(NEW YORK) — An attorney for Dominion Voting Systems accused Fox News on Wednesday of improperly redacting internal materials that the network was forced to hand over as part of Dominion’s billion-dollar defamation suit against it.
“They’re essentially redacting embarrassing information,” attorney Davida Brook told the judge hearing the case.
The claim came during a pivotal summary judgment hearing in which each side has asked the judge to rule in their favor before the case is set to head to trial next month.
Dominion’s $1.6 billion suit accuses Fox News of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories about the voting machine company in the wake of the 2020 election, in order to combat concerns over ratings and viewer retention.
In February and March, Dominion filed bombshell findings from the discovery process containing a trove of emails, texts, testimony, and other private communications from some of Fox’s biggest stars and executives, privately bashing Trump and his election fraud claims while they continued to broadcast them on air.
“I did not believe it for one second,” said Sean Hannity in regard to one of Trump’s attorney’s claims, according to one of Dominion’s filings.
An attorney for Fox defended Fox’s redactions and pointed to the hundreds of communications that have already been entered into the public record.
“I don’t think there any lack of public access here,” the attorney, Katharine L. Mowery, said.
Earlier this month, Dominion filed a motion with the judge pushing back on some of Fox’s redactions, calling them “not warranted.”
“Dominion does not challenge Fox’s decision to redact contact information such as phone numbers and emails provided,” the filing states. “As for Fox’s substantive redactions … Dominion hereby brings this notice of challenge to the confidential treatment of these redacted briefs, certifications, affidavits, exhibits, declarations, and appendices.”
In its own filing, Fox said “almost all” relevant materials had been unsealed “after a careful redaction process consistent with Court rules and Delaware law.”
“Throughout three rounds of briefing, Dominion jammed the record with 700 exhibits, many of which were personal text messages between Fox employees with no connection to any of the challenged broadcast or statements,” Fox wrote in its filing. “On top of this, Dominion attached other internal Fox communications — often inflammatory and headline-grabbing, but irrelevant to any issue in dispute.”
After the hearing, a Fox spokesperson said in a statement, “Despite the noise and confusion that Dominion has generated by presenting cherry-picked quotes without context, this case is ultimately about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute need to cover the news. FOX will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press.”
The judge overseeing the case, Eric Davis, said his ruling on the summary judgment motions would come later in writing.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A proposed Florida Board of Education rule could expand restrictions on classroom instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
“For grades 4 through 12, instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited unless such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards … or is part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student’s parent has the option to have his or her student not attend,” according to the proposed rule.
This rule would build up on the Parental Rights in Education law Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in March 2022. The law bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. It states that any instruction on those topics cannot occur “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” according to the legislation.
The law was dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics, who said it aimed to shun LGBTQ identities from classroom content and discussion.
This rule, voted on by the seven-member board, coincides with other legislation being considered in the state legislature. HB 1223 would ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in pre-kindergarten through grade 8, and would not require any employee or student to refer to a another person using their “preferred personal title or pronouns” if it does not correspond to that person’s sex. The proposed legislation would also make it a statewide public school policy that “it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
A hearing on the proposed board policy will be held on April 19 at the Florida State Capitol Complex.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A proposed Florida Board of Education rule could expand restrictions on classroom instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
“For grades 4 through 12, instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited unless such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards … or is part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student’s parent has the option to have his or her student not attend,” according to the proposed rule.
This rule would build up on the Parental Rights in Education law Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in March 2022. The law bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. It states that any instruction on those topics cannot occur “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” according to the legislation.
The law was dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics, who said it aimed to shun LGBTQ identities from classroom content and discussion.
This rule, voted on by the seven-member board, coincides with other legislation being considered in the state legislature. HB 1223 would ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in pre-kindergarten through grade 8, and would not require any employee or student to refer to a another person using their “preferred personal title or pronouns” if it does not correspond to that person’s sex. The proposed legislation would also make it a statewide public school policy that “it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
A hearing on the proposed board policy will be held on April 19 at the Florida State Capitol Complex.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — New video obtained by ABC News shows Irvo Otieno before his March 6 in-custody death being pulled from his Henrico County jail cell and pushed into the back of a police SUV for transport to Virginia’s Central State Hospital, where he died.
One view from the hallway shows seven deputies gathered outside Otieno’s cell, preparing to enter.
As the door is opened, all seven deputies can be seen rushing into the cell, one carrying a pair of pants over his shoulder, the only clothing Otieno appeared to be wearing when he later died.
A second camera view shows deputies appearing to struggle with Otieno inside the cell. One deputy appears to make downward striking motions with his arm in the direction of Otieno, according to the footage. The view, however, is partially obstructed.
Approximately 14 minutes later, Otieno is seen in the footage being dragged from his cell by deputies through the hallway and toward the police van he’ll be transported in as his pants begin to come off while he’s being pulled.
Deputies attempt to cover his mostly naked body with a blanket before his pants are pulled up, footage shows.
Otieno is eventually forced into the back of a police van, with deputies pulling him and others pushing him in.
The police car carrying Otieno exits the jail at 3:10 p.m.
Previously obtained footage later captures Otieno and the moment surrounding his death at the Virginia hospital.
That footage shows sheriff’s deputies and medical staff at the hospital carrying a handcuffed Otieno into a room and placing him on the floor.
The video shows Otieno being held down for nearly 11 minutes until he stops moving.
At some point, an injection was given to Otieno by hospital staff, according to Ann Cabell Baskervill, Dinwiddie County’s Commonwealth attorney, who asserted the injection was likely given after he had died of asphyxia.
Seven Henrico County Sheriff’s deputies and three Central State Hospital employees have been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Additional charges and arrests are pending, according to the Commonwealth’s attorney.
The deputies and hospital employees have been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the Commonwealth’s cases.
The Henrico County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an independent review of Otieno’s death alongside an investigation by Virginia State Police.
“Public safety is what we stand for as a Sheriff’s Office,” Henrico County Sheriff Alisa A. Gregory said in a statement on the charges. “We will continue to maintain the highest professional standards in how we serve and protect those in our custody, the community at-large and our staff.”
In a court appearance, Cary Bowen, a lawyer representing Deputy Jermaine Lavar Branch, alleged the officer “did not administer any blows to the deceased, or violence towards him, other than simply trying to restrain him.”
Bowen told ABC News by phone that Commonwealth Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill is trying to fashion the case as something that is “malicious.”
“There was no weapon used. There was no pummeling or anything like that. I think everybody agrees,” Bowen said. “And the way she was casting it was that they ended up suffocating. He couldn’t breathe. And she’s acting like the guy didn’t resist and he wasn’t manic or bipolar or whatever. Just a nice guy who they’re picking on.”
Those charged are still awaiting a grand jury decision on whether they will be indicted.
In an interview with ABC News, Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouka, wondered why no one stopped the deputies from piling on her son.
“Even in my grief, I look at the whole thing and I wonder, you know, why couldn’t somebody come in and stop what was going on,” Ouka said. “I just cannot wrap my mind around it.”
Leon Ochieng, Otieno’s brother, told ABC News that his brother was going through a mental health crisis and “he cared about his health and he wanted to go to the hospital to get help.”
“He didn’t want to get in the squad car because he could tell the difference between a squad car and an ambulance,” Ochieng said. “All systems failed Irvo Otieno.”
He continued, “They need to change the way they approach … Not 12 of 12 officers showing up with tasers ready to put you down.”
Ouka remembers him as “a loving person,” who was “smart” and “bright.”
“I miss his hugs. … I miss touching him,” she said. “I miss seeing him. I miss talking to him. I miss just being there for all of us. … Our life was perfect. They didn’t have to do this. They didn’t have to take him away from us.”
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin, Nakylah Carter, Jack Date and Abby Cruz contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its short-term borrowing rate another 0.25%, intensifying the central bank’s fight against inflation despite concern that previous rate increases helped trigger the nation’s banking crisis.
The Fed’s benchmark interest rate has contributed to the financial emergency facing U.S. banks.
Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak, though it remains more than triple the Fed’s target of 2%.
The rapid rise in interest rates, however, tanked the value of bonds held by Silicon Valley Bank, precipitating its failure and cascading damage for the financial sector.
In a statement, the Fed rejected concerns about the financial system. “The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient,” the central bank said.
The Fed left the door open for further rate increases, noting that “additional policy firming may be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2% over time.”
Nearly 190 banks are at risk of collapse amid high interest rates and declining asset values, according to a study released by a team of university researchers earlier this month.
A continuation of rate hikes risks further intensifying the banking crisis, nudging additional financial institutions toward the brink of collapse.
A pause on rate increases, however, could have undermined the Fed’s fight against inflation, allowing high prices to persist and eat away at household budgets, economists previously told ABC News.
A survey by Bloomberg last week found that most economists expected the Fed to raise interest rates by 0.25% on Wednesday, matching the increase that the central bank imposed at its most recent meeting last month.
Over the last year, the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate by 4.5%, the fastest pace since the 1980s.
The Fed has put forward a string of borrowing cost increases as it tries to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach risks tipping the U.S. economy into a recession and putting millions out of work.
Persistent rate hikes also threaten the stability of the banking system.
Still, the Fed could avoid facing a choice between slowing price increases and preserving financial stability, since tighter lending practices taken up by private sector banks in response to the financial distress may cool the economy on its own accord, allowing the Fed to forego raising rates while still bringing down inflation.
“No matter what the Fed does later this month, financial conditions are tightening,” Julia Pollak, chief economist at Zip Recruiter, said last week.
(TOPEKA, Kan.) — Months after Kansas voters decided to uphold protections for abortion rights, the state’s House of Representatives approved a bill based on the disputed idea that providers leave newborns to die after unsuccessful abortions. The bill passed with a 88-34 vote.
If approved, the bill would provide legal protections for infants born alive after a failed abortion, requiring healthcare providers to provide them with care. The bill would create criminal penalties and civil liability for violations of the act.
The bill now heads to the Republican-majority state Senate for approval. Kansas voters decided to protect abortion rights in a high-turnout primary vote, striking down a proposal to remove abortion protections from the state’s constitution.
The vast majority of abortions are performed before the point in pregnancy when a fetus would theoretically survive, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2020, only 0.9% of abortion procedures occurred after 21 weeks gestation, the CDC reports. Failed abortions where infants are born alive are extremely rare.
Providers who fail to provide care to infants born alive will face felony charges. The father of the fetus, the mother of the fetus and family including parents or guardians are allowed to bring civil lawsuits against providers who fail to follow the law.
If the pregnancy results from any criminal conduct, the person guilty is barred from bringing such lawsuits.
The bill defines an infant as “born alive” if it “breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles,” according to the bill.
Under the bill, health care centers will be required to report to the secretary of health and environment how many abortions result in infants being born alive. Facilities who fail to submit the report could face a fine of up to $500.
The measure is similar to a proposed Montana law that voters rejected in November.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar bill in January, but it is unlikely the bill will become law.
(NEW YORK) — It was a pivotal day in world history as the United States, and several allies, invaded Iraq under the suspicion that then-President Saddam Hussein was amassing weapons of mass destruction.
The March 20, 2003, invasion led to an eight-year conflict with over 4,400 American troops killed, and nearly 32,000 wounded during the conflict, according to the Department of Defense. Reports by groups, such as the nonprofit online database the Iraq Body Count, said that nearly 200,000 Iraqi civilians were killed during those years.
No weapons of mass destruction were ever found and Hussein was apprehended, tried and executed.
“Nightline” took a look back at the 20th anniversary of the conflict with some Iraq War veterans who were profiled on the show just before they were deployed.
Even though it’s been two decades since they were among one of the first troops sent overseas, Retired Marine Corporal Michael Elliot and Retired Marine Corporal Josh Hisle told “Nightline” have only recently healed from the mental and emotional traumas of war.
“The war took a big toll on my life,” Elliot, 41, told “Nightline.” “The military and war threw me into the deep end.”
Elliot and Hisle were among the 206 Marines of Fox 2/5 company out of Camp Pendleton, California.
“Nightline” embedded with the Marines before the invasion, filming as they waited for official orders. Hisle, now 41, played guitar for his troops when they were getting ready in Kuwait.
“I still just remember it being this one evening for a minute where it was such a good time that you almost forgot,” he told “Nightline” co-anchor Byron Pitts.
The troop would see combat not too long after it deployed and suffer a major loss. On April 4, 1st Sgt. Ed Smith, who postponed retirement to serve in Iraq, was killed when a piece of shrapnel struck his head while their convoy was trapped next to an ammunition dump fire.
“We’re all standing up exposed, and he made the call to have everybody get back in the vehicles,” Elliot said.
Smith’s daughter, Shelby Robinson, who was 8 when her father was killed, told “Nightline” that Smith was always proud of his military experience. She’s now a police officer and said her father inspired her.
“That makes me feel very close to him. And I definitely think that he’s watching over me out there,” Robinson told “Nightline.”
Marine Col. Terry Johnson was Fox 2/5’s commander when the war began. He told “Nightline” that war had its consequences and many of his brave comrades paid the ultimate price for their service.
Johnson, now 52, who is set to retire this year, said he believed the U.S. involvement in Iraq was worth the price that was paid.
“Clearly Saddam was a bad individual, was a dictator of classic proportions, was extremely brutal to his people,” he told Pitts.
Not all of his colleagues believed the war was completely warranted.
Elliot and Hisle both said they had trouble adjusting to civilian life after they were honorably discharged and left the Marines feeling remorse for some of the actions and directives they were given in Iraq.
“Every mission, everything we did, kicking doors and disrupting people’s lives, bagging people’s heads, bagging the dude’s head and dragging him out of the house, while his kids are standing there screaming, for what? What are we doing?” Hisle said.
Hisle said he feels that America didn’t learn anything from the war because civilians’ lives weren’t affected.
Elliot said he felt heartbroken because the post-military life for newer veterans is getting more difficult and nothing is being done to help.
While they were diagnosed with PTSD and sought help, they said the road to recovery was challenging in ways they couldn’t have predicted.
“Everything I did in combat is not going to work in civilian life. Now I have to re-learn again. And how do I take care of myself? I’m going to drink, I’m going to numb myself. I’m going to drink until I pass out,” Elliot said.
After the war, at least three Fox 2/5 Marines died by suicide, and one of them is in prison for murder after allegedly suffering from PTSD.
These Marines are a snapshot of an alarming reality for America’s vets.
In 2019, 17 veterans died by suicide every single day and 29.3% of veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with lifetime PTSD, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 13% of homeless adults are veterans, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
Both Elliot and Hisle said they are doing better. They both graduated college after their service. Elliot is now working as a physical therapist and Hisle is working in a local government job.
“Even with support and all the encouragement from my friends, it’s only been a couple of years…where I’ve experienced this inner peace,” Elliot said.
“It’s a hard journey and you have to decide if it’s worth it,” he said.
Free support to those facing a suicidal crisis is available by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
(NEW YORK) — A hush money payment made to an adult film actress nearly seven years ago is at the center of a criminal probe that could potentially result in criminal charges filed against a former U.S. president.
Former President Donald Trump is currently under investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office as part of a probe into a payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential race.
No current or former U.S. president has ever been indicted for criminal conduct.
The hush money probe had languished even as other investigations into Trump moved forward — until Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg convened a grand jury to revive the probe at the start of this year, according to sources.
Trump was invited to appear before the grand jury in recent weeks, sources told ABC News, in a sign that the DA could be moving closer to a charging decision. The former president’s attorney said Trump has no plans to testify. Trump himself speculated over the weekend that he would be arrested Tuesday in the probe, but Tuesday passed with no action on the DA’s part.
What is the case about?
The investigation centers around a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels just days before the 2016 election by Trump’s then-attorney, Michael Cohen, in order to prevent her from going public with her allegations of a 2006 affair with Trump, which he has long denied.
Cohen executed the transaction through a shell corporation, Essential Consultants LLC, which Cohen had set up just days prior, according to court filings.
“Mr. Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from a Home Equity Line of Credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign,” Cohen testified before Congress in 2019.
When Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, his company logged the payments as a “monthly retainer” for Cohen’s legal services, according to Trump and court documents from Cohen’s subsequent plea deal. Prosecutors are considering whether Trump should be charged with falsifying business records, sources say.
Trump initially claimed he didn’t know about the payment to Daniels, telling reporters in April 2018 to “ask Michael Cohen” about where the money came from. But a month later he posted to Twitter that the payment to Daniels was part of a nondisclosure agreement to keep her from making false accusations.
“Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA,” Trump tweeted.
“Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll [sic] in this transaction,” he wrote.
But just weeks before Cohen delivered the payment to Daniels, the now-former attorney worked with the publisher of the National Enquirer, longtime Trump ally David Pecker, to pay another woman who claimed she’d had an affair with Trump, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
The Enquirer, in concert with the Trump campaign, paid Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story that she’d had a 10-month affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007 — then suppressed the story “in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election,” according to a 2018 plea deal made by the Enquirer’s publisher, AMI.
Trump has denied that he had an affair with McDougal and that he or his campaign directed the Enquirer to “catch and kill” her story.
The first investigation
Following an investigation by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, Cohen pleaded guilty in August 2018 to multiple felonies for his role in orchestrating the payment to Daniels and to AMI.
The charges included two campaign finance violations related to the payments, which federal prosecutors considered campaign contributions because they were made “in order to influence the 2016 presidential election.” By law, individual contributions to a presidential campaign are limited to $2,700.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison.
“Today [Cohen] stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election,” Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, said in a statement after Cohen entered his guilty plea on August 20, 2018. “If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”
But the federal investigation ended without any charges filed against Trump himself.
Trump’s attorney at the time praised the decision.
“We are pleased that the investigation surrounding these ridiculous campaign finance allegations is now closed,” Jay Sekulow said in a statement in 2019. “We have maintained from the outset that the President never engaged in any campaign finance violation. From the Court’s opinion: ‘the Government’s investigation into those violations has concluded … another case is closed.'”
In New York, the Manhattan district attorney’s office subsequently took up the matter as part of a larger investigation into Trump’s finances starting in 2021. But under then-District Attorney Cy Vance, prosecutors believed the hush money “did not amount to much in legal terms,” according to Mark Pomerantz, one of the probe’s lead investigators who later resigned from the DA’s office due to his dissatisfaction with the pace of the probes and wrote about his experience in his book, “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account.”
The investigation today
At the start of this year, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg returned to the hush money probe with a focus on whether the Trump Organization falsified business records in the way it recorded the reimbursement payment to Cohen, sources familiar with the investigation have told ABC News.
Trump’s namesake company reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Daniels through invoices that were billed as a “retainer agreement” — an arrangement that prosecutors say was a “sham” because no such retainer agreement existed. The payments, prosecutors say, were for Daniels.
Appearing on ABC News’ Good Morning America last week, Trump’s current attorney denied that any payments were recorded improperly.
“There was absolutely no false record,” Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told George Stephanopoulos. “To my knowledge there was no false records.”
Tacopina also said the payment could not have been a campaign finance violation because it was made with Trump’s personal funds.
“It’s not a contribution to his campaign,” Tacopina said. “He made this with personal funds to prevent something coming out false but embarrassing to himself and his family’s young son. That’s not a campaign finance violation not by any stretch. So personal funds and personal use of funds spending to fulfill a commitment and obligation or an expense of a person that would be existing, irrespective of the campaign, is not a violation.”
The Manhattan grand jury conducting the probe has heard testimony from some of Trump’s closest allies and former aides, including former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and Trump’s 2016 campaign spokesperson, Hope Hicks, as well as Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, who was among the first witnesses brought in.
Cohen, too, testified last week before the Manhattan grand jury over multiple days. And Daniels herself met with prosecutors over Zoom last week at the request of the DA’s office, her attorney said. Both Daniels and Cohen said they would make themselves available as witnesses if needed.
Asked last week on Good Morning America if he expects an indictment for Trump, Tacopina was resolute.
“I expect justice to prevail,” he told George Stephanopoulos. “If that’s the case, George, there shouldn’t be an indictment.”
ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim and John Santucci contributed to this report.
(DENVER) — A student who was under a “certain agreement to be patted down each day” at school allegedly shot and wounded two school administrators at East High School in Denver, authorities said.
The suspect, a juvenile armed with a handgun, fled the school after the Wednesday morning shooting, but Denver police said they know who he is and a search for him is ongoing. The gun has not been recovered, police said.
Both faculty members are in serious condition, according to the hospital. One underwent surgery and the second was able to speak to authorities, officials said.
The suspected shooter was required to be searched at the beginning of each school day, officials said. He allegedly shot the school administrators as they patted him down Wednesday morning in the school’s office area, which officials said is away from other students and staff.
The suspect’s daily searches were part of a “safety plan” that was a result of “previous behavior,” officials said, though they did not elaborate on the previous behavior.
Police described the suspect as an African American teenager wearing an Astronaut hoodie. Police warned the public to not approach him, calling him armed and dangerous.
East High School was placed on lockdown in the wake of the shooting. Denver Public Schools later said it received clearance to start releasing students.
Last month, East High School students went to a city council meeting to call for action on school safety and gun violence after a 16-year-old student was fatally shot near the school, according to ABC Denver affiliate KMGH.
The superintendent said Wednesday that the school will be closed the rest of this week, and that the building will now have two armed officers present through the end of the school year.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock in a statement said removing school resource officers was a “mistake” and said they should be quickly returned.
“We all have to step up as a community and be a part of the solution,” he said.
Hancock also called on Congress to pass “common sense” gun legislation.
“Parents are angry and frustrated, and they have a right to be,” he said. “Easy access to guns must be addressed in our country — Denver cannot do this alone.”
This shooting comes two years to the day after a mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, that claimed 10 lives.
(WASHINGTON) — Ukraine will get American Abrams tanks this fall, much sooner than expected, after the Pentagon decided to refurbish existing hulls in its inventory instead of building new ones from scratch.
Meanwhile. the Patriot air defense missile training for Ukrainian troops that has been taking place in Oklahoma will wrap up “in coming days” and the missile systems will be in Ukraine “in coming weeks” on an expedited basis, according to a U.S. Army spokesman.
In January, the Pentagon would be sending Ukraine 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks that would be built from scratch, a process that could take at least a year, if not longer.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon’s top spokesman told reporters that the switch to sending refurbished hulls equipped with modern weapons systems would get to the battlefield quicker.
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that, since the initial announcement in January, the U.S. has been committed “to exploring options to deliver the armored capability as quickly as possible.”
He added that after further analysis the Pentagon, in consultation with Ukraine, decided that choosing the M1A1 version will “enable us to significantly expedite delivery timelines and deliver this important capability to Ukraine by the fall of this year.”
“This is about getting this important combat capability into the hands of the Ukrainians sooner rather than later,” said Ryder.
The Pentagon had never given a timeline for when the 31 Abrams tanks would arrive in Ukraine, but Ryder acknowledged that “we were projecting it would be probably over a year or so before we would have been able to deliver” the more modern M1A2 variant.
Ryder said the M1A1 Abrams will have “a very similar capability” to the M1A2 that includes advanced armor, a 120 mm cannon, and a 50-caliber heavy machine gun.
The U.S. commitment to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine was the linchpin of a plan to get Germany to go along with the transfer of Leopard tanks in its own inventory or that of other nations.
The understanding was that the slower manufacturing pace of newly Abrams would meet Ukraine’s longer range military needs while the Leopards would have a more immediate impact on the battlefield as Ukraine prepares for an anticipated counteroffensive.
Some of those German-made Leopard tanks have already begun arriving in Ukraine where they will be paired up with Ukrainian tank crews that have been receiving training outside of Ukraine.
Ryder did not have any details on when Ukrainian troops might begin to train on the Abrams tank and where such training could take place.
“We will ensure that the Ukrainians receive the necessary training on these tanks in time for them to be delivered,” said Ryder.
On Tuesday, senior Russian officials expressed environmental concerns about the armor piercing shells used by British Challenger 2 tanks being given to Ukraine that contain depleted uranium. The Abrams tank also fires depleted uranium rounds, but when asked by reporters if the U.S. was going to provide similar rounds to Ukraine Ryder said “not to my knowledge.”
At Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Army officials confirmed that the training of 65 Ukrainian troops on how to operate the Patriot air defense system is nearing its conclusion and that the system could soon be in Ukraine.
The Patriot missile training of Ukrainian troops at Fort Sill, Oklahoma is going to wrap up in coming days according to an Army spokesman who adds that the American Patriot battery being sent to Ukraine will arrive “in coming weeks”.
The Ukrainians will depart here in the coming days, go to Europe, and depart for Ukraine in the coming weeks,” Col. Marty O’Donnell, the spokesman for U.S. Army Europe and Africa told ABC News.
The Ukrainian troops have trained at Fort Sill since mid-January in an expedited training cycle for how to use the Patriots, a training cycle that can normally last a year.
“In Europe, the Ukrainians training here will meet up with Ukrainians training in Europe, and with U.S., German, and Dutch equipment donations to validate the systems and ensure interoperability,” said O’Donnell.
The United States and Germany have each committed to providing a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine to assist with that country’s pressing air defense needs to counter Russian barrages aimed at its cities and infrastructure. The Netherlands has also committed to providing additional missiles and launch systems that will be incorporated into the German Patriot system.
The training for Ukrainian troops to use the Germany Patriot battery has been taking place in Poland.
