(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the United States and its allies will respond “swiftly and decisively” to any further aggression by Russia against Ukraine, according to a White House readout of a phone call between the two leaders.
The Sunday morning call took place as U.S. officials continue to warn that an attack from Russia could come “any day now” and urge all Americans still in Ukraine to leave the country.
“President Biden made clear that the United States would respond swiftly and decisively, together with its allies and partners, to any further Russian aggression against Ukraine,” the White House said of the call. “The two leaders agreed on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence in response to Russia’s military build-up on Ukraine’s borders.”
In a tweet Sunday following the call, Zelensky said he and Biden discussed “security, economy, existing risks, sanctions and Russian aggression.”
The conversation with the Ukrainian president comes one day after Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where Biden similarly warned that should Russia take action against Ukraine, the U.S., along with its allies, “will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia.”
According to a White House official, the call between Biden and Zelensky, who last spoke at the end of January, lasted 51 minutes, a shorter call than Biden’s discussion with Putin on Saturday, which lasted just over an hour.
A senior administration official, speaking with reporters following the Saturday call with Putin, said the tone was “professional and substantive,” however, “there was no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks.”
Since Friday, the Biden administration has ramped up its warnings about a possible Russian attack on Ukraine — which they say could happen as soon as this week.
“We have seen, over the course of the past 10 days, dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces and the disposition of those forces in such a way that they could launch a military action essentially at any time,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on CBS on Sunday. “They could do so this coming week.”
Despite the warnings, Zelensky has continued to call for calm in the country and seemed to express frustration with the dire tone.
“The best friend of our enemy is panic in our country, and all that information which helps create only panic doesn’t help us,” Zelensky said Saturday.
(WASHINGTON) — Rudy Giuliani is in active discussions regarding testifying before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and potentially responding to some of the committee’s questions, sources familiar with the matter confirm to ABC News.
The extent of the cooperation remains to be seen and no deal is anywhere near final, the sources said. Sources have told ABC News that the negotiations could easily dissolve.
Giuliani was subpoenaed by the committee last month to appear for an interview last week.
“Mr. Giuliani’s appearance was rescheduled at his request,” a committee aide told ABC News on Sunday. “He remains under subpoena and the select committee expects him to cooperate fully.”
Committee investigators and Giuliani’s representation are expected to connect again in the coming days over Giuliani’s potential cooperation. It’s unlikely that Giuliani would agree to testify about or share records regarding his direct communications with former President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Giuliani is still very close to Trump, having spent some time with the 45th president just last week in Florida, and was planning to watch the Super Bowl Sunday evening with Trump and other guests, a source told ABC News.
The former New York City mayor was on the front lines of Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election, working with allies Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and a small team that filed numerous lawsuits and tried to assemble a slate of fake electors — all of which failed.
Should he testify, Giuliani would arguably be one of the closest to Trump’s efforts to undo the election results to meet with the committee.
News of Giuliani’s possible cooperation with the committee was first reported by the New York Times.
Trump has maintained that the committee’s efforts are a partisan witch hunt, and several top Trump allies have refused to cooperate with the probe.
Ex-White House strategist Steve Bannon was indicted on two federal counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the committee. A trial has tentatively been set for July.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reversed course after originally cooperating with the panel, leading the full House to hold him in criminal contempt. A referral to the Justice Department has yet to be acted upon.
An attorney for Giuliani did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Congress should be sending a stronger signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin as fears of an imminent invasion of Ukraine persist.
On “This Week,” anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Graham on Sunday whether he is convinced Putin will invade the neighboring Baltic state.
“No, I’m not, but I’m convinced that we could do more in Congress and should,” Graham answered.
The Senate’s prospects of passing a sweeping bipartisan sanctions bill have stalled, and Graham said the White House “keeps pushing back” against pre- and post-invasion sanctions being considered by Congress.
Stephanopoulos followed up: “You’re saying the president is pushing back against, but you also have some pushback from your Republican colleagues in the Senate?”
“Yeah, but not in a real, meaningful way. There’s 70 votes in the body for invasion sanctions, pre-invasion sanctions with a waiver, post-invasion sanctions,” Graham responded. “So, the problem has been secondary sanctions. It’s not just enough to sanction a Russian bank. You want to sanction anybody that does business with that bank.”
On Saturday, President Joe Biden spoke with Putin for a little more than an hour from Camp David, pledging to “impose swift and severe costs” if Russian forces invade Ukraine.
Graham said the U.S.-Russia relationship “would be forever changed,” possibly harming the diplomatic process for decades to come, if Putin launched an invasion.
“This is not the last president America will have. If Russia invades the Ukraine, you will destroy the U.S.-Russia relationship for decades and every president in the near-term will be put in a box when it comes to dealing with Russia, so I hope Putin understands that,” Graham said.
When asked about whether the Biden administration’s release of intelligence on a possible false flag operation has been effective in deterring a military advance into Ukraine, Graham said the U.S. government should be doing more.
“I don’t want to ring alarm bell as much as take action. They’re telling us the invasion is imminent. But they’re not telling Putin with clarity what happens if you invade,” Graham added. “He should be punished now.”
Recently, the South Carolina senator came under fire by the former President Donald Trump after disagreeing with Trump suggesting he would pardon Jan. 6 rioters if reelected to office. Trump even called Graham a “RINO,” a Republican in name only, during an interview with NewsMax.
Stephanopoulos pressed: “So where do things stand with you and President Trump right now? Do you support his comeback in 2024?”
“If he wants to be the Republican nominee for the Republican Party, it’s his for the taking,” Graham responded. “Donald Trump is the most consequential Republican in the Republican Party today. He has a great chance of being president again in 2024.”
Despite some Republicans still casting doubt on the legitimate results of the last presidential election, Graham said “the 2020 election is over for me” and that he’s not “contesting” the results.
The key GOP senator gave advice to the former president as well, suggesting that “if he looks backward, I think he’s hurting his chances.”
Given Trump’s fractured relationship with longtime Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, Stephanopoulos asked Graham: “If (Republicans) take the Senate back, will you vote for Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican leader? In the past, you have said that he’s got to fix his relationship with President Trump if he’s going to earn your vote.”
“Yes, I think any Republican leader in the House or the Senate has to have a working relationship with President Trump, because most Republicans like President Trump’s policies,” Graham said. “And so Mitch McConnell, if he runs, or anyone else, I think, would have to show a working relationship with the president.”
U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs, who sits on the federal court in South Carolina, is reported to be one of Biden’s top contenders to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who recently announced his retirement.
Graham, a fellow South Carolinian, has previously voiced his support for Childs to become Biden’s nominee.
Stephanopoulos asked: “Is Judge Michelle Childs of South Carolina the only Biden nominee you could support?”
“I think she’s the one that would get the most Republican votes. I would be very inclined to support her because of her background,” Graham said. “She didn’t go to Harvard or Yale, which I think is a plus. She went to the University of South Carolina. But we’ll wait and see what President Biden does.”
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a stark warning for Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Russian military buildup near the Ukraine region showed no signs of slowing on Sunday.
“The fact is that we think that an assault on Ukraine is an assault on democracy,” Pelosi told George Stephanopoulos during an exclusive interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “We understand that the loss of life, the damage, the collateral damage to civilians, to military and the rest are severe.”
“If he decides to invade, the mothers in Russia don’t like their children going into what he’s had to experience that — forgive the expression — bodybags from the moms before, so he has to know that war is not an answer. There’s very severe consequences to his aggression, and we are united in using them.”
Pelosi said the U.S. has to be prepared for any potential invasion, and she believes sanctions have acted as a deterrent thus far.
“If we were not threatening the sanctions and the rest, it would guarantee that Putin would invade. Let’s hope that diplomacy works. It’s about diplomacy, deterrence. Diplomacy, deterrence,” Pelosi said.
“And the president’s made it very clear: There’s a big price to pay for Russia to go there. So if Russia doesn’t invade, it’s not that he never intended to, it’s just that the sanctions worked,” Pelosi said.
“I’m very proud of what the president has done. The unity of our allies and NATO to come to an agreement as to the severity of the sanctions is very, very important. And that is, that is something that Putin should pay very close attention to,” Pelosi added.
Pelosi noted that while President Joe Biden has the authority to issue sanctions by executive order, “it would be better” if Congress did so through legislation.
The Senate has been negotiating a Russia sanctions bill, but as of last week, lawmakers concluded that they had hit an “impasse” in their talks. Senators have said they will continue to negotiate while also considering “other” options.
On the domestic front, Pelosi defended passing historically massive spending bills to address the coronavirus and infrastructure, which some say has contributed to rising costs across the U.S.
She noted that legislation the House passed recently to better compete with China, as well as the long-stalled Build Back Better Act, would help with supply chain issues and improve the economy in the long run.
“The fact that people have jobs always contributes to increase in inflation. And that’s a good thing. But inflation is not a good [thing],” Pelosi said.
“There has to be a cumulative effect, a cumulative effect and part of the consequences of all of that investment in the infrastructure bill the rest, is that more people have jobs and and, therefore, inflation goes up,” Pelosi said.
“The BBB is a deficit reduction bill,” Pelosi added. “The [Joint Committee on Taxation] says that BBB will reduce the national debt by $100 billion in the first 10 years and a trillion dollars in the second 10 years.”
She urged Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to understand Congress’ role in addressing inflation as opposed to contributing to it, which he claims passing the BBB will do.
“It’s very important for us to address it. We must bring it down and but is not. It’s not right — with all the respect in the world to my friend Joe Manchin — it’s not right to say that what we’re doing is contributing to inflation because it is exactly the opposite,” Pelosi said.
Stephanopoulos also pressed Pelosi on the rate of rising crime in America and noted the differing opinions among some members of Congress as to how to address the issue. Some have called for an increase in the police force, while other members, such as Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, have supported the “defund the police” movement.
“Well, with all the respect in the world for Cori Bush, that is not the position of the Democratic Party,” Pelosi said of the “defund the police” movement, which calls for a reallocation of money from police forces to local community organizations and non-policing forms of public safety.
“Community safety, to protect and defend in every way, is our oath of office,” Pelosi said. She pointed to the “The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021” as an answer to rising crime. The legislation is a human rights and police reform bill drafted by Democrats. The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force and racial bias in policing. The House approved the measure in 2020 following Floyd’s murder, but it is stalled in the Senate.
Stephanopoulos also pointed to Biden’s low approval rating as Democrats gear up for the upcoming midterm election this November. He asked Pelosi if she is concerned about losing the majority given the high number of Democrats who have already announced they are not running for re-election.
“I don’t agonize. I organize,” Pelosi countered. “We fully intend to win this election. Nothing less is at stake.”
“Forget history,” Pelosi said to Stephanopoulos when he pointed to historical election results during a midterm year. “We’re talking about the future….We have every intention every single day to do everything in our power. We have decided to win and that’s what we will do.”
Asked by Stephanopoulos if she intends to run for speaker again, Pelosi quipped: “That’s not a question. My purpose right now is just to win that election. Win that election, nothing less is at stake than our democracy.”
(NEW YORK) — Walk into a Lamborghini dealership and brace yourself for the bad news.
The wait time for the new Huracan STO supercar, a track weapon with a conspicuous carbon-fiber wing, air ducts and shark fin, is at least a year. Same goes for the Italian marque’s brawny Urus sport utility vehicle. The Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae, the automaker’s last supercar with a naturally aspirated V-12 engine, sold out instantly when it was revealed last July.
Lamborghini, Cadillac, Porsche and Mercedes are building some of their best sports cars before hybrid powertrains and electric power rule the road. Industry watchers say consumers are racing to buy performance cars with mighty V-8, V-10 and V-12 engines for one reason: a boycott of electrification.
“After 130 years of internal combustion engines, these companies have to write one last love letter to the industry, to their fans, and go out with a bang,” Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, told ABC News. “Battery cars cannot replicate the sound, vibration and feeling of an ICE sports car.”
Cadillac, the luxury brand of General Motors, will exclusively make electric cars by 2030, with the futuristic Lyriq crossover SUV the first to go on sale in spring of 2022. Before that happens, Cadillac has offered performance fans one final hurrah: the street predators CT4-V Blackwing (472 horsepower) and CT5-V Blackwing (668 hp), two sport sedans with boosted V-6 and V-8 engines that provide a visceral and exhilarating experience behind the wheel.
“The reception has been so incredible, beyond what I would have expected,” Tony Roma, Cadillac’s chief engineer, told ABC News. “It’s a testament to how good these cars are. Not that many cars reward the driving experience.”
These cars mark an end to an era for Cadillac, Roma said, adding that neither he nor his team realized their significance until halfway through the development process.
“The Blackwings are a swan song to the internal combustion engine and the V-8,” he said. “The pressure was weighing on us. Clearly these cars were designed for the ultimate enthusiast. We obsessed about lap times and metrics.”
He added, “But performance is not going away with EVs.”
Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, said enthusiasts are frantically buying ICE sports cars — even used ones — before they’re gone. The extensive wait times for new Porsches and Lamborghinis in addition to the absurd markup on car prices send a signal to automakers that electrification has its drawbacks, he argued.
“There are two opposing forces — the die-hard enthusiasts, which are a small fraction of the market — and government,” Brauer told ABC News. “Usually enthusiasts lose.”
He pointed to Ferrari’s 458 Speciale, a mid-engine sports car with a naturally aspirated V-8 powerplant that was produced from 2010 to 2015.
“That car had no electrification and everyone wants one now,” he said. “It represented the last generation of traditional Ferrari engineering.”
Brauer said he’s closely watching to see if any sports car makers hold out on electrification.
“I don’t see it as an asset. Electrification is not fully evolved yet,” he argued. “I genuinely believe there is a number of enthusiasts who are starting to panic about EVs.”
Andrea Baldi, CEO of Lamborghini America, conceded that owners are still clamoring for gas-powered thrills.
“There is still a huge appetite for internal combustion engines,” Baldi told ABC News. “Today there is no question — everyone prefers them. This is what they consider the purest expression of a super sports car.”
The STO, the newest addition to the Huracan family, sprints from 0-62 mph in 3 seconds and bellows when the driver stands on the accelerator. The hardcore supercar’s naturally aspirated V-10 engine produces 630 horses and will likely be the last from Lamborghini; a plug-in hybrid successor arrives in 2024.
The next generation of the Aventador, Lamborghini’s flagship model with a ferocious V-12, will come with a cord for charging an electric battery in 2023. A fully-electric Lamborghini launches in the second half of the decade.
Baldi, however, said the storied automaker is not abandoning its legendary V-10 and V-12 engines. But the company has realized that it cannot continue producing gas-guzzling sports cars in an era of increasing regulation.
“What we will see in the Huracan and Aventador successors will be dramatically disruptive,” Baldi said. “The V-10 and V-12 engines will reach full their potential soon.”
German automaker Mercedes-Benz will go all-electric by 2030, with a battery-powered option for every vehicle by 2025. Until then, Philipp Schiemer, CEO of Mercedes-AMG, said the company will offer more V-8 sports cars like the completely redesigned AMG SL roadster, which replaces the GT AMG coupe.
“There are still three years to go and there are some more interesting projects yet to come,” he told ABC News. “There is a persistently high demand for our V8 models. I’m pretty sure we will see, feel and drive the V-8 still for a while.”
The seventh generation SL, an automotive icon since its launch in 1954, got modern updates like all-wheel-drive and a power-folding fabric top in this iteration. Two potent engine configurations are also available: a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 with 480 hp in the SL 55 or 560 hp in the SL 63. A plug-in hybrid SL arrives next year.
“Mercedes-AMG is right in its transition phase and well prepared for a pure electric future,” Schiemer said. “The V-8 is not dead. It will survive also in combination with our E Performance hybrid technology.”
Porsche’s nimble 718 Cayman and Boxster mid-engine sports cars are going electric by 2025, according to a report from Car and Driver. That may explain the massive demand for the 2023 Cayman GT4 RS, a naturally aspirated, 493 hp road rocket with a 9,000 RPM redline. Even longtime Porsche owners can’t get an allocation for one. A Porsche spokesperson would not confirm the 718 report, telling ABC News: “As a matter of policy we are not able to comment on speculation about future products.”
Ralph Gilles, chief design officer at Stellantis and a serious enthusiast, has pledged that Dodge’s Charger and Challenger muscle cars will still appeal to fanatics when they go electric. Dodge is preparing to launch an electric muscle car by 2024, according to CEO Tim Kuniskis, with production of the revered supercharged Hellcat V-8 engine ending next year.
“We are pretty confident that we have several good solutions that will be an alternative visceral stimulus. We’re going to thrill in a different way,” Gilles told ABC News.
Brauer is skeptical; Hellcat muscle cars “selling like crazy” and collectors are “scrambling” to get one, he said. Jominy, however, disagrees.
“The muscle car segment is shrinking rapidly. An electrified powertrain brings it relevance,” he said.
Cadillac’s Roma acknowledged that building performance EVs are more challenging and engineers are struggling with the nascent technology.
“Can you cool the battery, can you make the car light enough? All that becomes more difficult,” he said. “There is no defined recipe for an EV performance car.”
Enthusiasts will have to accept that internal combustion engines are not going to make a comeback, Jominy explained.
“The train is not stopping. Electrifying cars is the way to go in terms of performance — not just for emissions,” he said.
There is a silver lining, though: this recent crop of sports cars will at least satiate the desires and wants of performance die-hards and muscle car fans.
“Automakers are going out with their best-ever engines. These will be some of the most-sought after vehicles,” Jominy said.
(NEW YORK) — A Charlotte, North Carolina, city bus driver has died after being shot while at the wheel and on his route with passengers aboard in what police are investigating as a possible road rage incident, authorities said.
Ethan Rivera, 41, a driver for the Charlotte Area Transit System, died at a hospital Saturday night, a day after being shot while operating a bus in a busy area of uptown Charlotte, police said.
No arrests have been announced as of Sunday as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police homicide detectives combed through surveillance video and urged witnesses to come forward with information that could help identify the shooter.
Rivera was on his route about 9:30 p.m. Friday when he was shot while stopped at a red light, authorities said. Police sources told ABC affiliate WSOC-TV in Charlotte that investigators are looking into whether the shooting is linked to a road-rage altercation with a motorist.
Police officers found the bus veered off the road with the mortally wounded driver still in his seat.
Four passengers aboard the bus were not injured, police said.
Rivera’s co-workers told WSOC that the shooting has left them upset and fearful for their own lives.
“We worry every day. We worry and we pray that we make it home the same way we made it to work,” said one driver, who asked not to be identified.
Another city driver said of Rivera, “He was a good co-worker. I think he’s been in Charlotte less than two years, but every time you saw him, he was always smiling. Always smiling.”
The shooting came just two days after a school bus operator in Minneapolis was shot in the head while driving home three children. None of the children were injured and the driver is expected to survive, police said.
No arrests have been made in the Minneapolis shooting and police are investigating whether the driver was targeted or struck by a stray bullet, authorities said.
(TEHRAN, Iran) — As nuclear talks enter what U.S. officials have described as the “final moment,” Iran struck a defiant tone Friday, marking the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that brought to power its hardline government.
In the streets of Tehran, thousands celebrated in convoys of cars and motorbikes because of COVID-19 restrictions — waving flags, honking horns, and displaying “Down with U.S.A.” signs.
But elsewhere across the capital, a weary Iranian public suffering under years of tight U.S. sanctions and economic mismanagement are eager for relief, especially from sky-high inflation, which now exceeds 40%.
Whether they’ll see a significant reprieve soon depends on the diplomatic efforts underway in Austria, where the U.S. and Iran are negotiating through proxies in an attempt to resuscitate a President Barack Obama-era nuclear deal.
At its core, the 2015 agreement saw the U.S. and international community lift certain sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program — a swap that was disrupted by former President Donald Trump when he exited the deal and reimposed crushing U.S. sanctions in 2018 — an attempt to strengthen his hand in negotiations.
But in response, Iran has since then escalated its nuclear program, enriching enough uranium at high-enough levels that U.S. officials say they are just “weeks” away from having enough for a nuclear bomb.
One week ago, President Joe Biden’s administration waived sanctions related to Iran’s civilian nuclear program, exempting foreign countries and companies that work with Tehran on nonproliferation projects from penalties.
The move is aimed at laying the groundwork for resuming U.S. compliance with the 2015 deal, but Iran’s foreign ministry called it “insufficient,” with its president dismissive of the ongoing talks in the Austrian capital.
“We put our hopes on the east, west, north, south of our country and never have any hope in Vienna and New York,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech Friday.
Raisi’s speech was repeatedly interrupted by chants of “Death to America” — a familiar slogan that dates back to the 1979 revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed ruler and ushered in an Islamist government, led by a supreme leader known by the clerical title, ayatollah.
But for the thousands of Iranians joining the protests and burning flags, there are thousands more who lament the economic situation, desperate for relief.
“The high prices are really hurting us,” one woman out shopping with her mother told ABC News. She declined to identify herself.
“I’m not that much into politics. I like my country, but the only problem is that things are really expensive, and when we have problems, states people do not really solve them,” she said, adding that since Raisi was inaugurated in August, “Nothing has changed. Nothing has gotten better. Things are even getting worse after him.”
Omid Kalavi, a toymaker in Tehran, said inflation has meant more people come to him for repairs than to purchase new toys for their children.
“I’m not a politician, but as far as I know, people are those who suffer the most from the political games. I can’t say our government or the United States because of imposing sanctions — I don’t know exactly to be honest, but as far as I know, people are suffering from it most.”
Without a deal, that economic hardship will continue. A senior State Department official said the U.S. would “fortify our response” if it has to walk away from talks, “and that means more pressure — economic, diplomatic, and otherwise.”
The Biden administration’s efforts to negotiate a mutual return to the deal have not yielded results in 10 months of talks. When the two sides were making progress last June, the talks went on hiatus for Iran’s presidential elections.
Raisi’s government stalled for months before resuming negotiations in late November. After making hardline demands at the start of the new round of talks, they returned last month “in a serious, business-like negotiation,” the senior State Department official said.
But time is running out to reach a new agreement. U.S. Special Envoy to Iran Rob Malley and other senior administration officials briefed Capitol Hill Wednesday on Iran’s growing nuclear stockpile and the urgency of talks, which lawmakers described as “sobering” and “shocking.”
“Breakout time has gone from a year to a matter of weeks,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., echoing what Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials have said in recent weeks. Murphy added that “a deal is in sight, but there is significant gaps between the two sides that need to be closed.”
The senior State Department official declined to discuss how much distance remains between both sides, saying nothing was agreed until everything was agreed. But Iran has demanded some sort of guarantee that a future U.S. administration cannot again exit the deal — the kind of promise any American president can’t give — while also publicly calling for the U.S. to completely lift sanctions first.
On the other side, the U.S. has warned that Tehran’s nuclear stockpile must return to the deal’s levels — enriching uranium to 3.67% and with a stockpile of 300 kilograms for the first 15 years of the deal.
“If is not reached … in the coming weeks, Iran’s ongoing nuclear advances will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, using an acronym for the deal’s formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
But many critics say that point has already passed. Iran is spinning more advanced centrifuges and building more of them, enriching uranium metal, and enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short technical step from weapons-grade, which is above 90%.
Some analysts say the scientific knowledge Iran has developed since the deal was scrapped will be impossible to eliminate.
“You cannot put the genie back into the bottle. Once you know how to do stuff, you know, and the only way to check this is through verification,” Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency — the U.N. nuclear watchdog — told the Financial Times last year.
But restoring the deal is intended to allow for that verification, ensuring Iran does not use its program to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has obstructed the IAEA’s work repeatedly in recent years. It has failed to account for uranium detected at three undeclared sites, and for a year now, it has barred the agency from reviewing data from surveillance equipment at Iran’s declared sites.
The obstruction, which also includes harassing some IAEA inspectors, “was seriously affecting the ability of the Agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program,” the IAEA reported in late November.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, a day after the U.S. warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin during the Olympics.
The two leaders spoke for just over an hour for the first time since Dec. 30, marking their third conversation amid escalating tensions over Russia’s military buildup at the Ukraine border, where it has amassed over 100,000 troops.
Biden warned that the U.S. and its allies “will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia” if it invades Ukraine, according to a brief White House readout of the call.
The president also stressed that a Russian invasion of Ukraine “would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing,” the White House said.
“President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said.
Russia has repeatedly denied it has plans to invade Ukraine, despite the buildup on its border.
The Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters the call took place in a ‘business-like” manner despite an “atmosphere of unprecedented hysteria” he claimed was being artificially inflated by the U.S.
“The last days, hours, the situation has simply been brought to the point of absurdity,” Ushakov said.
“We have outlined our considerations and stressed several times that we do not understand why deliberately false information about our Russian intentions should be transmitted to the media,” he continued.
President Biden spoke with President Vladimir Putin today to make clear that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the U.S. and our allies will impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden urged President Putin to engage in de-escalation and diplomacy instead. pic.twitter.com/HqK0b65kFm
A senior administration official did not detail specifics of the call, but told reporters “there was no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks.”
The official said the countries will continue to “stay engaged in the days ahead,” as military action from Russia remains a “distinct possibility.”
“We are not basing our assessment of this on what the Russians say publicly. We are basing this assessment on what we’re seeing on the ground with our own eyes, which is the continued Russian buildup on the border with Ukraine, and no meaningful evidence of de-escalation,” the official said.
The call comes amid ongoing diplomatic efforts Saturday to defuse tensions and avoid war in eastern Europe.
On Saturday, France President Emmanuel Macron and Putin spoke at the request of Macron, Russian officials said.
The two presidents “continued their discussion on the conditions for security and stability in Europe,” Macron’s office said in a statement.
“They both expressed a desire to continue the dialogue on these two points,” the statement continued.
French officials said Macron received personal assurances from Putin that he has no intention of attacking Ukraine. Macron raised concerns about Russian naval maneuvers near Ukraine in the Sea of Azov. “Putin did not present this movement as a precursor to attack,” French officials said.
On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Blinken also spoke. During the 35-minute call, Blinken discussed “acute and shared concerns that Russia may be considering launching further military aggression against Ukraine in the coming days,” U.S. officials said. Blinken repeated his refrain that the path of diplomacy remains available — but if not, the repercussions will be “resolute, massive and united.”
Lavrov accused the U.S. and its allies of a “propaganda” campaign and of making attempts to “sabotage” the diplomatic talks to resolve the Russian-stoked conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russian officials said. Lavrov denied that Russia has any intention to invade Ukraine, but he also didn’t signal that Russia was prepared to deescalate, a senior State Department official told ABC News.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also spoke with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, on Saturday about “Russia’s force build-up in Crimea and around Ukraine,” the Department of Defense said in a brief readout.
The calls come a day after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin during the Beijing Winter Olympics, which are scheduled to end on Feb. 20.
“We can’t pinpoint the day, at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a Russian military action would take place even before the end of the Olympics,” Sullivan said.
Following the warning, the State Department said Saturday that all non-emergency U.S. employees would depart the embassy in Kyiv, leaving only a core team of American diplomats and Ukrainian staff members.
“We encourage all American citizens who remain in Ukraine to depart immediately,” Sullivan said Friday. “We want to be crystal clear on this point. Any American in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible, and in any event in the next 24 to 48 hours.”
The Pentagon also ordered Saturday that a contingent of about 160 members of the Florida Army National Guard training in western Ukraine leave the country.
Over a dozen countries have joined the U.S. in telling their citizens in recent days to leave Ukraine. On Saturday, senior U.K. officials said British citizens should get out “immediately by any means.” The European Union has also begun pulling out non-emergency staff.
In Kyiv, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced an evacuation plan Saturday and said the Ukrainian capital is preparing in case of a large-scale attack.
Russia has also announced it is drawing down its embassy in Ukraine and pulling out some staff because it fears “provocations” from Kyiv or other countries, officials said Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the country is ready to counter a possible Russian invasion, but intelligence claims on possible aggression coming next week and the evacuation of foreign diplomats only cause panic.
“Today in the information space, there is too much information about a deep, full-scale invasion from Russia,” Zelenskyy told reporters. “The best friend of our enemy is panic in our country, and all that information which helps create only panic doesn’t help us.”
Russia and Ukraine held talks Thursday in Berlin, moderated by Germany and France, but after nine hours of discussion failed to agree on issuing a joint statement. The sides remained at an impasse over Russia’s insistence that the Ukrainian government speak directly with Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Karen Travers, Patrick Reevell, Luis Martinez, Tanya Stukalova and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — With increasingly dire warnings from the U.S. that Russia will likely attack Ukraine in the coming days, the U.S. is evacuating its diplomats and troops in the country and urging private American citizens to leave immediately, according to the State Department and Pentagon.
“It isn’t just time to leave Ukraine. It is past time for private citizens to leave Ukraine,” a senior State Department official said Saturday.
The U.S. embassy announced it was evacuating all but non-emergency staff from the country and that among the skeleton crew left behind, many would pull out of the capital, Kyiv, to the western city, Lviv, near the border with Poland.
The Pentagon also announced that it was withdrawing 160 soldiers from the Florida National Guard, among the only U.S. military presence in the country.
Ukrainian officials, at odds with the U.S. assessment of an imminent threat for weeks, were critical of the decision as they try to project calm to a nation weary of eight years of Russian aggression.
“Today in the information space, there is too much information about a deep, full-scale invasion from Russia,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters. “The best friend of our enemy is panic in our country, and all that information which helps create only panic doesn’t help us.”
Russia has denied it has plans to invade Ukraine, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov telling Secretary of State Antony Blinken that again during a call Saturday, according to a second senior State Department official.
That call was part of a full-court press by the Biden administration to urge Russia to stand down from what U.S. officials say could be an imminent attack. President Joe Biden spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu Saturday, while Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a rare call Friday to his counterpart, Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov.
But those high-level calls have not yet changed the U.S. assessment that an attack could take place in the coming days, as Biden’s national security adviser warned Friday.
Therefore, the U.S. embassy is suspending consular services Sunday, as most of the remaining staff depart. While the embassy will not close, only emergency services will be available, with diplomats focused on communicating with the Ukrainian government.
“We fervently hope and continue to work intensively to try to ensure that Ukraine does not become a war zone,” the first senior State Department official said, but they warned it “appears increasingly likely that this is where this situation is headed — toward some kind of active conflict.”
Pressed on Zelensky’s opposition, they added, “The Ukrainians understand why we are taking these steps, even if all of them don’t necessarily agree … with our threat assessment and with our assessment of the extent to which potential conflict is imminent.”
During their call, Blinken “emphasized” to Lavrov the “priority we place on the safety and security of American citizens, diplomatic personnel and our embassy facility,” the second senior State Department official said.
But the first official said “even with restraint and respect for diplomatic facilities,” things can “go wrong.” While the U.S. will set up a diplomatic presence in Lviv instead, there will not be a de facto embassy there and staff won’t be able to provide consular support like passports or visas, according to the official. For that, Americans are instructed that they will have to leave Ukraine and go to an embassy or consulate in another country.
Diplomats aren’t the only ones leaving. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered 160 soldiers from the Florida National Guard to leave Ukraine to be repositioned elsewhere in Europe, the Pentagon announced Saturday.
“These troops, assigned to the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, have been advising and mentoring Ukrainian forces as part of Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine,” said John Kirby, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson.
“They are departing Ukraine and will reposition elsewhere in Europe,” said Kirby. “The Secretary made this decision out of an abundance of caution — with the safety and security of our personnel foremost in mind — and informed by the State Department’s guidance on U.S. personnel in Ukraine.”
“This repositioning does not signify a change in our determination to support Ukraine’s armed forces, but will provide flexibility in assuring allies and deterring aggression,” he added.
In a sign of that, even as these drawdowns unfold, another shipment of U.S. military aid for Ukraine’s armed forces is scheduled to arrive Saturday, according to the first senior State Department official. But Biden has made clear U.S. troops will not enter Ukraine to support its military or even to evacuate American citizens.
The Guardsmen have been in western Ukraine since November, training Ukraine’s military and are based at a training center in Yavoriv, less than 10 miles from the border with Poland.
There was no update provided on the status of U.S. special operations forces that have also been serving in Ukraine as part of a training mission with Ukrainian special operations forces.
(NEW YORK) — A nonprofit organization is tackling growing attacks on the Jewish community in a splashy way – by installing bright pink billboards across the country that denounce antisemitism.
The New Jersey-based organization, JewBelong, launched the #EndJewHate campaign last June with billboards in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Las Vegas and now, Miami, after flyers blaming Jews for Covid-19 were found distributed in two South Florida cities last month.
With messages like “I promise to love being Jewish 10x more than anyone hates me for it,” “3,500 years of antisemitism doesn’t make it right,” and “Does your church need armed guards? ‘Cause our synagogue does,” the organization hopes to spread awareness of antisemitism around the country.
Archie Gottesman worked in branding and marketing for over 15 years before co-founding JewBelong. Now the self-proclaimed Co-Chief-Rebrander-of-Judaism is taking notes from her previous experience designing witty billboards to draw attention to antisemitism.
“Jews belong in the conversation. Hate is painful. Hate is scary. It’s painful. It doesn’t allow us to become who we are,” said Gottesman. “It just makes us feel less than like all of those terrible things about marginalized groups, which again, this country is trying to work on and should be working on.”
According to a 2020 Pew Research Center report, there are 5.8 million Jewish adults in the United States, accounting for 2.4% of the United States’ adult population.
“One of the reasons that JewBelong is doing the campaign is not everybody realizes this, Jews are only 2% of the population in the United States,” said Gottesman. “We’re so tiny that it’s like, we need some help in terms of being able to get the message out there.”
According to the NYPD Hate Crimes Dashboard, there were 198 confirmed hate crime incidents against Jewish people in 2021, up from a still-alarming 121 incidents in 2020. The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism recorded 2,024 antisemitic incidents in their 2020 annual audit, making it the third-highest year on record since 1979.
Incidents like the recent hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, have prompted the Department of Homeland Security to address the “continuing threat of violence based upon racial or religious motivations, as well as threats against faith-based organizations.”
British national Malik Faisal Akram took a rabbi and other congregants at the Texas synagogue hostage on Jan. 15 for several hours before he was killed by police, authorities said. The incident prompted American Jewish organizations to offer solidarity and calls to action across the country.
Organizations like the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League have since urged the confirmation of President Biden’s Special Envoy nominee Deborah Lipstadt, who called the rise in antisemitism “staggering” in her confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Lipstadt, who is currently the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, previously served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
“Dr. Deborah Lipstadt’s confirmation as the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism would send a powerful signal to governments around the world that the U.S. takes combating antisemitism seriously and calls on them to do the same,” the ADL stated on their website.
The Vice President of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, Oren Segal, told ABC News about the importance of taking this data seriously and recognizing antisemitism and hate.
“And I should note that in the fight against antisemitism, ADL’s mission recognizes that you have to stand up and combat all forms of hatred, right, that you know, where racism or misogyny and Islamophobia grow so does antisemitism, and vice versa,” Segal said.
“The other thing that is important is to, you know, have leaders, policymakers, elected officials, reject antisemitism wherever and whenever it arises,” he continued. “Right? So, one of the problems that we’re seeing today is the normalization of antisemitism. I would even argue inability to recognize it. And that’s why it’s really important that people speak out against that wherever it happens.”
Lipstadt declined ABC News’ request for comment.
JewBelong is focused on raising awareness with their campaign that has garnered appreciation from the Jewish community and allies alike.
“I think allyship is very, very important. And I think that we’re hearing a lot from that,” said Gottesman. “We’re hearing from people who are Jewish too, who feel like they are seen – people who say things like, I am so glad that I see those billboards up because it has been a really rough time right now and I’m glad to see someone is saying something.”
Gottesman told ABC News that a woman even traveled from miles away to see one of the billboards in New York.
“I’m going to come because I want to stand there and see the billboard. I saw it on social media, but I want to come and see it because it’s really important to me,” she says the woman told her. “And then she got back to us,” Gottesman added. “She said, ‘I did and I started to cry when I saw it because I really feel like it was so important to see.’”
Despite overwhelmingly positive reception, JewBelong has been on the receiving end of hateful messages, too according to screenshots of emails and social media comments that Gottesman shared with ABC News.“We’re getting people saying you know, Hitler should have finished you all off…” she said.
Nevertheless, JewBelong is determined to keep going. “The point is never to like, worry about the people who really hate you.” said Gottesman.
The group says people all over the country have reached to ask about getting a billboard in their cities and has plans to expand in the coming weeks, with one going up in downtown Toronto on February 28.
