(NEW YORK) — Americans in at least 30 states are on high alert for snow, ice, flooding and tornadoes as storms sweep across the eastern half of the country.
They could bring damaging winds across the Deep South Thursday into Friday.
Excessive rain could lead to flooding across the Ohio Valley and the interior Northeast and ice jams are possible in the eastern Great Lakes.
Winter weather is expected from Wichita to Detroit. Half a foot of snow and icy conditions are expected through late Thursday.
A tornado watch is in place for Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi through 6 p.m. Central Time.
A few tornadoes are likely in addition to wind gusts up to 75 mph.
Very heavy rain and flood threats extend into Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
Heavy snow is falling Thursday afternoon from Wichita to Chicago, with over 9 inches of snow already reported in the Kansas City area.
Storms will continue across Tennessee and Mississippi Thursday evening and severe weather will stretch from Louisville to Nashville to Birmingham.
Heavy rain and flood threats will move east across the Ohio Valley and into the interior Northeast, from Cincinnati to Buffalo.
Chicago could potentially see between 1 to 4 inches of snow and 4 to 8 inches of snow in Detroit by Thursday night.
A storm moves into the Northeast late Thursday night through early Friday morning, with rain likely.
Heavy downpours are expected overnight, with possible thunder as the storm moves through the I-95 corridor in the early morning.
High wind warnings are in place along the coast from Long Island to Cape Cod, where gusts could exceed 60 miles per hour. The winds could cause damage and power outages by Friday morning.
Parts of the Denver metro area got more than a half a foot of snow overnight Wednesday into Thursday, causing slick roads and closing parts of I-70.
(CHICAGO) — Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability has released videos and documents related to the death of Irene Chavez, a woman who died in police custody last December.
The materials were released as part of an investigation by the civilian oversight agency looking into Chavez’s death.
According to police, the 33-year-old woman died after an “attempted suicide” on Dec. 18, 2021, at the 3rd District Police Station. The official cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office told ABC News.
Body camera video released by COPA shows Chavez being arrested hours before her death and transported to the police station.
According to the incident report and videos released by COPA, Chavez told officers that she is a veteran and suffers from PTSD.
Police said Chavez was taken into custody after her involvement in a bar fight at the Jeffery Pub Tavern and was belligerent during processing.
Chavez could be heard by police shouting in the holding cell, the report said. After about five minutes of silence, an officer went to check on her well-being by looking through the window. That’s when Chavez was found with her shirt wrapped around her neck and a “faint pulse,” the report said.
Video released by COPA shows officers performing CPR before Chavez was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital. According to COPA, Chavez was in “critical condition” at the time and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
COPA said in a statement that the agency has been in touch with Chavez’s family and provided them with documentation for viewing prior to the release of materials.
Chavez’s family is now demanding answers from police.
Iris Chavez, Irene’s sister, told reporters in December that police have not provided details surrounding her sister’s death and called for an investigation.
Iris Chavez started a GoFundMe page to support the family in covering costs related to her sister’s death and said that Irene was her only sister.
“When I say my heart is what one would call broken glass in a bag…MY absolute FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD and ONLY SISTER HAS PASSED AWAY,” she wrote on the page.
Chavez is one of two women to die in Chicago police custody within less than two months.
COPA is also investigating the death of London Marquez, 31, who died on Jan. 27. According to Marquez’s family, she was pregnant at the time of her death.
The investigation is ongoing and the cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Chicago police declined to comment and referred questions regarding both cases to COPA.
(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use certain powdered infant formulas made at Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis, Michigan, facility amid an investigation into four infant illnesses.
Parents should discard any affected formula, according to the agency. Specifically, the FDA is advising consumers not to use Similac, Alimentum or EleCare powdered infant formulas if: the first two digits of the code are 22 through 37, and the code on the container contains K8, SH or Z2, and the expiration date is 4-1-2022 (APR 2022) or later.
“As a result of the ongoing investigation, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local partners, the FDA is alerting consumers to avoid purchasing or using certain powdered infant formula products produced at this facility,” a press release stated.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and the firm is working with the FDA to initiate a voluntary recall of the potentially affected product,” it said, noting the FDA has “initiated an onsite inspection at the facility.”
In a press release, the FDA announced it is investigating consumer complaints of Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella Newport infections that resulted in four infant illnesses and hospitalizations in three states — Minnesota, Texas and Ohio. Cronobacter may have contributed to a death in one case, according to the report.
According to the FDA, Cronobacter bacteria can cause life-threatening infections such as sepsis or meningitis.
“Symptoms of sepsis and meningitis may include poor feeding, irritability, temperature changes, jaundice (yellow skin and whites of the eyes), grunting breaths and abnormal movements. Cronobacter infection may also cause bowel damage and may spread through the blood to other parts of the body,” the FDA says. “Parents and caregivers of infants who have used these products, and are concerned about the health of their child, should contact their child’s health care provider.”
Products made at the Sturgis, Michigan, facility are available across the U.S.
“As this is a product used as the sole source of nutrition for many of our nation’s newborns and infants, the FDA is deeply concerned about these reports of bacterial infections,” said Frank Yiannas, the FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response in a press release. “We want to reassure the public that we’re working diligently with our partners to investigate complaints related to these products, which we recognize include infant formula produced at this facility, while we work to resolve this safety concern as quickly as possible.”
The FDA will provide consumer safety information on the investigation as it becomes available.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman and Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said, and while Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some Russian forces have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian troops have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Latest headlines:
-Austin says Russia forces near Ukraine border stocking up on blood supplies
-Blinken says Moscow will ‘manufacture a pretext’ for invasion as US blames Russia for Donbas shelling
-Blinken calls on Moscow to commit to not invading, meet next week
-Blinken to UN Security Council: ‘I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one’
-Russia’s response to the US teases ‘military-technical measures’
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office
President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.
A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”
Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.
Feb 17, 9:22 pm
Senate passes non-binding resolution in support of Ukraine
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Thursday affirming its support for Ukraine.
The resolution denounced Russian troop buildups on the border and urged President Joe Biden to act if Russia were to invade Ukraine. “[The] United States Government should use the tools at its disposal to impose significant costs on the Russian Federation to restore peace in Europe,” it stated.
The non-binding “sense of the Senate” resolution conveys the sentiment of senators, but it does not mandate any action.
The resolution, which passed by voice vote with bipartisan support, follows a bipartisan statement from Senate leaders Tuesday that said “Russia must be made to pay a severe price” in the event of invasion.
The Senate departed for a weeklong recess Thursday night without approving a Russian sanctions package, which was the initial aim of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez and Ranking Member Jim Risch.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Feb 17, 7:35 pm
Reports of more shelling in eastern Ukraine overnight
Tensions around the Russian-controlled separatist areas in eastern Ukraine on Thursday remained high, with reports of shelling. Sporadic firing from the separatist side continued to hit the village Stanytsia Luhanska, setting two homes on fire, local police told ABC News. Earlier Thursday, separatist shelling struck a kindergarten in the village, injuring two teachers.
The escalation comes amid concerns from Western officials that Russia and its separatist proxies may be laying the groundwork for a pretext for a possible Russian intervention by accusing Ukraine of preparing to launch an offensive.
Valery Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, warned in a statement Thursday night that the military has information the separatist forces are planning to evacuate several villages near the front line, possibly ahead of a planned escalation in firing.
Zaluzhny also accused the Russian-controlled forces of firing deliberately onto civilian infrastructure and accused Russia and the separatists of using propaganda and disinformation to claim Ukraine is shelling civilians.
He said Ukraine is not planning any offensive operations and is observing a ceasefire.
There was dramatically more shelling Thursday than usual, according to monitoring by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Ukraine accused the separatists of violating the ceasefire 47 times, including mainly using large-caliber weapons banned from the front line.
Russian officials continued to claim Thursday that some Russian forces are returning to their home bases and accused the U.S., along with the U.K., Canada and the Baltic nations, of using claims of Russian aggression as a pretext to arm Ukraine.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko
Feb 17, 1:03 pm
Austin says Russia forces near Ukraine border stocking up on blood supplies
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, at NATO headquarters in Brussels Thursday, said the U.S. has evidence of Russia stocking up on blood supplies and military forces nearing the border as officials believe Russia will launch an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“We see some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea. We even see them stocking up their blood support supplies,” Austin told world leaders.
“You know, I was a soldier myself not that long ago, and I know firsthand that you don’t do these sorts of things, for no reason. And you certainly don’t do them if you’re getting ready to pack up and go home,” he added.
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned Thursday that, despite claims of pulling back, Russia appears to be ready to invade at any moment.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 930,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-US daily cases drop from 807,000 to 134,000 in 1 month
-Study: People who survived COVID in 1st few months of pandemic had significantly higher risk of mental health problems
-Updated mask guidance from CDC could come next week
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 17, 5:03 pm
California to roll out COVID ‘endemic’ plan
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday will announce the state’s “endemic” COVID-19 plan — a vague but flexible approach that will change based off the characteristics of new variants.
State officials said clear “on and off ramps” for future restrictions will be created for specific variants.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said case rates could be determinative for future restrictions if there’s a deadly variant, while hospital capacity could be the primary indicator if California faces a less virulent variant, similar to omicron.
The SMARTER plan focuses on seven areas: S – Shots; M – Masks “on and off ramps that are tailored for each unique virus strain”; A – Awareness; R – Readiness; T – Testing; E – Education; and R – Rx (Treatment).
State officials are expected to publish a one to two-page SMARTER summary of the state’s current recommendations on COVID-19 in the next few days. The document will be consistently updated so Californians can reference what the state’s current recommendations are.
ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman
Feb 17, 4:46 pm
New Mexico ends mask mandate
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday the state’s mask mandate is ending, effective immediately, ABC affiliate KOAT-TV reported.
Private businesses and school districts can set their own mask rules, KOAT-TV said.
Feb 17, 12:20 pm
US daily cases drop from 807,000 to 134,000 in 1 month
In January, omicron sent U.S. cases surging to an unprecedented high, with over 807,000 daily COVID-19 cases at the nation’s peak. Exactly one month later, cases have plummeted to an average of 134,000 new cases per day, according to federal data.
Nearly every state is reporting declining case rates, but nearly 97% of U.S. counties are still reporting high transmission. Also, experts continue to caution that many Americans are taking at-home tests and not submitting their results, so case totals may be higher than reported.
Hospitalizations are also continuing to drop, according to federal data. The U.S. has 71,000 patients with COVID-19 currently in hospitals; during the mid-January peak, there were 160,000 hospitalized patients.
Fatalities — a lagging indicator — are slowly starting to fall. The U.S. is now averaging 2,100 COVID-19-related deaths each day, down by nearly 10% in the last week, according to federal data.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 17, 9:55 am
Study: People who survived COVID in 1st few months of pandemic had significantly higher risk of mental health problems
A new study finds that people who survived COVID-19 during the first few months of the pandemic had a significantly higher risk of developing mental health disorders, including opioid use disorder, in the year after their COVID-19 diagnosis.
The study, published in The BMJ medical journal, evaluated medical records of nearly 154,000 COVID-19 patients in the Veterans Health Administration, comparing their experiences to a similar group of people that didn’t have COVID-19.
After recovering from COVID-19, people with no prior history of mental illness were more likely to develop anxiety, depression, opioid use disorder, neurocognitive decline, and sleep disorders.
In an accompanying editorial, one of the lead researchers of the study argued that the mental health consequences of COVID-19 should be treated seriously and society shouldn’t “gaslight or dismiss long covid as a psychosomatic condition.”
The study only looked at people who survived COVID-19 from March 2020 to Jan. 2021 — before vaccines were widely available. It’s not clear if these findings apply to people diagnosed with COVID-19 more recently.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a powerful and emotional eulogy at Thursday’s funeral for Amir Locke, a 22-year-old who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers executing a “no-knock” search warrant.
Locke, who was fatally shot on Feb. 2, was not named in the “no-knock” warrant.
Body camera video showed officers executing the warrant and finding Locke, who didn’t live at the home, sleeping under a blanket on the couch. Locke was seen holding a gun as he sat up; he was shot less than 10 seconds after officers entered the room, still covered in the blanket.
Locke’s mother, Karen Wells, at the funeral said her son was “executed.”
“How dare you?” she said. “You’re not above the law.”
Locke’s parents vowed to fight for a law in their son’s name banning “no-knock” warrants and Sharpton promised to support Locke’s family, saying, “Amir was not guilty of anything but being young and Black in America.”
Sharpton drew a connection between the “no-knock” warrant and how many Black Americans have the last name that once belonged to their enslaved relatives’ masters.
“That’s why it didn’t matter that Amir’s name wasn’t on the warrant — ’cause we don’t have a right to a name in the eyes of some in this country. We are nameless suspects,” Sharpton said.
“We are no longer gonna be your nameless suspects,” Sharpton said. “Amir has a name. His name wasn’t on your warrant — but his name’s gonna be in your law book.”
Speaking to the officers, Locke’s aunt, Linda Tyler, said at the service, “You did have time to subdue him.”
“You had time to assess the situation … but you didn’t. So you don’t need further training — you need to be fired,” she said. “You ambushed my nephew, you took his life. And while he didn’t matter to you … he mattered to this whole family. He mattered to this community.”
Locke’s funeral was held at Shiloh Temple International Ministries in Minneapolis, the same church where a funeral was held last year for 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Wright was shot dead at a traffic stop by a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer who claimed she mistook her gun for a Taser. The officer was found guilty of both first- and second-degree manslaughter and is set to be sentenced on Friday.
Locke’s shooting remains under investigation.
Relatives of George Floyd and Botham Jean, who were also killed at the hands of police, attended Locke’s funeral.
ABC News’ Adia Robinson and Kendall Ross contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Boosters helped reduce the risk of contracting the omicron variant after it spread at a convention in New York City, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday.
In the report, the authors describe “a large indoor convention in New York … with approximately 53,000 attendees from 52 U.S. jurisdictions and 30 foreign countries during Nov. 19 – 21, 2021.”
Although the convention is never named, the description matches the Anime NYC convention that was held at the Javits Center in Manhattan over those dates.
Overall, the report found that convention attendees who were boosted were less likely to contract COVID-19 and that a small percentage of household contacts later tested positive.
According to convention rules, attendees were required to have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and wear masks indoors.
The first case was reported to the CDC by the Minnesota Department of Health on Dec. 2 in a man — called Patient A — who had flown to New York City for the convention, the report said.
For the report, the CDC teamed up with the MDH and state and local departments across the country interviewing Patient A, and 23 of his 29 close contacts from 13 states who also attended the convention.
Patient A had traveled to New York City on November 18. He was fully vaccinated and received a booster shot earlier in November, according to the authors.
However, he developed symptoms on Nov. 22 and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, after which he notified all his close contacts, the report said.
Of the 23 attendees contacted, 16 tested positive for the virus, equating to an attack rate of 70%.
All the contacts were fully vaccinated, but only 11 had received a booster dose before going to the convention, according to the report. The authors indicate that having a booster dose lowered the odds of testing positive for COVID-19.
Ten of the 12 people, or 83%, who didn’t receive a booster tested positive for the virus while six of the 11 people, 55%, who tested positive were boosted, meaning there were 1.5 times fewer infections in boosted individuals.
“Data from this investigation reinforce the importance of COVID-19 booster doses and early notification in combination with other multicomponent prevention measures to limit transmission and prevent severe illness from omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants,” the authors wrote.
Additionally, 15 of the 20 contacts who said they always wore a mask during the convention tested positive anyway, according to the report.
Recently, the CDC has stated that N95 masks are more effective at preventing infection with the omicron variant than surgical masks and cloth masks.
All of attendees who reported COVID-19 infections said they experienced at least one symptom, with median duration lasting 11 days. The most commonly reported symptoms included nasal congestion, fatigue, cough and sore throat, the report said.
After returning home from the convention, 16 of the attendees exposed 20 household contacts who did not attend the convention, the report said.
In total, 99% of the household contacts were fully vaccinated and 50% had received a booster dose, the authors noted.
Of the 18 household contacts who were subsequently tested, six, or 33%, received positive results, including four who had received boosters.
The authors noted that people testing positive for COVID despite being fully vaccinated demonstrates omicron’s ability to — at least partially — evade the protection offered by vaccines.
“However, illness was relatively mild among this cohort, consistent with evidence that vaccinated persons with infections are less likely to experience serious illness,” they wrote.
Two of the positive household contacts were parents of the convention attendees, two were grandparents and two were siblings, according to the report.
Four of the six household contacts said they had fewer than five symptoms with the most common being nasal congestion, fatigue, cough, runny nose and change in taste.
No hospitalizations or deaths were reported among anyone who received a positive test either in the attendee group in the household contact group, the report said.
Overall, five of the attendees’ samples and three from the household contacts underwent genomic sequencing and were confirmed to be linked to the omicron variant, according to the authors.
The authors said there are limitations to the report including that some people who attended the convention used at-home antigen tests rather than laboratory PCR tests to confirm a negative result.
Because rapid tests are more likely to report false negatives than lab tests, some COVID cases may have been missed.
Additionally, because seven of Patient A’s close contacts could not be reached for interviews, results may be skewed.
However, the researchers say the report shows the importance of getting fully vaccinated and boosted, as well as masking indoors, to prevent infection from the omicron variant as well as severe disease and death.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — In his state trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, Travis McMichael testified he is not a racist. But prosecutors in his federal hate crimes case have presented the jury with numerous statements, text messages and social media posts to allege racism was the underlying motive for why he, his father and their neighbor chased down and killed the 25-year-old Black man.
FBI analyst Amy Vaughn testified on Wednesday that she found a digital onslaught of messages, mostly from Travis McMichael, in which he allegedly routinely used racial slurs to describe Black people and advocated violence against them.
In one instance, Vaughn testified that the 36-year-old McMichael posted on social media his reaction to a news report on a confrontation between two white people and two Black people, allegedly saying Black people needed to be made examples of.
“‘They’d be scraping up brain matter if this happened to my wife or daughter,'” Vaughn read out loud from McMichael’s alleged message in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia.
McMichael, his 64-year-old father, Gregory McMichael, a former Georgia police officer; and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, have each been charged with one count of interference of Arbery’s civil rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels are also charged with using, carrying and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and Travis McMichael faces an additional count of using a firearm in relation to a violent crime.
If convicted, the men could be sentenced to life in prison. All three are already serving life sentences, the McMichaels without the possibility of parole, after a state jury convicted them last year of murdering Arbery.
Derek Thomas, Travis McMichael’s childhood friend, testified on Wednesday that he was shocked by a violent, racist response Travis McMichael allegedly gave to what he said was supposed to be a funny video of a Black man playing a prank on his white friend.
Thomas said he was so disturbed by Travis McMichael’s texted response that he called him to confront him about it. When asked to read Travis McMichael’s text in court, Thomas declined and instead spelled out the racial slur he used to describe Black people.
Vaughn said her investigation led to the discovery of racist online posts by Bryan and bigoted comments Gregory McMichael used to describe Black people.
While the FBI was unable to get access to Gregory McMichael’s phone because of its encryption, Vaughn testified that investigators did find posts he made on Facebook that she read in court, including one in which he allegedly wrote, “The gun in the hand is worth more than the entire police force on the phone.”
Vaughn said the FBI also uncovered numerous online posts from Bryan in which he allegedly express his resentment over a relationship his daughter developed with a Black man. In one post Vaughn read in court, Bryan allegedly wrote, “This is the only thing I said I would never accept” and added, “If she doesn’t give a f— about herself, why should we?”
Arbery was out for a Sunday afternoon jog on Feb. 23, 2020, in the Satilla shores neighborhood near Brunswick, when the McMichaels assumed he was a burglarizing a home under construction in their neighborhood, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. Bryan joined the five-minute pursuit, blocking Arbery’s path with his truck. He recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery with a shotgun during a struggle.
While the McMichaels claimed they chased Arbery not because he was Black, but because he was trespassing at their neighbor’s house, prosecutors on Wednesday showed the jury videos of Travis McMichael trespassing while on a hunting trip. In one of the videos, Travis McMichael is seen smiling while standing next to “No Trespassing” signs.
Prosecutors also showed the jury an online post in which Gregory McMichael allegedly wrote, “There’s private property and then there’s private property, you know?”
In her opening statement in the high-profile trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bobbi Bernstein told the jury she will also present evidence that Bryan told investigators that after Travis McMichael shot Arbery he allegedly heard him yell a racist epithet at the victim as he lay dying on the pavement.
Bernstein told the panel that while it is not illegal to use racial slurs, “these slurs can provide you with evidence as to why a defendant did what he did.”
(NEW YORK) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk accused the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday of harassment and of withholding $40 million to Tesla shareholders, adding to long-running tensions between the billionaire and the nation’s top corporate regulator.
Tesla and the SEC settled an enforcement action in 2018 that alleged a series of Musk’s tweets about a potential buyout of Tesla amounted to fraud. Musk personally paid $20 million and Tesla paid an additional $20 million.
In a letter to the judge, Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro said the SEC has not given the money to shareholders as promised. He accused the government regulator of conduct that “has gone beyond the pale” and sought a “course correction” from the court.
“Simply stated, the SEC has failed to comply with its promise to pay Tesla’s shareholders the $40 million it collected as part of the settlement and purports to be holding for them. Instead, it has been devoting its formidable resources to endless, unfounded investigations into Mr. Musk and Tesla,” the letter said.
The Wall Street Journal reported the SEC twice informed Tesla that Musk’s use of Twitter was violating terms of the settlement that required him to seek approval before posting.
Earlier this month, the SEC subpoenaed Tesla over Musk’s Twitter habits, seeking “information on our governance processes around compliance” with the settlement.
In the letter, Spiro said that amounted to “harassment” of his client that should have ended when the settlement took effect.
“Mr. Musk and Tesla understood that settling with the SEC would at last end the SEC’s harassment and, importantly, make this Court, and not the SEC alone, the monitor over any perceived compliance issues going forward. But the SEC has broken its promises. Without coming before this Court, it has been weaponizing the consent decree by using it to try to muzzle and harass Mr. Musk and Tesla, while ignoring its Court-ordered duty to remit $40 million that it continues to hold while Tesla’s shareholders continue to wait,” the letter said.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, as U.S. officials have urged all Americans to immediately leave Ukraine.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some Russian forces have begun to withdraw from near Ukraine’s borders, ABC News learned that Putin had told his military forces to be ready to invade by Wednesday. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Biden said more Russian troops have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims. It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and has demanded the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 17, 11:54 am
Blinken calls on Moscow to commit to not invading, meet next week
Secretary of State Antony Blinken closed his remarks to the U.N. Security Council meeting by challenging the Russian Federation to “announce today — with no qualification of equivocation or deflection — that Russia will not invade Ukraine, stated clearly stated plainly, to the world.”
“And then demonstrate it by sending your troops, your tanks, your planes back to their various can hangars and sending your diplomats to the negotiating table,” he added.
Blinken laid out how the U.S. believes Russia will attack Ukraine — but said he would welcome being wrong and for Russia to withdraw.
“Now, I’m mindful that some have called into question our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out,” he said, apparently referring to a similar address then-Secretary of State Colin Powell famously made to the Security Council presenting U.S. intelligence to justify the Iraq War. “But let me be clear, I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one,” he said, citing allies that agree with U.S. assessments.
“If Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine, then we will be relieved that Russia changed course and proved our predictions wrong. That would be a far better outcome in the course we’re currently on. And we’ll gladly accept any criticism that anyone directs at us,” Blinken said.
He continued, “Russia can still make if there’s any truth to his claim that is committed to diplomacy. Diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve this crisis”
Blinken also said that he sent a letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier Thursday proposing that they meet next week in Europe following their talks in recent weeks “to discuss the steps that we can take to resolve this crisis without conflict” and that U.S. is also proposing meetings at the NATO Russia Council and the OSC Permanent Council.
“These meetings can pave the way for a summit with key leaders in the context of de-escalation to reach understandings on our mutual security concerns,” he added.
Feb 17, 11:28 am
Blinken to UN Security Council: ‘I am here today not to start war, but to prevent one’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, changing plans at the last minute to speak at a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, implored the group to unite to address what he called “Russia’s looming aggression against Ukraine.”
“This crisis directly affects every member of this council and every country in the world because the basic principles that sustain peace and security principles that were enshrined in the wake of two World Wars, in a Cold War, are under threat: The principle that one country cannot change the borders of another by force. The principle that one country cannot dictate another’s choices or policies, or with whom it will associate the principle of national sovereignty,” he said.
Blinken repeated that the U.S. and Western allies do not see Russian troops drawing down on the ground, but that, “Our information indicates clearly that these forces, including ground troops, aircraft ships, are preparing to launch an attack against Ukraine in the coming days,” he said.
He said that Russia is already taking steps “down the path to war,” first with its plans to “manufacture a pretext for its attack.”
“This could be a violent event that Russia will blame on Ukraine, or an outrageous accusation that Russia will level against the Ukrainian government. We don’t know exactly what formula. It could be a fabricated so-called terrorist bombing inside Russia. The invented discovery of the mass grades. A staged drone strike against civilians, or a fake — even a real attack — using chemical weapons,” he said.
He said, then, the would see the “highest levels of the Russian government may theatrically convene emergency meetings to address the so-called crisis.”
“Next, the attack is planned to begin. Russian missiles and bombs will drop across Ukraine. Communications will be jammed. Cyber attacks will shut down key Ukrainian institutions. After that, Russian tanks and soldiers will advance on key targets that have already been identified and mapped out in detailed plans,” he said, reiterating the U.S. belief that Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million people, is a target.
He added that the U.S. has intelligence “Russia will target specific groups of Ukrainians.”
“Let me be clear,” Blinken said, “I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one.”
Feb 17, 11:08 am
Russia’s response to the US teases ‘military-technical measures’
In a written response on the discussion over Moscow’s demands that NATO not expand, Russia said the U.S. has not given a “constructive reply” to Russia’s demands and that Moscow might resort to “military-technical measures.”
“We can acknowledge that the U.S. side did not give a constructive answer to the basic elements of a draft treaty with the U.S. on security guarantees, drawn up by the Russian side,” the document given to the U.S. on Thursday and translated from Russian by Interfax said. “In the absence of the American side’s willingness to negotiate firm and legally binding guarantees of our security by the U.S. and its allies, Russia will have to respond, including through implementing military-technical measures,” it said.
As the West has warned of Russian misinformation serving as potential for a false flag pretext, the document from the Russian Federation accused the U.S. and allies of spin, instead.
“The package nature of Russian proposals has been ignored, from which ‘convenient’ topics have been deliberately chosen, which, in turn, are ‘twisted’ in the direction of creating advantages for the United States and its allies,” the response said.
“We propose to work together to develop a new ‘security equation,'” it added.
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties Moscow published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Feb 17, 10:31 am
Zelenskyy visits Ukrainian troops on front line in Donetsk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday visited Ukrainian troops on the front line of defense in the Donetsk region, where the Ukrainian government says intense shelling continues.
“I am proud of your heroism,” Zelenskyy told the soldiers. “You defend Ukraine’s independence and decently rebuff the enemy. We feel constant pride in our defenders.”
Earlier Thursday, Zelenskyy had an “urgent” telephone conversation with the head of the European Council, during which he emphasized that Ukraine has seen no evidence of withdrawal of Russian troops from its borders, according to a press release from the Ukrainian president’s office.
Zelenskyy also reported a “significant number” of ceasefire violations by Russian-backed separatists forces in eastern Ukraine, including the shelling of a kindergarten in the government-controlled village of Stanytsia Luhansk, which he called a “large provocation,” according to the press release.
Feb 17, 10:10 am
US accuses Russia of using UN meeting as part of invasion pretext
The Russian mission to the United Nations circulated a 49-page letter Wednesday night that it said included an investigation of atrocities committed by the Ukrainian government in its eastern provinces.
The letter alarmed U.S. officials, who thought it may be part of the false pretext for a Russian invasion that they’ve been publicly warning about for weeks.
“It’s hard to draw any conclusion other than Russia plans to use today’s U.N. Security Council meeting as part of an attempt to establish a pretext for a potential invasion, building upon disinformation and incendiary statements we’ve seen over recent weeks,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday morning.
The letter, obtained by ABC News, includes a document labeled “Joint Project of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and RT News Channel,” which alleges that Ukraine committed war crimes over the last eight years in the Donbas.
“Each of these allegations are categorically false,” the senior administration official said. But they’ve seen a marked increase in them in the past few days and overnight, they added.
But the official stopped short of saying that Russia has fully mobilized to create a false pretext or that an invasion would follow shortly: “The kinds of reports that we’re hearing, the kinds of claims that we’re seeing made in Russian media are exactly the kinds of claims that we have indicated could form the basis of a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine,” they told reporters.
-ABC News’ Conor FInnegan
Feb 17, 9:34 am
Biden says he believes Putin will go through with invasion
President Joe Biden told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega on Thursday morning that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will go through with an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“My sense is this will happen in the next several days,” Biden said.
The president accused Russia of engaging in a “false flag operation” and said that despite the claims of pulling troops back, the Kremlin has actually moved more troops closer to Ukraine’s border.
Feb 17, 9:22 am
Russia insists some troops are returning to base
Russia insisted again Thursday that some troops massed near Ukraine are returning to base, far from the border.
Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that units from the Western and Southern Military Districts, which were stationed in western Russia and Crimea, are now moving back to their permanent bases. He said Russian troops taking part in drills in Belarus will also return to base once they finish the exercises this weekend.
Konashenkov noted that the first units have already arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, Chechnya and Dagestan, hundreds of miles from the border with Ukraine.
Feb 17, 9:07 am
US receives Russia’s response on NATO security guarantees
The United States has received a response from Russia regarding the discussion over Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not expand, a senior official with the U.S. Department of State said Thursday.
“We can confirm that we have received a response from the Russian Federation,” the official said. “It was delivered to Ambassador Sullivan in Moscow today.”
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties Moscow published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier Thursday that Moscow was planning to send its formal response to the Washington soon.
Feb 17, 8:30 am
US ambassador to UN: ‘Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion’
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned Thursday that Russia appears to be readying for an “imminent invasion” of neighboring Ukraine.
“The evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters during a background briefing call. “This is a crucial moment.”
She said that’s why she asked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “to come speak directly to the U.N. Security Council on his way to Munich about the serious situation in Ukraine.”
“Our goal is to convey the gravity of the situation,” she added. “That’s why Secretary Blinken is coming to New York to signal our intense commitment to diplomacy, to offer and emphasize the path toward de-escalation and to make it clear to the world that we are doing everything — everything -– we can to prevent a war.”
Blinken has already boarded his flight to Munich but will be flying to New York City first to address the U.N. Security Council session at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Feb 17, 7:34 am
Lukashenko: Russian troops will stay in Belarus ‘as long as necessary’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russian troops will be in his country for “as long as necessary.”
“As long as necessary, the Russian Armed Forces will be here. This is our land, our territory,” Lukashenko told Belarusian state media. “We are working here, studying and will continue to study.”
Further joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus will be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to Lukashenko.
The Belarusian leader has said that any decision on recognizing the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics in a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine known as Donbas will be made jointly with Russia. He added that this decision will be mutually beneficial.
Lukashenko has also noted that, in his view, if neighboring Ukraine had wanted to end the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, it would have already done so.
Feb 17, 6:25 am
Russia to respond to US on NATO security guarantees
Russia will soon formally respond to the written answers that the United States sent earlier to Moscow’s demands for security guarantees that NATO not enlarge, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday.
The U.S. government, at Russia’s insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties the Kremlin published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Lavrov was quoted by Russian state media on Thursday as saying that Moscow is planning to send its formal response “today” and that it will be published “several hours after.”
However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters Moscow was “still working on” its response and that the reply would not be sent Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his government will continue to insist on discussing its key demands alongside any of the other issues.
Feb 17, 5:50 am
Ukraine accuses Russia-backed separatists of shelling kindergarten
Ukraine accused Russia-backed separatist forces of shelling a village controlled by Ukrainian government troops and hitting a school there early Thursday.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine said separatists fired upon the southeastern village of Stanytsia Luhanska. The head of the community’s local administration confirmed to ABC News that they were under heavy fire on Thursday morning.
The firing has since ceased, the official told ABC News.
Footage released by Ukrainian media shows a hole blown in the wall of a kindergarten. Meanwhile, pro-Russian accounts on social media posted the footage without context, suggesting it was in a separatist-held area and calling it fake.
Russia-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine have accused the Ukrainian military of a major escalation and of preparing for a full-scale offensive. The reports are headline news in most Russian media.
Feb 17, 5:32 am
Russia-backed separatists claim ‘large-scale’ shelling in Ukraine
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed a significant deterioration along the front line with Ukrainian government forces on Thursday, accusing Ukraine of launching “large-scale” shelling of civilian areas in the breakaway regions.
Fears that Russia might use such claims as a pretext to launch an invasion remain high, with Thursday’s allegations out of the ordinary. The Ukrainian government has denied any intention to launch an offensive on the separatist-held areas.
Local authorities in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, in an area of southeastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, accused Ukrainian government forces of shelling nine population centers, using large caliber mortars that are banned by a ceasefire.
The separatists’ military forces issued “emergency statements” Thursday alleging that “the situation along the line of contact has substantially worsened” in recent days. Rodion Leshchenko, a political advisor to the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, accused Ukraine of launching a “massive provocation,” allegedly firing 200 times into Donbas.
For the past few weeks, Russian propaganda and the separatists in Donbas have been laying the groundwork to accuse Ukraine of launching an offensive, claiming that the Ukrainian government has been massing its forces and also alleging to have found evidence of atrocities. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that he believes “genocide” has occurred in Ukraine.
