(WASHINGTON) — An American MQ-9 Reaper flying near Yemen has been shot down by Houthi militants, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News and the Pentagon later said on Tuesday.
The Houthis said they had targeted the Reaper as well as two American ships in the Gulf of Aden in a statement Monday.
This is their second downing of a Reaper, having shot one down one in international airspace near Yemen in November.
The U.S. has designated the Houthis as a global terrorist organization amid rising regional tensions and a consistent deployment of missiles and drones against each other since war in Gaza broke out.
The Pentagon says the drone, taken down by a surface-to-air missile, has not been recovered and that an investigation is ongoing.
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh conceded that Houthi “attacks are getting more sophisticated,” but she insisted “our dynamic strikes or coalition strikes absolutely have an impact.”
Singh noted an “uptick” over the weekend of activity by the Houthis, who are backed by Iran.
“If Iran does have a role to play with the Houthis, it’s not doing it,” she said, urging the Iranians to exert influence over the Houthis to tame tensions.
The U.S. conducted what it calls five self-defense strikes Sunday against the Houthis, one of which targeted an unmanned underwater vessel, the first submarine the U.S. says the Houthis have employed since tensions began to flare in October.
The Coast Guard reported an interdiction this month that seized the components of the underwater drone that U.S. forces targeted Sunday.
The remotely-operated Reaper is charged primarily with intelligence gathering and costs more than $50 million, according to the Air Force.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — American diplomats are preparing to present a resolution to the United Nations Security Council calling for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of all hostages held inside the enclave and making several other demands related to the impact of Israel’s campaign on Palestinian civilians, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
While the draft resolution is markedly more critical of Israel’s siege of Gaza than prior public statements expressed before the council by Biden administration officials, it also condemns Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7 — a censure the Security Council has so far failed to pass.
The U.S., Qatar and Egypt are working to broker such an agreement between Israel and Hamas. While talks have stalled in recent weeks, negotiators are still optimistic a deal can be reached.
“The differences between the parties, they have been narrowed. They haven’t been sufficiently narrowed to get us to a deal, but we are still hopeful, and we are confident that there is the basis for an agreement between the parties,” one U.S. official said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. vetoed a resolution introduced by Algeria calling for an immediate pause in the conflict, marking the third time the Biden administration has rejected demands for a cease-fire in the chamber.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield explained that she voted against the measure because it did not condition the cease-fire on the release of hostages, arguing that it would derail ongoing talks that would accomplish both goals.
“While we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy, we look forward to engaging on a text that we believe will address so many of the concerns we all share,” she said.
Beyond demanding the release of hostages for a cease-fire, senior administration officials say the U.S. resolution makes clear that Israel’s planned ground offensive into Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering, should not proceed “under current circumstances.”
Additionally, officials say the draft states that there can be no reduction in territory in the Gaza Strip or any forced displacement of Palestinians — demands that run counter to public statements expressed by the most conservative members of Netanyahu’s government.
The measure also calls on Israel “to lift all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance, open additional humanitarian routes, and to keep current crossings open,” one official said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that his country would not be dissuaded from its mission by any form of international pressure.
“We are committed to continuing the war until we achieve all of its goals, which means the elimination of Hamas, the release of all the abductees and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said. “There is no pressure–no pressure — that can change that.”
While the language in the draft resolution is markedly more critical of Israel’s campaign than prior public statements by American representatives at the U.N., it also condemns Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7 — a censure the council has so far failed to pass.
U.S. officials signaled that they would not rush to bring their proposal to a vote in the chamber, saying they anticipated allowing ample “time for negotiations.”
But it’s unclear whether any amount of time will allow diplomats to break through gridlock in the council.
In late October, a U.S.-led effort to pass a resolution calling for extended humanitarian pauses was rejected by Russia and China, two other permanent members of the body with veto power.
After torpedoing the U.S. text, representatives from both countries hastily submitted their own proposal calling for an immediate cease-fire, which, in turn, was quashed by the U.S.
(MERRIMAC, Va.) — A 20-year-old Virginia Tech student has been reported missing after he vanished days ago, according to the university.
Johnny Roop, a senior at the school’s business college, was last seen on Friday at his apartment complex in Merrimac in Montgomery County, just south of the Virginia Tech campus, the university said.
At 4:26 p.m. Friday, the university said Roop’s phone pinged near the New River Valley Mall, which is a few miles south of the apartment complex.
Roop was traveling to drive to his parent’s house, which is 100 miles away in Abingdon, Virginia, to take an online exam by 5 p.m., but he never arrived, according to the university.
Authorities believe Roop left Montgomery County on his own Friday afternoon, and most likely traveled southwest toward Abingdon, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said. He was seen on surveillance video in Montgomery County at about 3:30 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
“Based on interviews with friends and family (in addition to video surveillance) it was noted that Mr. Roop’s behavior on Friday was not consistent with his normal patterns of behavior; however, information received seems to indicate that he was alone,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “We have received no information leading us to believe that he is in immediate danger; however, due to the fact that Mr. Roop appears to be acting outside of his normal behavior we would like to make contact with him to confirm that he is indeed ok.”
Roop drives a black 2018 Toyota Camry with a sticker of the Virginia Tech flag on the back window, the university said. The car has Virginia license plate number TXW6643.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House will announce a new “major sanctions” package on Friday “to hold Russia accountable” for the death of Alexei Navalny, the longtime Russian opposition politician and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby.
“Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr. Navalny’s death,” Kirby said Tuesday morning. “In response and at President [Joe] Biden’s direction, we will be announcing a major sanctions package on Friday of this week to hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny.”
Kirby did not go into detail about what the new sanctions package would include, but noted the sanctions will also work to hold Russia accountable for its ongoing war with Ukraine.
“I think what you’ll see in this package that we’re going to be announcing Friday is a set of sanctions — a regime that not only is designed to hold Mr. Putin accountable for now two years of war in Ukraine, but also specifically supplemented with additional sanctions regarding Mr. Navalny’s death,” Kirby said.
Later Tuesday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan shed more light on the U.S. move, noting that the administration is timing them to coincide with the two-year anniversary of the start of the conflict.
Asked about what impact the sanctions would have, Sullivan said the upcoming package was “substantial,” and covers “a range of different elements of the Russian defense industrial base, and sources of revenue for the Russian economy” that he said power their war machine and ongoing aggression and repression.
“We believe that will have an impact,” he said.
” … This is another turn of the crank, another turn of the wheel and it is a range of targets a significant range of targets that we have worked persistently and diligently to identify, to continue to impose costs for what Russia has done for what it’s done to the army for what it’s done to Ukraine, and for the threat that it represents to international peace and security,” Sullivan added.
Last week, Navalny died in prison at age 47. Shortly after news of Navalny’s death, Biden placed the blame directly on Putin.
“We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the result of something that Putin and his friends did,” Biden said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that “Russia is responsible for this.”
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, on Tuesday called for the remains to be returned so they could be “buried with dignity.”
She released a video in which she alleged that Navalny’s body was being kept from the family because he had been murdered, perhaps by poison.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, on Tuesday said those allegations were “unfounded, unsupported and borish.”
Russia is already heavily sanctioned: sanctions signed by Biden in December went after financial institutions that indirectly allowed Russia to keep building its war arsenal amid its aggression against Ukraine.
ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — More than four months since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The conflict, now the deadliest between the warring sides since Israel’s founding in 1948, shows no signs of letting up soon and the brief cease-fire that allowed for over 100 hostages to be freed from Gaza remains a distant memory.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Feb 20, 2:21 PM Hostages held in Gaza have received medicine, Qatar says
Qatari officials said hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have received the medication that was part of a deal brokered last month.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said it has asked Qatar for evidence that the medicine was delivered.
“Israel will examine the credibility of the report and will continue to work for the peace of our abductees,” the office said in a statement.
Feb 20, 12:21 PM US draft resolution calls for temporary cease-fire
The U.S. voted against a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire at Wednesday’s United Nations Security Council meeting, The Associated Press reported.
The U.S. was the only nation of the 15 permanent Security Council members to vote against the measure, according to the AP.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said “an unconditional cease-fire without any obligation for Hamas to release hostages” was irresponsible.
“While we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy, we look forward to engaging on a text that we believe will address so many of the concerns we all share — a text that can and should be adopted by the council, so that we can have a temporary cease-fire as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released,” she said.
The U.S. has been circulating its own draft resolution on Gaza that calls for a temporary cease-fire conditioned on the release of all hostages, while also condemning Hamas for the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war, according to senior administration officials familiar with the matter.
If the proposal were to be adopted by the U.N. Security Council, it would mark the first time the body has formally condemned Hamas’ actions.
The officials say the draft also makes clear “that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah should not proceed” and that there can be no reduction in territory in the Gaza Strip or any forced displacement of Palestinians, while also calling on Israel “to lift all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance, open additional humanitarian routes, and to keep current crossings open.”
The senior officials signaled that American diplomats wouldn’t rush the text to a vote and that they intended on “allowing time for negotiations.”
While hostage talks have sputtered over the past couple of weeks, senior administration officials said they were making some progress.
“The differences between the parties, they have been narrowed. They haven’t been sufficiently narrowed to get us to a deal, but we are still hopeful and we are confident that there is the basis for an agreement between the parties,” one official said.
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Feb 20, 11:34 AM US votes against immediate cease-fire
The U.S. voted against a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire at Wednesday’s United Nations Security Council meeting, The Associated Press reported.
The U.S. was the only nation of the 15 permanent Security Council members to vote against the measure, according to the AP.
The U.S. has said an immediate cease-fire could impede the negotiations looking to free hostages and agree to a pause in fighting, the AP said.
Feb 20, 11:07 AM IDF operating inside Al-Amal Hospital
Israeli forces, which already entered Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, are also now operating inside the nearby Al-Amal Hospital, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed to ABC News.
“Al-Amal Hospital is currently under multiple attacks, as Israeli forces have directly targeted the third floor of the hospital, resulting in the burning of two rooms,” and “the hospital’s water lines were targeted,” the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
Over 8,000 patients were evacuated from the hospital earlier this month, but almost 100 patients still remain inside, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.
Feb 20, 7:13 AM WHO helps transfer 32 critical patients out of Gaza’s besieged Nasser Hospital
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it has helped to successfully transfer 32 critically ill patients, including two children, from besieged Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.
The WHO said its staff led two “life-saving,” “high-risk” missions at the medical complex in Khan Younis on Sunday and Monday, in close partnership with the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “amid ongoing hostilities and access restrictions.” Staff at Nasser Hospital had requested the transfer of patients after the facility became “non-functional” following an Israeli military raid on Feb. 14 after a weeklong siege, according to the WHO.
“Weak and frail patients were transferred amidst active conflict near the aid convoy,” the WHO said in a statement. “Road conditions hindered the swift movement of ambulances, placing the health of patients at further risk.”
“Nasser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease,” the organization added. “WHO staff said the destruction around the hospital was ‘indescribable.’ The area was surrounded by burnt and destroyed buildings, heavy layers of debris, with no stretch of intact road.”
The WHO estimates that 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain inside Nasser Hospital. As the facility’s intensive care unit was no longer functioning, the only remaining ICU patient was transferred to a different part of the complex where other patients are receiving basic care, according to the WHO.
“WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to lifesaving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths,” the organization said. “Efforts to facilitate further patient referrals amidst the ongoing hostilities are in process.”
Prior to the missions on Sunday and Monday, the WHO said it “received two consecutive denials to access the hospital for medical assessment, causing delays in urgently needed patient referral.” At least five patients reportedly died in Nasser Hospital’s ICU before any missions or transfers were possible, according to the WHO.
Nasser Hospital is the main medical center serving southern Gaza. Ground troops from the Israel Defense Forces stormed the facility last week, looking for members of Hamas who the IDF alleges have been conducting military operations out of the hospital. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza and is at war with neighboring Israel, denies the claims.
“The dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Medical Complex is a massive blow to Gaza’s health system,” the WHO said. “Facilities in the south are already operating well beyond maximum capacity and are barely able to receive more patients.”
Feb 20, 5:26 AM Aid groups warn of potential ‘explosion in preventable child deaths’ in Gaza
A new analysis by the Global Nutrition Cluster, a humanitarian aid partnership led by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, found that 90% of children under the age of 2 in the war-torn Gaza Strip face severe food poverty, meaning they eat two or fewer food groups a day.
The same was true for 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza, according to the report released Monday. And at least 90% of children under 5 are affected by one or more infectious disease, with 70% experiencing diarrhea in the past two weeks, the report said.
In Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where most humanitarian aid enters, 5% of children under 2 are acutely malnourished, compared to more than 15% in northern Gaza, which has been isolated by the Israeli military and almost completely cut off from aid for weeks, the report said. Before war broke out last October between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas, the acute malnutrition rate across the coastal enclave was less than 1%, according to the report.
The report also found that more than 80% of homes in Gaza lack clean and safe water, with the average household having one liter per person per day.
“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations at UNICEF, said in a statement. “We’ve been warning for weeks that the Gaza Strip is on the brink of a nutrition crisis. If the conflict doesn’t end now, children’s nutrition will continue to plummet, leading to preventable deaths or health issues which will affect the children of Gaza for the rest of their lives and have potential intergenerational consequences.”
Feb 19, 12:31 PM Gaza’s health ministry accuses IDF of turning Nasser Hospital into ‘military barracks’
Israeli troops have turned Nasser Hospital, the main medical center serving the southern Gaza Strip, into a “military barracks” and are “endangering the lives of patients and medical staff,” according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
The health ministry said Monday that patients and medical staff inside Nasser Hospital are now without electricity, water, food, oxygen and treatment capabilities for difficult cases since Israeli ground troops raided the facility in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis last week.
The World Health Organization, which warned on Sunday that Nasser Hospital “is not functional anymore,” said more than 180 patients and 15 doctors and nurses remain inside the hospital.
The WHO said it has evacuated 14 critical patients from the hospital to receive treatment elsewhere.
The Israel Defense Forces alleges that Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza, has been conducting military operations out of Nasser Hospital and other medical centers in the war-torn enclave — claims which Hamas denies.
(NEW YORK) — The gunman suspected in the fatal shootings of two Minnesota police officers and a paramedic during a domestic violence standoff in a Minneapolis suburb was serving a lifetime ban from possessing firearms at the time of the deadly encounter, according to court documents.
The suspect, 38-year-old Shannon Cortez Gooden, was issued the lifetime firearms ban following a 2008 conviction for second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in Dakota County, Minnesota, according to court records reviewed by ABC News. Gooden petitioned in 2020 to have his gun rights restored, claiming, “I would like to be able to protect not only myself but my family as well,” according to the documents.
A judge, however, denied Gooden’s petition on Oct. 9, 2020, after prosecutors cited other encounters Gooden had with police since his conviction and two orders of protection filed against him alleging domestic assault and abuse. In one of the incidents cited, a woman who Gooden used as a character witness in his attempt to get his gun rights restored, had filed an order of protection against him in 2017, alleging he “head-butted” her and threw her down a flight of stairs, according to the court documents.
Despite his petition being rejected, investigators said Gooden was armed with multiple firearms when he barricaded himself inside a Burnsville, Minnesota, home with family members, including seven children ranging from 2 to 15 years old.
Goodwin allegedly opened fire on officers who responded to the domestic violence incident, killing Burnsville police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, and Burnsville firefighter and paramedic Adam Finseth, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said the 27-year-old Elmstrand was shot multiple times; Ruge, also 27, was shot in the chest and Finseth, 40, suffered bullet wounds to the right arm and torso.
A third Burnsville police officer, Sgt. Adam Medlicott, 38, was hospitalized with injuries from the shooting, officials said. Medlicott was released from the hospital on Monday.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner announced Tuesday that Gooden died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Investigators have yet to say how Gooden obtained the firearms and ammunition used in the attack.
“Criminals don’t follow the law, and we have to be better prepared on the whole criminal justice system to react,” state Sen. Warren Limmer, a Republican, said on Monday following a moment of silence for the slain first responders at the state capital.
State Sen. Ron Latz, a Democrat, added: “We do background checks, we’ve got the red flag laws, all these are pieces of the puzzle and data shows that they will have an effect and reducing violence in our communities, but you’re not going to catch every situation. It’s just not possible.”
The fatal incident unfolded about 2 a.m. Sunday when Burnsville police were called to a home on a report of a domestic situation in progress involving an armed man barricaded with family members, according to a statement from Burnsville city officials.
Elmstrand, Ruge and Finseth were killed during a gunfight between Gooden and the police officers that erupted soon after the first responders arrived at the scene, officials said.
Gooden is believed to have died from suicide around 8 a.m. Sunday and family members barricaded with him emerged from the home uninjured, according to officials.
In his denied petition to get his gun rights restored, Gooden argued that he had rehabilitated himself since his 2007 arrest, in which he was accused of threatening a family with a knife outside a shopping mall.
“I completed an anger management course as well as a parenting course,” Gooden wrote in his petition, adding he had a steady job at the time and had earned an associate’s degree at a technical college. “I am in a loving and committed relationship with my girlfriend. I have five children, ages 8, 10, 11, 2, and 11 months that I love and care for dearly. I do all I can to provide for them. I also provide for my girlfriend’s two kids who are 8 and 10 years old.”
While Gooden listed in the petition a series of misdemeanor traffic offenses against him, the judge that denied his request cited other more serious crimes he was accused of, including the two orders of protection filed against him that he did not list.
The most recent order of protection was filed against him in July 2020 by a woman who was barricaded in the house with Gooden during Sunday’s incident, according to court records. The woman, who has children with Gooden, claimed in her request for an order of protection that Gooden had told his then-girlfriend to beat her up while they were arranging for a child exchange.
The woman also claimed that in 2014, Gooden “grabbed a knife and cut her clothes and sideswiped her foot,” causing her to fall down a set of stairs. She alleged in the petition that Gooden was “going to kill her.”
(NEW YORK) — The number of measles cases linked to an elementary school outbreak in southern Florida has risen to five.
The outbreak at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston — 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale and located in Broward County — was first reported on Friday with the initial patient being a third-grade student without a history of travel, according to the Florida Department of Health (DOH).
It’s unclear what grade the other infected students are in as well as other identifying information about them including age, sex and race/ethnicity.
“The District is maintaining close coordination with the Health Department to address this ongoing situation,” John Sullivan, chief communications and legislative affairs officer for Broward County Public Schools, said in a statement to ABC News.
“Over the weekend, the District took further preventive measures by conducting a deep cleaning of the school premises and replacing its air filters,” the statement continued.
Sullivan added that the school’s principal is “actively communicating with families, ensuring they are kept up to date with the latest information.”
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, meaning the disease “is no longer constantly present in this country.” The dip in routine childhood vaccinations in recent years — as well as travelers bringing measles into the country — has resulted in outbreaks.
It’s unclear if the students who contracted measles are unvaccinated. The current two-dose measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is 93% effective after one dose and 97% effective after two doses.
“It is very likely that this outbreak is among unvaccinated students, given that nearly 90% of measles cases in past outbreaks were among those not vaccinated,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “This pattern aligns with historical data showing that measles primarily spreads among unvaccinated populations.”
The first measles vaccine, a single-dose vaccine, was introduced in the U.S. in 1963. In the prior decade, there were 3 to 4 million cases annually, which led to 48,000 hospitalizations and 400 to 500 deaths.
While two doses of the MMR vaccine are required to attend public schools in Florida, parents are allowed to seek exemptions for religious reasons, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In Florida, at least 90.6% of kindergartners were fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine for the 2022-23 school year, according a November 2023 CDC report. However, at least 4.5% of children were exempted from one or more vaccines.
The overwhelming majority of cases in outbreaks are typically the unvaccinated. Nearly 90% of the 1,249 measles cases in 2019, which was the greatest number of cases reported since 1992, were people who were unvaccinated.
“DOH-Broward is continuously working with all partners, including Broward County Public Schools and local hospitals, to identify contacts that are at risk of transmission. Health care providers in the area have been notified,” according to a weekend alert from the Florida DOH in Broward County.
Brownstein said it is very possible that the number of cases could rise because measles spreads rapidly among those who are not immune.
“An outbreak like this is very concerning because measles is a highly infectious disease that can lead to serious health complications, especially in children and immunocompromised individuals,” he said. “It indicates potential gaps in herd immunity, which are vital to preventing the spread of such diseases.”
Health officials said if anyone suspects or notices symptoms, to contact their health care provider to receive instructions on how to seek medical care without exposing others and to not visit the health department or a doctor’s office without contacting officials ahead of time.
The Florida DOH did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
Weston is the most recent city in the U.S. to face a measles outbreak over the last few months.
Since December 2023, there have been eight confirmed cases in Philadelphia among unvaccinated individuals. Cases have also been identified in Delaware, New Jersey and Washington state, according to local reports.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, slammed Tony Bobulinski, one of House Republicans’ top witnesses in their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, in a letter first obtained by ABC News.
Bobulinski, a onetime business associate of Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden who has since become a critic of the Biden family, appeared last week before the Oversight Committee, where he reiterated claims he made during the 2020 election that Joe Biden was “an enabler” of several of his family’s overseas business schemes that “sold out to foreign actors who were seeking to gain influence and access to Joe Biden and the United States government.”
“Your client’s interview was chaotic to the point of burlesque as he repeatedly yelled, shouted, filibustered, and hurled outlandish and baseless accusations and insults against Democratic Members and staff,” Raskin wrote in the letter sent on Tuesday to Bobulinski’s attorney as well as Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer.
“Mr. Bobulinski did not offer any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden,” Raskin said in his letter. “He also did not provide any evidence that President Biden was involved in his family’s business dealings.”
The transcript of Bobulinski’s appearance appears to show that when pressed, Bobulinski — who Comer has described as “the one honest, credible guy that was involved with the Bidens” — could not point to direct evidence that Joe Biden was involved in his family’s business dealings.
At one point in the interview, New York Rep. Dan Goldman questioned Bobulinski about a report by The Wall Street Journal that found that text messages and emails that Bobulinski handed over “didn’t show either Hunter Biden or [President Biden’s brother] James Biden discussing a role for Joe Biden in the venture” that was being discussed.
“Can you point to anything in this text message where Jim Biden discusses Joe Biden at all?” Goldman asked.
Bobulinski responded, “Well, Jim Biden doesn’t actually respond to me in this text message. This is a text message on May 2nd at 11:40 p.m. from myself to Jim Biden that he doesn’t respond to.”
The transcript of the interview also shows that when Republican investigators asked Bobulinski to describe his two interactions with Joe Biden, who was a private citizen at the time, Bobulinski said the meetings did not include any direct discussion of any involvement in the business venture by Hunter Biden, James Biden, or two other partners, James Gilliar and Rob Walker.
In Bobulinski’s retelling, one encounter with Joe Biden focused on Bobulinski’s “background in detail,” the Biden “family’s background,” as well as President Biden’s “appreciation for the military” — but not any specifics regarding any business.
“I shook his hands, and we sat down. And I think the meeting was, you know, 45 minutes to an hour,” Bobulinski said regarding a meeting with Joe Biden in May 2017. “I remember going through my background in detail. I was very proud of it. I think he actually went first out of, you know, obviously, general respect at the time, and, you know, talked about some of the things they had dealt with as a family, their appreciation for the military, and stuff like that.”
Raskin, in his letter, also blasted Bobulinski for accusing “a broad group of individuals and organizations of lying,” including the multiple agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Wall Street Journal, and former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.
In Hutchinson’s book, “Enough,” she wrote that she recalled that Bobulinski chose to wear a “ski mask” to conceal his identity during a secretive encounter with Trump’s then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, at a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, at which Meadows handed him a “folded sheet of paper or small envelope.”
“Cassidy Hutchinson is an absolute liar and a fraud,” Bobulinski told the panel. “[Meadows] didn’t hand me a single thing.”
Comer, speaking to reporters following Bobulinski’s appearance last week, said that Bobulinski had “articulated under oath that Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ the Bidens sold to enrich the family.”
“Tony Bobulinski testified he believes Joe Biden committed wrongdoing and continues to lie to the American people about his participation in his family’s influence peddling schemes,” Comer said.
In a subsequent statement to ABC News, a House Oversight spokesperson said, “Joe Biden not only knew about his family’s dealings with a Chinese Communist Party-linked energy company, but he also enabled them and participated in them. … We now have evidence revealing Joe Biden met with nearly all of his son’s foreign associates who funneled him millions of dollars, and evidence revealing he benefited from his son’s influence-peddling schemes. Democrats continue to ignore this corruption and smear Tony Bobulinski as they play defense attorney for the Bidens.”
Responding to Raskin’s letter, Bobulinski’s attorney, Stefan Passantino, said, “These dishonest criticisms entirely ignore the facts and substance of Mr. Bobulinski’s actual testimony, delivered under oath before Congress last week. The Democrats are deliberately misleading the American public and obfuscating the facts. Mr. Bobulinski has laid out the facts under oath and remains willing to appear before Congress live, under oath, and next to his former business associates to lay out the facts and the importance of his testimony.”
In his appearance before the panel, Bobulinski repeated previous claims that, while working on the prospective Chinese joint venture, Bobulinski penned an email proposing a 10% cut for the “the big guy,” a reference he said referred to Joe Biden, which Republicans have cited as evidence of the president’s involvement in his son’s overseas work. Others involved in the proposed venture have derided Bobulinski’s proposition as “not serious,” and Walker has testified that nobody responded to Bobulinski’s email after he sent it.
Gilliar, who was also on the email, told the Wall Street Journal in 2020 that he was not aware of “any involvement at anytime of the former vice president” and that “the activity in question never delivered any project revenue.”
Bobulinski told the committee last week that none of his disclosures to JPMorgan Chase had described President Biden — or the “the big guy” — as having any share or role in the venture.
“No ‘big guy’ secretly being involved in the company in your disclosure to JP Morgan?” Republican investigators asked Bobulinski, who replied, “I did not.”
Notably, three days after Bobulinski’s email was sent, a draft agreement setting up the prospective venture showed that each partner would receive 20% — but there is no mention of Joe Biden.
(NEW YORK) — The White House will announce a new “major sanctions” package on Friday “to hold Russia accountable” in response to Alexei Navalny’s death, said National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Supreme Court will allow one of the nation’s top public schools to move forward with a new admissions policy that critics say has “racial balancing” at its core.
The closely watched case from Fairfax County in northern Virginia involves Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
For years, it’s student body — drawn from a race-blind process relying heavily on standardized tests — was more than 70% Asian American. In 2020, school board officials shifted to a more holistic approach that has resulted in greater numbers of white, Hispanic and Black students enrolled. While fewer Asian American students were admitted, they still made up more than half the incoming class.
A district court struck the policy because of alleged racial motivations of officials, but a narrowly divided appeals court reversed the decision and said it was permissible.
A majority of Supreme Court justices voted to let that ruling stand; they did not explain their decision.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the decision, saying it violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and is “indefensible.”
“The holding below effectively licenses official actors to discriminate against any racial group with impunity as long as that group continues to perform at a higher rate than other groups,” Thomas and Alito wrote.
“Today, the American Dream was dealt a blow, but we remain committed to protecting the values of merit, equality, and justice — and we will prevail for the future of our children and for the nation we love and embrace,” said Asra Nomani, co-founder of Coalition for TJ, which brought the suit against the school district.
“For the courageous families who have tirelessly fought for the principles that our nation holds dear, this decision is a setback but not a death blow to our commitment to the American Dream, which promises equal opportunity and justice for all,” Nomani said.
