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Rural America wants its voice heard in 2024 election

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(MADISON, Wis.) — As the 2024 elections heat up and politicians vie for Americans’ votes, an important group is feeling forgotten.

Rural America, home to many agricultural and manufacturing workers, is still figuring out which political message resonates with them, according to Wisconsin farmers Katie and Grant Grinstead.

“I haven’t heard it yet,” Grant told ABC News. “All politicians know how to get a hold of us. And our phone isn’t ringing. They want to understand our views and what we deal with — reach out to us.”

Katie and Grant are fourth-generation dairy producers, part of a longstanding and proud tradition in the America’s Dairyland. Wisconsin dairy industry produce more than 25 million gallons annually and contribute $46 billion to the state economy.

They are struggling to survive as the milk production industry continues to shrink. The economics of milk production are no longer favorable for small producers like the Grinsteads.

“If you look back for the last 30 years, we [saw] similar prices in the ’90s [to what] we do here today,” Grant said. “In 2024, the challenge is that everything else around us has gone up in price.”

The Grinsteads have never been more concerned about an election or more politically engaged, the couple told ABC News.

While grappling with the future of their farm and livelihood, Grant worries about the country’s border security. He says America was built on immigration and that Americans have to understand that people want to come here. Grant wants the right people in office to show immigrants how to become American citizens.

Immigrants make up 28% of agriculture workers in the U.S. and about one-third of hospitality workers, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

“There are so many industries in the U.S. that rely on migrant workers,” Katie said. “Heads in the sand, because they know we need them. But they’re not willing to champion and stand up and lead it. Because it’s so controversial.”

The Grinsteads prioritize policy and sometimes split their ticket vote, but now more than ever, they need politicians who support rural America.

According to United States Department of Agriculture, only 1.2% of the population are farmers, and yet this small percentage is responsible for feeding the world — she thinks they are sometimes forgotten. They are desperately trying to get the attention of politicians to advocate for policies that will improve their lives.

If the lawmakers continue to ignore their concerns, Grant suggested drastic action.

“Maybe we should stop making food,” Grant said. “Would that get attention?”

4 years after Kyle Rittenhouse shooting, Wisconsin city reflects on unity and moving on

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(KENOSHA, Wis.) — Kenosha, Wisconsin, is a picturesque community on the shore of Lake Michigan. It is known for its boats, fresh corn at the farmer’s market and the country’s oldest velodrome. However, everything changed when Kenosha burst into the national spotlight in 2020.

Jacob Blake, 29, a father of three, was shot seven times by a local police officer and left paralyzed from the waist down. Following the August 2020 police shooting of Blake, protests, riots, and civil unrest took place in Kenosha and across the United States as part of the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups protesting racial injustice.

Amid looting and riots in Kenosha, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse arrived at the scene armed, stating he was there to protect a car dealership from rioters. As the situation escalated, Rittenhouse shot three men, two of whom died.

Rittenhouse was charged with two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide. A charge of violating a curfew that was imposed during the protests in Kenosha was later dropped.

Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to the charges and, during trial testimony, said he shot all three men with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in self-defense.

Rittenhouse was found not guilty. Embraced by gun rights supporters, he became a symbol of the Second Amendment and gained popularity within the Republican Party.

Now, in the aftermath of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, all eyes are on the state of Wisconsin, a battleground state where Trump recently visited for the Republican National Convention.

Residents of Kenosha are experiencing similar fears they felt four years ago, according to community activist Molly Gray-Moores.

“Oh, my God, are we going backward instead of moving forward?” Gray-Moores said. “We need our city and our nation to come to one place where we all come together. We can’t keep tearing up our city and our nation.”

Gray-Moore’s sentiments also resonate with Kenosha’s new police chief, Patrick Patton, who agrees. Patton was policing a local parade when news broke of the assassination attempt on Trump.

“Whatever side of the fence you fall on, an attack on an elected official or a former sitting president or a candidate for that matter is kind of an attack on our democracy,” Patton said. “The world kind of looks to America as the leaders in that field. So this sets us back. We can’t have it. It’s un-American.”

In rural Kenosha, it’s Trump country, and there has been a wake-up call. Some locals are concerned that people are resorting to violence, using guns instead of voting to get their message across.

“They might not always agree with us, but they have their opinions, we have our opinions,” Diane Biehn, a resident of rural Kenosha, said. “Let’s not take it to that level of violence.”

On the other side of town, a local businessman and barber is trying to increase community participation by holding community engagement sessions in his shop. Topics include the direction of our country and who will lead it.

Alvin Owens operates the Regimen Barber Collective and hopes to engage individuals from diverse backgrounds to advocate for voting and the right to vote.

ABC News spoke with a participant who said they benefited from these conversations and put their apathy toward the current presidential candidates aside.

“I got four children and they’re all boys, and I want them to be kings,” Kyle Smith said. “I want them to be men in the truest sense that they can. And I can’t teach that if I don’t embody it and I may not want to vote, but I got to, man. So, hopefully, I vote for the right person. We’ll see.”

Another participant encourages candidates to appreciate America’s diversity.

“I think that’s really important to go outside of your box and listen to other people and learn who they are, and embrace our diversity, because that’s what America is,” Jami Jastrom said.

As the nation enters the final months of this tumultuous election cycle, both presidential candidates are calling for less angry rhetoric and more unity, a sentiment shared by Kenoshans.

“Let’s work together,” Gray-Moores said. “Everybody has a voice, use it. You don’t have to use anger, you don’t have to use weapons. None of that, that’s not what we’re about.”

JD Vance’s wife faces racist online backlash from far-right social media posts

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The wife of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and the couple’s children have become the targets of backlash for their Indian ancestry.

Chilukuri Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants who grew up in San Diego, as well as RNC speaker Harmeet Dhillon — who is Sikh and Indian – are facing anti-Asian hate from far-right figures online.

Posts appear to have spiked this week following Vance’s nomination criticizing Vance for marrying someone who is non-white, expressing concerns about an influx of Indian immigrants as a result and the so-called Great Replacement conspiracy have garnered hundreds of thousands of views according to individual post engagement figures.

Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group that tracks anti-Asian hate incidents, condemned the attacks, arguing that the onslaught of hate has reinforced “heightened levels of fear and anxiety Asian Americans and immigrants are currently experiencing across the country leading up to this year’s presidential election.”

The group added: “In the midst of an inflamed political climate, we continue to see the targeting of South Asians across parties, including ongoing questioning of VP Kamala Harris’ electability.”

Stop AAPI Hate has recorded thousands of potential hate-motivated incidents since 2020, when anti-Asian sentiment increased around the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The backlash comes as former President Donald Trump appeared to call for more national unity after the assassination attempt he experienced at a Pennsylvania rally last weekend.

“The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,” Trump said during his remarks Thursday on the last day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

It’s a stark contrast from Trump’s typical tone that has been criticized as “inflammatory” and “divisive,” often when he is referring to race and immigration.

But the former president quickly fell back into his old talking points. “The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country,” Trump said, referring to undocumented migrants coming across the U.S. border.

However, encounters at the southern border have continued to drop for the fourth month straight, newly released numbers from the CBP shows.

He continued, “They are coming in from every corner of the Earth, not just from South America, but from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration does nothing to stop them,” Trump added.

However, CBP says recent measures, including President Biden’s June 4 executive order restricting access to asylum in between ports of entry, have contributed to a more than 50% drop in encounters at the border over the past six weeks.

JD Vance previously criticized Trump and his base for the rhetoric on race, a backdrop to the current onslaught of criticism facing Vance’s wife and children.

JD Vance, who previously called himself a “Never Trump guy,” has cited Trump’s “many successes in office” for changing his opinion of the former president and will now join Trump on the Republican ticket for the presidential election in November.

Vance eventually aligned with the former president around 2021, praising his time in office and apologizing for his attacks on him.

RNC calls for unity ring hollow for some in LGBTQ community

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Following the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, unity was expected to be the hallmark of the Republican National Convention for the presidential candidate.

“I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,” Trump said.

Richard Grenell, a gay man who is Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, told audiences that Trump “doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, Black, brown or white, or what gender you are.”

But the message of unity rings hollow for some in the LGBTQ community, who say they have repeatedly been the target of Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, and others on the national stage.

“It can be difficult to stay hopeful when anti-LGBTQ sentiment comes to town,” said the LGBTQ group Fair Wisconsin in a post on X. It continued, “But Fair Wisconsin knows that this sentiment is not who we are. The majority of Wisconsinites support the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and with fair maps for the first time in over a decade, we’re hopeful about the opportunity to shift the tide on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.”

There has been a record number of bills targeting the LGBTQ community in state legislatures across the country — including transgender youth care bans, restrictions on drag shows, and more — topping more than 500 bills nationwide so far in 2024, according to the ACLU.

Federal and local agencies have also expressed concerns about the growing threats and instances of violence against the community amid the increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

This comes as LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people, face higher rates of violent victimization, discrimination and bullying, according to the CDC and the Williams Institute.

Still, several RNC speakers, including Trump, openly and continuously took jabs at transgender and nonbinary people throughout the convention.

LGBTQ issues at the RNC
The LGBTQ community makes up a small population — less than 8% of people in the U.S., according to a Gallup poll — but had a large presence in the platform of RNC candidates.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, in referencing his view of the country during the Trump administration, said, “We were richer, inflation was low, and there were two genders.”

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin rallied against transgender women and girls playing on women’s and girls’ sporting teams and claimed Democrats backed the “indoctrination of our children,” prompting a chorus of boos.

Trump also added that he would put an end to transgender participation in sports, claiming that “men” were playing on women’s teams. Trans sports participation has also been a source of contention among states — with supporters arguing that trans women and girls have an advantage in sports, and critics arguing they lack evidence to back up such claims of a physiological advantage.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Democrats of “teaching our kids that there are 57 genders” and “can’t even define what a woman is,” a sentiment shared by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others.

This comes as Republican legislators across the country try to create legal definitions of “women” and “men” often based on their reproductive systems — barring exceptions for intersex people.

Supporters say it promotes safety, privacy, and public data accuracy by defining sex under specific biological terms.

Critics argue that the restrictive definitions will lead governments to no longer legally recognize transgender people, as well as discrimination and inaccurate identification practices.

Vance’s record
The announcement of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate was alarming to some LGBTQ advocates, who say he has a strong anti-LGBTQ record.

At the RNC, Vance said the Republican Party is “committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas.”

But Vance has stated that he would vote “no” on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, and has spoken out against collecting Census data on gender identity, claiming that it is unscientific to say that people can identify with a gender — defined by the CDC as “the cultural roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes expected of people based on their sex — that does not align with their sex assigned at birth.

He also introduced the Passport Sanity Act, a bill to ban “X” gender markers on U.S. passports, and the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” banning trans youth care including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries for the purpose of gender-affirmation.

“LGBTQ Americans are taxpayers, family members, colleagues, classmates, neighbors and friends, and our concerns are the same as any Americans: our freedom to be ourselves to live in safety and dignity, the right to make private health care decisions, read books of our choosing, marry who we love, and not be discriminated against for who we are,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.

ABC News has reached out to Vance for comment on the criticism.

Lesser-known dangers of hot cars include common items left in vehicles, experts say

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The interior of a car is one of the most dangerous places for young children and pets during a heat wave. But everyday items can also be dangerous.

Water bottles, for example, pose unique hazards when temperatures begin to climb, according to experts.

One of the unexpected risks is the ability for water bottles — specifically clear bottles that contain clear liquid — to start a fire, David Richardson, administration major for the Midwest City Fire Department in Oklahoma, told ABC News.

Depending on the presence of sunlight, the reflective qualities of the bottle and liquid can heat up nearby objects to the point of fire ignition if hot enough, Richardson said.

When Richardson first learned of the potential danger of water bottles, he didn’t believe it. So he tested it out in a controlled environment and found that a water bottle was able to burn a hole through a piece of paper, like a magnifying glass.

Richardson emphasized that the “perfect storm” of conditions would need to be present for this phenomenon to occur. Not only would the bottle and liquid need to be clear, but sunlight would have to enter the car just right. Vehicles with tinted windows probably would not pose a similar risk, he said.

“The chances are pretty small, but they’re not impossible,” he explained.

Ingesting liquid that has been baking inside of a plastic water bottle in a hot car for a period of time could also impact human health.

A bottle’s manufacturing process, chemical composition, the outside temperature and how long the bottle has been exposed to heat means liquids could become contaminated with toxins, toxicologist and board-certified emergency medicine physician Dr. Stephanie Widmer told ABC News.

While research and expert opinions differ, the risk is not zero, Widmer said. It’s best to avoid drinking from plastic bottles that have been exposed to high temperatures until more conclusive research is available, she added.

Electronics with lithium batteries, such as a vape, electric scooter or toy, could also become a hazard when left in a hot car, Richardson said.

If the plastic casing surrounding the battery melts and exposes the lithium-ion battery to direct sunlight in addition to the high temperatures, there is a possibility it could explode, Richardson said.

Other everyday items that experts caution against leaving in hot cars due to the potential for them to explode include aerosol cans, canned and bottled soda and lighters. Items commonly left in hot cars like sunscreen, medicine and alcohol all have the potential to spoil, while glasses and sunglasses could melt and warp.

Leaving human beings in hot cars still remains the No.1 danger — often with fatal consequences.

It’s crucial to remember that leaving children or pets in a parked car, even for a short time, is very dangerous and can be fatal, Widmer said.

More than a dozen children have died so far this year after being left in a car during hot temperatures. Nearly 1,100 children have died in hot cars since 1990, according to KidsAndCars.org.

Extreme heat is expected for the rest of the summer in much of the U.S., forecasts show.

Postal worker fatally shot in front of Chicago residence: Officials

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(CHICAGO) — A postal worker was fatally shot in front of a residence in Chicago on Friday, officials said.

The gunman approached the victim and fired multiple times before fleeing in a vehicle, police said.

“NALC (National Association of Letter Carriers) is heartbroken by the murder of Octavia Redmond, our sister from Chicago, IL Branch 11,” read a statement from the NALC released on Friday. “Today, Sister Redmond was shot multiple times on her route and was taken to the hospital, where she died. The perpetrator is still at large.”

Redmond had been a letter carrier for five years and was only 48 years old.

The shooting occurred on the city’s South Side in the West Pullman neighborhood around 11:38 a.m. CT, according to police.

The 48-year-old victim sustained “multiple gunshot wounds” and was transported to an area hospital, where she died, police said. Her name has not been released.

No one is in custody in connection with the shooting, police said.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chicago Division is offering a reward up to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects.

🚨REWARD🚨Postal Inspectors are offering a reward up to $250,000 for info leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for the homicide of a #USPS letter carrier today near 12156 S Harvard, #Chicago. Call us at 877-876-2455. #USPIS pic.twitter.com/vkCPHjVg4v

— USPIS – Chicago (@USPIS_CHI) July 19, 2024

“Like me, the members of NALC are outraged by this senseless act of violence that took an innocent woman’s life. For far too long, violent crime against letter carriers has been on the rise. Shockingly, now it is not uncommon for letter carriers to be targeted, assaulted, and even murdered. This is completely unacceptable, and we need immediate change,” read the NALC statement. “Every American deserves to go to work without fear and return home safely to their families. We will not stop fighting until this is a reality for all letter carriers.”

Biden, ‘stuck at home with COVID,’ dissects Trump’s RNC speech: ‘What the hell was he talking about?’

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden late Friday dissected former President Donald Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination the night before with a lengthy 13-post thread on X, coupled with a fundraising plea, in which he calls out his rival for different things he said.

“I’m stuck at home with COVID, so I had the distinct misfortune of watching Donald Trump’s speech to the RNC,” Biden started. “What the hell was he talking about?”

“Let’s start with this. Donald said he ‘did a great job’ with COVID. Folks, this is the same guy who told us to inject bleach while over a million Americans died,” Biden said. (It’s a recitation of the, at best misleading, attack line Biden often lobs at Trump.)

The president went after Trump because “he bragged about getting along with dictators.”

“That’s because Trump wants to be a dictator,” Biden said. “He said so himself.”

Biden also hit the former president on the economy and immigration, ribbing him over Project 2025 thrice.

“He bragged about giving ‘the biggest tax cuts ever’ to his billionaire buddies. But the deal is that his Project 2025 agenda would raise taxes on the middle class,” Biden posted.

“He said he’ll end inflation, but even the Wall Street Journal published an article agreeing: Trump’s Project 2025 would cause even more inflation,” Biden said. “My economic plan is lowering costs and inflation.”

Biden later posted, “He said he wants to throw immigrants into mass detention camps as part of his Project 2025 agenda. It’s despicable. Project 2025 is extreme and dangerous. And it’s not who we are as a nation.”

In addition, Biden slammed his rival over electric vehicles, criticizing United Auto Workers, for talking about Hannibal Lecter, saying, “Donald, Hannibal Lecter is not real” and for his 92-minute-long speech.

“Honestly, I thought the worst lie he told all night was when he said ‘in conclusion’ and then kept going,” Biden quipped. “I’ve heard enough.”

“And if you’re with me, pitch in to our campaign,” he concluded.

Biden said earlier Friday he was looking forward to getting back on the trail and campaigning against Trump.

Illinois woman killed in officer-involved shooting is honored at funeral

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — A funeral was held Friday for Sonya Massey, the Springfield, Illinois, woman who died after authorities say a police deputy shot her after she called 911 to report a possible intruder.

Sean Grayson, the deputy involved in the shooting who has since been fired, was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct, according to a statement from Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser.

Grayson pleaded not guilty and was denied pretrial release.

“Today is about peace, today is about my big sister. It’s not about that man that’s gonna rot in jail, it’s about my big sister,” Massey’s younger sister, Breeanna Toles, said. “As baby sister, I look back at our text messages. She’d say, ‘I love you, baby sister.’ I hold onto those memories. I wish all of my sisters could be in the room today.”

The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office has not yet released the body camera footage of the incident, but is expected to do so on Monday, July 22.

“I know people wanna see the video, I know people wanna talk about the video; I just ask if you do it, just do it out of respect for us,” Toles said. “It’s not a video you want to see. My dad can’t even sleep.”

Two sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a Springfield, Illinois, residence at about 12:50 a.m. on July 6 to investigate a possible prowler, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office obtained by ABC News.

“At approximately 1:21 a.m., the Deputies reported that shots had been fired, resulting in a female being struck by gunfire,” according to the sheriff’s statement. “Deputies immediately administered first aid until EMS arrived. The woman was transported to St. John’s Hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. No deputies were injured during the incident.”

The shooting was investigated for use of deadly force by the Illinois State Police (ISP) at the request of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office. After an investigation and through viewing body-camera footage, Milhiser found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.

According to charging documents filed in Sangamon County Court, Grayson allegedly shot Massey in the face after the deputy “aggressively yelled” at her to put down a pot of boiling water and she threw it on a couch. Grayson then allegedly discouraged his partner from retrieving a medical kit to render aid to Massey because he allegedly thought the injuries were too severe to revive her, according to prosecutors. Court documents describe Massey as “calm, perhaps unwell, not aggressive” at the time that the deputies responded to her call for help.

According to the family’s attorney, Ben Crump, Massey struggled with her mental health.

The other deputy, who has not been named, proceeded to render aid anyway and stayed with Massey until paramedics arrived, the charging documents say. Grayson did not attempt to render aid, according to the documents.

Grayson only activated his body-worn camera after the shooting, according to the charges. The other deputy had activated his camera upon arriving at the scene, the charging documents say.

Grayson has had six different police jobs in the past four years, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. The longest job he has held lasted one year. It’s not clear why he changed jobs during that time span.

Massey’s father, James Wilburn, brought up the former deputy’s employment history during the funeral and called on Illinois lawmakers present to reform the hiring process for police officers and sheriff’s deputies. It’s not clear why he changed jobs during that time span.

“There was all these red flags and yet they still made him a deputy in this county,” Wilburn said. “State senator, introduce the bill tomorrow. You can call it the Sonya Massey bill.”

Crump delivered a call for justice at the funeral.

“We come to fight for justice for Sonya Massey,” he said, “We say to Deputy Sean Grayson: until we get justice, we rebuke you in the name of Jesus. We say to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department: until we get justice we rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” was one of the last things Massey said before Grayson shot her, according to Crump.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker released a statement saying that Massey deserved the protection that she called law enforcement to provide.

“My heart breaks for Sonya’s children, for her family and friends and for all who knew and loved her, and I am enraged that another innocent Black woman had her life taken from her at the hands of a police officer,” Pritzker’s statement says.

Grayson’s attorney, Dan Fultz, declined to comment.

ABC News’ Emily Chang contributed to this report.

7 officers injured in police pursuit of vehicle linked to drive-by shooting: Officials

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(SPOKANE, Wash.) — A high-speed police pursuit that ended in a multi-vehicle crash in Washington state Friday left seven officers injured and three suspects in custody, according to officials.

The crash took place near the intersection of North Oak Street and West Carlisle Avenue in Spokane, police said.

All individuals involved in the crash, including the suspects, were taken to a nearby hospital for injuries, Spokane Interim Police Chief Justin Lundgren told reporters during a press briefing after the crash.

All of the officers are expected to make full recoveries, according to Lundgren, who notes the conditions of the suspects are not yet known.

Additionally, a canine that was in the pursuing police vehicle was transported to an emergency veterinary clinic, according to Lundgren, who said the dog is expected to make a full recovery.

Detailing how the high-speed pursuit began, Lundgren said Spokane police started tracking the suspected vehicle at approximately 1:00 p.m. local time as authorities were wrapping up an unrelated search warrant.

Lundgren said an officer recognized a suspect vehicle that was allegedly involved in a drive-by shooting that occurred days before.

Officers initiated a pursuit of that suspect vehicle through a residential neighborhood, according to Lundgren, who noted the car was driving at a high speed.

As the suspect vehicle was attempting to drive through an intersection, it collided with an assisting armored police vehicle, resulting in a crash, Lundgren said.

Subsequently, a pursuing police vehicle also crashed into the suspect vehicle, according to Lundgren.

No one was killed in the pursuit, Lundgren said, adding that a civilian vehicle was approaching behind the armored vehicle that fortunately stopped in time.

The intersection will be closed for several hours for the investigation, officials said.

Trump says he had a ‘very good phone call’ with Zelenskyy

July 20, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke over the phone on Friday, the two leaders said.

Zelenskyy reached out to Trump, according to a source close to the Ukrainian leader and Trump, who said the two had a “very good phone call.”

Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media that he spoke with Trump to “congratulate him on the Republican nomination and condemn the shocking assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.”

Zelenskyy, who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts himself, expressed his sympathy and horror at the assassination attempt, the source said.

In a statement on social media regarding the call, Trump said Zelenskyy “remarked about the American people coming together in the spirit of Unity during these times” in the wake of the incident.

Trump indicated that he will support Ukraine in getting a just peace, more than two years into the country’s war with Russia, according to the source. Zelenskky believes Trump is firmly committed to that, the source said.

“I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families,” Trump said in his statement on the call. “Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity.”

Zelenskyy said in his statement that Ukraine “will always be grateful to the United States” for its support in its battle against Russia, and that he agreed with Trump to “discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.”

The call lasted 15 to 20 minutes and was warm and respectful, according to the source.

The conversation comes a day after Trump accepted the Republican party’s nomination to be its presidential candidate in his third bid for the White House.

In his keynote speech, Trump claimed that Russia’s attack on Ukraine “would have never happened if I were president.”

During the June debate against President Joe Biden, Trump pivoted toward how much money the U.S. has spent on the Russia-Ukraine war when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s term.

“They’re not acceptable but look, this is a war that never should have started,” Trump said.

On Monday, Zelenskyy told reporters Kyiv will develop relations with the U.S. regardless of the results of the upcoming presidential election.

“I think that if Mr. Donald Trump becomes president, then we will work. I am not afraid of it,” he said.

Friday’s conversation comes nearly five years after the call between Trump and Zelenskyy that led to the former president’s first impeachment in 2019.

The then-Democratically controlled House voted to impeach Trump on two articles of impeachment, one for abuse of power and one for obstruction of justice, over allegations that Trump held up military aid for Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy to investigate his political rivals in the July 2019 call.

Following a three-week trial, the then-Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump with just one Republican — Mitt Romney of Utah — voting to convict.

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