(WASHINGTON) — In closed-door testimony to House investigators released on Friday, Dr. Bob Redfield, former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, former President Donald Trump appointees repeatedly blocked his public health experts from briefing the American public.
Redfield described, in detail, efforts by the CDC to speak publicly on what it knew about COVID and how people could stay safe.
“They would not clear our briefings,” Redfield said, according to written excerpts of the interview. “This is one of my great disappointments. That HHS basically took over total clearance of briefings by CDC.”
Further, Redfield said he believed the consequences of CDC’s inability to provide information to the public during that period, impacted the trust of the American public on the agency.
He called his replacement, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, after she was picked for the job, and promised he would never jump on the evening television shows and criticize her.
“I called her when she got nominated. The one thing she wasn’t going to hear from me was public criticism. I got it every night from my predecessors on the nightly news. I said I’m not going to do that to you. That is tough job. I’m here to help. Call me if you can,” Redfield said.
Prior to Redfield’s comments, last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report detailing accusations from staffers of political interference against the agencies within HHS, including the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Interviewees reported, through a confidential hotline, that they had witnessed instances of political interference occur, but did not report them for various reasons, including fear of retaliation, a lack of knowledge on how to report the issues, or a belief that their leaders were already aware of the issues.
Some respondents from the CDC and FDA said they felt that the potential political interference they observed, had resulted in the “alteration” or “suppression” of scientific findings. Other interviewees reported that they believed the potential political interference that they had witnessed, may have resulted in the “politically motivated alteration of public health guidance or delayed publication of COVID-19-related scientific findings.”
In one instance, in May 2020, a senior official from the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response claimed that HHS retaliated against him for disclosing “concerns about inappropriate political interference to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available to the public as treatments for COVID-19,” GAO officials wrote in the report.
The report, which stated that the agencies had not reported any formal internal allegations of potential political interference from 2010 through 2021, found that the federal health agencies do not have appropriate procedures in place that “define political interference in scientific decision-making.” Although all four agencies train staff on some scientific-integrity-related topics, the NIH is the only agency that provides guidance on political interference.
According to GAO officials, who concluded their audit through April 2022, HHS concurred with the recommendations to develop procedures and training for reporting these allegations of political interference.
(WASHINGTON) — Federal prosecutors on Friday secured a second guilty plea and cooperation deal with a member of the Oath Keepers militia group charged in the government’s seditious conspiracy case stemming from the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Brian Ulrich, of Guyton, Georgia, admitted on Friday that he was part of the group of Oath Keepers that was seen during the riot ascending the east steps of the Capitol in a military-style “stack” formation.
The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to two felony charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding, both of which carry maximum sentences of 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000. As outlined in his plea, Ulrich’s estimated offense level carries a sentencing range between 63-78 months, though the government could recommend a lesser sentence based on the extent of his cooperation.
As part of his plea deal, Ulrich agreed to provide “substantial cooperation” to the government, including testifying before a grand jury and at trial, as well as sitting for additional interviews with the government if they request it.
As D.C. district judge Amit Mehta read off the terms of his plea, Ulrich became emotional, his voice cracking as Mehta described the potential time in prison he could face at sentencing.
Mehta at one point asked Ulrich if he wanted to take a break to compose himself.
“It’s not going to get any easier,” Ulrich responded.
He could be heard weeping over the teleconference line several times through the remainder of the hearing.
In a filing released Friday, Ulrich acknowledged using the Signal app to send private messages to other members of the Oath Keepers regarding their plans to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president in favor of then-President Donald Trump.
“I seriously wonder what it would take just to get every patriot marching around the capital armed?” Ulrich messaged on Dec. 5, 2020. “Just to show our government how powerless they are!”
Ulrich also admitted he traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4 with the knowledge that other members of the group had stored firearms at a hotel in Virginia, where prosecutors say a number of Oath Keepers were stationed on Jan. 6 as part of a heavily armed “Quick Reaction Force” in case the group wanted to transport weapons into the city.
Ahead of his trip, Ulrich said he purchased tactical gear and other equipment, including two-way radio receivers, which he carried with him inside the Capitol.
At the start of the assault on the Capitol, Ulrich said he and other Oath Keepers members were at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. When they saw news reports of the mob breaching police lines, the group gathered their gear and raced to the Capitol on golf carts to join the attack.
In the days after Jan. 6, Ulrich continued to communicate with other Oath Keepers on Signal, saying in one message that he and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes needed to “stay below the radar,” according to prosecutors.
Ulrich’s plea follows a similar agreement prosecutors reached last month with Joshua James, a member of the Oath Keepers’ Alabama chapter who admitted to providing security for former Trump adviser Roger Stone on the day before the riot.
There are nine remaining Oath Keepers members facing seditious conspiracy charges, including Rhodes — all of whom have pleaded not guilty and have vowed they will fight the charges at trial.
“Do you agree with that statement [in your plea agreement] that you agreed with Mr. Rhodes and others to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power?” Mehta asked Ulrich Friday.
(WASHINGTON) — With power players flocking to a crowded Washington hotel ballroom for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday, many itching to mingle after a two-year COVID-induced hiatus, the virus appears to be creeping closer to the gala’s star guest — President Joe Biden — with a positive test for a top aide on Friday.
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield is the latest in Biden’s inner circle — following Vice President Kamala Harris — to test positive for COVID this week, tweeting on Friday that she last saw the president two days before in a “socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask.”
This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19. I last saw the President Wednesday in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask, and he is not considered a close contact as defined by the CDC.
Saturday’s event now coincides with concerns it could become a superspreader like the Gridiron Club Dinner, after which at least 72 attendees reported testing positive. Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, dropped out of the dinner earlier this week — citing his individual assessment of his own personal risk CNN first reported — while White House COVID coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha has said it should go forward.
“These are the strategies we have learned over the last two years, and if we implement them, do I think it’s safe for people to gather together indoors? Absolutely,” Jha said earlier this month on “Fox News Sunday.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked Wednesday about the discrepancy between Biden and Fauci’s plans and whether there’s concern Biden would be considered as “not following the science.”
“Every individual will make their own decisions about whether they attend this event, other events, whether they wear a mask at it or not,” Psaki said, noting the COVID protocols in place for guests.
“He [Biden] has made the decision he wants to attend, in a safe way, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to show his support,” she continued. “That does stand in stark contrast to his predecessor, who not only questioned the legitimacy of the press on a nearly daily basis, but also never attended the dinner, I don’t believe.”
Unlike former President Donald Trump, who notably skipped the event while in office, Psaki said Americans can have eyes on Biden for what she called “his roasting, where he will be on the menu, as he likes to say, when Trevor Noah is speaking.”
She also stressed that Biden, who is also slated to deliver a routine of his own, is taking extra precautions like skipping the dinner portion of the event. She said she expects he’ll be at the event “for about an hour or 90 minutes.”
“He’s not attending the dinner portion. He’s coming for the program. So and he will likely wear a mask when he’s not speaking,” Psaki said on Friday. “And then he’s of course sitting on the dias up in the front of the interaction and is not attending any of the receptions.”
She added that Biden tested negative on Thursday, “but I don’t have anything to predict in terms of the future,” she said.
Asked what to expect from his remarks, Psaki said, “The president has a very good sense of humor and is working hard on his own speech.”
In recent weeks, as the BA.2 subvariant has spread around Washington, the White House changed its messaging to say that Biden, like any other American, could test positive “at some point,” but stressed that he has the capacity to “run the country from anywhere” and is up-to-date on COVID boosters.
“Just like anything, it’s a risk assessment, and a decision he made on a personal basis,” Psaki said this week.
Comedian Trevor Noah is set to host Saturday’s dinner, for which guests are required to show proof of vaccination and a day-of negative COVID test. Drew Barrymore, Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are among celebrities planning to attend, according to a Deadline report.
Earlier this month, two Cabinet members and three lawmakers were among those who tested positive after attending the Gridiron Club Dinner. Speaker Nancy Pelosi also tested positive in early April, days after attending two events with Biden at the White House without a mask. Psaki and White House deputy press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre both tested positive in late March.
Despite the close cases — not deemed close contacts — the positive tests have not had any impact on the president’s plans to take part in large events. He attended the funeral of Madeleine Albright on Wednesday and is scheduled to also travel to Minnesota for the memorial of Walter Mondale on Sunday.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump, in a sworn affidavit, said Friday he possesses no documents subpoenaed by the New York Attorney General’s Office — but the judge overseeing the case declined to end his contempt finding and the $10,000 daily fine.
“To the best of my knowledge, (i) I do not have any of the documents requested in the subpoena dated December 1, 2021 in my personal possession; and (ii) if there are any documents responsive to the subpoena I believe they would be in the possession or custody of the Trump Organization,” Trump’s affidavit said.
“At all relevant times, I have authorized, and continue to authorize, the release of a responsive document to the Office of the Attorney General,” Trump said in the document.
The same document that contains the affidavit also contained a detailed review by Trump’s attorney of the steps taken to look for the documents in question.
But Judge Arthur Engoron remained unsatisfied, and denied Trump’s motion to purge the contempt finding and the fine that accompanies it.
“This Court has improperly held my client in contempt for a violation that he did not commit solely because the OAG declared it ‘insufficient’ without any basis,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in response to the ruling. “We will zealously prosecute our appeal of the Court’s improper application of both law and fact.”
The subpoena was issued as part of the attorney general’s civil investigation into the way Trump valued his real estate empire.
(NEW YORK) — Three Bureau of Prisons employees at United States Penitentiary Thompson in Illinois have had to go to the hospital over the past two weeks, according to the local union president, prompting two members of Congress to write a letter to the agency questioning how mail for prisoners is processed.
“We write with concern about reports of unsafe conditions for correctional officers in opening mail for incarcerated persons,” the letter written by Rep. Cherri Bustos, D-Ill., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ili., and obtained by ABC News, said.
“We know that it is critical for incarcerated persons to have access to correspondence while serving their sentences. Unfortunately, mail is also one of the ways in which drug contraband can be brought into correctional facilities,” the lawmakers wrote.
One staff member was hospitalized on Friday. The drug involved and the officer’s condition are unknown.
On March 17, a corrections officer was sorting mail and 19 pieces of mail were soaked in amphetamines, according to USP Thompson Union President Jon Zumkehr.
The staff member started “throwing up and having a violent reaction and was rushed to medical — his vitals were off the chart,” Zumkehr said.
A day later, another staff member was rushed to the hospital after being exposed to synthetic marijuana, he said.
In 2020, the Bureau of Prisons started a pilot program to convert mail to electronic scans at some facilities, to combat drug smuggling through official correspondence, according to the two lawmakers.
Zumkehr said the program was ended due to funding concerns.
“Staff shouldn’t have a price tag on their life,” he said.
Shane Fausey, president of the National Council of Prison Locals 33 told ABC News the substances officers are dealing with, including fentanyl, are both very dangerous and prevalent.
“It’s a matter of safety. It’s a matter of when you deal with substances like fentanyl, car fentanyl, they’re so hazardous a minuscule amount is going to kill someone if we don’t somehow stop it from entering our prisons,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement to ABC News it would respond directly to members of Congress and their staff.
“Out of respect and deference to Members, we do not share our Congressional correspondence with media,” it said.
(NEW YORK) — A Colorado inmate is the first person in the United States to test positive for bird flu as an ongoing outbreak in the country continues to affect birds and poultry.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said the man, who is under age 40, was involved in culling poultry that were presumed to be infected with the virus.
According to a press release from the CDPHE, the man, an inmate at a state correctional facility in Delta County — about 100 miles southwest of Aspen — was exposed while working with infected poultry at a commercial farm in Montrose County, about 50 miles away.
The farm work is part of a pre-release employment program in which inmates can work for private companies and be paid a wage.
Colorado health officials detected the virus in a single nasal specimen from the man and the result was confirmed by the CDC on April 27.
The man was asymptomatic and only reported fatigue for a few days, according to the CDC. He has since recovered but is currently isolating and receiving the antiviral drug tamiflu.
Repeat testing of the man for influenza was negative. Colorado officials said “because the person was in close contact with infected poultry, the virus may have been in the person’s nose without causing infection.” The CDC also noted it possible for the detection of bird flu to be the result of surface contamination.
Health officials insisted there is little risk to the general public and there is no evidence the virus spreads from person to person.
“We want to reassure Coloradans that the risk to them is low,” Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist for the CDPHE, said in a statement.
The CDPHE did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.
According to the U.S Department of Agriculture’s latest report, since late 2021, bird flu has been detected in commercial and backyard birds in 29 states and in wild birds in 34 states. More than 2,500 people with direct exposure to infected animals have been tested for bird flu and are negative, the CDC said.
Bird flu infections among people are rare but direct exposure to infected poultry or wild birds increases this risk. The first human case of this specific virus was detected by health officials in the United Kingdom in an asymptomatic patient who had been raising birds that became infected.
Officials say it is safe to eat eggs and poultry, with the USDA always advising proper handling and cooking of poultry products.
Health officials said poultry owners or handlers should monitor fowl for signs of the bird flu and monitor feed and water supplies to avoid contamination.
The CDPH recommended people avoid contact with poultry or birds that appear to be ill or dead as well as contact with surfaces that appear to be contaminated with feces from wild or domestic birds.
Those who are required to handle sick or dead birds are advised to wear gloves and wash their hands with soap and water after.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, has promised the panel will tell the “story about what happened” when the first of at least eight public hearings starts on June 9, he told reporters Thursday.
“We’ll tell the story about what happened. We will use a combination of witnesses, exhibits, things that we have — to the tens of thousands of exhibits we’ve interviewed and looked at as well as the hundreds of witnesses we deposed or just talked to in general,” Thompson said, as the committee works to wrap up more witness interviews in the coming weeks.
“It will give the public the benefit of what more than a year’s worth of investigation has borne to the committee,” he added.
Thompson told reporters that the eight hearings on tap so far will be held in a “mixture” of daytime and prime-time programming. The committee has set a self-imposed fall deadline to share its findings with the American public — coinciding with the 2022 midterm elections which will determine the balance of power in Congress.
He also said the panel will re-invite House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans linked to the Jan. 6 conversations inside the Trump White House to cooperate with their investigation “before the week is out.”
“We’ve collected an awful lot of information. And some of that information has bearing on members. And we want to give those members an opportunity to tell their side,” he said, adding that senators will also be invited to cooperate.
Asked what the panel will do if lawmakers refuse, as they have in the past, Thompson said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Thompson was also asked Thursday about the tranche of text messages that former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows handed over to the committee late last year before he decided not to cooperate with the panel. The authenticity of the messages, first reported by CNN, was confirmed to ABC News by people who have seen them.
“It does not bode well for members of Congress,” Thompson said. “People send us here to be truthful. People send us here to make sure that we present the facts. People don’t send us here to lie.”
Meadows was held in contempt by the House in December for not complying with his subpoena, but has yet to face charges from the Justice Department.
The Jan. 6 committee held its first public hearing in July 2021 and featured emotional testimony from Capitol Police officers who protected the complex on Jan. 6, 2021.
The four officers testifying then — Capitol Police officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges — flatly rejected what they called attempts to rewrite history and downplay the attack as one that shouldn’t be investigated further, telling lawmakers they all feared for their lives on Jan. 6.
All four said they also wanted the panel to investigate whether those in power may have aided and abetted rioters.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. economy shrank in the first three months of 2022, after years of growth, according to a new report.
Economists had expected consumer spending to accelerate in March, as rising wages prompted more American spending on services such as dining out and travel.
Watch the full report from ABC’s Good Morning America:
(NEW YORK) — Trevor Reed’s family said President Joe Biden may have saved their son’s life, doing everything he could to bring Reed home, in their first interview since seeing their son on U.S. soil.
“Ultimately it was President Biden,” Joey Reed, Trevor Reed’s father, said in an interview Friday on Good Morning America. “We’ve said all along if we could just speak to the man, we think he would make this happen and that’s exactly what happened. He did everything that we had said he would do and it’s amazing and we can’t thank him enough.”
He added, “We believe he may have saved Trevor’s life.”
Reed, a former Marine from Texas, was released from Russian prison on Wednesday as part of an international prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia. He had been held in Russia since 2019.
Trevor Reed’s family said they met with him on Thursday for a few hours. His mother, Paula Reed, said it was the first time they got to hug him, saying “it was heaven.”
The Reeds said they received a phone call early Thursday morning from Roger Carsten, the presidential envoy on hostage affairs, who handed the phone to Trevor Reed, who was on a plane headed to the U.S.
Reed was arrested in Russia, while on a trip visiting his girlfriend, after Russian authorities alleged he grabbed the wheel of a police car and assaulted a police officer while drunk.
Reed denied the allegations and maintained his innocence. A year later he was sentenced to nine years in prison. After several appeals he was moved from a Moscow prison to a remote prison colony.
Reed was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, a convicted drug trafficker.
Reed’s parents said their son has a long road to recovery, in an interview with ABC News’ David Muir on Wednesday.
He is currently in a medical facility receiving care, but his family did not have a complete update on his health on Friday.
“We don’t really have a whole lot of answers yet. He’s getting testing done. He is at a top-notch medical facility and getting great care so we’re excited about that but we won’t really know more for a few days,” Paula Reed said.
The Reeds lobbied for years for the U.S. to negotiate for their son’s release, even personally pleading with Biden.
Other Americans, including Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, are still being held in Russia.
“Our hearts go out to them and we can only imagine how disappointed they are that their loved ones didn’t get to come home,” Paula Reed said.
She added that Whelan’s release was the first thing her son brought up when the family spoke.
“He said he didn’t feel well and we said, ‘Do you mean physically?’ He said, ‘No, mom. I feel terrible that Paul still there and I’m here.’ And he said when I get better, I’m going to start advocating for them to bring Paul home right away,'” Paula Reed said.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 29, 6:37 am
American killed while fighting in Ukraine
U.S. citizen Willy Joseph Cancel was killed in Ukraine while fighting alongside Ukrainian troops against invading Russian forces, his family confirmed to ABC News early Friday.
Cancel, a 22-year-old former U.S. Marine, “was eager to volunteer” when he learned about the war in Ukraine, according to his wife, Brittany Cancel.
“He went there wanting to help people, he had always felt that that was his main mission in life,” Brittany Cancel told ABC News in a statement. “My husband was very brave and a hero.”
Before going to Ukraine, Cancel was working as a detention officer in Kentucky. He also had dreams of becoming a police officer or firefighter, according to his wife.
“I did not expect to be a widow at 23 years old or for our son to be without a father,” she said. “All I want is for him to come home, and to give him the proper burial he deserves.”
An official with the U.S. Department of State told ABC News on Friday morning that they “are aware of these reports and are closely monitoring the situation,” but declined to comment further “due to privacy considerations.”
-ABC News’ Caroline Guthrie and Conor Finnegan
Apr 29, 5:53 am
Journalist killed by Russian bombardment in Kyiv
At least one person — a journalist — was killed in a rocket attack on a residential building in Kyiv on Thursday evening, ABC News has learned.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Kilitschko said Friday that rescuers had found the body of a victim amid the rubble.
Radio Liberty, a service of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reported that one of its employees, Vira Gyrych, was killed when a Russian missile hit her apartment in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday. Her body was found beneath the wreckage Friday morning, according to the report.
Gyrych had worked as a journalist and producer for Radio Liberty’s Kyiv bureau since 2018. Prior to that, she worked for leading Ukrainian television channels, according to Radio Liberty.
“The editorial staff of Radio Liberty expresses its condolences to the family of Vira Gyrych and will remember her as a bright and kind person, a true professional,” Radio Liberty said in its report.
Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky also confirmed Gyrych’s death in a Twitter post, saying she was a former employee of the Israeli embassy in Kyiv.
Thursday’s rocket attack came as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv. Five Russian missiles flew into the city, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At least 10 people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, according to the Kyiv City Council.
Apr 29, 5:02 am
UN chief pledges to ‘fight with the use of force’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres admitted Thursday that “the U.N. Security Council has not been able to do everything in its power” to resolve the war in Ukraine, as he pledged to “fight with the use of force.”
“We will not give up,” Guterres said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
According to Guterres, U.N. staff are already providing on-site assistance in 30 locations across Ukraine. The U.N. chief called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “a violation of the U.N. Charter.” One of the organization’s values, he said, “is the need that territorial integrity of the countries must be respected.”
“This is fundamental,” Guterres added.
Guterres visited Kyiv as the Ukrainian capital was hit by two missile strikes on Thursday evening. Five missiles flew into the city, according to Zelenskyy. At least 10 people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, according to the Kyiv City Council.
“This says a lot about Russia’s true attitude to global institutions. About the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything that the organization represents,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly broadcast.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Western countries of openly calling on Ukraine to attack Russian territory with the weapons they supply to Kyiv.
“We have already commented the other day on statements by British Deputy Defense Minister [James] Heappey about okaying Ukraine’s strikes on Russian military targets,” Zakharova told reporters in Moscow, according to Russian state media. “In other words, the West is openly calling on Kiev to attack Russia, even with weapons received from NATO countries.”
According to Zakharova, Kyiv has taken this as a guide to action, evidenced by the Ukrainian military’s shelling of Russian border territories over the past few weeks that resulted in casualties and destruction. Zakharova said the Ukrainian strikes were “further evidence that Zelenskyy’s regime is not independent in its decisions and is completely dependent on external handlers.”
Zakharova also stressed that such “criminal activity” of the Ukrainian military against Russian territory cannot go unanswered.
“I would like Kyiv and Western capitals to take seriously the statements of our country’s defense ministry that further Ukrainian provocations to strike Russian targets will definitely lead to a harsh response from Russia,” she said.
At a press conference in Vienna on Thursday, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi warned that Russian missiles over Ukrainian power plants could cause a nuclear accident. Grossi, who recently visited Ukraine and its Chernobyl nuclear power plant, said the Ukrainian government officially informed his agency, the nuclear watchdog of the U.N., of a video surveillance camera recording the flight of a missile directly over the South Ukraine nuclear power plant near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk on April 16.
“The IAEA is studying the evidence and if it is confirmed, the incident will have extremely serious consequences,” Grossi said. “If such a missile changed its trajectory, it could seriously affect the physical integrity of the nuclear power plant, which could lead to a nuclear accident.”
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Uliana Lototska and Nataliia Kushnir
Apr 28, 6:41 pm
Russia could be ‘intensifying’ forced displacement of civilians: US official
The U.S. has “credible information” that Russia could be “intensifying” the forced displacement of civilians as it plans to overthrow local governments in southern and eastern Ukraine, a senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday.
Michael Carpenter, the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told reporters there is “credible reporting” that after failing to topple the central government in Kyiv, Russian forces are forcibly removing Ukrainian civilians from areas in the south and east — and could be “intensifying” those efforts as they seek to set up proxy local governments.
Carpenter said he has also now deemed “credible” the reports that Russian forces are forcibly displacing Ukrainian civilians, often through “filtration camps” where many are “brutally” interrogated, to tamp down on Ukrainian support in these parts of the war-torn country.
Carpenter repeatedly declined to provide more details to back up these claims, saying only, “We have very credible information from a variety of different sources that point to Russia’s plans.”
