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After clashes with AG’s top aide, a White House liaison pushing ‘loyalty’ to Trump at DOJ is reassigned: Sources

February 24, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As the Trump administration continues to vet potential candidates for top posts within the Justice Department, a powerful White House intermediary has been pushing to hire candidates that exhibit what he called “exceptional loyalty” to Trump, and his efforts sparked clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top aide, Chad Mizelle, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The White House intermediary, Paul Ingrassia, complained directly to Trump about Mizelle, the Justice Department’s chief of staff, and suggested to the president that Mizelle is hurting Trump’s political agenda, sources said. But Ingrassia has since been reassigned to work with the Department of Homeland Security, a White House official familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Trump was reelected in November after promising to rid the Justice Department of what he alleged was political bias tainting federal law enforcement. Bondi has echoed that rhetoric, issuing a directive within hours of taking office to establish a “Weaponization Working Group” that she said would review all of the “politicized” investigations previously targeting Trump.

According to Ingrassia’s LinkedIn page, he became “President Trump’s White House Liaison for DOJ” in January. In private, to White House colleagues, he described himself as Trump’s “eyes and ears” at the Justice Department, with significant authority to help interview and select candidates for senior and lower-level positions, sources said.

Soon after the White House announced Ingrassia’s appointment, Ingrassia began occupying an office on the fifth floor of the Justice Department, in an area typically reserved for the most senior staff in the attorney general’s office, according to sources.

But in the wake of Ingrassia’s growing clashes with Mizelle, Mizelle took steps to have Ingrassia removed from the Justice Department and assigned to another agency — a move that irritated some senior White House officials, sources said. Ingrassia complained to associates earlier this month that he had been locked out of his Justice Department devices, said sources.

He is now serving as a liaison to DHS, helping with staffing there, the White House official told ABC News.
Ingrassia did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News, but another White House official said ABC News’ reporting on this matter is “riddled with falsehoods,” without indicating specifically what information they believe is false.

“Everyone is working as one unified team to staff the DOJ with patriots who are committed to Making America Safe Again,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement.

Infighting became almost commonplace during Trump’s first term, with one former Trump aide even titling his 2019 memoir about that administration, “Team of Vipers.”

Recently, Ingrassia told colleagues that finding candidates for Justice Department roles who are loyal to Trump is a top priority for him, and he privately claimed that even rank-and-file career prosecutors within the department are corrupt, sources told ABC News.

Ingrassia insisted to colleagues that anyone who worked under the Biden administration’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, or under attorney general Bill Barr during Trump’s first administration, should be presumed as unqualified to work for Trump’s new administration, sources said.

If taken literally and broadly, that could implicate nearly every current employee of the Justice Department.

Sources said Mizelle resisted Ingrassia’s hard-line approach, leading Ingrassia to accuse Mizelle of disrespecting him and improperly making unilateral personnel decisions, sources said.

Among the candidates that sources said Ingrassia has been trying to place within the Justice Department is attorney John Pierce, who represented many of the defendants who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by Trump’s recent executive order related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Ingrassia pushed for Pierce to take over the office within the Justice Department that helps the White House vet pardon requests, the sources said.

In his first several weeks as Justice Department’s chief of staff, Mizelle himself has played a public role in promoting the Trump administration’s agenda. When Bondi held her first press conference two weeks ago to announce a civil lawsuit against state leaders in New York for their immigration policies that she said value “illegal aliens over American citizens,” Mizelle stood on stage behind her and helped answer a question from a reporter.

On Friday, Mizelle filed a publicly-released complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, accusing a federal judge of “hostile and egregious misconduct” in his handling of a case challenging Trump’s recent efforts to limit or ban transgender service members. The judge has not yet responded to the complaint.

Ingrassia, before joining the Trump administration last month, led communications efforts for a nonprofit legal organization that promotes itself as “the answer to the useless and radically leftist American Civil Liberties Union,” and he was a writer for the right-wing website Gateway Pundit.

Trump was known to repost some of Ingrassia’s pro-Trump stories on social media, sources said.

Ingrassia graduated from Cornell Law School in May 2022, less than three years ago, according to his LinkedIn page. For several months in 2023, he worked as a law clerk and summer associate at the New York-based McBride Law Firm, which online promotes its work fighting “the Department of Justice’s malicious prosecution and horrific treatment of January 6th Detainees.”

Between 2021 and 2023, Ingrassia also worked for the law firm led by New York attorney Marc Kasowitz, who was previously a longtime personal attorney for Trump and represented him in the government’s investigations of alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government.

In January, after becoming the White House liaison to the Justice Department, he wrote on social media that the Trump administration has “a mandate from the American people [to] rebuild trust and confidence in our justice system by realigning it with its Constitutional prerogative.”

“The era of WEAPONIZED JUSTICE ends TODAY,” he wrote. “GOD BLESS AMERICA AND MAGA.”

During her confirmation hearing, Bondi assured senators that she would “not politicize” her office.

“I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation. Justice will be administered evenhandedly throughout this country,” she vowed.

Russia, Ukraine exchange major drone attacks on invasion anniversary

February 24, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Russia launched 185 attack drones into Ukraine in an overnight attack coinciding with the third anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, as allied leaders gathered in Kyiv to express their solidarity with Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air force said it tracked 185 Shahed attack drones of various types launched into the country from several directions. The air force said Ukrainian forces shot down 113 drones with 71 others lost in flight without causing any damage.

“As a result of the enemy attack, the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kyiv, and Khmelnytskyi regions suffered,” the air force said.

Sunday night’s attack follows a record-breaking drone barrage on Saturday night, with Russia launching 267 UAVs into Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday, “Every day, our people stand against aerial terror.”

Ukraine continued its own long-range strike campaign into Russia on Sunday night. The Russian Defense Ministry reported the downing of 22 Ukrainian drones over four Russian regions.

Local authorities in Ryazan region — neighboring Moscow region to its southeast — reported a fire at an industrial site which they said was caused by falling drone debris.

Pavel Malkov, the head of the regional administration, said in a post to Telegram that air defenses shot down two drones over the area. “Due to the falling debris, a fire broke out on the territory of one enterprise,” Malkov said, adding that there were no casualties.

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Telegram that the Ryazan oil refinery was targeted. ABC News could not immediately verify the claim.

“The refinery has a processing capacity of 17.1 million tons of oil per year, making it one of the five largest refineries in the Russian Federation,” Kovalenko wrote. “It produces gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation kerosene, fuel oil and petrochemicals.”

“Aviation fuel plays a special role, which is critically important for the front-line aviation of the Russian army and strategic long-range aviation, which strikes Ukraine,” Kovalenko said. “This is the third attack on the plant since the beginning of the year.”

More rain on the way after flash flooding slams Pacific Northwest

February 24, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A series of storm systems fueled by an atmospheric river brought flash flooding to the Pacific Northwest this weekend — and more rain is on the way.

The new system will bring more heavy rain, snow, gusty winds and the threat of avalanches to the Northwest and northern Rockies on Monday and Tuesday.

Damaging winds reaching 60 to 80 mph are possible from the Washington and Oregon coast all the way inland to Montana.

The Spokane area in eastern Washington was inundated with 3 to 6 inches of rain this weekend, washing out roads. Now, the additional heavy rain could cause flooding in western Washington and Oregon on Monday.

In the northern Rockies, a flood watch has been issued for Montana and Idaho due to the snow melt and rain.

In the highest elevations of the northern Rockies, an avalanche warning has been issued after the rain and snow caused the snowpack to become unstable.

These storms are also bringing huge waves up to 34 feet to the West Coast.

Germany to move toward ‘independence’ from US, new leader says

February 24, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Before the final votes in Germany’s election were even counted, Friedrich Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, who is set to become the next chancellor, promised a major shift in relations with the U.S.

In a post-election debate, he promised to confront head-on a new reality — that the Trump administration looks to overturn about 80 years of policy and raises the prospect of abandoning security guarantees for Europe.

“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” Merz said Sunday.

Merz added, “I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program. But after Donald Trump’s statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”

Merz’s conservative CDU party emerged as the largest party in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, with 28.6% of the vote. The SPD, the party of the incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, came in third place.

Trump and members of his both his administrations have called over the years for U.S. allies to invest more in NATO, and for Europe to take responsibility for its own security.

“However, we’ve also made it clear for years — decades, even — that it is unacceptable that the United States and the United States taxpayer continues to bear the burden not only of the cost of the war in Ukraine but of the defense of — of Europe,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said last week.

He added, “We fully support our NATO Allies. We fully support the Article 5 commitment. But it’s time for our European allies to step up.”

Merz also talked about NATO, suggesting there may even be need to replace the military alliance with a new European security structure.

“I am very curious to see how we are heading toward the NATO summit at the end of June,” he said. “Whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”
His remarks were made before the final votes were counted.

This month, Vice President JD Vance made a speech at the Munich Security Conference, telling European leaders the biggest threats they faced were from “within,” downplaying the security risks posed by China or Russia.

As Germany seeks to recalibrate its relationship with the U.S., the second party in the elections, the far-right Alternative for Germany, were jubilant at their strongest ever showing.

Notably backed by Elon Musk, the AFD’s strong showing, which doubled the level of support they received last time out, was hailed as a victory of its own.

It’s the strongest showing of a far-right party in Germany since World War II.

“We have achieved a historic result. We have never been stronger in the federal parliament,” Alice Weidel, the co-chair of the party, told a cheering crowd. “We have become the second strongest force as Alternative for Germany. And we have now firmly established ourselves as a people’s party.”

Musk on Monday said in a social media post that it was “only a matter of time” until AfD wins an election.

Trump-Putin pressure puts Zelenskyy in focus on Russia war anniversary, insiders say

February 24, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law early on Feb. 24, 2022, under Kyiv skies still tinged black by the smoke from Russian missile strikes.

Three years later, the ravaged nation is still living under the extraordinary powers granted to the government in order to sustain its defensive and existential war against President Vladimir Putin’s invading Russian forces. Powers that Russia is wielding to undermine the country’s wartime leader.

Under the Ukrainian constitution, elections — whether presidential or parliamentary — cannot be held while martial law is in force.

Moscow has for months been seeking to weaponize Ukraine’s democratic freeze, with Putin and his allies framing Zelenskyy as illegitimate and therefore unsuitable to take part in peace talks.

President Donald Trump now appears to be lending his weight to the Kremlin’s campaign.

On Wednesday, Trump criticized his Ukrainian counterpart as “a dictator without elections” — prompting widespread consternation of Trump’s remarks both within the U.S. and especially among European allies.

Trump also claimed — without offering evidence — that Zelenskyy’s public approval rating was “down to 4%.” Recent major surveys show Zelenskyy’s approval rating at above 50%.

The push for new elections is “not a Russia thing,” Trump said. “That’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries also.”

A source close to the Ukrainian government — who did not wish to be named as they were not authorized to speak publicly — told ABC News they believe the push is coming from those who “believe that Zelenskyy, personally, is a problem because he is not compliant enough, he’s not simply going to accept anything that they propose or anything that they demand.”

Kyiv has repeatedly warned that elections during war time would be severely destabilizing. If Ukraine is forced into a rush and insecure election, “We could see absolute political chaos in Kyiv,” the source said.

In reality, until now, the legitimacy argument has come almost exclusively from Moscow.

“You can negotiate with anyone, but because of his illegitimacy, he has no right to sign anything,” Putin said of Zelenskyy in January, repeating his false claim that Ukraine’s inability to hold elections in 2024 meant that the president’s term had expired.

The country’s parliament and its speaker “remain the only legitimate authorities in Ukraine,” Putin said in May 2024.

Foreign allies of Kyiv have dismissed Putin’s claims, noting the totalitarian nature of Kremlin rule and Russia’s own carefully managed electoral theater, that has kept Putin in power for more than two decades.

They have also pushed back Trump’s attacks on Zelenskyy, with most leaders expressing solidarity with him. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — for example — said it was “wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy democratic legitimacy.” Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer also said it was “reasonable” not to hold elections during wartime, following a call with Zelenskyy.

Trump’s domestic allies mobilized to support the president and criticize Zelenskyy. Elon Musk, for example, said Trump “is right to ignore” the Ukrainian president. Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters, “We need elections in Ukraine,” while Sen. Josh Hawley likewise said Zelenskyy “should hold an election.”

Most Ukrainians politicians and experts have warned that any contest held during wartime would be vulnerable to Russian interference, could not guarantee the representation of soldiers deployed on the battlefield or refugees displaced either internally or abroad, and would threaten to destabilize the state at its most vulnerable moment.

Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament representing Zelenskyy’s party and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee, told ABC News that Putin “wants to use an election campaign during the war to undermine stability with Ukraine.”

“Putin is trying to push this narrative through someone in Trump’s entourage,” Merezhko said.

The Trump effect

Trump’s recent attacks on Zelenskyy appear to have bolstered the latter’s political position. Allies and rivals alike rallied around the Ukrainian president’s office in the aftermath of Trump’s broadsides.

“Only Ukrainians have the right to decide when and under what conditions they should change their government,” former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko wrote on Facebook. “None of us will allow such elections before the end of the war. Our enemies and even our allies may not like it, but it is true.”

Serhiy Prytula — another prominent political figure — urged compatriots to “ignore that rhetoric and ‘dictator’ accusations from Trump.”

The source close to the Ukrainian government said that certain figures in Trump’s orbit want Zelenskyy replaced by a more malleable successor, one less likely to push back on controversial American efforts to force a peace deal.

“According to their logic, the problem here is not Russia or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s the ‘the ongoing war,'” the source said. “What is the mechanism for changing that, and in their view creating the conditions for someone who would be more compliant in Kyiv? It’s elections.”

The source said Trump’s team are wrong to think that Zelenskyy is on unstable political ground. “They’re operating under all of these false assumptions, one of which is that if you hold elections in Ukraine, it will necessarily result in the success of a candidate who is willing to bend to whatever it is that Trump is demanding,” they said.

“I don’t think that they have anyone in mind,” the source added. “I just think that they’re confident in their ability to either create that individual in a way, or to cut some sort of private deal with someone.”

Even if the U.S. and Russia succeeded in unseating Zelenskyy in favor of a more pliant successor, “if you end up with leadership in Kyiv that is willing to cut some sort of deal that is absolutely unacceptable to a large segment of Ukrainian society, we could see fragmentation, even of the Ukrainian military,” they said.

“If the Trump administration pushes this government, or any Ukrainian government, too far, I think that this scenario becomes a real one, and this is certainly not in Ukraine’s interest or Europe’s interest, but I don’t see how it’s in the interest of the United States either.”

Zekenskyy’s challengers

For now, there appears little in the way of a concrete challenge to the incumbent.

In Kyiv, Valerii Zaluzhnyi — the former Ukrainian commander-in-chief who is now serving as Kyiv’s ambassador to the U.K. — is widely seen as the only real potential challenger to Zelenskyy.

Zaluzhnyi publicly fell out with the president and his team — prime among them Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office — in late 2023 over public comments framing the war as a “stalemate.”

It is not clear whether Zaluzhnyi would stand for election. The former commander-in-chief has dodged questions about any future political ambitions.

But a November poll by the Social Monitoring Center organization put the former general at the top of preferred potential presidential candidates backed by 27% of 1,200 respondents. Zelenskyy trailed on 16%, with former President Petro Poroshenko on 7%.

A February survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) indicated diminished trust in the current president compared to the extraordinary highs of the early months of the war. But it still remains high compared to most democratically-elected leaders. Public trust in Zelenskyy among 1,000 respondents was at 57% in February, compared with 77% in December 2023 and 90% in May 2022, around three months after Russia’s invasion. The latest poll showed a 5% bump in trust from December 2024.

Another recent poll by the Identity and Borders in Flux project in partnership with KIIS published on Feb. 19, showed two-thirds of Ukrainians approve of Zelenskyy’s actions.

The KIIS poll found that trust in Ukraine’s civilian government overall fell to 26% — a decline from 52% in 2023. In contrast, those surveyed reported overwhelming 96% trust in the Ukrainian military, with 88% saying they trust Zaluzhnyi.

The showdown between Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi ended with the former assuming an ambassadorial posting to the U.K., in which the former general has maintained a relatively low media profile and avoided any public revival of tensions with the president.

The same cannot be said for Poroshenko — another potential electoral rival — with whom the president is now locked in a very public battle. Earlier this month, Zelenskyy signed a decree sanctioning Poroshenko and several other politically connected wealthy Ukrainians for allegedly undermining national security.

Poroshenko dismissed the sanctions as politically motivated and unconstitutional. “Why are they doing this? Hatred, fear and revenge,” he said in a statement. “And because they have elections. Not us. The government.”

The IBF project poll showed a much lower proportion — 26-32% — of Ukrainians would vote for Zelensky in an election. But that still far outpaces Poroshenko, his nearest current rival, and remains far above the 4% figure put forward by Trump.

Zelenskyy has been unclear on his own political goals. In 2022, the president said he will “definitely” remain in his post until Kyiv achieves victory. “After that, I don’t know,” he added. “I’m not thinking about that now, I’m not ready.”

Peace could prove perilous for Zelenskyy if Ukrainian voters do not agree with its terms.

One former official — who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation — told ABC News the president “needs to blame Trump” if Ukraine is indeed forced into a controversial peace deal.

“He cannot stop this war now and take responsibility, because for him, it will be political suicide,” they said.

Zelenskyy ‘proud’ of Ukraine as country marks 3rd anniversary of Russia’s war

February 24, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for the “absolute heroism” of Ukrainians over three years defending against Russia’s invasion, of which Monday marked the third anniversary.

“Three years of resistance,” Zelenskyy wrote in a statement on social media. “Three years of gratitude. Three years of absolute heroism of Ukrainians.”

“I am proud of Ukraine! I thank everyone who defends and supports it,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Everyone who works for Ukraine. And may the memory of all those who gave their lives for our state and people be eternal.”

A host of foreign leaders traveled to Ukraine on Monday to show their solidarity with Ukraine and Zelenskyy, who is under growing pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration to sign a controversial agreement handing the U.S. access to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Ukrainian resources.

Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, wrote on X on Monday that “nearly all key details” of the deal “are finalized.” Kyiv, she added, hopes for the agreement to be signed soon.

The proposed deal, plus nascent peace talks between the U.S. and Russia without Ukrainian involvement, have frayed ties between Kyiv and Washington, D.C. in recent weeks. Trump’s approach — which has included multiple public attacks on Zelenskyy’s conduct and legitimacy — has also prompted pushback from other allied leaders.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa will represent the European Union in Kyiv on Monday. Von der Leyen used her visit to announce a new $3.6 billion aid package for Ukraine.

Other foreign leaders arriving in the Ukrainian capital include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

European leaders will arrive in Kyiv as the EU approves its 16th sanctions package against Russia since Moscow’s invasion began three years ago. The bloc said in a press release that it added 48 people and 35 entities to its sanctions list.

The package also introduced measures against another 74 vessels suspected of being part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” used to circumvent sanctions, plus new sanctions related to Russia’s financial sector.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement that the new package “not only targets the Russian shadow fleet but those who support the operation of unsafe oil tankers, video game controllers used to pilot drones, banks used to circumvent our sanctions and propaganda outlets used to spout lies.”

“There is no doubt about who the aggressor is, who should pay and be held accountable for this war,” she added. “Every sanction package deprives the Kremlin of funds to wage war. With talks underway to end Russia’s aggression, we must put Ukraine in the strongest possible position. Sanctions provide leverage.”

Russia, meanwhile, said President Vladimir Putin spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping by phone, a Kremlin readout of the call describing the conversation as “lengthy” and “warm.”

Notably, the Kremlin said Xi expressed “support for the dialogue that has begun between Russia and the United States” and “its readiness to assist in finding ways to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian conflict.”

It also hailed China and Russia’s relationship as “the most important stabilizing factor in world affairs.”

Pope Francis ‘resting’ after 10th night in hospital, Vatican says

February 24, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(ROME and LONDON) — Pope Francis is “resting” on Monday morning after spending his 10th night in the hospital, the Vatican press office said.

“The night passed well, the Pope slept and is resting,” the office said in a short statement.

Francis has been eating normally, is awake and is continuing his medical therapies, a source at the Vatican told ABC News. He’s also in good humor and isn’t suffering from pain, the source said.

Francis has been hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since Feb. 14 following a bout with bronchitis.

The 88-year-old pontiff, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, underwent another round of clinical tests on Sunday morning, Vatican sources told ABC News.

Officials said Sunday he remained in critical condition. Medical staff were expected to issue an update from Rome later on Monday.

The pontiff was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday, according to the Vatican.

A rosary will be said in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Monday, led by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. That rosary is seen as a way for the church to express its “closeness to the Pope and the sick,” said the director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Pope Francis rested overnight in hospital, Vatican says in short update

February 23, 2025 by WDNY Radio

ROME and LONDON — Pope Francis rested overnight in the hospital, the Vatican said on Sunday.

“The night passed peacefully. The Pope rested,” the Holy See said in a short statement.

The 88-year-old pontiff underwent another round of clinical tests on Sunday morning, Vatican sources told ABC News. A medical update was expected to be released later in the day.

Francis continued on Sunday to receive oxygen therapy to aid his breathing, the sources said. Francis on Saturday morning suffered a “prolonged” asthmatic respiratory crisis, during which doctors supplied him with oxygen, the Vatican said.

The pontiff in a written prayer released on Sunday said he was “confidently continuing” his hospitalization, adding that “rest is also part of the therapy!”

“I sincerely thank the doctors and health workers of this hospital for the attention they are showing me and the dedication with which they carry out their service among the sick,” he said.

Asthmatic respiratory crisis indicates the pope struggled to maintain a sufficient oxygen level when breathing on his own, according to medical experts.

The Vatican on Saturday said the pope, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, remained in critical condition.

The pope has been hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since Feb. 14 following a bout with bronchitis.

He was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday, according to the Vatican.

Apart from his medical team and security, the pope has not had visitors apart from his closest aides, sources said.

ABC News’ Ivan Pereira and Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.

Democratic Sen. Reed: Trump’s Pentagon purge is attempt to politicize the military

February 23, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s Friday night purge of senior Pentagon leaders is a threat to the nonpartisan nature of the military.

“It was completely unjustified. These men and women were superb professionals. They were committed to their oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. And, apparently, what Trump and [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth are trying to do is to politicize the Department of Defense, and it’s not surprising they put Kash Patel as the FBI director, who is a partisan, who has no, I think, respect for the traditions of neutrality of the FBI,” Reed said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

“And, now they’ve turned to DOD, and they want everyone in DOD beholden to the president, not to the Constitution,” he said. “They want everyone there to do what they’re told, regardless of the law.”

Trump fired Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown in a controversial move Friday evening. In addition to Brown, the administration fired other senior officials, including the Navy’s top admiral, Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti.

It was the first time two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have had their roles terminated.

In a social media post, Trump said he was nominating retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs, which will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a group of senior uniformed leaders who serve as the top military advisers to the president and Department of Defense officials. The Joint Chiefs of Staff was created with the idea of it being apolitical. By design, officers’ four-year terms intersect two presidents.

Reed said the purge degraded the military, especially the firing of three top military lawyers.

“What was also startling in the weekend was firing all the advocate generals of the military. If you’re going to break the law, the first thing you do is you get rid of the lawyers. So we’re looking at a very dangerous undermining of the values of our military, and the repercussions are being felt already,” he said. “People questioning whether they should say, talented leaders, wondering if they should get out. It is, it’s, the beginning of a very, very serious degradation of the military and politicization of the military.”

Retired Gen. George Casey Jr., a former U.S. Army chief of staff who served under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, pointed out that Brown’s dismissal could leave the United States vulnerable.

“That’s extremely destabilizing at a time that there’s a lot going on domestically and a lot going on abroad. When you remove so many senior leaders, especially without justifying and giving due cause, it creates huge uncertainty in the ranks, and it just isn’t a good thing for the military at a very difficult time,” Casey said.

Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said they would remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from the military and Hegseth alluded that Brown’s firing was because of his involvement in those initiatives.

“That’s a problem for me, because these leaders were following the lawful directives of the civilian leaders of the past administration, and now we’re going to put leaders in jeopardy and punish them for following lawful orders from another administration. I mean, give me a break,” Casey said.

However, despite his disapproval of the administration’s action, Casey said that Trump acted within his rights as president. He added that the firings should have been explained better.

“I may disagree with the timing and everything of these, of these removals, but it’s purely, it is significantly within the president’s prerogative. That’s his, that’s his prerogative. He is the commander in chief of the armed forces, and we follow the directives of, the, our civilian leaders,” Casey said.

Trump is ‘surrendering to the Russians,’ Democratic Sen. Jack Reed says

February 23, 2025 by WDNY Radio

In an interview Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week,” Democratic Sen. Jack Reed decried President Donald Trump’s recent verbal attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and increased alignment with Russia.

“Essentially, this is President Trump surrendering to the Russians,” Reed told co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

“This is not a statesman or a diplomat,” Reed added. “This is just someone who admires Putin, does not believe in the struggle of the Ukrainians and is committed to cozying up to an autocrat.”

Reed said statements Trump made recently about Ukraine were “generally misleading or completely false,” and suggest he has “no real intention to engage the Ukrainian government to find out what they need” in negotiations with Russia.

“I’d be more confident in that suggestion if there was a vigorous dialogue between the Ukrainians and the United States with respect to these negotiations, that we understood where their lines are, et cetera. That apparently has not happened,” he said.

In order to solve the war in Ukraine, Reed said it will be crucial to “communicate to the Russians that we will be very, very serious about their actions in Ukraine.”

“What we have to do is keep the pressure on, and then go into negotiations — negotiations that will include the Ukrainians, not exclude them.” he said “And then with this pressure, hopefully, Putin will decide that the cost is too great to continue this effort.”

Talking to Raddatz later, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a vile dictator and thug” who is “clearly responsible for the war in Ukraine,” despite Trump’s false assertions earlier in the week that Zelenskyy started the war.

“Russia, China and Iran have been working in a coordinated effort to undermine and destabilize the United States, Europe, Israel and the free world,” Lawler said. “They are not our allies or our friends — we must be clear eyed about that.”

Lawler said he “did not agree with the President’s rhetoric about Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” but also said that Zelenskyy “saying that the president is falling for Russian disinformation does not help his cause.”

“What I would say is this, it does not behoove either side to have this public back and forth,” Lawler said. “I think President Zelenskyy needs to work with the administration, especially with respect to economic cooperation.”

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