(WASHINGTON) — Hillary Clinton said on Twitter she’s tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild cold-like symptoms, but added that she’s “feeling fine.”
She said former President Bill Clinton tested negative.
Hillary Clinton, 74, tweeted that her husband is “quarantining until our household is fully in the clear. Movie recommendations appreciated!”
The former secretary of state added that she’s “more grateful than ever for the protection vaccines can provide against serious illness” and she encouraged Americans to get vaccinated.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced earlier Tuesday that she has tested positive for COVID-19. Psaki said she was in meetings with President Joe Biden on Monday but that Biden tested negative Tuesday on a PCR test.
Former President Barack Obama, Clinton’s opponent in a hard-fought 2008 Democratic presidential primary, also announced last week that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
(NEW YORK) — A federal lawsuit accuses the New York Police Department of surreptitiously taking DNA samples without obtaining warrants and storing the genetic material in perpetuity in an illegal and unregulated database.
The database turns thousands of people, primarily Black and Latino people, into “permanent criminal suspects,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan.
Plaintiff Shakira Leslie was one of the nearly 32,000 individuals who had DNA taken without her knowledge, the lawsuit says.
In 2019, Leslie was 23 and had left a cousin’s birthday party when police pulled over the car she was riding in for a traffic violation, the lawsuit says. There was a gun in the car and everyone was arrested, it says.
At the precinct, the lawsuit says, officers deprived Leslie of food and water for more than 12 hours so when she was finally offered a cup of water, she immediately drank it.
Leslie was released and the charges against dropped, but not before the NYPD collected her drinking cup and took her DNA, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by the Legal Aid Society on behalf of Leslie and a second plaintiff. It names as defendants several top officials at the NYPD and the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which maintains the DNA database.
“Ms. Leslie never offered, and was never asked for, her consent to have her DNA taken. And the NYPD did not obtain a warrant or court order before secretly taking her DNA and sending the sample to OCME to perform DNA testing,” the lawsuit says, arguing the DNA collection and analysis violates the plaintiffs’ rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The police routinely offer people who are being questioned about a crime a beverage, a cigarette or chewing gum and then collect DNA from the items, the lawsuit says. The suit claims the genetic material is stored and cataloged in a “suspect index” that puts people’s DNA profiles through “a genetic lineup that compares the profiles against all past and future crime scene DNA evidence — all without obtaining a warrant or court order to conduct these DNA searches.”
“Thousands of New Yorkers, most of whom are Black and brown, and many of whom have never been convicted of any crime, are illegally in the City’s rogue DNA database, which treats people as suspects in every crime involving DNA,” said Phil Desgranges, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society. “We simply cannot trust the NYPD to police itself, and we look forward to judicial review of these destructive practices to bring our clients the justice they deserve.”
The New York City Law Department told ABC News it would review the lawsuit.
A spokesman for the NYPD, Sgt. Edward Riley, said the department would also review the lawsuit but said that DNA collection is among the best practices of law enforcement.
“Behind every time the NYPD collects DNA from a suspect in a criminal investigation, there is a crime victim who is suffering and seeking justice. The driving motivation for the NYPD to collect DNA is to legally identify the correct perpetrator, build the strongest case possible for investigators and our partners in the various prosecutor’s offices, and bring closure to victims and their families,” Riley said in a statement provided to ABC News.
“The local DNA database complies with all applicable laws and is managed and used in accordance with the highest scientific standards set by independent accrediting bodies that have regularly reapproved the existence of the database,” the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement.
The Legal Aid Society says in the lawsuit that the database violates state laws that limit DNA indexing and “hoards the DNA of arrestees and suspects” without oversight and often at the expense of people of color.
“Black and Latinx people make up the vast majority of arrestees who are subject to the City’s DNA taking and indexing practice,” the lawsuit said. “Plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief to end the City’s practice of targeting thousands of individuals, many of whom have never been convicted of a crime, to take their DNA and turn them into permanent suspects.”
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge delivered a split verdict Tuesday to the founder of the group “Cowboys for Trump” who was the second defendant to be tried for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Couy Griffin, a county commissioner in New Mexico, was arrested 10 days after the Capitol riot and faced two misdemeanor charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct.
In his ruling Tuesday, Judge Trevor McFadden found Griffin guilty on the first charge but not guilty on the charge of disorderly conduct, saying the government failed to meet its burden of proof that Griffin sought to rile up or otherwise join others in the crowd in acting out.
Griffin faces up to a year in jail and potential fines when he is sentenced in June.
Griffin was not alleged to have physically entered the Capitol building or to have participated in any violence, but prosecutors said he climbed over barriers and a wall before arriving at an area near temporary scaffolding that was put up in advance of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Griffin stayed in that location for more than an hour, according to investigators, and was seen in videos cheering on the crowd and leading a prayer with a bullhorn.
Key to the government’s case was proving whether Griffin knew he was joining the pro-Trump mob in a restricted area that had been established to protect former Vice President Mike Pence as he presided over Congress’ certification of Biden’s election win.
Griffin’s attorneys had argued his case should be thrown out because there was no evidence that Pence was present in the building at the time Griffin was inside the restricted area.
Leading up to Griffin’s trial, prosecutors clashed with Judge McFadden over whether Griffin’s attorneys should be permitted to cross-examine a Secret Service agent who the government called as a witness regarding Pence’s location throughout the time of the riot. The agent, Lanelle Hawa, had been tasked with overseeing security for Pence on Jan. 6.
In her testimony on Monday, Hawa gave the first on-the-record confirmation from the agency of a detail previously first reported by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl — that Pence was escorted underground to a loading dock area where he remained for “several hours” as the mob stormed through the Capitol.
The government initially contended that information about the precise location to which Pence was evacuated was so sensitive that it could hinder the Secret Service’s protection mission moving forward — but Judge McFadden insisted that it was key to the government proving its case against Griffin.
During Monday’s hearing, assistant U.S. attorney Kimberly Paschall was also pressed by Judge McFadden over surveillance video from the Capitol Police that Paschall said showed Pence’s location and movements during the riot, but were not turned over to Griffin’s defense team because Capitol Police had not given its approval for the footage to be shared with third parties.
McFadden refused to give the Capitol Police additional time to release the video to Griffin’s team, and told prosecutors they could choose to drop the case if they wished. The Justice Department reluctantly decided to move forward, and provided a redacted version of the surveillance footage to Griffin’s attorneys. However, the footage was not played in open court.
Instead of facing a jury, Griffin had opted for a bench trial, leaving his fate in the hands of Judge McFadden, a Donald Trump appointee who has in the past raised questions about whether the Justice Department has been “even-handed” in its approach to the Jan. 6 riot, which took place amid the racial unrest following George Floyd’s death in the summer of 2020.
Ahead of Tuesday’s closing arguments, McFadden said the government had effectively proved that Griffin was in an unauthorized area during the riot, but urged prosecutors to focus on whether Griffin was there “knowingly” and if his actions amounted to “disorderly conduct.”
Assistant U.S. attorney Janani Iyengar said Griffin’s movements on the Capitol grounds that day — climbing over a stone wall and using a flipped-over metal bike rack to help climb over another barrier — would indicate to “any reasonable person” that they were in an area where they weren’t supposed to be.
Prosecutors also pointed to Griffin’s conduct in the days following the riot, when he posted videos to his Facebook page saying that he had “climbed up on the top of the Capitol building and … had a first row seat,” and called for another “Second Amendment rally” outside the Capitol, saying, “if we do, then it’s going be a sad day, because there’s going to be blood running out of that building.”
A week after that, Griffin said in a New Mexico county commission’s meeting that he planned to return to Washington, D.C., carrying his revolver and his rifle.
Griffin’s traveling partner on Jan. 6, Matthew Struck, served as one of the government’s key witnesses and was given immunity to testify against him. The prosecution displayed several videos shot by Struck during the riot, showing his and Griffin’s movements outside the Capitol.
Struck initially handed over a collection of videos to the Justice Department in January of 2021, but Judge McFadden chastised prosecutors on Monday after it was revealed over the weekend that last week the Justice Department had received an additional cache of videos from Struck, including two more that showed Griffin on the Capitol’s restricted grounds. McFadden allowed the government to introduce two of the newly disclosed videos that he said would have fallen within its original request to Struck, but barred prosecutors from introducing the others, given their last-minute disclosure to Griffin’s attorneys.
The verdict in Griffin’s case comes three weeks after prosecutors secured the conviction of the first Jan. 6 rioter to stand trial, Guy Reffitt, on five felony charges. He potentially faces years in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced in June.
As of Tuesday, approximately 770 individuals have faced federal charges in connection to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol — roughly 220 of whom have pleaded guilty in their cases, according to an ABC News analysis.
(WASHINGTON) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, faces up to 11 hours of grilling Tuesday on Day 2 of her four-day confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Jackson, 51, who currently sits on the nation’s second most powerful court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, will be questioned by each of the committee’s 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats over two days. On Thursday, senators can ask questions of the American Bar Association and other outside witnesses.
While Democrats have the votes to confirm President Joe Biden’s first Supreme Court nominee on their own, and hope to by the middle of April, the hearings could prove critical to the White House goal of securing at least some Republican support and shoring up the court’s credibility.
Here is how the news is developing Tuesday. Check back for updates.
Mar 22, 5:53 pm
Hawley attacks Jackson over child porn sentencing
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., spent his entire 30 minutes of questioning to again accuse Jackson of giving short sentences to child porn offenders, saying he questioned her judgment. Hawley brought up a specific case involving an 18-year-old defendant who Jackson sentenced to three months in federal prison. The government had requested 24 months in prison.
“I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it,” Hawley said. “We’re talking about 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 11-year-olds, and 12-year-olds [as victims]. He’s [the defendant] got images that added up to over 600 images, gobs of video footage … If it’s not heinous or egregious, how would you describe it?”
Jackson responded, “The evidence that you are pointing to … is heinous. It is egregious. What a judge has to do is determine how to sentence defendants proportionately, consistent with the elements that the statutes include with the requirements that Congress has set forward. Unwarranted sentencing disparities is something that the Sentencing Commission has been focused on for a long time in regard to child pornography offenses.”
“All of the offenses are horrible. All of the offenses are egregious,” she continued. “But the guidelines — as you pointed out — are being departed from even with respect to the government’s recommendation. The government in this case and in others has asked for a sentence that is substantially less than the guideline penalty. And so what I was discussing was that phenomenon, that the guidelines in this area are not doing the work of differentiating defendants as the government itself indicated in this very case. And so that’s what I was talking about, but I want to assure you, Senator, that I take these cases very seriously.”
But she added: “It’s not just about how much time a person spends in prison — it’s about understanding the harm of this behavior. It’s about all of the other kinds of restraints that sex offenders are ordered, rightly, to live under at the end of the day. The sentences in these cases include not only prison time, but restraints on computer use, sometimes for decades. Restraints on ability to go near children, sometimes for decades. All of these things judges consider in order to effect what Congress has required — which is a sentence that’s sufficient but not greater than necessary to promote the purposes of punishment.”
Mar 22, 4:59 pm
Blumenthal: Jackson will make court ‘think more like America’
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Jackson, “As I look at your parents and your husband and your daughters, what I see is America. And the best of America. So I think we should all feel that excitement and pride in this moment.”
“You will make the court look more like America, but also think more like America,” Blumenthal continued. “You will provide a very important perspective — indeed, a unique perspective — that the court needs more than ever at this moment in its history.”
He also commended Jackson’s “emotional intelligence.”
“There are a lot of people who are book smart — there are not as many people who are person smart, and you are both. That kind of emotional intelligence is what our courts need,” he said.
Jackson responded: “I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity … I stand on the shoulders of generations past who never had anything close to this opportunity, who were the first and the only in a lot of different fields. My parents, as I said, were the first in their families to have the chance to go to college. I’ve been the first and the only in certain aspects of my life, so I would say that I agree with you that this is a moment that all Americans should be proud.”
Mar 22, 4:33 pm
Jackson says she doesn’t have a justice she’s molded herself after
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., asked Jackson which justice she most admires and most aligns herself with.
Jackson responded that she doesn’t have a justice she’s molded herself after, saying instead, “What I have is a record.”
“I have 570-plus cases in which I have employed the methodology that I described and that shows people how I analyze cases. I, in every case, am proceeding neutrally,” she said.
“Because of the way in which I do things, I am reluctant to establish or to adopt a particular label, because the idea of how you interpret is just one part of a judge’s entire responsibility,” she said.
“I am looking at the facts in a case, and my experience as a trial judge helps me to assess the facts” from different perspectives, she said.
Jackson continued, “I believe that the Constitution is fixed in its meaning. I believe that it’s appropriate to look at the original intents, original public meaning of the words when one is trying to assess, because, again, that’s a limitation on my authority to import my own policy views. But there are times when the meaning, unreasonable searches and seizures, due process, looking at those words are not enough to tell you what they actually mean. You look at them in the context of history. You look at the structure of the Constitution. You look at the circumstances that you’re dealing with in comparison to what those words meant at the time that they were adopted. And you look at precedents that are related to this topic.”
Mar 22, 4:00 pm
Democrats continue to allow Jackson to defend her record
Following a contentious round of questioning from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., repeated for the record that Judge Jackson has never referenced “The 1619 Project” or “critical race theory” in her work as a judge, to which she agreed.
Coons went on to call out previous Republicans and those still to come this afternoon, such as Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who have distorted circumstances around her federal sentences of child pornography offenders and have suggested she was too lenient on criminals.
“The National Review, a conservative publication, has characterized that view of you as a smear that appears meritless to the point of demagoguery and characterizes your approach in sentencing in these cases as mainstream and correct,” Coons noted.
The Delaware senator also said that in 70% of child pornography possession sentences nationwide, “downward departures from the federal guidelines are the norm” and allowed Jackson, again, the chance to bring up her ties to law enforcement and the seriousness with which she handles sex crimes, especially against children.
“As a mother, these cases involving sex crimes against children are harrowing,” she said. “These are the cases that wake you up at night because you’re seeing the worst of humanity.”
Mar 22, 3:33 pm
Cruz raises Jackson’s position on board of Georgetown Day School
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continued to attempt to paint Biden’s nominee, and his former Harvard Law School classmate, as an advocate for critical race theory in his questioning. Pulling one book title, Cruz asked if she agrees with kids being taught “that babies are racist.”
“When you just testified a minute ago that you didn’t know if critical race theory was taught in K through 12, I will confess I find that statement a little hard to reconcile with the public record,” Cruz said, going on to raise the fact that Jackson sits on the board of Georgetown Day School in Washington and to allege that school’s curriculum was “overflowing with critical race theory.”
“Senator, I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist or though they are not valued or though they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors,” Jackson said.
“I don’t believe in any of that, but what I will say is that when you asked me whether or not this was taught in schools — critical race theory — my understanding is that critical race theory as an academic theory is taught in law schools and to the extent that you were asking the question, I understood you to be addressing public schools,” she continued.
“Georgetown Day School — just like the religious school that Justice Barrett was on the board of — is a private school,” she noted. (Justice Amy Coney Barrett served for three years on the board of Trinity Schools Inc.).
Refusing to back down, Cruz asked, “So you agree critical theory is taught at Georgetown Day School?”
Jackson replied the board does not control or focus on the curriculum at the school “so I’m actually not sure.”
Mar 22, 3:23 pm
Cruz raises critical race theory in questioning Jackson about ‘The 1619 Project’
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, began his questioning by noting that he and Judge Jackson have “known each other for a long time” as former classmates at Harvard Law School who also worked together on the Harvard Law Review.
“We were not particularly close, but we were always friendly and cordial,” Cruz said.
“We were,” Jackson replied.
Cruz went on to take issue with Jackson referencing journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’ “The 1619 Project,” which won the Pulitzer Prize and was published in the New York Times, in a speech at the University of Michigan Law School for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2020.
Jackson said most of the speech focused on Black women in the civil rights moment but one slide referenced Jones’ work which she had called “provocative.”
“It is not something that I’ve studied. It doesn’t come up in my work,” Jackson said. “I was mentioning it because it was, at least at that time, something that was talked about and well-known to the students that I was speaking to at the law school.”
Cruz then launched into an attack on critical race theory and asked Jackson to explain what it means — allowing her the chance to say critical race theory does not have an impact on her work.
“Senator, my understanding is that critical race theory is — it is an academic theory that is about the ways in which race interacts with various institutions,” she said. “It doesn’t come up in my work as a judge. It’s never something that I’ve studied or relied on and it wouldn’t be something that I would rely on if I was on the Supreme Court.”
Mar 22, 2:38 pm
Jackson says public confidence in the court is ‘crucial’
As public polling in recent years shows deteriorating confidence in the Supreme Court, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Judge Jackson how she sees her role in maintaining the people’s confidence in the judiciary system.
Jackson characterized the issues of public confidence in the court as “crucial.”
“That’s the key to our legitimacy in our democratic system, and I’m honored to accept the president’s nomination, in part, because I know it means so much to so many people. It means a lot to me,” she said.
“I am here standing on the shoulders of generations of Americans who never had anything close to this kind of opportunity – from my grandparents who had just a grade school education but instilled in my parents the importance of learning, and my parents, who I’ve mentioned here many times already, who were first in their families to get to college,” she said, as her parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, looked on in the chamber.
“This nomination against this backdrop is significant to a lot of people, and I hope that it will bring confidence — it will help inspire people to understand that our courts are like them, that our judges are like them doing the work and being a part of our government,” she added.
Mar 22, 2:29 pm
Jackson explains federal guidelines for child pornography offenders
As Republicans attempt to paint Judge Jackson as “soft on crime,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, pressed Biden’s nominee on whether she was too lenient in handing down sentences to child pornography offenders.
Jackson disagreed with that characterization and explained why below-guidelines sentences are so widely used: Federal sentencing laws set by Congress dictate that judges look at its sentencing guidelines and impose a sentence “no greater than necessary.”
“As I said before, these are horrible cases that involve terrible crimes and the court is looking at all of the evidence consistent with Congress’ factors for sentencing,” Jackson said. “The court is told that you look at the guidelines but you also look at the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the offender.”
“In most cases, if not all of the cases, the government is asking for a sentence below the guidelines because this guidelines system is not doing the work in this particular case,” she added.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission, the bipartisan body created by Congress to set federal sentencing rules, said in its 2021 report that suggested prison terms for defendants convicted of possessing child pornography — as opposed to producing the materials — have “been subject to longstanding criticism from stakeholders and has one of the lowest rates of within-guideline range sentences each year.”
To make that point, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., following Lee, gave Jackson the opportunity to say whether it surprised her to hear that Republican judges supported have also given out similar sentences in child pornography cases.
“No, senator, it would not surprise me because these cases are horrific, and there’s a lot of disparity because of the way the guidelines are operating in this particular area,” Jackson said. “But in every case, in every case that I handled involving these terrible crimes, I looked at the law and the facts. I made sure that the victim — the children’s perspectives — were represented, and I also imposed prison terms and significant, significant supervision and other restrictions on these defendants.”
Mar 22, 2:55 pm
Durbin argues Jackson didn’t call Bush a ‘war criminal’ as Republicans contend
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., kicking off the afternoon session, used his position as chair to defend Judge Jackson against the misleading allegation raised by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that she called former President George Bush and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld “war criminals.”
Before the break, Cornyn, at first, complimented her demeanor and then asked “how in the world” she could call Bush and his defense secretary war criminals in legal briefs. Jackson seemed stumped, saying she didn’t remember that reference.
After saying he had done “research,” Durbin said Cornyn appeared to be referencing Jackson’s representation of a Guantanamo Bay detainee as a federal public defender.
“During your service as a public defender, you filed several habeas petitions against the United States naming former President Bush and Rumsfeld in their official capacities,” Durbin said. “You were representing people who were wrongly classified as civilians and were combatants of the United States,” he added, going on to explain the alien tort statute.
“So, to be clear there was no time where you called President Bush or Secretary Rumsfeld a war criminal,” Durbin said.
“Correct, senator,” Jackson replied, with a smile.
-ABC News’ Trish Turner
Mar 22, 1:37 pm
‘Calm, cool and collected’: Key takeaways from morning session
ABC News Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer, reporting from inside the hearing room, said the big takeaway so far is that Jackson has stayed “calm, cool and collected.” With no major missteps or gaffes, he said, and a slim Democratic majority on her side, she appears on her way to Senate confirmation.
There was some tension in the morning session when Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Jackson a barrage of questions on her faith, to which she declined to go in-depth, saying she’s “mindful of the need for the public to have confidence in my ability to separate out my personal views.”
Graham, who let it be known his favored nominee was not selected, went on to say he wasn’t trying to attack Jackson but make a point about how “our people” — conservative judicial appointees — have been treated in the past.
In the afternoon session, Republicans are expected to continue pressing Jackson on court precedent, her record as a federal public defender and representation of Guantanamo Bay detainees, and her sentences for child sex offenders, among other issues.
As senators try to probe her judicial philosophy, Jackson told the committee that she has developed a methodology that she uses when approaching any case to ensure impartially and stressed that she views her role as a judge as “limited.”
Mar 22, 12:58 pm
Confirmation hearings break for lunch
The Senate Judiciary Committee has gone into a break until approximately 1:30 p.m. after a marathon morning of questions from Democrats and Republicans on the committee considering Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
After the break, 15 more senators will have 30 minutes each for one on one questions with Jackson, giving them the chance to probe her judicial philosophy, her record as a public defender and her legal opinions spanning nearly nine years on the bench.
The grilling is unlike any other for federal judges or political nominees in large part because of the nature of the high court and the justices’ lifetime tenure.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Mar 22, 12:51 pm
Cornyn questions Jackson on same-sex marriage
In his questioning, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked Judge Jackson about same-sex marriage and asserted that the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which said same-sex marriage is a fundamental right, conflicts with the beliefs of some religions.
“When the Supreme Court decides that something that is not even in the Constitution is a fundamental right and no state can pass any law that conflicts with the Supreme Court’s edict, particularly in an area where people have sincerely held religious beliefs, doesn’t that necessarily create a conflict between what people may believe as a matter of their religious doctrine or faith and what the federal government says is the law of the land?” Cornyn asked.
“That is the nature of a right,” Jackson replied. “That when there is a right it means that there are limitations on regulation, even if people are regulating pursuant to their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Pressed further on whether that is an act of judicial policymaking, Jackson said the Supreme Court considered that to be an “application of the substantive due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” which ensures equal protection under the law.
ABC News Political Director @RickKlein talks about what he thinks has been the most challenging moment for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson so far during confirmation hearing.
Cornyn continued to bash the court for what he called establishing a new “unenumerated right” and asked Jackson, what other unenumerated rights are “out there.”
“Senator, I can’t say. It’s a hypothetical that I’m not in a position to comment on. The rights that the Supreme Court has recognized as substantive due process rights are established in its case law,” she said.
Later on, Cornyn lamented that he thinks “nominees from both parties tend to be over-coached.”
-ABC News’ Trish Turner
Mar 22, 12:16 pm
Jackson’s family shows support inside hearing room
Judge Jackson’s family members showed their support again on the second day of her confirmation hearings with their steady presence inside the hearing room as she fielded, at times, contentious questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Jackson’s husband, Patrick, a general surgeon, was again seated behind Jackson. Photographers snapped photos of him sporting Benjamin Franklin-themed socks and jotting down notes during the morning session.
Jackson’s parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, were also in the audience, near two seats reserved for Jackson’s daughters, Talia, 21, and Leila, 17. Leila arrived in the room after the morning break.
In an emotional moment on Monday, Jackson’s daughters looked to their father as he wiped away tears while Jackson read her opening statement.
-ABC News’ Trish Turner
Mar 22, 12:03 pm
Jackson speaks to ‘meaningful’ representation on Supreme Court
Raising gender balance in the judiciary and the fact that, if confirmed, there would be four women on the Supreme Court, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., gave Judge Jackson an opportunity to speak to what it would mean to her personally to see more women represented on the nation’s highest court in its history.
“I think it’s extremely meaningful,” Jackson replied. “One of the things that having diverse members of the court does is it provides for the opportunity for role models.”
“Since I was nominated to this position, I have received so many notes and letters and photos from little girls around the country who tell me that they are so excited for this opportunity and that they have thought about the law in new ways because I am a woman — because I am a Black woman — all of those things people have said have been really meaningful to them,” Jackson added.
“And we want, I think, as a country, for everyone to believe they can do things like sit on the Supreme Court. So, having meaningful numbers of women and people of color, I think, matters,” she said. “I also think that it supports public confidence in the judiciary when you have different people, because we have such a diverse society.”
Mar 22, 11:41 am
Jackson on abortion cases: ‘Roe and Casey are the settled law’
As she’s asked previous Supreme Court nominees, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., questioned Judge Jackson on her judicial views on abortion with the nation’s high court set to decide cases this term that could overturn decades of legal precedent.
“I do agree with both Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Barrett on this issue,” Jackson said, referring to their answers to Feinstein at their confirmation hearings. “Roe and Casey are the settled law of the Supreme Court concerning the right to terminate a woman’s pregnancy.”
Feinstein then asked, “Does Roe v. Wade have the status of being a case that is a super precedent, and what other Supreme Court cases do you believe have that status?”
“Well senator, all Supreme Court cases are precedential, they’re binding. And their principles and their rulings have to be followed,” she said.
“Roe and Casey, as you say, have been reaffirmed by the court, and have been relied upon, and reliance is one of the factors that the court considers when it seeks to revisit or is asked to revisit a precedent,” she continued. “In all cases, the precedent of the Supreme Court would have to be reviewed pursuant to those factors because stare decisis is very important.”
Mar 22, 11:30 am
Graham laments the fate of his preferred Supreme Court pick
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina brought up Judge J. Michelle Childs, a U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina and his preferred nominee for the Supreme Court seat, asking Jackson about progressive groups supporting her nomination over that of Childs.
His voiced tinged with anger, Graham said, “In your nomination, did you notice people from the left were pretty much cheering you on?”
“A lot of people were cheering me on,” Jackson replied.
Graham went on to allege there was a concerted effort to disqualify Childs because progressive groups painted her as a “union-busting unreliable Republican in disguise,” but Jackson reminded him that she is still a sitting judge and said she has been focused on her cases.
“Would it bother you if that happened?” Graham continued to press.
Jackson, who received Graham’s vote last year for the appellate court, answered that it would be “troublesome” if groups were doing anything to interfere with the nomination, but maintained that she wasn’t aware of the criticism.
Mar 22, 10:38 am
Jackson stresses her record as an ‘independent jurist’
As she reintroduces herself to the American public as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ranking Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Jackson what aspect of her record as a judge does she believe has been the most important for the good of the country.
“Well, I think that all of my record is important to some degree because I think it clearly demonstrates that I’m an independent jurist, that I am ruling in every case consistent with the methodologies that I’ve described, that I’m impartial,” Jackson said.
“I don’t think anyone could look at my record and say that it is pointing in one direction or another or that it is supporting one viewpoint or another. I am doing the work and have done the work for the past 10 years that judges do to rule impartially and to stay within the boundaries of our proper judicial role,” she added.
Trying to hone in further on her judicial philosophy, Grassley asked, of the previous 115 justices, are there any of them now or in the past that has a judicial philosophy that most closely resembles her own. She said she hasn’t studied the philosophies of all of the prior justices but that her background as a trial judge resembles that of left-leaning Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“I will say that I come to this position, to this moment as a judge who comes from practice — that I was a trial judge and my methodology has developed in this context. I don’t know how many other justices other than Justice Sotomayor have that same background,” she said.
Jackson has also emphasized in previous confirmations hearings that she does not have a judicial philosophy per se, but she applies the same methodology to all the cases she approaches, regardless of its parties.
-ABC News’ Trish Turner
Mar 22, 10:14 am
Grassley grills Jackson on ‘court-packing’
Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tried to get more clarity on whether Judge Jackson would support the idea of expanding the Supreme Court beyond nine justices, but Jackson said that was a policy question she couldn’t answer.
The question comes after several Republicans said Monday they were disappointed that Jackson hasn’t clarified her position on court-packing after she received the support of the progressive group Demand Justice, which is pushing for the court’s expansion.
“Respectfully, senator, other nominees to the Supreme Court have responded as I will, which is that it is a policy question for Congress,” Jackson said. “I am particularly mindful of not speaking to policy issues because I am so committed to staying in my lane of the system. Because I’m just not willing to speak to issues that are properly in the province of this body.”
Presented with the fact that retiring Justice Stephen Breyer and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated their views on the position, Grassley then asked if the Supreme Court has been bought by dark money groups.
“Senator, I don’t have any reason to believe that that’s the case,” she replied. “I have only the highest esteem for the members of the Supreme Court whom I hope to be able to join, if I’m confirmed, and for all of the members of the judiciary.”
Mar 22, 9:58 am
Jackson discusses representing Gitmo detainees
Continuing to give Judge Jackson opportunities to respond to GOP attacks, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also asked her what impact representing Guantanamo Bay detainees had on her judicial career after Republicans made clear they will take aim at those cases she was assigned as a federal public defender.
“September 11th was a tragic attack on this country. We all lived through it,” she began. “We saw what happened, and there were many defenses, important defenses that Americans undertook. There were Americans whose service came in the form of military action. My brother was one of those Americans, those brave Americans who decided to join the military to defend our country.”
“After 9/11, there were also lawyers who recognized that our nation’s values were under attack, that we couldn’t let the terrorists win by changing who we were fundamentally,” she continued. “And what that meant was that the people who were being accused by our government of having engaged in actions related to this, under our Constitutional scheme, were entitled to representation — were entitled to be treated fairly. That’s what makes our system the best in the world. That’s what makes us exemplary.”
She reminded the committee that federal public defenders don’t get to pick their clients but said, “You are standing up for the constitutional value of representation — and so I represented, as an appellate defender, some of those detainees.”
Mar 22, 9:50 am
Addressing Hawley attacks, Jackson recalls story she tells child porn offenders
In his questioning, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill, criticized attacks from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who accused Jackson Monday of a “long record” of letting child porn offenders “off the hook” in sentencing. Noting that several independent fact-checkers, including ABC News, have found the claims misleading, Durbin gave Jackson a chance to respond by asking what was going through her mind when Hawley leveled that criticism Monday.
“As a mother and a judge who has had to deal with these cases, I was thinking that nothing could be further from the truth,” Jackson said, taking a tough tone. “These are some of the most difficult cases that a judge has to deal with because we’re talking about pictures of sex abuse of children. We’re talking about graphic descriptions that judges have to read and consider when they decide how to sentence in these cases, and there’s a statute that tells judges what they’re supposed to do.”
She noted that federal sentencing laws are set by Congress, and the statute says, “Calculate the guidelines, but also look at various aspects of this offense, and impose a sentence that is, quote, sufficient but not greater than necessary to promote the purposes of punishment,” she said.
Calling the crimes “sickening and egregious,” Jackson went on to recall a story she said she tells every child porn defendant “when I look in the eyes of a defendant who is weeping because I’m giving him a significant sentence.”
“What I say to him is, ‘Do you know that there is someone who has written to me and who has told me that she has developed agoraphobia? She can not leave her house because she thinks that everyone she meets will have seen her, will have seen her pictures on the internet. They’re out there forever. At the most vulnerable time of her life, and so she’s paralyzed,” she said.
“I tell that story to every child porn defendant, as a part of my sentencing, so that they understand what they have done. I say to them that there’s only a market for this kind of material because there are lookers. That you are contributing to child sex abuse. And then I impose a significant sentence, and all of the additional restraints that are available in the law,” she continued in an emotional riff. “I am imposing all of those constraints because I understand how significant, how damaging, how horrible this crime is.”
Jackson noted that in addition to prison terms of many years for the crimes, she also requires “20, 30, 40 years of supervision” and that the offenders “can’t use computers for decades.”
Mar 22, 9:33 am
Jackson addresses her judicial philosophy
Hoping to disarm GOP attacks, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., posed the first question to Judge Jackson and gave her the opportunity to address her judicial philosophy after Republicans on Monday swiped at her for claiming previously that she doesn’t have one.
“So would you like to comment at the outset, of those who are looking for a label, what your position is on judicial philosophy?” Durbin said.
Jackson replied that she has developed a methodology that she uses when approaching any case “to ensure that I am ruling impartially and that I am adhering to the limit on my judicial authority.”
“I am acutely aware that as a judge in our system, I have limited power, and I am trying, in every case, to stay in my lane,” she said.
Without importing her personal views or policy preferences, Jackson explained that she follows three steps when approaching a case: First, she enters each from a position of neutrality. Next, she intakes the parties’ arguments, and the last step, she said, is the interpretation and application of the law to the facts.
“The entire exercise is about trying to understand what those who created this policy or this law intended,” she said. “As a lower court judge, I’m bound by the precedent. Even in the Supreme Court, if I was fortunate enough to be confirmed, there’s stare decisis, a binding kind of principle that the justices look at when they’re considering precedent. So, all of these things come into play in terms of my judicial philosophy.”
Mar 22, 9:11 am
Confirmation hearings gavel back in
The second day of confirmation hearings for Judge Jackson — Biden’s first nominee to the Supreme Court and the first Black woman considered to the nation’s highest court in its 233-year history — are officially underway.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., gaveled in the hearing room just after 9 a.m. In a show of support, Jackson’s husband, Patrick, was seated behind her in the room, as he was Monday.
Jackson faces a marathon day of questioning from the committee’s 22 members, with each senator receiving 30-minutes to question Jackson one on one for a total of 11 hours Tuesday. Senators, in order of seniority, will take turns probing her judicial philosophy, her record as a public defender and her legal opinions spanning nearly nine years on the bench.
In a sign of COVID restrictions easing across the country, almost no one in the hearing room was wearing a mask, and for the first time since the pandemic, for each half-hour of the proceedings, up to 60 members of the public invited by senators will also be allowed to attend.
Mar 22, 9:01 am
KBJ arrives on Capitol Hill
Judge Jackson arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to continue a marathon week of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will need to approve sending her nomination to the Supreme Court to the full Senate for a floor vote.
The hearings will gavel in at 9 a.m. and each of the committee’s 11 Republican and 11 Democratic members will have up to 30 minutes to question Jackson one on one.
Jackson, 51, was sworn in Monday and delivered an opening statement to reintroduce herself to the nation.
“I hope that you will see how much I love our country, and the Constitution and the rights that make us free,” she told the senators who will vote on her historic nomination.
She also hinted at how she might address GOP critiques on Tuesday, telling senators that she adopts a “neutral posture” and sees her judicial role as “a limited one.”
Mar 22, 8:59 am
Republicans preview how they’ll question KBJ
While Democrats have emphasized the historic nature of Judge Jackson’s nomination and her compelling personal story, Republicans have vowed “thorough and civil” scrutiny of her record in hundreds of cases, which several have alleged shows she is “soft on crime.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., leveled the most pointed critique of Jackson’s record so far in his opening statement Monday, accusing her of a “long record” of letting child porn offenders “off the hook” in sentencing. The White House, several independent fact-checkers, and conservative outlet The National Review have called the claims misleading and unfair.
Republicans including Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., have also made clear they will also take aim at Jackson’s defense of an accused terrorist held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay — a case she was assigned to as a federal public defender. Jackson has previously explained her service as an example of belief in constitutional values.
Others indicated they planned to press Jackson to characterize her judicial philosophy, though she’s said outright she doesn’t have one, and to answer for progressive legal advocacy groups backing both her nomination and expanding the Supreme Court’s bench.
Mar 22, 8:25 am
Questioning could prove critical in securing GOP votes
Questioning over the next two days could prove critical to the White House goal of securing at least some Republican support for Judge Jackson’s confirmation.
Three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Lindsey Graham — voted in favor of Jackson’s confirmation to the D.C. Circuit last June, but after private meetings with Biden’s nominee this month, all three were noncommittal about supporting her again.
Jackson has been vetted twice previously by the Judiciary Committee and twice confirmed by the full Senate as a judge. She was also Senate confirmed in 2010 as vice-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
No Republican senator has publicly disputed Jackson’s qualification to be a justice, though several have raised concerns about her rulings and presumed judicial philosophy, which she has insisted she does not have.
Even without bipartisan support, Democrats have the votes on their own for Jackson’s confirmation, which party leaders have said they plan to complete before Easter.
Mar 22, 8:08 am
KBJ faces fourth Senate grilling Tuesday
Confirmation hearings for Judge Jackson — the first Black woman to be considered for the U.S. Supreme Court — continue on Tuesday at 9 a.m. when she’ll face up to 19 hours of questions from Senate Judiciary Committee members over two days.
Jackson will lean on her three prior experiences being questioned by the Judiciary Committee — more than any other nominee in 30 years — as its 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats take turns probing her judicial philosophy, her record as a public defender and her legal opinions spanning nearly nine years on the bench.
Jackson has spent the past few weeks practicing for the spotlight during mock sessions conducted with White House staff, sources familiar with the preparations told ABC News. She also met individually with each of the committee’s members and 23 other senators from both parties.
Each senator will get a 30-minute solo round of questioning on Tuesday, totaling more than 11 hours if each uses all of his or her allotted time, ahead of 20-minute rounds on Wednesday. The grilling is unlike any other for federal judges or political nominees in large part because of the lifetime tenure on the line.
(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 survivors are at increased risk of being newly diagnosed with diabetes up to one year after recovering, a new study suggests.
Researchers from VA Saint Louis Health Care System found people who recovered from COVID were 40% more likely to develop a new case of diabetes compared to a control group.
This translates to 1 in 100 people at increased risk of developing diabetes after a COVID-19 infection. As of Monday, 79.5 million people have been infected with COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning there could 795,000 new diabetes diagnosis as a result.
“That’s hard for me to swallow,” Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at VA Saint Louis Health Care System, and lead author of the study, told ABC News. “COVID-19 isn’t only about the acute effects. This is going to leave a lot of people with long-term health consequences that they’ll have to deal with for a lifetime and that’s jarring. It’s unsettling to accept.”
For the study, published Monday in the journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, the team looked at patient data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs between March 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021.
They compared more than 181,000 patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 to more than 4.1 million patients who were not infected over the same period. The data was also compared to another 4.28 million patients who were treated at the VA in 2018 and 2019.
Al-Aly said the team initially thought the increased risk would only be seen among people who have risk factors for diabetes such as obesity, but the findings showed the risk was evident across all groups.
“It was evident in Black people and white people; it was evident in young folks and in older folks; it was evident in males and females; and, most importantly, it was also evident even in people who had no risk factors for diabetes at all,” he said.
He added that there are a few theories of how COVID increases the risk for diabetes, although none have been proven or refuted.
One theory is that COVID-19 drives inflammation that may impair insulin secretion and sensitivity. Another is that COVID-19 causes disturbances in microbiome composition and function, that may lead to diabetes.
The findings add to a growing body of evidence that COVID-19 infection can lead to long-term health consequences.
Al-Aly said when most people think of long-lasting health effects following COVID, they think of shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating and sleep disorders.
But more and more studies have shown COVID survivors can suffer from heart problems, kidney problems and, in this case, diabetes.
“Over the past year or so, we started noticing in some patients that those [long-term] manifestations are not just fatigue and brain fog, but people are coming down with new onset diabetes,” he said.
Of the patients who did develop diabetes more than 99% developed type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form of diabetes and occurs when cells become resistant to insulin — the hormone that regulates blood sugar,
Because of insulin resistance, the pancreas must make more insulin to try to get cells to respond and this leads to high blood sugar levels.
This is different from type 1 diabetes, which is usually diagnosed in children and teens, and occurs when the pancreas doesn’t make insulin or makes very little insulin.
The new study is not the first that has linked COVID-19 infection to diabetes.
In a study published last week, researchers from the Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, found a 28% increased risk of type 2 diabetes for those who had previously had COVID-19.
Al-Aly said the best way to lower the risk of diabetes is for people to prevent themselves from getting COVID-19 in the first place via vaccination.
But for people who have already caught the virus, they should watch for warning signs of diabetes such as excessive thirst and frequent urination.
“Those are signs of diabetes, and we need you to get checked because catching this early and identifying diabetes early and treating it, or nipping it in the bud, is always better than leaving it unattended for years and suffering even worse or more serious health consequences,” Al-Aly said.
(LOS ANGELES) — The second-largest school district in the nation has reached an agreement with its teachers to end its indoor mask mandate as new COVID-19 cases in the Los Angeles area plunge.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, which has more than 600,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, came to a resolution with the teachers’ union regarding mask mandates and regularly scheduled Covid-19 testing.
Members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted 84%-16% to approve the agreement, the union announced Monday.
The new policy is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
In the agreement that was announced on Friday, United Teachers Los Angeles and the school district agreed to have weekly PCR testing for all students, staff and faculty until the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
“I strongly support ending the indoor mask requirement and am committed to continuing to uphold our science-based approach to COVID-19 safety and protocols,” Alberto M. Carvalho, the school district’s superintendent, said in a statement.
Carvalho added, “I want to personally thank our students, employees and families for their support and patience. We know some in our school communities and offices will continue to wear masks, while others may not. Please consider your situation and do what is best for you or your child. Now that this important issue is behind us, it is time to focus on each student’s full academic potential.”
“UTLA educators, parents, and our school communities have fought for LAUSD to be the vanguard of health and safety in public education across the nation during this pandemic — an accomplishment due in large part to the weekly testing program and the strong safety protocols we’ve bargained with the district,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement.
Masks requested by employees will be provided by the school district, including KN95 or N95 masks. Although masks will be optional, they are strongly recommended when indoors, officials said.
The school district will also continue to have a public COVID-19 dashboard recording positive cases in the event the policies need to be adjusted or changed based upon the data.
The agreement will remain in effect until June 30.
(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday the FBI is “concerned’ with the possibility of Russian cyberattacks against critical U.S. infrastructure in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine.
“The reason we’re concerned about it is not just based on our longstanding understanding of how the Russians operate, but it’s actually the product of specific investigative work and surveillance work that we’ve been doing all together,” Wray told an audience at the Detroit Economic Forum. “Most cyberattacks don’t just happen in an instant. There’s activity that leads up to it. There’s scanning and researching, researching a victim, scanning for vulnerabilities and systems. There’s developing access to those systems. So, there’s a whole range of proprietary work, which is what we’ve been seeing.”
It comes as the FBI has seen five U.S. energy companies have their systems scanned, according to a source familiar with the situation, outlined in an agency bulletin first reported by CBS News. ABC News has confirmed the bulletin’s contents.
“Today, with the ongoing conflict raging in Ukraine, we’re particularly focused on the destructive cyber threat posed by the Russian intel services, and cybercriminal groups they protect and support,” Wray said in prepared remarks. “We have cyber personnel working closely with the Ukrainians and our other allies abroad, and with the private sector and our partners here.”
On Monday, President Joe Biden urged American businesses to shore up their cyber defenses, saying the threat of a cyberattack on the U.S. has grown now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has his “back against the wall.”
“I have previously warned about the potential that Russia could conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States, including as a response to the unprecedented economic costs we’ve imposed on Russia alongside our allies and partners,” Biden said in a statement. “It’s part of Russia’s playbook. Today, my Administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks.”
Echoing his comments was the deputy national security adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuburger at Monday’s White House press briefing. She did not go into details about what exactly officials are seeing, but stressed to reporters the government has stepped up preparations for a cyber attack.
“Just last week, federal agencies convened in more than 100 companies to share new cybersecurity threat information, in light of this evolving threat intelligence. During those meetings, we shared resources and tools to help companies harden their security. Like advisory sourced from sensitive threat intelligence and hands on support from local FBI field offices, and sister regional offices, including their shields up program,” Neuberger said.
Neuberger said there was not evidence of a specific cyberattack, but “some preparatory activity” that prompted the White House to give classified briefings to companies in sectors they thought could be impacted — without detailing what sectors that included, despite being pressed for more specifics several times during the briefing.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jenn Easterly both said DHS has resources to combat cyberattacks for private businesses and urged companies to protect themselves.
“Organizations of every size and across every sector should continue enhancing their cybersecurity defenses,” Mayorkas said.
Last week, Mayorkas was asked about the threat of ransomware attacks as the conflict in Ukraine continues.
He said in 2021 there was a 300% increase in the number of ransomware attacks from 2020 — with ransomware losses totally close to $300 million. He urged companies to sure up their cyber defenses, especially while the conflict continues.
“Some of those measures are so simple and accessible. changing one’s password making one’s password strong multi factor authentication, backing up one system, there are elementary steps that one can take,” he told reporters Thursday.
“We have been leaning so far forward in communicating with the private sector, which owns the vast majority of critical infrastructure to equip them to prevent a threat from materializing to respond swiftly and effectively to an attack should it and to prove resilient in the contemporaneous with the Russian attack and the real possibility that Russia might seek to retaliate via a cyber channel.”
As a result of major cyber-attacks in 2021, the Biden has tightened cyberattack reporting regulations for certain portions of critical infrastructure, such as pipelines and airlines.
Industry and experts are taking this warning from the White House seriously.
“While Russia has not yet launched more aggressive or destructive cyber-attacks that have impaired critical infrastructure or deleted sensitive data in Ukraine or elsewhere, the administration’s comments suggest recent intelligence indicates Russian cyber operators are conducting digital reconnaissance or electronically probing electronic systems in the United States that could lead to those types of operations,” Javed Ali, the former senior counterterrorism Director at the National Security Council told ABC News. “These public statements that seem to give clues about Russian cyber threats and other military developments from different intelligence sources and methods are part of the Biden administration’s overall strategy to put pressure on Putin and demonstrate that the United States and its partners have advance notice of Russia’s intentions.”
Critical infrastructure companies are monitoring the threat, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, a company that provides electricity for 153 local power companies in Tennessee and surrounding states.
“TVA continually monitors for ever-changing threats to cybersecurity,” a company spokesperson told ABC News. “We use a multi-layer security strategy, including a combination of hardware, software and procedural controls, to secure our critical generation, transmission and business infrastructure systems. TVA’s cybersecurity team monitors the entire enterprise 24/7 and coordinates with federal security agencies to rapidly implement new protective measures for targeted cybersecurity issues.”
(LONDON) — The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been sentenced to an additional nine years, in a fresh trial roundly criticized by human rights organizations as politically motivated.
Navalny is already imprisoned on a two-and-a-half-year sentence, incarcerated since he was immediately arrested on his return to Russia following treatment in Germany in January of last year, after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in August 2020.
Prosecutors sought a new 10-year sentence on fresh charges of embezzlement and contempt of court that were announced in February, granted by the court, which means Navalny will remain incarcerated until President Vladimir Putin is entering his 80s.
The charges, which are widely viewed as politically motivated, accuse Navalny of embezzling donations from his Anti-Corruption Foundation, the organization that produces his high-profile investigations into the alleged ill-gotten gains of Putin and his elite.
Navalny was made to stand for hours as the judge detailed the new convictions, with the opposition activist cutting a noticeably thinner figure after his time in jail alongside his lawyers. Last year, Navalny’s team said he was “fighting for his life” after he fell ill in prison after a protracted hunger strike.
9 years. Well, as the characters of my favorite TV series “The Wire” used to say: “You only do two days. That’s the day you go in and the day you come out”
I even had a T-shirt with this slogan, but the prison authorities confiscated it, considering the print extremist.
The dissident’s political organizations were formally designated as “extremist,” placing them alongside groups such as ISIS in Russia, meaning that anyone publicly supporting Navalny could face prison sentences and be barred from running in elections.
Navalny is often labelled as one of Putin’s most difficult domestic critics. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, his official social media accounts have posted regular messages criticizing the war and calling on Russians to stage weekly protests against the invasion.
As Navalny’s legal team was handed down the new sentence, his organization posted a new investigation that alleged a huge super-yacht under construction in Italy belongs to Putin and should be seized as Western countries clamp down on assets linked to the Russian state.
The new sentencing of Russia’s most prominent pro-democracy activist comes as the Kremlin is drastically clamping down on civil society organizations and the free press in the country following its invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, Facebook and Instagram were also formally designated as “extremist” groups as the Kremlin sought to control the narrative around the war.
Putin has issued repeated warnings against pro-Western “traitors” and “scum” seeking to bring about “the destruction of Russia.”
“Putin is intensifying his actions to destroy Russia and is essentially announcing the start of mass repressions against those who don’t agree with the regime,” he posted on Twitter. “This has happened in our history before, and not only ours.”
(NEW YORK) — Prince William and Duchess Kate are facing protests as they continue their week-long tour of the Caribbean to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.
William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were forced to cancel one of their first stops in Belize over the weekend when protests broke out ahead of their arrival.
The protests, led by indigenous people, some holding signs against colonialism, prompted the couple to visit another local cocoa farm instead of the one they originally planned to tour in the foothills of the Maya Mountains.
As William and Kate arrive in Jamaica on Tuesday, another protest is planned in that country.
A group known as The Advocates Network, which describes itself as a “non-partisan alliance of individuals and organizations advocating for human rights and good governance,” has published an open letter protesting the royals’ visit, saying that British rule has “perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind.”
“During her 70 years on the throne, your grandmother has done nothing to redress and atone for the suffering of our ancestors that took place during her reign and/or during the entire period of British trafficking of Africans, enslavement, indentureship and colonialization,” reads the letter, which was signed by 100 individuals.
The group has also taken to Twitter, publishing in a thread 60 reasons why they say an apology is due to the country, a nod to Jamaica celebrating the 60th anniversary of its independence later this year.
William and Kate have so far not commented on the controversy.
As monarch, Queen Elizabeth is the head of the British Commonwealth, representing 54 nations, including Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas, which William and Kate will visit next.
Another Caribbean country, Barbados, became a republic last year, no longer pledging allegiance to the queen.
Queen Elizabeth’s oldest son, Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, delivered a speech in Barbados at its independence ceremony, referencing Britain’s colonial past during which people were trafficked from Africa to the Caribbean.
“From the darkest days of our past, and the appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history, the people of this island forged their path with extraordinary fortitude,” said Charles. “Emancipation, self-government and independence were your way-points. Freedom, justice and self-determination have been your guides. Your long journey has brought you to this moment, not as your destination, but as a vantage point from which to survey a new horizon.”
William and Kate’s visit to the Caribbean this week is meant to thank people there for their support of Queen Elizabeth during her 70-year reign, the longest in Britain’s history.
“It’s more to support them and say thanks for all the support they’ve given the queen,” said Robert Jobson, an ABC News royal contributor, adding that William and Kate are implementing “soft-power diplomacy” on the tour.
In Belize, in addition to visiting a cocoa farm, William and Kate danced with locals and attended a special reception held by the country’s governor general.
In Jamaica, William and Kate are scheduled to meet with the governor general of Jamaica as well as the prime minister, in addition to other engagements, including visiting a school and hospital.
The Caribbean tour marks William and Kate’s first joint foreign tour since the start of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago.
(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.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time this week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 22, 4:40 pm
Russia claims more than 360,000 people evacuated from Ukraine to Russia
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Tuesday that it has evacuated 366,182 people from Ukraine to Russia since the invasion began.
Russia said 19,442 people, including 3,448 children, were evacuated from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to Russia on Monday, without the participation of Ukrainian authorities, Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defense Control Center, claimed in a press briefing.
Mizintsev claimed more than 68,000 residents were also evacuated from Mariupol without the Ukrainian authorities’ involvement.
He claimed these people “are now completely safe under the Russian Federation’s protection, and all those in need are receiving necessary aid.”
Russia claimed it opened humanitarian corridors from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv on Tuesday.
Mar 22, 3:55 pm
No signs China has given Russia military aid: US official
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said there are no signs that China has given any military assistance to Russia to help with the war in Ukraine.
President Joe Biden held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and Sullivan met with his counterpart in Rome on Monday over U.S. concerns that Beijing would aid Moscow.
Over a week ago, the U.S. confirmed that Russia asked China for military support and other aid since the invasion began.
“What I can tell you is we have not seen … the provision of military equipment by China to Russia,” Sullivan said. “The president made clear to President Xi the implications and consequences of any such provision of equipment, and they very well understand one another.”
When pressed on whether NATO allies would “put specific concrete steps in place” if China does provide assistance, Sullivan said Biden would be consulting with NATO and the EU.
“On April 1, the European Union is having a summit with China. And so this will be an opportunity, Thursday, for the United States and our European partners, to coordinate closely on what our message is. We believe we’re very much on the same page with our European partners, and we will be speaking with one voice on this issue,” Sullivan said.
-ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze
Mar 22, 3:44 pm
Biden, allies to roll out new coordinated plans on Thursday
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden and NATO allies will roll out new coordinated plans on Thursday in response to Russia’s continued invasion.
Sullivan said Biden is traveling to Europe “to ensure we stay united” with our allies and to send a message that they are committed to help Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”
“There will be hard days ahead in Ukraine. Hardest for the Ukrainian troops on the front lines and the civilians under Russian bombardment. This war will not end easily or rapidly,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said NATO allies will announce new sanctions, tighten existing ones, adjust troops on the Eastern Flank and outline plans to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.
Sullivan did not disclose any specific details about the sanctions but hinted that new ones will focus on a joint effort to crack down on countries helping Russia “undermine, weaken or get around the sanctions,” calling it an “important part” of this next phase.
“We have applied an enormous amount of economic pressure, and in order to sustain and escalate that pressure over time, part of that is about new designations, new targets, but a big part of it is about effective enforcement and evasion, applying the lessons that we’ve learned from other circumstances where we have, in fact, imposed sanctions on countries,” Sullivan said.
In Poland, Sullivan said Biden will “engage” with U.S. troops, hold a bilateral meeting with President Duda and meet with experts involved in the humanitarian response.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 22, 3:14 pm
Zelenskyy addresses Italian lawmakers, saying Russia’s ‘goal is Europe’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Italy’s Parliament on Tuesday, warning that “Ukraine is the gateway to Europe for Russian troops.”
He called for more sanctions so Russia “is looking not for military reserves or mercenaries somewhere in Libya or Syria, but for peace.”
“This is a war that Russia has been preparing for a long time. Which one person has been preparing for a long time. One! For decades,” Zelenskyy said. “Their goal is Europe.”
Zelenskyy compared the Russian invasion to the Nazis, saying, “The last one who did something like this in Europe were the Nazis, when they invaded other countries.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 22, 3:07 pm
Russia’s combat capability likely below 90%: US official
For the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s combat capability has likely fallen below 90%, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters. The official said there are no tangible indications of reinforcements being brought in from elsewhere in the country.
“[This is] combat power that they assembled in Belarus and in the western part of their country prior to the invasion. It is not an assessment of all Russian military power,” the official said.
The official said there are “indications” that Ukrainian resistance is trying to retake some territory seized by Russian troops, such as the town of Izyum.
“What we’re starting to see are indications that they are now able and willing to take back territory that the Russians have taken,” said the official. “Whether this is a part of some sort of larger operational plan, we can’t say for sure.”
In Mykolaiv, northeast of Odessa, the Russians have been forced to reposition themselves to the area south of the city because Ukrainian resistance was so strong north of the city, the official said.
The logistical and resupply issues continue to plague Russian troops with the official noting that Russia now has concerns about fueling its ships in the Black Sea. Frostbite has also become an issue for Russian troops who continue to be inadequately supplied.
Ukrainian forces have mounted a strong resistance inside of Mariupol against the “significant number” of Russian forces that have made their way into the city, according to the official.
“The Ukrainians are fighting very, very hard to keep Mariupol from falling,” said the official.
Russia has fired more than 1,100 missiles in Ukraine, according to the official.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Mar 22, 2:21 pm
Russian Defense Ministry claims forces are making advances
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces pursued the retreating Ukrainian units of the 54th separate mechanized brigade, and advanced 4 kilometers on Tuesday, approaching the settlement of Novomikhailovka.
Russian-backed Donetsk troops took control of the settlement of Verkhnetoretskoe and continues to attack units of the 25th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
Russia claims two tanks, five infantry fighting vehicles, three field artillery pieces and seven off-road vehicles were destroyed.
Russia also claimed it fired air and sea-based high-precision long-range weapons at Ukrainian military facilities. It claimed it destroyed depots of fuel, lubricants, rocket and artillery weapons and ammunition.
The country’s defense ministry said its operational-tactical and army aviation hit 83 military facilities of Ukraine. Among them: four command posts, four anti-aircraft missile systems, three depots of rocket and artillery weapons and ammunition, as well as 68 places of military equipment accumulation.
Russia claimed air defense systems shot down 6 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the air, including one Bayraktar TB-2 near the village of Merefa, Kharkiv region.
In total, since the beginning of the attack, 236 unmanned aerial vehicles, 185 anti-aircraft missile systems, 1,547 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 154 multiple rocket launchers, 612 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 1,343 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed, Russia claims.
Mar 22, 1:11 pm
Hungarian president-elect visits town on border with Ukraine
Hungarian President-elect Katalin Novak visited the small town of Beregsurany on Tuesday. The town is a mile from the border with Ukraine.
Beregsurany, which has a population of about 600 people, has seen an influx in refugees fleeing Ukraine. Some days as many as 3,000 people pass through it.
The town has responded by setting up a local welcome center to facilitate registration, offering temporary beds until more permanent homes become available and providing counseling and care.
Novak is a member of Hungary’s far right, populist political party and closely works with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, known for his hardline stance on immigration and strict asylum policies.
Novak met with reporters after handing out pancakes to some of the refugees, a tradition started by a group of local women who make hundreds of pancakes daily for everyone coming over the border.
Novak said Hungarians are a welcoming people and want to help those who are fleeing violence and forced to leave their homes.
When pushed on why the politics are different for these refugees, compared to refugees from other countries like Syria, she said Hungary will always welcome people fleeing violence, but the country’s stance on mass migration remains the same.
She did not explain why certain people are considered “mass migration” and others are “seeking asylum.”
-ABC News’ Maggie Rulli
Mar 22, 12:50 pm
International Chess Federation imposes 6-month ban on Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin
Russian chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin was found guilty of breaching an article in the FIDE Code of Ethics relating to public statements he has made in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Three days after the invasion, Karjakin published an open letter on his verified Instagram account expressing his support for the Russian regime.
“I express to you, our Commander-in-Chief, my full support in protecting the interests of Russia, our multinational Russian people, eliminating threats and establishing peace! I wish you a speedy fulfillment of all tasks assigned to our valiant army,” he said in the post.
Karjakin has 21 days to appeal the decision.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 22, 12:42 pm
Save the Children calls for immediate halt on intercountry adoptions
Save the Children is calling for an immediate ban on intercountry adoptions of children uprooted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to protect them from human traffickers or child abusers.
The international children’s charity warned in a statement Tuesday that “during mass movement of refugees, well-meaning people may attempt to ‘rescue’ children from the crisis-affected area in the mistaken belief that they will be better cared for in other environments.” But Save the Children stressed that “the best place for children is with their families and communities, and adoption is not an appropriate response for unaccompanied children until authorities and agencies have made all efforts to trace and reunite them with their families.”
The organization also warned that “not everybody attempting to foster or adopt children from Ukraine does so with the best intentions.”
Save the Children is calling on states to support a moratorium on all adoptions “until appropriate safeguards are in place” for the unaccompanied children who have fled Ukraine as well as those who have been uprooted within the country. Ukraine has suspended its intercountry adoption program until further notice in the wake of the ongoing war. But Save the Children noted that “it is important for receiving countries to also suspend intercountry adoption proceedings to ensure the appropriate international standards and safeguards.”
Save the Children staff in Romania have reported seeing some kids arriving from Ukraine unaccompanied, while others have been separated from their families in the chaos of fleeing their homes. The organization said many are under 14 and showing signs of psychological distress.
“There is so much upheaval in a child’s life during this time that the best place for them is with their families, relatives, and communities, rather than being removed to a foreign country and language. The most protective environment for a child is the safety and stability of their own family,” Amanda Brydon, global head of child protection advocacy for Save the Children, said in a statement. “At this stage of this crisis, an immediate moratorium on intercountry adoptions is critical to ensure that children are safe and that where possible and in their best interests, they are reunited with their caregivers or verified family members. Sending funds to trusted humanitarian agencies for their response to this crisis is one of the best ways to be able to support such children currently.”
Mar 22, 12:10 pm
US, St. Jude airlift 4 Ukrainian children with cancer
The U.S. Department of State announced Tuesday that it has coordinated with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital “to provide necessary life-saving and immediate care to four Ukrainian children whose ongoing cancer treatment was disrupted” by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The State Department helped airlift these pediatric cancer patients and some of their immediate family members from Poland to the international airport in Memphis, Tennessee, where they were subsequently transported to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“There, the patients will be able to safely resume critical cancer therapy disrupted by the Kremlin’s aggression,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. “They will receive the specialized care they desperately need, and their family members will be afforded sustenance, security, and support from St. Jude.”
Over 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, and more than half went to neighboring Poland, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
“Children are among the most vulnerable in a crisis, and these pediatric oncology patients need urgent and highly specialized medical care. We are proud to stand with European partners who are also treating children whose life-saving care in Ukraine has been made impossible by Putin’s war,” Price added. “We recognize, however, that the children transported represent a small proportion of the thousands of patients whose cancer treatment has been interrupted and, who, even amid a pandemic and with compromised immune systems, were forced to flee their homes. That is why, together with our allies and partners, we will continue to support our Ukrainian partners as we seek to save lives and bring this needless war to a close.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Mar 22, 10:57 am
Nobel winner to auction medal to benefit refugees
Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov announced Tuesday that he and independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta have decided to auction off their 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Medal and donate the proceeds to the Ukrainian Refugee Fund.
“There are already over 10 million of refugees,” Muratov wrote on the Novaya Gazeta website, “I ask the auction houses to respond and put up for auction this world-famous award.”
Muratov is the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta and won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with journalist Maria Ressa.
Mar 22, 10:00 am
Russian troops fire gas at peaceful protesters in Kherson
Russian troops fired gas into a crowd of peaceful protesters in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday.
Video from the scene, taken by journalists, shows projectiles landing in a square in central Kherson where residents had gathered to protest Russia’s occupation of the city. Loud bangs can be heard and the crowd suddenly disperses as people attempt to flee the smoke and gas emitting from the canisters around them. People are seen coughing and covering their faces as they run away.
-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Fergal Gallagher
Mar 22, 7:58 am
Several loud explosions heard in Kyiv amid curfew
ABC News’ team in Kyiv reported hearing several loud explosions just before 1 p.m. local time.
The Ukrainian capital was reported to be relatively quiet earlier Tuesday, which marks the first full day of a 35-hour curfew, set to expire Wednesday morning.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that Ukrainian troops expelled Russian forces from Makariv, a suburb of Kyiv, after a fierce battle. However, Russian forces pushing toward Kyiv were able to take partial control of other northwestern suburbs, Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, according to the defense ministry.
Mar 22, 7:57 am
Pope Francis calls Zelenskyy, gets invited to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received a telephone call from Pope Francis on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy made the comment at the start of his 11-minute impassioned speech to Italy’s parliament via video link, after which he received a standing ovation.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andryi Yurash, later took to Twitter to confirm the call, saying Zelenskyy had a “very promising” conversation with the pontiff and invited him to visit Ukraine.
The Holy See Press Office has not yet released a statement on the call.
Mar 22, 7:44 am
Several loud explosions heard in Kyiv
ABC News’ team in Kyiv reported hearing several loud explosions just before 1 p.m. local time.
The Ukrainian capital was reported to be relatively quiet earlier Tuesday.
Mar 22, 7:22 am
Several fires reported in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Several fires have erupted within the area around Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant, according to a press release from the Ukrainian parliament, which cited satellite images from the European Space Agency.
The Ukrainian parliament said the fires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted land surrounding the shuttered plant, were likely caused by “shelling or arson” at the hands of Russian forces, which seized the site last month.
Mar 22, 7:06 am
Over 3.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 3.5 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 8% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 27 days.
More than half of the refugees are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 22, 6:50 am
At least 925 civilians, including 75 children, killed in Ukraine: OHCHR
At least 925 civilians, including 75 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Meanwhile, at least 1,496 civilians, including 99 children, have been injured, OHCHR figures show.
The tallies are civilian casualties that occurred in Ukraine from Feb. 24 to March 20 and have been verified by OHCHR, though the agency cautioned that the true numbers are believed to be “considerably higher.”
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” OHCHR said in a statement late Monday. “OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.”
Mar 22, 6:43 am
Russia claims to have captured nine more localities in Ukraine
Russia claimed Tuesday that its troops have captured nine more localities in Ukraine.
According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, units of the Russian Armed Forces have advanced another 6 kilometers (about 3.7 miles) and have taken control of the southeastern village of Urozhaine in the Donetsk oblast, some 65 miles north of the besieged port of Mariupol where many civilians remain trapped under Russia bombardment.
Meanwhile, the defense ministry said Russia-backed separatist forces of southeastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region have also advanced and captured eight more areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Mar 22, 6:28 am
Russia responds to Biden on biological, chemical weapons, claiming it has neither
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Tuesday denied allegations that Russia might be planning to use biological or chemical weapons in Ukraine.
“We have neither of these,” Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow. “What the Americans are saying are malicious insinuations — we’ve heard them all the time and we’ve given exhaustive answers to them for a long time. The problem is, the U.S. has no habit of listening to anyone but itself.”
Ryabkov’s comments came after U.S. President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of falsely claiming that the United States and Ukraine are developing biological or chemical weapons for use against Russia — rhetoric that Biden said shows Putin is considering using those types of deadly weapons in Ukraine.
“He’s already used chemical weapons in the past, and we should be careful of what’s about to come,” Biden said Monday during remarks at the Business Roundtable’s CEO Quarterly Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Mar 22, 4:25 am
Russia-US relations ‘on the brink of a breakup,’ diplomat warns
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned Tuesday that the United States should stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and making threats to Moscow in order to “preserve relations” with Russia.
“They simply need to stop in their escalation, both verbal escalation and in terms of stuffing the Kyiv region with weapons. They need to stop producing threats to Russia,” Ryabkov said while answering questions from reporters in Moscow. “Meanwhile, if they do manage to somehow positively influence Kyiv, something that I not just doubt, but I am confident that it will not happen, unfortunately, then I think there will be a certain prospect for normalizing relations.”
“For now, we see a downward tendency in relations with our country through the fault of the U.S.,” he added. “We regret it, but it does not impact our determination to move toward accomplishing the goals of the special military operation and to adapt to the circumstances related to the American sanctions and the sanctions imposed by European satellites of the U.S. at its behest.”
When asked whether Moscow plans to recall its ambassador, Ryabkov told reporters that the future of Russia-U.S. relations depends on Washington.
“A note of protest was passed to the American ambassador yesterday. It said that the current developments put these relations on the brink of a breakup,” he said. “There is nothing here beyond what was said there: that the question is about a policy that the U.S. will choose.”
