(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A second suspect has been arrested in connection with a shooting that killed six people in a popular nightlife area in Sacramento, California, Sunday.
Smiley Martin, 27, was taken into custody Tuesday, Sacramento police said in a statement.
Martin has been receiving medical treatment for “serious injuries” from gunfire and is under police supervision in a hospital, police said. He will be booked once his care is complete and is being charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun.
Smiley Martin’s brother, Dandrae Martin, 26, was identified as a “related suspect” in the shooting, which broke out on K Street in downtown Sacramento early Sunday morning just after a fight took place, the Sacramento Police Department said. Martin was arrested on assault and illegal firearm possession charges on Monday, police said.
More than 100 shell casings were recovered from the scene, according to police. Investigators believe multiple gunmen are responsible for the shooting and are sifting through hundreds of pieces of evidence, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said during a press conference Sunday afternoon.
Video posted on Twitter on Sunday showed people running through the street as the apparent sound of rapid gunfire could be heard in the background.
The victims were identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s office on Monday as Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21; and Devazia Turner, 29.
At least a dozen people were injured in the shooting, Lester said. The conditions of the injured victims were not immediately known, police said.
It is not known whether the alleged gunmen knew each other, Lester said. A large crowd was present at the time of the shooting, she added.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg condemned the shooting during a news conference Sunday afternoon, describing it as “a senseless and unacceptable tragedy.”
“And I emphasize the word unacceptable,” Steinberg said. “Thoughts and prayers are not nearly enough. We must do more as a city as a state and as a nation.”
(NEW YORK) — In the seven months since Texas enacted a law that bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, its northern neighbor, Oklahoma, has felt the impact.
“We are essentially having to turn the vast majority of people away from getting abortions because we just cannot keep up with the volume,” said Dr. Christina Bourne, the medical director of Trust Women, which operates an abortion care clinic in Oklahoma City and one in Wichita, Kansas. “We could be doing abortions 24 hours a day and not keep up with the volume that is demanded of us.”
Now, Oklahoma appears close to enacting its own abortion ban, which providers like Bourne and others in surrounding states say could lead to a whole region of the country lacking adequate abortion access.
In late March, the Oklahoma House passed a measure, House Bill 4327, that would ban abortion at any point in the pregnancy unless it is “to save the life” of the pregnant person or if the pregnancy is the result of “rape, sexual assault or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.”
Like Texas’ law, HB 4327 also allows for citizens to sue for up to $10,000 anyone who performs or “aids and abets” an abortion.
Earlier last month, the Oklahoma Senate passed a similar bill, SB 1503.
“We know that patients who need abortion are not going to stop seeking it, it’s just going to get harder and harder for them to access,” said Emily Wales, the interim CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which covers Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and parts of Missouri. “Right now, patients may be traveling a few hundred miles from home, five or six hours, they’re going to add another five or six hours to get to the Kansas City area or to Wichita, and for some patients, that won’t be feasible.”
So far in 2022, the two Planned Parenthood clinics in Oklahoma that offer abortion services have seen more patients from Texas than from Oklahoma, according to Wales.
If the anti-abortion bills in Oklahoma are signed into law as expected, experts say women who have the means will have to travel further for abortion care, while those who don’t will not get care.
“We expect that the facilities that remain open in other states will be overwhelmed, as we have already seen with Senate Bill 8, with residents from other states coming in to get care,” said Dr. Kari White, an associate professor and faculty research associate at the University of Texas at Austin. “And there are some people for whom these longer distances are are just going to be impossible, and they will consider either other ways to try to end their pregnancies by ordering medications online or potentially doing something unsafe, and other people will be forced to continue their pregnancies.”
White, who is also the lead investigator of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, has studied the impact of Texas’ six-week abortion ban. According to her research, around 1,400 Texans have gone to another state for abortion care each month since SB8 went into effect in September, with 45% traveling to Oklahoma.
“We’ve certainly heard from some of the people we’ve interviewed in our study that they were willing to wait a little bit longer to get an abortion in Oklahoma because they could travel to Oklahoma, but it was too far for them to go to a state like New Mexico,” she said. “They just couldn’t make it work in terms of the additional cost, the time away from work or their child care responsibilities.”
New Mexico and Colorado, which have less stringent abortion restrictions, are likely to become hotspots for women in the region who have the means to travel for abortion care.
Those states have also felt the impact from SB8, according to Planned Parenthood, which reported a more than 1,000% increase in abortion patients with Texas zip codes at Planned Parenthood health centers in Colorado and a more than 100% increase at Planned Parenthood health centers in New Mexico compared to the previous year.
Other states that surround Oklahoma — Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas — face their own restrictions on abortion access and are dealing with already overwhelmed systems, experts say.
The two Planned Parenthood clinics that provided abortion care in Missouri have been closed in the last few years due to state restrictions, according to Wales, who added, “Missourians for a long time have been living the Texas crisis, where the majority of them are forced to flee their home state for care already.”
Arkansas has around three abortion clinics statewide currently, while Kansas has four, according to Sandy Brown, president of the Kansas Abortion Fund, a volunteer-run, nonprofit organization that helps fund Kansan women seeking abortion care.
“Our clinics here have been swamped,” Brown said. “They just can’t absorb the volume of people coming in from other states. Now, if Oklahoma happens, it’s really, really going to be bad, because we already can’t almost handle the patients that are coming in now.”
In May or June, the Supreme Court will announce its ruling on a 15-week ban in Mississippi and whether or not it is constitutional. If the Supreme Court determines the ban is constitutional, it could mean Roe v. Wade is either overturned or fundamentally weakened.
More than half of the nation’s 50 states are prepared to ban abortion if Roe is overturned, according to a report from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization.
If that happens, another factor to watch will be whether states that have banned abortion make it increasingly difficult for their residents to obtain abortions in other states, Mary Ziegler, visiting professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and author of Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present, told ABC News earlier this year.
In the meantime, abortion rights advocates and providers say they worry that the far distances people are having to travel to seek abortion care means the most vulnerable people, such as those without the financial resources to travel, are being left behind.
“Traveling is an option and has always been an option for affluent white people,” Bourne said. “Through abortion restrictions, we are legislating people who experience intersecting identities, poverty, people of color, queer folks, people with many children, people with busy lives who are going to be left out of that and forced to carry a pregnancy to term that perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have.”
Wales, of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said that as clinics in Oklahoma and Kansas have seen increased demand for abortion services, that has resulted in a delay in services for the type of general reproductive health care, like contraception and cancer screening, that makes up the majority of the clinics’ work.
“The increased need in abortion and the restrictions from the states … those things have pushed family planning patients and other types of care back,” Wales said. “It also means our family planning patients are coming in more concerned, more confused about what is available to them, because they just understand that rights are being restricted.”
“It has created a great deal of fear, I think, among the people we see,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats are calling on a government watchdog to investigate McKinsey & Company over claims that the consulting giant skirted federal conflict-of-interest rules, a sign of growing concern on Capitol Hill that lucrative government contracts are being doled out to firms with dual loyalties.
In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Service inspector general, who has jurisdiction over the Food and Drug Administration, lawmakers encouraged investigators to probe McKinsey’s alleged “failure … to disclose potential conflicts of interest when [it] entered into contracts with the FDA on issues related to opioids, while simultaneously working for numerous opioid companies.”
Representatives for McKinsey have denied any wrongdoing.
“It is heartbreaking how many Granite Staters and Americans experience substance use issues that began with an OxyContin prescription from their doctor,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, one of the Senate Democrats calling for the investigation into McKinsey’s alleged potential conflict-of-interest issues, told ABC News in a statement.
Other senators joining the effort include Sens. Patty Murray, Joe Manchin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin.
“We know that McKinsey worked with Purdue Pharma to ‘turbocharge’ sales of OxyContin, and it is deeply troubling that McKinsey was getting paid by opioid manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma at the same time it was working for the FDA,” Hassan wrote. “We must get to the bottom of these reports and understand the full scope of McKinsey’s involvement in fueling this crisis, as well as discover what more the FDA needs to do to avoid future conflicts of interest.”
McKinsey, one of the world’s most influential consulting companies, maintained that its past work was lawful and denied allegations to the contrary as last year it settled with nearly 50 states, territories and the District of Columbia for nearly $600 million after investigations into its role in helping fuel the nation’s opioid pandemic.
“We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic in our communities,” Kevin Sneader, the firm’s global managing partner, said in a statement. “With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S.”
McKinsey has faced scrutiny in recent years for allegedly accepting work from U.S. government agencies without disclosing potential conflicts of interest from the private sector or foreign governments.
Over the past decade, McKinsey has worked closely with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, the FDA’s principal division for approving new drugs — including opioids — on a wide range of projects, from overhauling drug-approval processes to implementing new tools for monitoring the pharmaceutical industry, federal contracting records and past media reports show. At the same time, the firm has been allegedly advising numerous major corporate pharmaceutical clients, including helping opioid makers fend off and water down FDA regulations, multiple news outlets have reported.
According to a ProPublica report, McKinsey allegedly failed to disclose to the FDA its list of corporate pharmaceutical clients and potential conflicts of interest even though it was obligated to do so under its contracts with the agency.
McKinsey spokesperson Neil Grace told ABC News that the company’s consulting work for pharmaceutical firms “did not create a conflict of interest” regarding its work with the FDA, because it “has not advised the FDA on regulatory policy or on specific pharmaceutical products.”
Instead, said Grace, McKinsey’s work with the FDA “focused on administrative and operational topics, including improvements to organizational structures, business processes and technology.”
“Given the absence of a conflict of interest, there was no requirement for any McKinsey disclosure,” Grace said. “That said, McKinsey’s proposals to the FDA frequently mentioned the company’s and personnel’s experience with the pharmaceutical industry, making the FDA aware of this aspect of McKinsey’s work in the field.”
McKinsey has faced similar scrutiny over its work for the Defense Department, for allegedly not disclosing its potential conflicts of interest while advising Chinese state companies at the same time, NBC News has reported. Grace told NBC News at the time that the firm follows strict rules and internal firewalls to avoid conflicts of interest and to comply with federal requirements. The spokesperson also said that the firm does not serve any clients in China on topics connected to defense, intelligence, justice or police issues.
In their letter to the HHS inspector general on Tuesday, lawmakers also called into question the FDA’s vetting process, at one point implying that the FDA continued awarding McKinsey contracts even after news reports called attention to its work on behalf of Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers.
“Despite these reports,” the senators wrote, “FDA did not conduct any additional contract reviews or discuss with McKinsey conflicts of interest and the firm’s failure to disclose them in earlier contract applications.”
From early 2019, when the first media reports emerged, until early 2021, McKinsey earned more than $20 million in new contracts from the FDA, including additional work for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research as well as COVID-19 coordination support work for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, according to government contracting databases.
The FDA, in response to earlier congressional inquiries regarding McKinsey’s potential conflicts of interest, wrote that it did not conduct additional review over its contracts with the firm even after learning of McKinsey’s work for opioid manufacturers because the firm’s work for the agency was not specifically related to opioids.
On Capitol Hill, members of Congress have increasingly trained their sights on McKinsey and other contractors for allegedly accepting government contracts while pursuing outside business opportunities that may present a conflict of interest.
Last week, a bipartisan coalition of senators introduced legislation meant to improve transparency in the federal contracting process.
The bill, called the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act, would seek to mitigate conflict-of-interest concerns by forcing contractors to “disclose other parts of their business that conflict with the work they are bidding to perform for the government,” according to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., one of the bill’s cosponsors.
In a press release announcing the legislation, Hassan invoked McKinsey’s handling of its work with the FDA, claiming that it demonstrates “the danger that conflicts of interest can pose in government contracting.”
(WASHINGTON) — For the first time since leaving office, former President Barack Obama is scheduled to return to the White House on Tuesday to join his former vice president in promoting the Affordable Health Care Act, which he signed into law.
Obama will join President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in delivering remarks “celebrating the success of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in extending affordable health insurance to millions of Americans as a part of the President’s agenda to cut costs for American families,” according to the White House.
The White House added that Biden “will take additional action to further strengthen the ACA and save families hundreds of dollars a month on their health care.” Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and other members of Biden’s Cabinet will also attend.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden and Obama will tout the ACA, which she said they view as “a shining example of how government can work for the American people.”
“Not only did it ensure that millions of people had access to affordable health care, but it has been an opportunity to build on that and make changes and make improvements over the course of time, which of course is what they will talk about tomorrow,” Psaki said at Monday’s press briefing.
She said Obama and Biden will also have lunch at the White House Tuesday — “as they used to do on a weekly basis” — and added, “They continue to talk regularly.”
“They are real friends, not just Washington friends, and so I’m sure they will talk about events in the world as well as their families and personal lives,” Psaki said.
The visit from the popular former president comes as Biden struggles in the polls over his handling of 40-year-high inflation and soaring gas prices he’s pinned to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Psaki said it’s “exactly the right time to have the former president come here — given this is one of the proudest accomplishments that they worked on together, they shared together.”
“And it is emblematic of their shared view and belief that government can work for people and it can work for the American people. And this is an example of building on a success from more than 10 years ago and making it better over time,” she added.
Psaki also said to expect Obama to return to the White House again soon for his presidential portrait unveiling “and perhaps other engagements here in the future.”
Since Biden took office, the administration helped to lower health care premiums for nine million Americans through the American Rescue Plan, Psaki noted Monday, “the biggest expansion of affordable health care since the ACA.”
“We’ve made affordable health coverage more accessible during the pandemic through the opening of the special enrollment period, which enabled nearly 3 million Americans to have access to newly sign up for coverage under the ACA,” she said. “And President Biden has overseen the most successful open enrollment in history last year with the historic 14.5 million Americans signing up for ACA coverage and another million people signing up for the basic health care program.”
Tuesday will mark Biden and Obama’s first joint appearance since attending the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last fall in New York and their first joint event in Washington since Biden’s inauguration in January 2021.
Back in 2010, when the pair celebrated the ACA’s passage, Biden was caught on hot mic applauding Obama at the White House for what he called “a big [expletive] deal.”
As of last year, about 31 million Americans had health care coverage through the ACA, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday will announce new steps his administration is taking to build on the Affordable Care Act, including a new executive order and a proposed rule from the Treasury Department to fix the ACA’s so-called “family glitch.”
“Under Treasury’s new proposed rule, family members who have to pay more than 10% of income for coverage can be able to receive financial help under the ACA,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters Monday night. “As a result, 200,000 uninsured people are expected to gain coverage and nearly a million more are expected to see lower premiums every day.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that more than 5.1 million people fall in the ACA family glitch, but senior administration officials said they don’t believe everyone will choose to leave their current coverage plans, which is why they gave the above estimate of 200,000 newly insured and roughly one million switching plans.
The rule would begin to take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2023, if enacted, and Americans will be able to sign up to get financial assistance during the next open enrollment period.
Paraphrasing Biden’s memorable “this is a big f***** deal” quote on the day then-President Barack Obama signed the ACA, senior administration officials said, “to borrow a phrase, this rule is a – is a big deal.”
“We think it’s the most significant administrative action to improve implementation of the ACA that we’ve taken since the law was first implemented,” the officials said.
The executive order Biden will sign will highlight ways to make it easier for people to enroll in and keep their coverage, help people better understand their coverage options, strengthen and improve benefits, and improve access to health care providers. It will also take steps to reduce medical debt, officials said.
Biden will highlight these steps during a Tuesday afternoon event in the Rose Garden alongside Obama.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 04, 7:28 pm
‘Today has been a really difficult day, emotional,’ Zelenskyy says of visit to Bucha
More than 300 people have been killed and tortured in Bucha, with the death toll expected to be much higher once the entire city has been checked, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address Monday following his visit to the ravaged city.
Even more are feared dead in Borodyanka and other liberated cities, Zelenskyy said, vowing to punish those responsible.
“We are already doing everything possible to identify all the Russian military involved in these crimes as soon as possible. Everything to punish them,” Zelenskyy said. “This will be a joint work of our state with the European Union and international institutions, in particular with the International Criminal Court.”
Zelenskyy also said that Russia is using old tactics to distort the truth about what happened in Bucha.
“They will not succeed,” Zelensky said. “They will not be able to deceive the whole world.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 04, 5:34 pm
Russian ambassador to the UN claims Ukraine ‘staged’ Bucha atrocities
Russia is not responsible for the atrocities that Ukraine claims occurred in Bucha, the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations claimed in a press conference on Monday.
Ambassador Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya claimed that experts who analyzed the video showing dead bodies on the street in Bucha and concluded the scene was staged, alleging that the people lying on the street showed signs of life and that it was clear the first stages of decomposition, which would have occurred in the days after Russian military forces had withdrawn, have not taken place.
To back his claims, Nebenzya played a video, purportedly filmed on Saturday after Russian forces left Bucha, and pointed out that there were no dead bodies on the streets.
Nebenzya also alleged that the Ukrainian military interviewed people in different locations throughout Bucha and there was no mention of a civilian massacre.
“Now the nationalists have a pretext to commit a real massacre” Nebenzya said, claiming Ukraine would use Bucha as a false flag operation. “We want the world to stay alert.”
Nebenzya added that the “truth of what happened in Bucha will reveal itself” and that he will present “even more” evidence to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 04, 5:22 pm
US pushes to expel Russian diplomats from UN Human Rights Council
The U.S., in coordination with Ukraine and European allies, is pushing to expel Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced Monday.
The U.N. Human Rights Council is a body within the U.N. system where countries are elected for three-year terms. To suspend one of the body’s 47 elected members requires a two-thirds majority in the U.N.’s main body — the U.N. General Assembly.
During a press conference in Romania, Thomas-Greenfield told reporters the U.S. wants to have a vote this week.
“We cannot let a member state that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council,” she said. “Russia should not have a position of authority in that body, nor should we allow Russia to use their role on the Council as a tool of propaganda to suggest they have a legitimate concern about human rights.”
Thomas-Greenfield called Moscow’s participation a “farce” and added it “hurts the credibility of the Council and the U.N. writ large — and it is simply wrong.”
It is unclear whether the U.S. and its allies and partners have the votes to take this rare step, but two previous U.N. General Assembly votes condemning Russia’s invasion have yielded 141 and 140 votes — crossing the two-thirds threshold of the U.N.’s 193 member states.
Whether they can secure that same level of support for an expulsion, which some countries may see as an escalation, is an open question.
This would not be the first time the U.N. has suspended a country. In March 2011, it to suspend Libya from the Council because of Muammar Gaddafi’s violence against protesters.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated they believe they have the votes, saying the U.S. believes the General Assembly will “stand up in clear contravention of what Russia is doing.”
“It’s something that we’ll continue to discuss,” Price said. “But, as we’ve heard, there’s been widespread, strong condemnation of this conduct and this would be the next natural step.”
The U.N. Security Council will meet Tuesday to discuss Ukraine, with the atrocities reported out of Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs on the agenda.
“We will be prepared to confront them with the actual truth,” Thomas-Greenfield said Monday when asked about that meeting. “They of course will, as they always do, try to distract us with their lies, and we’re prepared for that.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 04, 4:52 pm
US supports team of independent war crimes investigators
The United States is supporting a multinational team of independent war crimes investigators, including American experts, that are working with Ukraine’s prosecutor-general on a probe of alleged Russian war crimes, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.
The team is working in Eastern Europe, but not in Ukraine itself, Price said. He said the team is collecting, preserving and analyzing evidence with a view toward prosecutions and other forms of holding Russia accountable, Price said.
The United States is also supporting the effort through funding for non-government organizations that are part of the effort, Price said. He said he could not provide further details, including how many Americans are involved or how much funding is being allocated.
At the start of his briefing on Monday, Price noted the horrific reports from Bucha, Ukraine, and other towns outside of the capital of Kyiv, describing reports of “civilians, many with their hands tied, apparently executed in the streets, others in mass graves.”
“We are seeing credible reports of torture, rape and civilians executed alongside their families,” Price said. “There are reports and images of a nightmare litany of atrocities, including reports of land mines and booby traps left behind by Putin’s forces to injure even more civilians and slow the stabilization and recovery of devastated communities after they failed in their objective and withdrew.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss the reported atrocities with his NATO foreign minister counterparts during the Western military alliance’s spring meeting this week, Price said.
President Joe Biden said earlier Monday that he is calling for more sanctions to be imposed on Russia in light of the reports from Bucha.
“We’re continuously tightening sanctions and preparing for additional sanctions, jointly with our allies and partners,” Price said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 04, 4:42 pm
More than 1,500 residents evacuated from Mariupol
More than 1,500 residents fled Mariupol in private vehicles on, according to Ukrainian officials.
The mayor of Mariupol confirmed on Monday that a convoy of seven buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross was could not make it into his besieged city to evacuate residents. The mayor said residents were still able to flee the city using a single humanitarian corridor meant for private cars.
The mayor also said humanitarian cargo also failed to make it to Mariupol.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said a total of 3,376 civilians evacuated the country on Monday, including 2,405 citizens of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine who made it out via private transport.
Apr 04, 3:12 pm
France to expel Russian diplomats, cites security risk
France’s foreign ministry announced that it decided Monday evening to expel “many” Russian diplomats.
France’s decision came hours after the German foreign minister said her country is moving to expel a “significant” number of Russian diplomats following reports that Russian troops killed more than 400 civilians in the Ukraine city of Bucha.
A spokesperson for the French foreign ministry said the action by France is “part of a European approach” and expects other European Union nations to make similar announcements. The spokesperson did not disclose how many Russian diplomats will be expelled.
“France decided this evening to expel many Russian personnel with diplomatic status assigned to France whose activities are contrary to our security interests,” the spokesperson said. “Our first responsibility is always to ensure the safety of French people and Europeans.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 04, 2:23 pm
Nearly 70% of Russian troops near Kyiv have withdrawn: US official
About two-thirds of the Russian forces that were arrayed against the capital of Ukraine have withdrawn toward Belarus, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
The number of Russian forces being pulled back from Kyiv is up from an estimated 20% late last week, the official said.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Alexander Fomin told reporters last week that Russia’s military activity was being dramatically curtailed near Kyiv and in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine in an attempt to increase “mutual trust and create conditions required” for further peace talks with Ukrainian negotiators.
The United States has been skeptical of Russia’s promise to scale back its military activity near Kyiv.
Before repositioning its forces, Russia had close to 20 battalion tactical groups (BTGs) bearing down on Kyiv from the north and northwest, with each group comprised of 700 to 900 troops. Roughly 13 of those BTGs are now either in Belarus or on their way there.
The Pentagon believes the withdrawing forces will be resupplied and possibly reinforced in the north before heading back into Ukraine to fight elsewhere, the official said.
“Our best assessment –- and it is only an assessment -– is that they will be applied in the eastern part of the country in the Donbas region,” the official said of the two separatist areas, Donetsk and Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent self-proclaimed people’s republics prior to the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
The United States has also seen some Russian troops leave the city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine and head north to the Russian border, according to the official.
Despite these movements, the official said the “vast majority” of the more than 125 BTGs that Russia committed to the invasion remain inside Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Apr 04, 1:07 pm
Germany to expel a ‘significant’ number of Russian diplomats
Germany’s foreign minister said Monday that her country is moving to expel a “significant” number of Russian diplomats following reports that Russian troops killed more than 400 civilians in the Ukraine city of Bucha.
“The pictures from Bucha bear witness to the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership and of those who follow its propaganda, to a will to annihilate that transcends all borders. We have to fear similar pictures from many other places that Russian troops have occupied in Ukraine,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement.
Baerbock added that Germany is opposed to the inhumanity alleged in Bucha and must stand for freedom and be prepared to defend it. Baerbock said Germany, therefore, has decided to declare a significant number of the Russian diplomats persona non grata.
She said the Russian ambassador to Germany was informed of the decision on Monday afternoon.
Germany will also take further action against Russia together with allies, tightening existing sanctions, increasing support for Ukraine’s armed forces and strengthening the NATO eastern flank.
The statement and corresponding tweet from Baerbock does not say how many diplomats will be expelled.
Apr 04, 11:56 am
ICRC team blocked from entering Mariupol again, ‘being held’ in nearby town
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that its staff has been blocked again from entering Mariupol after failing to reach the besieged Ukrainian port city for several days.
An ICRC team tasked with escorting evacuation buses to and from Mariupol was stopped on Monday while carrying out humanitarian efforts to help lead a safe passage corridor for civilians and is now “being held in the town of Manhush,” about 12 miles west of Mariupol, according to an ICRC spokesperson.
“The ICRC has been in direct contact with our colleagues and is speaking with the parties on all sides to bring clarity to the situation and allow them to resume their humanitarian work,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
Apr 04, 11:37 am
Biden to call for more sanctions against Russia over Bucha ‘war crimes’
President Joe Biden said on Monday that he is seeking more sanctions against Russia after horrific images surfaced of dead civilians lying in the bombed-out streets of Bucha, Ukraine.
Upon his return to Washington from Ft. McNair, Biden said he will call for more sanctions but stopped short of accusing Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine.
“I’m seeking more sanctions, yes,” Biden said, declining to offer specifics when pressed.
Biden described the situation in Bucha as “outrageous” and called Russian President Vladimir Putin “brutal.”
“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter — you saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden said. “This warrants he is a war criminal. But we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to gather all the details. So this could be an actual — have a war-crime trial. This guy is brutal. And what’s happening with Bucha is outrageous. And everyone sees it.”
Ukrainian officials accused Russian troops of committing genocide in Bucha, which was retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent days. Ukrainian leaders said 410 civilians were killed in the fighting in Bucha and that many were found with their hands bound and shot at close range.
Asked if he thought Russia was committing genocide, Biden replied, “No, I think it is a war crime.”
Apr 04, 10:22 am
Russia may launch major offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Monday it is monitoring large movements of Russian troops and reinforcements in eastern Ukraine.
The General Staff said it expects Russian forces to launch a possibly major offensive in the Donbas region within the next 24 hours, particularly against the city of Severodonetsk, which is the administrative center of the government-controlled areas of the Luhansk Oblast.
Meanwhile, Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko has urged civilians to evacuate now, even from areas not close to the front lines.
Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his recognition of two breakaway areas of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region that share a border with Russia — the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. Russia-backed separatist forces have controlled these parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhanks oblasts since 2014.
Apr 04, 10:04 am
Zelenskyy visits bombed city of Bucha
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited on Monday the decimated city of Bucha, where Ukrainian officials have accused Russian troops of committing war crimes against civilians.
Zelenskyy toured the Kyiv suburb that was retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent days. Zelenskyy went to a road in the city littered with destroyed Russian equipment and he spoke to local residents.
Zelenskyy repeated accusations that Russia committed war crimes and genocide after Ukrainian officials said 410 people believed to have been civilians were found dead, many with their hands bound behind their backs and shot at close range.
Russian officials have denied the accusation and have requested the U.N. Security Council investigate.
Apr 04, 9:34 am
Ukraine accuses Russian brigade of war crimes, releases names of troops
Ukraine has accused a brigade of the Russian Ground Forces of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.
The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published online Monday what it said was a list with the names of hundreds of personnel of Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade whom they believe were directly responsible for atrocities in Bucha. Ukrainian officials have said there is evidence of other Russian units being involved.
Ukrainian authorities announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies, some of which showed signs of torture, in civilian clothes strewn in streets and in mass graves across Bucha, northwest of Kyiv. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.
Russia has denied the claims.
-ABC News’ Natalia Kushnir and Fidel Pavlenko
Apr 04, 9:23 am
Russian oligarch’s yacht seized in Spain
A yacht that belongs to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg was seized Monday in Marina Real in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca, two U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The yacht was seized by Spanish authorities and KleptoCapture, the U.S. Department of Justice task force charged with finding assets of oligarchs trying to evade sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Vekselberg was among the oligarchs sanctioned previously by the United States in 2018 after Russia invaded Crimea.
The task force is trying to find yachts, airplanes and other moveable properties before the oligarchs can move them to jurisdictions where it might be more difficult for U.S. authorities to investigate.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr and Aaron Katersky
Apr 04, 8:20 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘fake attack’ in Bucha
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Ukrainian forces of staging an attack in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where images have emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes lying in the streets and in mass graves.
“The other day, another fake attack was launched in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, after Russian military personnel left from there in accordance with the plans and agreements reached,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Monday. “A few days later, a staging was arranged there, which was dispersed through all channels and social networks by Ukrainian representatives and their Western patrons.”
According to Lavrov, Russian forces vacated the area on March 30.
“On March 31, the mayor [of Bucha] solemnly said that everything was fine there,” he added. “And two days later, we saw how the same production was organized on the streets, which they are now trying to use for anti-Russian purposes.”
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Some photos taken Sunday in Bucha show unarmed individuals who appear to have been executed with their hands or legs bound. A number of world leaders have accused Russia of committing the atrocities.
Apr 04, 7:41 am
Kremlin reacts to images of dead bodies in Bucha
Russia responded on Monday to accusations that its troops have deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine, after images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes scattered in areas on the outskirts of the capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in towns near Kyiv.
During a daily press briefing on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia “categorically dismiss[es] any accusations” of its role in civilian killings and that Moscow does not trust the evidence in Bucha.
“This information should be seriously doubted,” Peskov told reporters. “From what we have seen, the video materials cannot be trusted to a large extent, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry have detected signs of video forgery and other kinds of fakes.”
The Kremlin demands that “international leaders do not jump to conclusions, do not make hasty unsupported accusations but at least seek information from various sources and at least listen to our arguments,” Peskov said.
“The facts, the chronology of events also do not speak in favor of the credibility of these claims,” he added.
Russia will reiterate its calls to discuss the matter at the United Nations Security Council on Monday, according to Peskov.
“We believe that the issue should be discussed at the highest level, so we have proposed that it be discussed at the Security Council. We are aware that the initiative has been blocked,” he said. “Our diplomats will continue active efforts towards putting this item on the Security Council’s agenda. This issue is too serious.”
“The initiative aimed to put the item on the Security Council agenda demonstrates that Russia wants and actually demands its discussion at the international level,” he added.
Apr 04, 7:11 am
Russia seeks UN Security Council meeting on Bucha for Monday
Russia said it will repeat its request for the United Nations Security Council to meet on Monday over what Moscow described as “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
The United Kingdom’s mission to the U.N., which assumed the presidency of the 15-member Security Council for April, has said the group will hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, rather than meet on Monday as requested by Russia.
“Yesterday, in the worst English tradition, the British presidency of the U.N. Security Council did not give consent to holding a meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Bucha,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement via Telegram on Monday. “Russia today will again demand the convening of the U.N. Security Council in connection with the criminal provocations of the Ukrainian military and radicals in this city.”
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes strewn in the streets of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.
Russia’s deputy representative to the U.N. Security Council, Dmitry Polyansky, said via Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had requested a meeting to be held on Monday “in connection with the monstrous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha.”
Apr 04, 6:01 am
Russian troops, Wagner mercenaries move into Ukraine’s Donbas region
Russian forces are continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they refocus their offensive into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Monday.
“Russian troops, including mercenaries from the Russian state-linked Wagner private military company, are being moved into the area,” the ministry added.
Wagner is the best-known of an array of Russian mercenary groups and has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian company has deployed fighters to countries in the Middle East and Africa. U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last month that Wagner “has an interest in increasing their footprint in Ukraine.”
Apr 03, 10:37 pm
Zelenskyy speaks at Grammys: ‘Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a brief speech at the on Sunday night.
Zelenskyy, in a video message, said war is the opposite of music, but hopes soon the silence of death will be filled with the sound of music.
“The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” Zelenskyy told the audience. “They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.”
Apr 03, 8:14 pm
7 dead, 34 wounded in Kharkiv shelling, 70% of Chernihiv destroyed
At least seven civilians are dead and 34 are wounded following shelling in Kharkiv, the region’s prosecutor’s office announced Sunday.
The shelling occurred Sunday evening in the city’s Slobidskyi district, according to the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleg Sinehubov, who added that children are among the victims.
Meanwhile, in Chernihiv, around 70% of the city has been destroyed, according to Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, who was speaking on Ukrainian TV.
He added that businesses are not operating. Ukrainian soldiers have been able to liberate several villages in the Chernihiv region in the past couple of days.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha
Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:
“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”
“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”
“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”
“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”
Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.
“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing to have a tough time pushing through Ukraine due to Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and backed by weapons and military equipment from the United States and many European countries, putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, have continued throughout the country, including some in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
In recent days, Russian forces appear to be pulling away from Kyiv after Russian officials said they were reducing military action near Kyiv and in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine in an attempt to increase “mutual trust and create conditions required” for further peace talks with Ukrainian negotiators.
Russia is now being accused of committing war crimes by the United States and countries throughout Europe after graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, some with their hands bound and shot at close range.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 05, 6:06 am
Ukraine has retaken ‘key terrain’ from Russia, UK says
Ukrainian troops have retaken “key terrain” in the north of the country, “after denying Russia the ability to secure its objectives and forcing Russian forces to retreat” from areas around Chernihiv and north of Kyiv, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Tuesday.
“Low-level fighting is likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured regions, but diminish significantly over this week as the remainder of Russian forces withdraw,” the ministry added. “Many Russian units withdrawing from northern Ukraine are likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine.”
Apr 05, 5:24 am
Peace talks may now be off the table, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated Tuesday that peace talks with Russia may now be off the table, following the gruesome discovery of scores of dead civilians in Bucha and other towns outside Ukraine’s capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.
“The most difficult thing is to talk about what they did,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv. “We believe that this is genocide. We believe that they should be punished for it.”
“I believe that we need to set such a bar for these negotiations,” he added. “It may happen that there will be no meeting.”
Zelenskyy’s comments came a day after he traveled to Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where bodies in civilian clothes were found strewn in the streets and in mass graves. Many of the victims appeared to have been shot at close range and some even showed signs of torture. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.
Apr 05, 5:07 am
Russia threatens to fine Wikipedia if it doesn’t remove info about Ukraine war
Russia’s communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, is demanding that Wikipedia remove content that contradicts the Kremlin’s narrative about the war in Ukraine.
“Based on a motion from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Roskomnadzor demanded on April 4 that the Wikipedia management put an end to the dissemination of false socially significant information,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “Materials containing false information about the special military operation in Ukraine and operations of the Russian Armed Forces have been massively published on Wikipedia in the recent period. Wikipedia has become a new line for continuous information attacks on Russians.”
Roskomnadzor accused the free online encyclopedia of “deliberately” misinforming Russian users. The agency noted that it has previously asked Wikipedia “to remove false information about events in Ukraine” and threatened to fine the San Francisco-based company up to 4 million rubles (about $47,000) for failing to delete such content, which is illegal under Russian law.
Apr 04, 10:54 pm
US cuts Russia off from dollars it holds at American financial institutions
The U.S. Treasury said Monday night that it would no longer allow the Russian government to make payments on debt using dollars it holds at U.S. financial institutions, another step that puts pressure on the Russian government’s funds.
This step “was in the works before the weekend and isn’t a response” to the atrocities in Bucha, according to a Treasury spokesperson.
“One of the most potent actions of the 700-plus sanctions we’ve imposed have been our sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank, which were levied with unprecedented multilateral coordination, speed, and impact,” the spokesperson said. “Today is the deadline for Russia to make another debt payment. Beginning today, the U.S. Treasury will not permit any dollar debt payments to be made from Russian government accounts at U.S. financial institutions.”
“Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default,” the spokesperson continued. “This will further deplete the resources Putin is using to continue his war against Ukraine and will cause more uncertainty and challenges for their financial system.”
(NEW YORK) — A yacht that belongs to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg has been seized in Marina Real in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The yacht was seized on Monday by Spanish authorities and KleptoCapture, the Justice Department task force charged with finding the assets of oligarchs trying to evade sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We will now seek to have the vessel forfeited as the proceeds of a crime,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video message released Monday by the Justice Department.
A spokesperson for Vekselberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Vekselberg was designated an oligarch by U.S. authorities in 2018, when he was sanctioned by the United Sates following Russia’s invasion of Crimea.
Court documents say Vekselberg was subject to more sanctions once Russia invaded Ukraine.
In addition to the seizure of Vekselberg’s yacht, U.S. authorities also obtained seizure warrants unsealed in Washington, D.C., Monday that target roughly $625,000 associated with sanctioned parties that’s being held at nine U.S. financial institutions, the Justice Department said.
The KleptoCapture task force is trying to find yachts, airplanes and other moveable property before it can be moved into jurisdictions where it might be more difficult for U.S. authorities to investigate.
“The point of going after Putin’s cronies and Russian oligarchs who seek to violate our laws and shield their assets is to say that nobody is beyond the reach of our system of justice, beyond the reach of our work and cooperation with our allies,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told ABC News’ Byron Pitts last month. “And that these cronies and oligarchs who seek to support and bolster the Russian regime shouldn’t be able to get away with that while people are dying,”
(WASHINGTON) — By a bipartisan vote of 53-47, the Senate has forced the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson out of the Judiciary Committee — putting the judge on track for final confirmation by week’s end.
GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine voted with Democrats. All three Republicans will also support Jackson when it comes time to vote on final confirmation.
Jackson, President Joe Biden’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, got additional Republican support Monday.
“After multiple in-depth conversations with Judge Jackson and deliberative review of her record and recent hearings, I will support her historic nomination to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Murkowski said in a statement.
“My support rests on Judge Jackson’s qualifications, which no one questions; her demonstrated judicial independence; her demeanor and temperament; and the important perspective she would bring to the court as a replacement for Justice Breyer,” she said.
“It also rests on my rejection of the corrosive politicization of the review process for Supreme Court nominees, which, on both sides of the aisle, is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year. While I have not and will not agree with all of Judge Jackson’s decisions and opinions, her approach to cases is carefully considered and is generally well-reasoned,” she continued. “She answered satisfactorily to my questions about matters like the Chevron doctrine, the Second Amendment, landmark Alaska laws, and Alaska Native issues. The support she has received from law enforcement agencies around the country is significant and demonstrates the judge is one who brings balance to her decisions.”
Romney issued his statement minutes later.
“After reviewing Judge Jackson’s record and testimony, I have concluded that she is a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor. While I do not expect to agree with every decision she may make on the Court, I believe that she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity. I congratulate Judge Jackson on her expected confirmation and look forward to her continued service to our nation,” he said.
Their statements came hours after, as anticipated, the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines in an 11-11 vote Monday on whether to send Jackson’s nomination to the full Senate.
The tie vote forced Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to file a discharge motion to bring the nomination before the full Senate in order to get it out of committee.
Earlier, only one Republican, Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins, said she would vote for Jackson.
Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced after the committee kicked off its business Monday morning that he will vote no on Jackson’s nomination, paving the way for the 22-member, evenly-split committee to end in a tie vote.
But there was also an unintended delay forced by a Democratic senator.
“We have a problem,” said Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill, explaining that Sen. Padilla, D-Calif., whose presence is needed for the vote, was delayed when an overnight flight from Los Angeles had to return to the airport for a medical emergency.
As the committee ticked through opening statements Monday, Republicans continued to raise issues with Jackson’s record, and Democrats defended Jackson from what they recalled as “hurtful” questioning from GOP senators.
“We are going to have our political substantive disagreements, but it was the treatment in some of these questions that triggered a hurt in so many people I know and have encountered,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., reflecting on the hearings. “How qualified do you have to be?” he asked, going on to repeat her qualifications and fact that’s she been confirmed three times on a bipartisan vote before the Senate.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., meanwhile, said in his time that if Republicans had controlled the Senate, Jackson would have never been given hearings. Notably, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell recently refused to say if Biden Supreme Court nominees would be considered if Republicans retake the Senate.
“If we get back the Senate and we are in charge of this body and there is judicial openings, we will talk to our colleagues on the other side,” he said. “But if we are in charge, she would not have been before this committee. You would have had somebody more moderate than this.”
“What I know is she will get enough votes to get confirmed,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, speaking before Romney and Murkowski announced their support. “In the end, I suppose, that’s the only thing that matters. But I wish more Republicans would look at the case here, look at the record and vote to confirm Judge Jackson.”
With a two-week Easter in sight for senators, Democrats are hoping for a final vote before the weekend.
If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
ABC News’ Trish Turner contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, was expected to pass a major milestone Monday on her way to expected Senate confirmation later this week.
At the same time, two more Republicans — Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah — announced they would vote for Jackson’s confirmation when the full Senate is expected to vote later this week.
“After multiple in-depth conversations with Judge Jackson and deliberative review of her record and recent hearings, I will support her historic nomination to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Murkowski said in a statement.
“My support rests on Judge Jackson’s qualifications, which no one questions; her demonstrated judicial independence; her demeanor and temperament; and the important perspective she would bring to the court as a replacement for Justice Breyer,” she said.
“It also rests on my rejection of the corrosive politicization of the review process for Supreme Court nominees, which, on both sides of the aisle, is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year. While I have not and will not agree with all of Judge Jackson’s decisions and opinions, her approach to cases is carefully considered and is generally well-reasoned,” she continued. “She answered satisfactorily to my questions about matters like the Chevron doctrine, the Second Amendment, landmark Alaska laws, and Alaska Native issues. The support she has received from law enforcement agencies around the country is significant and demonstrates the judge is one who brings balance to her decisions.”
Romney issued his statement minutes later.
“After reviewing Judge Jackson’s record and testimony, I have concluded that she is a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor. While I do not expect to agree with every decision she may make on the Court, I believe that she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity. I congratulate Judge Jackson on her expected confirmation and look forward to her continued service to our nation,” he said.
Their statements came hours after, as anticipated, the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines in an 11-11 vote Monday on whether to send Jackson’s nomination to the full Senate.
The tie vote forced Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to file a discharge motion to bring the nomination before the full Senate in order to get it out of committee and Democrats were expected to prevail on the procedural move Monday evening — especially now with support from Romney and Murkowski.
Earlier, only one Republican, Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins, has said she would vote for Jackson.
Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced after the committee kicked off its business Monday morning that he will vote no on Jackson’s nomination, paving the way for the 22-member, evenly-split committee to end in a tie vote.
But there was also an unintended delay forced by a Democratic senator.
“We have a problem,” said Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill, explaining that Sen. Padilla, D-Calif., whose presence is needed for the vote, was delayed when an overnight flight from Los Angeles had to return to the airport for a medical emergency, so the committee is in recess until he returns.
As the committee ticked through opening statements Monday, Republicans continued to raise issues with Jackson’s record, and Democrats defended Jackson from what they recalled as “hurtful” questioning from GOP senators.
“We are going to have our political substantive disagreements, but it was the treatment in some of these questions that triggered a hurt in so many people I know and have encountered,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., reflecting on the hearings. “How qualified do you have to be?” he asked, going on to repeat her qualifications and fact that’s she been confirmed three times on a bipartisan vote before the Senate.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., meanwhile, said in his time that if Republicans had controlled the Senate, Jackson would have never been given hearings. Notably, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell recently refused to say if Biden Supreme Court nominees would be considered if Republicans retake the Senate.
“If we get back the Senate and we are in charge of this body and there is judicial openings, we will talk to our colleagues on the other side,” he said. “But if we are in charge, she would not have been before this committee. You would have had somebody more moderate than this.”
Even without Republican support, Democrats have the power to push her nomination forward. The final vote, while bipartisan, will likely be narrower than what the White House had hoped for.
“What I know is she will get enough votes to get confirmed,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “In the end, I suppose, that’s the only thing that matters. But I wish more Republicans would look at the case here, look at the record and vote to confirm Judge Jackson.”
With a two-week Easter in sight for senators, Democrats are hoping for a final vote before the weekend.
If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
ABC News’ Trish Turner contributed to this report.
