringing the coldest temperatures to the region since the late 1980s. On Friday morning the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — will drop to minus 7 degrees in Dallas and 1 degree in Houston.

Up north, the wind chill Friday morning will be a brutal minus 39 degrees in Minneapolis and minus 37 degrees in Chicago.

The cold air moves east into Christmas weekend.

On Christmas Eve, the wind chill will plunge to a bone-chilling minus 10 degrees in New York, minus 33 degrees in Minneapolis, minus 24 degrees in Chicago and minus 5 degrees in Kansas City.

Even the South will see a below-freezing Christmas. The wind chill is forecast to reach minus 1 degree in Nashville, 4 degrees in Atlanta, 20 degrees in New Orleans and 21 degrees in Dallas.

Trump’s tax returns show he paid no taxes in 2020, committee says

December 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to make public some documents related to former President Donald Trump’s tax returns — a move Trump has long fought.

The committee met for several hours behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon and then returned to vote 24-16 in open session to release the information related to Trump’s tax returns from 2015-2020.

It’s not clear what documents will be released or ultimately included in the committee’s report, but there will be two days to redact sensitive information before anything is made public.

Chairman Richard Neal, D- Mass., said after the vote, “This is not being punitive. This is not about being malicious.”

The tax returns will cover six years, from 2015 to 2020, Neal later said. The committee is in the process of redacting personal information and will release the documents once that’s finished, which Neal said could be in a “few days.” The six years of returns, including those of eight affiliated businesses; committee reports, a report from the Joint Committee on Taxation and IRS audit reports are expected to be released.

According to a summary released by the committee, Trump and his wife Melania, during the first year of Trump’s presidential campaign in 2015, together reported $31.7 million in losses and reported $641,931 in net taxes.

During the 2016 presidential election year, the two again reported losing $32.4 million in adjusted gross income and paid just $750 in taxes, according to the committee. During Trump’s first year in office, the couple reported losing $12.9 million and again paid $750 in taxes.

In 2018, their adjusted gross income went up, with them bringing in $24.3 million, and they reported paying $999,456 in taxes. In 2019, the two reported making $4.4 million and paid $133,445 in taxes.

In 2020, they reported losing $4.8 million and Trump paid $0 in taxes.

Neal told reporters that the committee found there was no ongoing audit of Trump’s tax returns during his presidency until the committee requested them, despite an IRS requirement that tax returns filed by a sitting president or vice president are subject to audit.

Neal said the audit only began in 2019 after he requested the returns and said the audits of the requested returns were never completed.

“The tax forms were really never audited and only my sending a letter at one point prompted a rear-view mirror response,” Neal said.

The committee earlier unanimously voted to have a transcript of the closed proceedings released when appropriate.

Before the committee met, multiple boxes of Trump tax return-related documents were seen being wheeled into the room.

The committee obtained the information from the Treasury Department last month, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump’s request to block an appears court order that he surrender his tax returns and other financial records to the committee.

It marked the fourth time Trump had lost a high court appeal related to requests for his taxes.

It’s not immediately clear what significant new information might be in the committee’s possession. Prosecutors in New York have already been able to access some of the data, but some of what the committee has could be more recent.

Tuesday’s vote came a day after the House Jan. 6 committee voted to make criminal referrals about Trump to the Justice Department.

The committee had requested six years’ worth of Trump’s returns as part of what it said was an investigation into IRS audit practices of presidents and vice presidents.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Trump accused the committee of seeking his taxes under false pretenses.

In November, it was revealed that Trump reported nearly $1 billion in operating losses over a two-year period about a decade ago when an accountant testified at the criminal trial of the Trump Organization, spilling into public tax information that the former president has tried repeatedly to keep private.

The Ways and Means Committee move comes just two weeks before House Republicans are set to take majority control.

The Supreme Court offered no explanation for its decision and there was no noted dissent or vote breakdown.

“We knew the strength of our case, we stayed the course, followed the advice of counsel, and finally, our case has been affirmed by the highest court in the land,” Chairman Neal said at the time. “Since the Magna Carta, the principle of oversight has been upheld, and today is no different. This rises above politics, and the Committee will now conduct the oversight that we’ve sought for the last three and a half years.”

While Trump has claimed the subpoena is a politically motivated fishing expedition, the committee said the documents were critical for drafting “legislation on equitable tax administration, including legislation on the President’s tax compliance.”

The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, has accused Democrats of making a major mistake in a “rush to target” Trump.

“Ways and Means Democrats are unleashing a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond President Trump, and jeopardizes the privacy of every American,” Brady said in a statement ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.

“Going forward, partisans in Congress have nearly unlimited power to target political enemies by obtaining and making public their private tax returns to embarrass and destroy them. This is not limited to public officials, but can target private citizens, business and labor leaders, and Supreme Court justices,” he said.

He echoed that shortly before the members gathered, saying, “The precedent that we set today will have severe consequences for taxpayers in democracy.”

ABC News’ Tal Axelrod, Aaron Katersky, Devin Dwyer, Rachel Scott and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

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