(BOULDER COUNTY, Colo.) — Thousands of people are being asked to evacuate immediately as winds fuel fast-spreading wildfires in Boulder County, Colorado.
Several small grass fires, sparked by downed power lines amid gusty winds in central Colorado, according to the Boulder County sheriff, have grown into raging blazes Thursday afternoon.
Louisville, Colorado, with a population of about 20,000, is being asked to evacuate, according to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management. The entire city of Superior, Colorado, with a population of about 13,000 people, is also being asked to evacuate.
The National Weather Service of Denver/Boulder described the situation in Louisville as life-threatening in an alert on Twitter Thursday afternoon, while urging people to leave immediately.
Centura Health’s Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville started evacuating its patients, starting with its most critical, a Centura Health spokesperson told ABC News Thursday afternoon.
Six patients were taken to UCHealth Broomfield, which serves the Boulder area, due to injuries from the fires, a hospital spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
Colorado fire officials told ABC News that the high winds are making it difficult to get aerial resources into the area to fight the fires.
Wind gusts topping 100 mph were reported in northern Jefferson County earlier Thursday, while parts of Boulder County saw gusts over 80 mph. The city of Boulder also reported wind gusts over 70 mph Thursday afternoon.
The Boulder area is currently suffering from extreme drought, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Agriculture.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has declared a state of emergency due to the fires in Boulder County, his office said.
“Prayers for thousands of families evacuating from the fires in Superior and Boulder County,” Polis tweeted. “Fast winds are spreading flames quickly and all aircraft are grounded.”
ABC News’ Jeff Cook, Dan Manzo, Jenna Harrison and Dan Peck contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday — their second conversation this month amid heightened fears of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The call, which the Biden administration said comes at Putin’s request, was the latest effort to defuse those tensions diplomatically.
But tens of thousands of Russian troops remain near Ukraine’s borders, and bellicose rhetoric from Russian officials and state propaganda have Western officials on edge still.
The U.S. and European allies have threatened unprecedented economic penalties for Moscow if it attacks Ukraine, nearly eight years after its forces seized the Crimean Peninsula and sparked a war in Ukraine’s eastern provinces known as Donbas.
Sanctions and other penalties have not brought that conflict to an end, with approximately 14,000 people killed and Russian-led separatists still fighting Ukrainian forces. U.S. officials say it’s unclear if Putin has decided to attack again in an all-out invasion, but Biden has already made clear U.S. forces will not come to Kyiv’s aid on the battlefield.
Instead, the Biden administration is hoping deterrence and diplomacy will stop Putin. A senior administration official said they “cannot speak to why the Russian side has requested the call,” but added both leaders believe there is “genuine value in direct leader to leader engagement.”
“I think we are at a moment of crisis and have been for some weeks now given the Russian build-up and that it will take a high level of engagement to address this and to try to find a path of de-escalation,” the official told reporters Wednesday.
In addition to the leaders’ call, U.S. and Russian diplomats will meet on Jan. 10, the two sides confirmed Tuesday, to discuss stated security concerns on either side.
“Open lines of dialogue, open lines of diplomacy have the potential to be constructive as we seek to de-escalate the potential for conflict in and around Ukraine,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said of the talks.
After those meetings, NATO will hold a meeting with Russia on Jan. 12, while the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a key security forum that has deployed a war monitor in eastern Ukraine, will hold a session Jan. 13.
“The Biden administration continues to engage in extensive diplomacy with our European allies and partners, consulting and coordinating on a common approach in response to Russia’s military build-up on the border with Ukraine,” Emily Horne, Biden’s National Security Council spokesperson, said in a statement.
But some European allies have called for greater involvement. The European Union “must be involved in these negotiations,” its top diplomat, Josep Borrell, told the German newspaper Die Welt.
“It’s about us. This is not simply the case for two states, i.e. America and Russia, or NATO and Russia — even if Moscow imagines it,” he added in the interview, published Wednesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said repeatedly the U.S. will not negotiate any arrangement about European security without first consulting European allies — speaking again to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Wednesday, just as the two spoke before Biden and Putin’s first call this month.
He reiterated “unwavering” U.S. support for Ukraine, per Price, and “discussed efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia” — a nod to both Thursday’s call and the Jan. 10 meetings.
Zelenskiy tweeted that he was assured of “full” U.S. support “in countering Russian aggression.” U.S. officials have already publicly rebuked Russia’s demand heading into talks — that Ukraine be barred from NATO membership, saying the Western alliance’s military activity in former Soviet states threatens Russia.
But other items on Russia’s public demands are not “unacceptable” and could be addressed through diplomacy, Blinken, Price and others have said — provided that Russia de-escalate as well by pulling back its forces from Ukraine’s borders.
Instead, while Russian state media reported Monday that more than 10,000 were withdrawn, the senior administration official said there’s still a “significant Russian troop presence in and around the border.”
The ominous language from Russian officials has also continued. Putin himself said Sunday that he is weighing “diverse” military and technical options if Russia’s demands aren’t addressed.
Amid that heightened threat, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv is making “emergency preparations” in case it evacuates non-emergency personnel or diplomats’ families, according to internal emails obtained by ABC News.
The embassy is seeking additional security staff to temporarily fill in next month, as the “permanent staff continue Emergency Preparations in case of Authorized or Ordered Departure” — when an embassy allows diplomats’ families and non-emergency personnel to relocate because of a threat.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed Wednesday they are “conducting normal contingency planning, as we always do, in the event the security situation severely deteriorates.” But they told ABC News they are not “currently considering evacuations of U.S. government personnel or American citizens from Ukraine.”
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that during Biden’s call with Putin, Biden assured that the U.S. is not going to deploy offensive strike weapons in Ukraine.
“President Biden has clearly stated that the United States does not intend to deploy offensive strike weapons in Ukraine. Our president noted that this is one of the key points that are just included in our documents that we have handed over to the Americans and on which we want to continue substantive negotiations,” Ushakov told reporters after a telephone conversation between the presidents.
According to Ushakov, Putin said Russia will seek guarantees of its security.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin outlined in detail the basic principles that were laid down in the documents we submitted, and stressed that negotiations on these three tracks are important for us, of course, but the main thing is that we need a result, and we will achieve a result in the form of ensuring guaranteed security of Russia,” Ushakov told reporters. “The US President, in principle, agreed with this point of view and reacted quite logically and quite seriously.”
Earlier this month, the State Department updated its travel advisory for Ukraine to include a warning about “increased threats from Russia.” The advisory had been at the agency’s highest level, “Level 4: Do Not Travel,” for months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it now warns, “U.S. citizens should be aware of reports that Russia is planning for significant military action against Ukraine.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a short statement Thursday following Biden’s call with Putin, saying Biden “urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine,” and “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”
“President Biden also expressed support for diplomacy, starting early next year with the bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation,” Psaki said.
Also on Thursday, a senior White House official gave a readout of the call between Biden and Putin, saying the tone was “serious and substantive.”
According to the official, Biden outlined two paths forward — all depending on how Russia chooses to proceed.
“President Biden laid out two paths. Two aspects of the US approach that will really depend on Russia’s actions in the period ahead. One is a path of diplomacy, leading toward a de-escalation of the situation, and the other is a path that’s more focused on deterrence, including serious costs and consequences should Russia choose to proceed with a further invasion of Ukraine,” the official said.
“Those costs include economic costs include adjustments and augmentations of NATO force posture in allied countries and include additional assistance to Ukraine to enable it to further defend itself in its territory. as we’ve laid out previously,” the official added.
When asked if Putin had offered any further clarity on if he had made a decision on whether or not to further invade Ukraine, the official said there were “certainly no declarations to intention” in the conversation, but the U.S. will continue to monitor the situation to be ready for whatever Putin decides.
ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
(NAPLES, Fla.) — A maintenance worker who entered an unauthorized area of a Florida zoo and was attacked by a tiger could face criminal charges, authorities said. The tiger was shot and killed by responding authorities in order to free the man from the animal’s jaws.
The incident happened Wednesday at the Naples Zoo after it had closed to the public, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said.
A member of a cleaning service contracted by the zoo to clean restrooms and the gift shop, but not the animal enclosures, had “entered an unauthorized area near a tiger that was inside its enclosure,” according to the sheriff’s office.
The man, identified by authorities as 26-year-old River Rosenquist of Naples, was possibly petting or feeding a male Malayan tiger, “both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities,” when the attack occurred, the sheriff’s office said.
“Initial reports indicate that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure,” the office said.
Rosenquist called 911 to request help, according to the sheriff’s office. A deputy responded to the zoo around 6:30 p.m. and found the man with his arm in the tiger’s mouth. The deputy kicked the enclosure in an attempt to get the tiger to release the arm, but was “forced” to shoot the animal, authorities said.
“Our deputy did everything he could do in that situation and he ultimately made the only possible decision he could in order to save this man’s life,” Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement Thursday. “This was a tragic encounter at our world-class zoo facility. We value our community partnership with the Naples Zoo and their focus on conservation and education.”
The cleaner suffered serious injuries and was transported to an area hospital, authorities said. Lee Memorial Hospital Emergency Department confirmed to ABC News it had received a patient via medical helicopter from Naples with injuries related to a tiger attack.
The Malayan tiger, which is a critically endangered species, was killed in the shooting, according to a spokesperson for the zoo. The animal retreated to the back of the enclosure after it was shot and a drone that authorities flew inside showed it was unresponsive.
A veterinarian sedated the animal and examined it “when it [was] safe to do so,” and determined the tiger had died, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said Thursday it is working with state and federal prosecutors to investigate the “serious encounter” and determine whether criminal charges will be filed against Rosenquist.
The zoo will be conducting its own investigation, officials said.
The 8-year-old tiger, who the zoo confirmed was named Eko, came to the Naples Zoo from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle in December 2019 and was introduced in February 2020. “Eko is a great ambassador for his species. When guests see him, we hope they fall in love and want to learn how they can do their part to save his cousins in the wild,” the zoo says on its website.
The zoo was closed Thursday and will reopen on Friday, according to its website. A conservation fund will be set up in Eko’s honor, zoo officials said.
“[We] thank our community for their understanding and for the messages and words of encouragement and support that have been flowing into us,” the zoo said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — Thursday marks a week of travel woes across the country with more than 8,000 flight cancellations nationwide since Christmas Eve. As millions of Americans travel during what could be the busiest travel period since the start of the pandemic, airlines have been slammed with both winter weather and rising COVID-19 cases among flight crews.
Now, at least one major U.S. airline, JetBlue Airways, is signaling this weeklong crush of cancellations may just be the beginning.
JetBlue said on Wednesday it is preemptively canceling more than 1,200 flights over the next two weeks in order to have enough crews available to run a reliable operation.
“While the new CDC guidelines should help get crewmembers back to work sooner, and our schedule reduction and other efforts will further ease day-of cancellations, we expect the number of COVID cases in the northeast — where most of our crewmembers are based — to continue to surge for the next week or two,” the airline said in a statement. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down.”
On Thursday, more than 1,100 flights were canceled in the U.S. as of 2:30 p.m. ET.
Seattle Tacoma International has been impacted the most, holding the top spot for the most cancellations in the world for a third day in a row with nearly a third of all flights grounded. The airport added, “Staffing issues may bring further delays in operations.”
Alaska Airlines, whose main hub is in Seattle, is reporting call hold times of more than 10 to 20 hours.
“We strongly urge flyers with non-essential travel scheduled before January 2, 2022, to consider changing their travel to a later date using our flexible travel policy,” the airline said in a statement Wednesday.
The disruptions come as airports brace for the more than 10.5 million fliers estimated to fly from now until Jan. 3. The busiest New Year travel days are still ahead with Hopper forecasting 2.5 million could fly on Jan. 2 and Jan. 3.
Delta Air Lines is already projecting 200 to 300 daily cancellations for the upcoming weekend as “teams across [their] system continue to do all possible to mitigate constraints from increasing winter weather and the omicron variant.”
Experts say the COVID-19-related cancellations should be a reminder to holiday fliers to protect yourself as much as you can during travel.
“These cancellations are reasons why it’s important for people to wear the masks, wash their hands frequently and reduce movement around the cabin when you’re on a plane,” aviation expert Henry Harteveldt said. “It’s just really important. All of these are part of layers of safety to keep everyone as healthy as possible while traveling for the holiday.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday — their second conversation this month amid heightened fears of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The call, which the Biden administration said comes at Putin’s request, is the latest effort to defuse those tensions diplomatically.
But tens of thousands of Russian troops remain near Ukraine’s borders, and bellicose rhetoric from Russian officials and state propaganda have Western officials on edge still.
The U.S. and European allies have threatened unprecedented economic penalties for Moscow if it attacks Ukraine, nearly eight years after its forces seized the Crimean Peninsula and sparked a war in Ukraine’s eastern provinces known as Donbas.
Sanctions and other penalties have not brought that conflict to an end, with approximately 14,000 people killed and Russian-led separatists still fighting Ukrainian forces. U.S. officials say it’s unclear if Putin has decided to attack again in an all-out invasion, but Biden has already made clear U.S. forces will not come to Kyiv’s aid on the battlefield.
Instead, the Biden administration is hoping deterrence and diplomacy will stop Putin. A senior administration official said they “cannot speak to why the Russian side has requested the call,” but added both leaders believe there is “genuine value in direct leader to leader engagement.”
“I think we are at a moment of crisis and have been for some weeks now given the Russian build-up and that it will take a high level of engagement to address this and to try to find a path of de-escalation,” the official told reporters Wednesday.
In addition to the leaders’ call, U.S. and Russian diplomats will meet on Jan. 10, the two sides confirmed Tuesday, to discuss stated security concerns on either side.
“Open lines of dialogue, open lines of diplomacy have the potential to be constructive as we seek to de-escalate the potential for conflict in and around Ukraine,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said of the talks.
After those meetings, NATO will hold a meeting with Russia on Jan. 12, while the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a key security forum that has deployed a war monitor in eastern Ukraine, will hold a session Jan. 13.
“The Biden administration continues to engage in extensive diplomacy with our European allies and partners, consulting and coordinating on a common approach in response to Russia’s military build-up on the border with Ukraine,” Emily Horne, Biden’s National Security Council spokesperson, said in a statement.
But some European allies have called for greater involvement. The European Union “must be involved in these negotiations,” its top diplomat, Josep Borrell, told the German newspaper Die Welt.
“It’s about us. This is not simply the case for two states, i.e. America and Russia, or NATO and Russia — even if Moscow imagines it,” he added in the interview, published Wednesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said repeatedly the U.S. will not negotiate any arrangement about European security without first consulting European allies — speaking again to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Wednesday, just as the two spoke before Biden and Putin’s first call this month.
He reiterated “unwavering” U.S. support for Ukraine, per Price, and “discussed efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia” — a nod to both Thursday’s call and the Jan. 10 meetings.
Zelenskiy tweeted that he was assured of “full” U.S. support “in countering Russian aggression.” U.S. officials have already publicly rebuked Russia’s demand heading into talks — that Ukraine be barred from NATO membership, saying the Western alliance’s military activity in former Soviet states threatens Russia.
But other items on Russia’s public demands are not “unacceptable” and could be addressed through diplomacy, Blinken, Price and others have said — provided that Russia de-escalate as well by pulling back its forces from Ukraine’s borders.
Instead, while Russian state media reported Monday that more than 10,000 were withdrawn, the senior administration official said there’s still a “significant Russian troop presence in and around the border.”
The ominous language from Russian officials has also continued. Putin himself said Sunday that he is weighing “diverse” military and technical options if Russia’s demands aren’t addressed.
Amid that heightened threat, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv is making “emergency preparations” in case it evacuates non-emergency personnel or diplomats’ families, according to internal emails obtained by ABC News.
The embassy is seeking additional security staff to temporarily fill in next month, as the “permanent staff continue Emergency Preparations in case of Authorized or Ordered Departure” — when an embassy allows diplomats’ families and non-emergency personnel to relocate because of a threat.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed Wednesday they are “conducting normal contingency planning, as we always do, in the event the security situation severely deteriorates.” But they told ABC News they are not “currently considering evacuations of U.S. government personnel or American citizens from Ukraine.”
Earlier this month, the State Department updated its travel advisory for Ukraine to include a warning about “increased threats from Russia.” The advisory had been at the agency’s highest level, “Level 4: Do Not Travel,” for months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it now warns, “U.S. citizens should be aware of reports that Russia is planning for significant military action against Ukraine.”
(WASHINGTON) — The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defended the latest guidelines shortening the isolation period for certain people who test positive for COVID amid criticism from public health experts who believe a negative test should also be included in the recommendation.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the new guidelines of five days isolation for asymptomatic people or people who have seen their symptoms largely resolve stemmed from “two years of understanding transmissibility,” and that the period was shortened from 10 days to reduce staffing shortages in hospitals. The guidance recommends an additional five days of masking after the isolation period.
“Let me make clear that we are standing on the shoulders of two years of science, two years of understanding transmissibility, and a lot of information that we have gleaned from the wild type virus, as well as the alpha and delta variants and more that we continue to learn every single day about omicron,” Walensky said on Wednesday at a White House briefing on the virus.
She also said the CDC did not recommend getting a negative test before leaving isolation because scientists aren’t confident that rapid tests provide a good indication of contagiousness and PCR tests can show a positive result for months. But, she said, data shows people are largely less infectious after five days.
“We do know the vast majority of viral transmission happens in those first five days, somewhere in the 85 to 90% range. So if a person can isolate for the first five days they absolutely should,” she said.
“We also don’t know that antigen tests give a good indication of transmissibility at this stage of infection. On the other hand, we know that after five days people are much less likely to transmit the virus and that masking further reduces that risk. And this is why people need to mask for five days after the five days of isolation,” she said.
Some infectious disease experts expressed frustration with the new guidlines on social media, with Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, saying rapid antigen tests are a good additional layer of assurance before leaving isolation.
“The CDC should have included a negative antigen tests to end isolation,” Jha wrote, and rapid tests are “great when used properly.”
Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general under former President Donald Trump, also slammed the CDC in a Twitter thread, criticizing the agency’s decision to omit the recommendation for COVID-19-positive individuals to take a test prior to ending isolation.
The current guidelines are that a person with a positive COVID-19 test should isolate for five days, regardless of their vaccination status. If a person never had or no longer has symptoms after five days, they can leave isolation. They should then wear a mask for the next five days, even at home, according to the guidance.
“After five days, if you’re asymptomatic or if your symptoms have largely resolved, you may leave isolation as long as you continue to wear a mask around others, even in the home for an additional five days,” Walensky said.
Rapid tests, which are a faster and often more convenient option for testing, have always been slightly less accurate than PCR tests, which can take days to get back.
Most major test makers, such as Abbott, say their rapid tests still work to detect the omicron variant. But without naming specific tests, the Food and Drug Administration said preliminary research indicates some of these tests could be less sensitive.
The FDA says rapid tests still work, and the agency is now studying how much of an impact the omicron variant might make on accuracy. Walensky and other members of the White House COVID team said Wednesday that the FDA did not intend to dissuade Americans from taking the tests but wanted to be “transparent.”
“What the FDA was saying was that when they were looking at the sensitivity with regard to omicron in some of the tests, there appears to be somewhat of a diminution, not a disappearance, but a diminution of the sensitivity,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the White House, said at the briefing.
“The fact that the sensitivity is diminished somewhat does not obviate the importance of the still advantage and usefulness of these tests under different circumstances,” Fauci said.
“That was the message of the FDA. They wanted to make sure they were totally transparent in saying the sensitivity might come down a bit, but they did emphasize there still is an important use of these tests,” Fauci said.
Walensky added that “another important use is where we use them for serial testing in places like tests to stay, to keep children in school, in higher ed to keep our college campuses safe” — all situations in which the quantity of tests being used can make them more useful.
Fauci also presented some data from around the world about the apparent lessened severity of omicron.
In the U.K., a study has found the risk of hospitalization admission with omicron was 40% of that for delta, and in Scotland, preliminary data suggested a two-thirds reduction in the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization with omicron, Fauci said.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., data from the last 14 days shows “the spike in cases is out of proportion to the increase in hospitalization,” he said.
There has been a 126% increase in cases and an 11% increase in hospitalizations, and while deaths and hospitalizations tend to lag weeks behind cases, “the pattern and disparity between cases and hospitalization strongly suggest that there will be a lower hospitalization to case ratio when the situation becomes more clear,” he said.
“So in conclusion, the data are encouraging, but still, in many respects, preliminary, yet they are getting stronger and stronger as additional data are accumulated,” he said.
“All indications point to a lesser severity of omicron versus delta.”
Still, Fauci warned that severity on its own is good news, but it is paired with higher transmissibility.
“Increased transmissibility of omicron resulting in an extremely high volume of cases may override some of the impact of the lower disease severity,” he said.
“And so we should not become complacent since our hospital system could still be stressed in certain areas of the country.”
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos conributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, invited House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Wednesday to sit for an interview with investigators.
“If he has information he wants to share with us, and is willing to voluntarily come in, I’m not taking the invitation off the table,” Thompson said in a phone interview with ABC News.
Earlier this week, McCarthy, who spoke to then-President Donald Trump during the riot, was asked in a local television interview whether he would cooperate with the committee’s investigation.
“I don’t have anything to add. I have been very public, but I wouldn’t hide from anything, other,” he said in an interview with KBAK.
“If Leader McCarthy has nothing to hide, he can voluntarily come before the committee,” Thompson told ABC News, adding that he would consider sending McCarthy a formal request to appear.
A McCarthy spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment on Thompson’s remarks.
The select committee has formally requested interviews with Reps. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Jordan is of interest to investigators for his conversations with Trump on Jan. 6, while Perry has been linked to unsuccessful efforts to get the Trump Justice Department to investigate claims of election fraud in late 2020.
Both have rejected the committee’s requests.
The Mississippi Democrat also told ABC News that the panel could formally invite other GOP lawmakers — House members or senators — to appear before the committee in the coming weeks.
McCarthy told at least one colleague that Trump dismissed his request to help stop the riot, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., said in a statement during Trump’s second impeachment trial.
In an interview with Fox News in April, McCarthy said Trump “didn’t see” the riot was unfolding until they spoke.
“What he ended the call with saying was telling me he’ll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that’s what he did. He put a video out later,” McCarthy said.
While committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., has said the committee could subpoena McCarthy or other lawmakers who don’t voluntarily cooperate with their inquiry, Thompson expressed reservations about doing so.
“If we subpoena them and they choose not to come, I’m not aware of a real vehicle that we can force compliance,” Thompson said of lawmakers.
A committee aide subsequently told ABC News the committee has not ruled out issuing subpoenas to sitting lawmakers.
Stan Brand, an ethics expert who served as House general counsel under Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neal, said such a move could be a “precedential danger” that future GOP-led committees could similarly attempt.
He also argued that lawmakers, unlike other witnesses, could argue that their actions around Jan. 6 were related to legislative activity, and protected under the speech and debate clause of the Constitution.
Jan. 6 committee enters new, public phase
Ahead of the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Thompson also expanded on the committee’s plans for public hearings in the new year.
He said the committee would hear from state and local election officials about the 2020 election, to debunk Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud and the dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits he launched to reverse the results after the presidential race was called.
“We have to look at that to dispel, or at least put before the public for their consumption, the people tasked with the responsibility of running those elections and whether or not they were legitimate or not,” Thompson said.
The select committee also plans to explore “the role of right-wing organizations” on Jan. 6, Thompson said, noting that some members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keeper groups have been linked to the Capitol riot.
The committee will also publicly explore “whether or not we were prepared from an intelligence gathering position,” he said.
The panel aims to issue an interim report on its inquiry next summer, ahead of a final report in fall 2022.
“Part of what we will show is what went on to stoke the flames that ultimately led to Jan. 6.,” Thompson said. “What we will do in our hearings is put the pieces of the puzzle together, so the average man and woman on the street will understand how close we came to losing our democracy.”
(NEW YORK) — As the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads across the country, children are being impacted, too.
Last week, nearly 200,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19, up by about 50% since the beginning of December, according to new data from American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
And federal data shows more than 2,100 children are currently hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 — up by approximately 800 pediatric patients compared to just a month ago.
The increasing numbers are colliding with the holidays as well as cold and flu season and the upcoming return to school from the holiday break.
Amid the uncertainty of omicron, here are five tips for parents from two experts, Dr. Allison Messina, chief of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Dr. Sarah Ash Combs, an emergency medicine physician at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
1. Take omicron seriously, especially if your child is not yet vaccinated.
Severe illness due to COVID-19, including the omicron variant, remains “uncommon” among children, according to the AAP and CHA. But experts say young people are not immune from the virus, or from severe illness and death.
“I personally have seen many previously healthy children get really taken out by COVID,” said Ash Combs. “I think as a parent, you just want to do anything you can to prevent putting your kid in that situation, and unfortunately, there isn’t a strong predictor of is your kid going to be the unlucky one who gets harder hit by getting this strain.”
With omicron, experts say the rise in case numbers and hospitalizations among children isn’t because the variant attacks children differently, but more likely due to the fact that most children under age 18 are still not vaccinated.
In the U.S., less than a third of eligible children — ages 5 to 17 — have been fully vaccinated.
Messina said she worries that researchers do not know yet if omicron itself causes milder symptoms or if adults who are contracting the variant are experiencing milder systems because they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or have already had the virus.
“What I worry about is children are relatively unvaccinated, if you look at them as a group, and they may have less of a chance of having and recovering from coronavirus in the past,” she said. “It makes me worry a little bit that children by and large don’t have the baseline immunity that adults do.”
Messina continued, “That’s why when we’re treating omicron in children, we want to treat it seriously because we don’t know if it’s less serious or not.”
Both Messina and Ash Combs said the No. 1 thing parents can do to protect their children is to get them vaccinated and boosted if they are eligible and to make sure that all eligible adults who interact with their kids are vaccinated and boosted, too.
2. Go back to masking in public, especially indoors.
While omicron spreads and COVID-19 cases continue to increase, both Messina and Ash Combs said families should go back to mask-wearing when in public, especially in indoor spaces like grocery stores.
“I would tell parents, yes, go back to those previous measures you used to take, like masking,” said Ash Combs. “I would advocate for sending children to school both vaccinated and in masks because any multi-level protection you can get is better.”
Following coronavirus safety guidelines like hand washing and social distancing is also important for families during this surge, according to Ash Combs.
3. When in doubt, assume COVID-19.
Many of the symptoms of omicron — including sore throat, runny nose, fever and cough — closely mimic those of the flu and common cold.
As a result, according to both experts, the only way to truly diagnose your child is to get them tested for COVID-19.
“To be absolutely safe, especially if it’s a household exposure, or you’re just not sure, getting tested is key,” said Ash Combs. “You want to either get that at a facility or try and get your hands on an at home test if you can, and I recognize that’s hard to do … but if you can, as a parent, it’s good to have those on hand.”
If a parent is not sure whether their child has COVID-19 or a cold, for example, Ash Combs said to assume it’s COVID and follow CDC guidelines to isolate.
“You want to act as that could be a positive COVID case,” she said. “You certainly don’t want to go out and about if you or your child is feeling unwell, you don’t know the status of a test and you still have active symptoms.”
4. Slow down on large gatherings with other families.
If your family is gathering with people outside of your household, the best protection is to make sure that everyone your family will be in contact with is vaccinated, according to Messina, who added that families should also think about slowing down their social calendars.
“In a time like this with omicron when we’re seeing so many cases right now and we really probably haven’t hit our peak yet, this is the time to pay more attention to limiting play dates and limiting large gatherings, at least until case numbers start to drop,” she said. “Be a little bit more cautious.”
Whether or not a parent decides to let their child go on a play date or gather with friends can also depend on their age, according to Ash Combs, who noted that children who are older and vaccinated can have more flexibility to be together.
Like so much of what has happened during the pandemic, Ash Combs said that circumstances can change and parents should adjust accordingly.
“Every situation is going to change so reassess day by day, week by week,” she said. “See where you are at.”
5. Keep up good hand hygiene, but don’t overly stress about washing shared toys, door handles.
The early days of the pandemic saw people sanitizing everything that kids especially were in contact with, but experts say now that we know more about the virus, parents do not need to stress to that level.
“We know that COVID doesn’t seem to be super well transmitted by what we call fomites, those inanimate objects that you touch,” said Ash Combs. “I don’t think we need to freak out the way we did originally in quarantine with our groceries and our mail.”
Experts say it’s always a good idea to teach children good hand hygiene, including washing hands frequently for at least 20 seconds.
According to Ash Combs, one age group parents should be concerned about are young toddlers and infants who may put toys in their mouths, which is why she recommends being more cautious about gatherings of kids that young.
“I’d say play dates from multiple households of little kids who just love to share their saliva and their sneezes and coughs, that’s probably not a good idea,” she said. “But really for the bigger kids who are able to use a tissue and keep their hands to themselves, they don’t need to get super worried if they’re sharing a book or another object.”
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A jury has convicted Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls.
Maxwell faced a six-count indictment for allegedly conspiring with and aiding Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls between 1994 and 2004.
She showed no visible emotion as the jury’s verdict was read in the New York City courtroom. Following the verdict, her family members exited the courtroom without comment.
The verdict came on the sixth day of jury deliberations, after about 40 hours of deliberation.
“A unanimous jury has found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of one of the worst crimes imaginable — facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement following the verdict. “I want to commend the bravery of the girls — now grown women — who stepped out of the shadows and into the courtroom. Their courage and willingness to face their abuser made this case, and today’s result, possible.”
“This Office will always stand with victims, will always follow the facts wherever they lead, and will always fight to ensure that no one, no matter how powerful and well connected, is above the law,” Williams added.
Epstein, the one-time millionaire hedge fund manager, died by suicide in jail in 2019.
Prosecutors alleged that Maxwell played a “key role” in a multi-state sex trafficking scheme in which she allegedly “befriended” and later “enticed and groomed multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein” and was also, at times, “present for and involved” in the abuse herself.
“We believe firmly in our sister’s innocence — we are very disappointed with the verdict,” the Maxwell family said in a statement. “We have already started the appeal tonight and we believe that she will ultimately be vindicated.”
Former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who brought the original 2019 indictment against Epstein, told ABC News in his first public comment about the Maxwell case, “I congratulate the prosecution team for delivering justice for the victims.”
“I am so relieved and grateful that the jury recognized the pattern of predatory behavior that Maxwell engaged in for years and found her guilty of these crimes,” said Annie Farmer, one of four accusers who testified against Maxwell. “I hope that this verdict brings solace to all who need it … even those with great power and privilege will be held accountable when they sexually abuse and exploit the young.”
“The jury’s verdict vindicates the courage and commitment of our clients who stood up against all odds for many years to bring Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to justice,” said attorney David Boies, who represented Farmer. However, said Boies, “They did not act, and could not have acted, alone. The scope and scale and duration of their sex trafficking crimes depended on many wealthy and powerful collaborators and co-conspirators. They too are not above the law. They too must be brought to justice.”
“Satisfaction with Maxwell’s conviction is tempered by the knowledge that other co-conspirators have yet to be held responsible for their involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s extraordinary criminal enterprise,” said attorney Jack Scarola, who represented the Maxwell accuser who testified under the name Carolyn. “Doors closed by Epstein’s death may be opened by the very strong motivation Maxwell now has to unlock every door to which she holds a key.”
Maxwell has been held without bail since her arrest in July 2020. She now faces decades in prison.
(NEW YORK) — A real-world study of South African health care workers found that two doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine offer 85% protection against hospitalization from the omicron variant.
Separately, the company announced new data from a laboratory study that shows its vaccine likely also works well as a booster for people who got the Pfizer shots originally.
The lab study specifically tested two types of immune system responses — antibody and T-cell responses — against the omicron variant.
Using the J&J vaccine as a booster raised people’s antibodies and T-cells to levels higher than those seen among people who got a third dose of Pfizer — according to samples taken four weeks after each booster.
The new data adds weight to the argument that mixing and matching vaccine types could be an effective strategy, but the data is limited because it was a laboratory study, not real-world data.
The new findings were described in a press release and submitted to pre-print journals.
“As the Omicron variant has mutated from the original SARS-CoV-2 strain, there is a need to understand how effective currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines remain at protecting against severe disease,” Dr. Dan Barouch, Ph.D., director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at BIDMC, said in a statement. “Our analysis shows that a booster shot of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generated a robust increase in both neutralizing antibodies and T-cells to Omicron.”
Since its launch, the single-shot J&J vaccine has been dogged by the perception that it is less effective than Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines. And indeed, many experts agree that one dose of J&J isn’t as effective as two shots from the other brands; but when given as two doses, the J&J shot seems to be an effective vaccine.
“While one dose to prevent COVID was always desirable to improve vaccine access and acceptance, we now have irrefutable evidence that two doses provides significantly more protection,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and ABC News contributor. “The second dose triggers the immune system to produce antibodies and memory cells that ultimately yield longer term vaccine effectiveness.”
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that anyone considering getting vaccinated should get the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, if available, over the J&J single-shot vaccine. This isn’t because the single-shot J&J vaccine — which has been associated with a risk of very rare blood clots — isn’t safe and effective, CDC researchers said, but because the Pfizer and Modern two-shot vaccines appear to work even better. Collectively, this means the risk-benefit analysis is more favorable for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the CDC said.
