Politics

(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a stark warning for Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Russian military buildup near the Ukraine region showed no signs of slowing on Sunday.

“The fact is that we think that an assault on Ukraine is an assault on democracy,” Pelosi told George Stephanopoulos during an exclusive interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “We understand that the loss of life, the damage, the collateral damage to civilians, to military and the rest are severe.”

“If he decides to invade, the mothers in Russia don’t like their children going into what he’s had to experience that — forgive the expression — bodybags from the moms before, so he has to know that war is not an answer. There’s very severe consequences to his aggression, and we are united in using them.”

Pelosi said the U.S. has to be prepared for any potential invasion, and she believes sanctions have acted as a deterrent thus far.

“If we were not threatening the sanctions and the rest, it would guarantee that Putin would invade. Let’s hope that diplomacy works. It’s about diplomacy, deterrence. Diplomacy, deterrence,” Pelosi said.

“And the president’s made it very clear: There’s a big price to pay for Russia to go there. So if Russia doesn’t invade, it’s not that he never intended to, it’s just that the sanctions worked,” Pelosi said.

“I’m very proud of what the president has done. The unity of our allies and NATO to come to an agreement as to the severity of the sanctions is very, very important. And that is, that is something that Putin should pay very close attention to,” Pelosi added.

Pelosi noted that while President Joe Biden has the authority to issue sanctions by executive order, “it would be better” if Congress did so through legislation.

The Senate has been negotiating a Russia sanctions bill, but as of last week, lawmakers concluded that they had hit an “impasse” in their talks. Senators have said they will continue to negotiate while also considering “other” options.

On the domestic front, Pelosi defended passing historically massive spending bills to address the coronavirus and infrastructure, which some say has contributed to rising costs across the U.S.

She noted that legislation the House passed recently to better compete with China, as well as the long-stalled Build Back Better Act, would help with supply chain issues and improve the economy in the long run.

“The fact that people have jobs always contributes to increase in inflation. And that’s a good thing. But inflation is not a good [thing],” Pelosi said.

“There has to be a cumulative effect, a cumulative effect and part of the consequences of all of that investment in the infrastructure bill the rest, is that more people have jobs and and, therefore, inflation goes up,” Pelosi said.

“The BBB is a deficit reduction bill,” Pelosi added. “The [Joint Committee on Taxation] says that BBB will reduce the national debt by $100 billion in the first 10 years and a trillion dollars in the second 10 years.”

She urged Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to understand Congress’ role in addressing inflation as opposed to contributing to it, which he claims passing the BBB will do.

“It’s very important for us to address it. We must bring it down and but is not. It’s not right — with all the respect in the world to my friend Joe Manchin — it’s not right to say that what we’re doing is contributing to inflation because it is exactly the opposite,” Pelosi said.

Stephanopoulos also pressed Pelosi on the rate of rising crime in America and noted the differing opinions among some members of Congress as to how to address the issue. Some have called for an increase in the police force, while other members, such as Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, have supported the “defund the police” movement.

“Well, with all the respect in the world for Cori Bush, that is not the position of the Democratic Party,” Pelosi said of the “defund the police” movement, which calls for a reallocation of money from police forces to local community organizations and non-policing forms of public safety.

“Community safety, to protect and defend in every way, is our oath of office,” Pelosi said. She pointed to the “The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021” as an answer to rising crime. The legislation is a human rights and police reform bill drafted by Democrats. The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force and racial bias in policing. The House approved the measure in 2020 following Floyd’s murder, but it is stalled in the Senate.

Stephanopoulos also pointed to Biden’s low approval rating as Democrats gear up for the upcoming midterm election this November. He asked Pelosi if she is concerned about losing the majority given the high number of Democrats who have already announced they are not running for re-election.

“I don’t agonize. I organize,” Pelosi countered. “We fully intend to win this election. Nothing less is at stake.”

“Forget history,” Pelosi said to Stephanopoulos when he pointed to historical election results during a midterm year. “We’re talking about the future….We have every intention every single day to do everything in our power. We have decided to win and that’s what we will do.”

Asked by Stephanopoulos if she intends to run for speaker again, Pelosi quipped: “That’s not a question. My purpose right now is just to win that election. Win that election, nothing less is at stake than our democracy.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, a day after the U.S. warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin during the Olympics.

The two leaders spoke for just over an hour for the first time since Dec. 30, marking their third conversation amid escalating tensions over Russia’s military buildup at the Ukraine border, where it has amassed over 100,000 troops.

Biden warned that the U.S. and its allies “will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia” if it invades Ukraine, according to a brief White House readout of the call.

The president also stressed that a Russian invasion of Ukraine “would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing,” the White House said.

“President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said.

Russia has repeatedly denied it has plans to invade Ukraine, despite the buildup on its border.

The Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters the call took place in a ‘business-like” manner despite an “atmosphere of unprecedented hysteria” he claimed was being artificially inflated by the U.S.

“The last days, hours, the situation has simply been brought to the point of absurdity,” Ushakov said.

“We have outlined our considerations and stressed several times that we do not understand why deliberately false information about our Russian intentions should be transmitted to the media,” he continued.

President Biden spoke with President Vladimir Putin today to make clear that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the U.S. and our allies will impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden urged President Putin to engage in de-escalation and diplomacy instead. pic.twitter.com/HqK0b65kFm

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 12, 2022

A senior administration official did not detail specifics of the call, but told reporters “there was no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks.”

The official said the countries will continue to “stay engaged in the days ahead,” as military action from Russia remains a “distinct possibility.”

“We are not basing our assessment of this on what the Russians say publicly. We are basing this assessment on what we’re seeing on the ground with our own eyes, which is the continued Russian buildup on the border with Ukraine, and no meaningful evidence of de-escalation,” the official said.

The call comes amid ongoing diplomatic efforts Saturday to defuse tensions and avoid war in eastern Europe.

On Saturday, France President Emmanuel Macron and Putin spoke at the request of Macron, Russian officials said.

The two presidents “continued their discussion on the conditions for security and stability in Europe,” Macron’s office said in a statement.

“They both expressed a desire to continue the dialogue on these two points,” the statement continued.

French officials said Macron received personal assurances from Putin that he has no intention of attacking Ukraine. Macron raised concerns about Russian naval maneuvers near Ukraine in the Sea of Azov. “Putin did not present this movement as a precursor to attack,” French officials said.

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Blinken also spoke. During the 35-minute call, Blinken discussed “acute and shared concerns that Russia may be considering launching further military aggression against Ukraine in the coming days,” U.S. officials said. Blinken repeated his refrain that the path of diplomacy remains available — but if not, the repercussions will be “resolute, massive and united.”

Lavrov accused the U.S. and its allies of a “propaganda” campaign and of making attempts to “sabotage” the diplomatic talks to resolve the Russian-stoked conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russian officials said. Lavrov denied that Russia has any intention to invade Ukraine, but he also didn’t signal that Russia was prepared to deescalate, a senior State Department official told ABC News.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also spoke with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, on Saturday about “Russia’s force build-up in Crimea and around Ukraine,” the Department of Defense said in a brief readout.

The calls come a day after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin during the Beijing Winter Olympics, which are scheduled to end on Feb. 20.

“We can’t pinpoint the day, at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a Russian military action would take place even before the end of the Olympics,” Sullivan said.

Following the warning, the State Department said Saturday that all non-emergency U.S. employees would depart the embassy in Kyiv, leaving only a core team of American diplomats and Ukrainian staff members.

The department also emphasized that all Americans in Ukraine should leave the country immediately.

“We encourage all American citizens who remain in Ukraine to depart immediately,” Sullivan said Friday. “We want to be crystal clear on this point. Any American in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible, and in any event in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

The Pentagon also ordered Saturday that a contingent of about 160 members of the Florida Army National Guard training in western Ukraine leave the country.

Over a dozen countries have joined the U.S. in telling their citizens in recent days to leave Ukraine. On Saturday, senior U.K. officials said British citizens should get out “immediately by any means.” The European Union has also begun pulling out non-emergency staff.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced an evacuation plan Saturday and said the Ukrainian capital is preparing in case of a large-scale attack.

Russia has also announced it is drawing down its embassy in Ukraine and pulling out some staff because it fears “provocations” from Kyiv or other countries, officials said Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the country is ready to counter a possible Russian invasion, but intelligence claims on possible aggression coming next week and the evacuation of foreign diplomats only cause panic.

“Today in the information space, there is too much information about a deep, full-scale invasion from Russia,” Zelenskyy told reporters. “The best friend of our enemy is panic in our country, and all that information which helps create only panic doesn’t help us.”

Russia and Ukraine held talks Thursday in Berlin, moderated by Germany and France, but after nine hours of discussion failed to agree on issuing a joint statement. The sides remained at an impasse over Russia’s insistence that the Ukrainian government speak directly with Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.

ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Karen Travers, Patrick Reevell, Luis Martinez, Tanya Stukalova and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — With increasingly dire warnings from the U.S. that Russia will likely attack Ukraine in the coming days, the U.S. is evacuating its diplomats and troops in the country and urging private American citizens to leave immediately, according to the State Department and Pentagon.

“It isn’t just time to leave Ukraine. It is past time for private citizens to leave Ukraine,” a senior State Department official said Saturday.

The U.S. embassy announced it was evacuating all but non-emergency staff from the country and that among the skeleton crew left behind, many would pull out of the capital, Kyiv, to the western city, Lviv, near the border with Poland.

The Pentagon also announced that it was withdrawing 160 soldiers from the Florida National Guard, among the only U.S. military presence in the country.

Ukrainian officials, at odds with the U.S. assessment of an imminent threat for weeks, were critical of the decision as they try to project calm to a nation weary of eight years of Russian aggression.

“Today in the information space, there is too much information about a deep, full-scale invasion from Russia,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters. “The best friend of our enemy is panic in our country, and all that information which helps create only panic doesn’t help us.”

Russia has denied it has plans to invade Ukraine, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov telling Secretary of State Antony Blinken that again during a call Saturday, according to a second senior State Department official.

That call was part of a full-court press by the Biden administration to urge Russia to stand down from what U.S. officials say could be an imminent attack. President Joe Biden spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu Saturday, while Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a rare call Friday to his counterpart, Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

But those high-level calls have not yet changed the U.S. assessment that an attack could take place in the coming days, as Biden’s national security adviser warned Friday.

Therefore, the U.S. embassy is suspending consular services Sunday, as most of the remaining staff depart. While the embassy will not close, only emergency services will be available, with diplomats focused on communicating with the Ukrainian government.

“We fervently hope and continue to work intensively to try to ensure that Ukraine does not become a war zone,” the first senior State Department official said, but they warned it “appears increasingly likely that this is where this situation is headed — toward some kind of active conflict.”

Pressed on Zelensky’s opposition, they added, “The Ukrainians understand why we are taking these steps, even if all of them don’t necessarily agree … with our threat assessment and with our assessment of the extent to which potential conflict is imminent.”

During their call, Blinken “emphasized” to Lavrov the “priority we place on the safety and security of American citizens, diplomatic personnel and our embassy facility,” the second senior State Department official said.

But the first official said “even with restraint and respect for diplomatic facilities,” things can “go wrong.” While the U.S. will set up a diplomatic presence in Lviv instead, there will not be a de facto embassy there and staff won’t be able to provide consular support like passports or visas, according to the official. For that, Americans are instructed that they will have to leave Ukraine and go to an embassy or consulate in another country.

Diplomats aren’t the only ones leaving. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered 160 soldiers from the Florida National Guard to leave Ukraine to be repositioned elsewhere in Europe, the Pentagon announced Saturday.

“These troops, assigned to the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, have been advising and mentoring Ukrainian forces as part of Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine,” said John Kirby, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson.

“They are departing Ukraine and will reposition elsewhere in Europe,” said Kirby. “The Secretary made this decision out of an abundance of caution — with the safety and security of our personnel foremost in mind — and informed by the State Department’s guidance on U.S. personnel in Ukraine.”

“This repositioning does not signify a change in our determination to support Ukraine’s armed forces, but will provide flexibility in assuring allies and deterring aggression,” he added.

In a sign of that, even as these drawdowns unfold, another shipment of U.S. military aid for Ukraine’s armed forces is scheduled to arrive Saturday, according to the first senior State Department official. But Biden has made clear U.S. troops will not enter Ukraine to support its military or even to evacuate American citizens.

The Guardsmen have been in western Ukraine since November, training Ukraine’s military and are based at a training center in Yavoriv, less than 10 miles from the border with Poland.

There was no update provided on the status of U.S. special operations forces that have also been serving in Ukraine as part of a training mission with Ukrainian special operations forces.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. issued a stark new warning Friday that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin during the Olympics.

“We can’t pinpoint the day, at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a Russian military action would take place even before the end of the Olympics,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House. The Winter Olympics, which are ongoing in Beijing, are scheduled to end on Feb. 20.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Melbourne, Australia, earlier Friday, shared the same message: “As we said before, we’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time. To be clear, that includes during the Olympics.”

Sullivan said the United States still could not say whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had actually made a decision to invade.

But he said the situation had grown so dire that Americans in Ukraine should leave “immediately” — or at least “in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

“We don’t know exactly what is going to happen,” Sullivan said. “But the risk is now high enough, and the threat is now immediate enough that this is what prudence demands.”

Sullivan told ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce that he expected President Joe Biden to “engage by telephone with President Putin.” The last time the leaders spoke was Dec. 30.

A White House official later said the two would speak Saturday morning.

Sullivan said Biden did not plan to put American troops’ lives at risk to rescue Americans who remained there.

“If you stay,” he said, echoing what said in an NBC News interview Thursday, “you are assuming risk with no guarantee that there will be any other opportunity to leave, and there is no prospect of a U.S. military evacuation in the event of a Russian invasion.”

Sullivan said the U.S. is reducing the size of its “embassy footprint” in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

BREAKING: White House updates on Ukraine:

– Further signs of Russian escalation
– “We are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time”
– Invasion could begin during Olympics, “despite a lot of speculation that it would only happen after”
– “We are ready either way.” pic.twitter.com/4ANN9fdc19

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 11, 2022

Sullivan went on to describe in vivid detail what could happen, including a “rapid assault on the city of Kyiv.”

“If a Russian attack on Ukraine proceeds, it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians without regard to their nationality,” Sullivan said. “A subsequent ground invasion would involve the onslaught of a massive force with virtually no notice, communications to arrange a departure could be severed and commercial transit halted.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley spoke Friday with Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov by telephone, a Joint Chiefs spokesperson said in a statement.

“The military leaders discussed several security-related issues of concern,” the statement said. “In accordance with past practice, both have agreed to keep the specific details of their conversation private.”

Earlier Friday, Biden held a call with transatlantic leaders to chart next moves as talks over Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine showed no sign of defusing the crisis.

Biden spoke about “coordination on both diplomacy and deterrence” with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, NATO, the European Commission, and the European Council, according to the White House.

The president has remained largely silent on Ukraine over the past few days, instead holding public events focused on the U.S. economy.

The transatlantic call came as NATO warned Europe was facing a “dangerous moment.”

“This is a dangerous moment for European security,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday in Brussels.

European leaders have engaged in intense diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine over the past several weeks to avoid war in eastern Europe. But the talks have so far failed to yield much apparent progress.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, before meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the next day.

Russia and Ukraine held talks Thursday in Berlin, moderated by Germany and France, but after nine hours of discussion failed to even agree on issuing a joint statement.

Western officials had hoped that the latest round of the so-called “Normandy Format Talks” would push forward the diplomacy by Macron and other officials who have been shuttling between capitals over the past couple weeks.

The sides remained at an impasse, though, over Russia’s insistence that the Ukrainian government speak directly with Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.

Biden said Monday that Americans currently in Ukraine should leave, and on Thursday, he repeated that message with more urgency.

“American citizens should leave now,” Biden Thursday said in an interview with NBC News. “It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organization. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly.”

Senior U.S. officials say they do not believe Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has made a decision whether to invade Ukraine, even as he has amassed over 100,000 troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine.

The U.S. and other Western nations have warned of severe economic consequences to Russia if it does invade. Russia denies it plans to do so.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Russia and Belarus kicked off 10 days of joint exercises in Belarus, north of Ukraine.

ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Matt Seyler contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of his promised intent to name his nominee to the Supreme Court by the end of the month, and sticking to his pledge to name the court’s first Black woman, President Joe Biden has indicated to Senate Democrats he will start interviewing prospective candidates for the upcoming vacancy next week, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the meeting.

Emerging from a meeting with Biden on Thursday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said they are all “anxious to get started” with the process and confirmed that Biden would be “going to take up a meeting with the nominees soon.” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., added they’re “aware of the historic nature of this appointment,” and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said that whomever Biden names will give Republicans “no choice” but to support her nomination.

“I came away from this conversation looking forward more than ever, to bipartisan support because I think the president will nominate someone of such compelling personal story, of character and intellect that Republicans will have no choice in effect, but to support her in some number,” Blumenthal said.

Biden and Harris also told the Senate Democrats, according to a White House readout, that there are a “wealth of extraordinarily qualified potential nominees under consideration” and that “any of the candidates” under review would be “deserving of bipartisan support.”

In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt taped Thursday, Biden said he’s done a “deep dive” on “about four people” who have already seen “thorough background checks” as he keeps an eye on replicating the qualities of Justice Stephen Breyer on the bench.

“I’m not looking to make an ideological choice here,” Biden said. “I’m looking for someone to replace Judge Breyer with the same kind of capacity Judge Breyer had, with an open mind, who understands the Constitution, interprets it in a way that is consistent with the mainstream interpretation of the Constitution.”

Court watchers expect those under closest consideration include Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, Judge Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court and Judge J. Michelle Childs of the U.S. District Court in South Carolina.

Biden told Holt the candidates are “incredibly well qualified and documented. They are the honor students that come from the best universities they have experience, some on the bench, some in the practice of law.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also said earlier in the week that the president has reviewed “binders of cases” authored by the potential picks.

“He is receiving and engaging with a range of people as he considers this process. I would note also that as he’s looking at the process, he’s reviewing not just bios, but he’s also reviewing cases. And he is looking at binders of cases,” Psaki said. “He’s taking a very thorough approach to it.”

Once Biden names his nominee, she will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for public hearings. If confirmed out of the committee, her nomination will see a full floor vote in the Senate.

While Harris, as vice president and president of the Senate, could potentially serve as a tie-breaking vote to Biden’s pick since 51 votes are needed to confirm Supreme Court nominees — there is not a single Black woman in the Senate to vote to confirm the first Black woman nominated to the high court.

A group of 14 Black female lawmakers in the House led by Rep. Cori Bush sent a letter to Biden Thursday morning outlining what they are looking for – and there’s a split within the Congressional Black Caucus as to whether it’s appropriate to publicly push for one Black woman over another.

“I just don’t think it’s our place to pit Black women against each other who are trying to get this spot,” Bush told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott.

Bush’s comments mark a clear break from the highest-ranking Black member of the Congress, Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who has launched an aggressive campaign to persuade the president to nominate Childs of South Carolina. Childs already has at least one Republican vote if picked.

“If this happens, it will be because of the power of Jim Clyburn in the Democratic world. I think I can get some of my Republican colleagues to follow my lead, and wouldn’t it be something if the first African-American woman on the court was a South Carolinian,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told WYFF earlier this week.

Biden met last week with Durbin and the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, as the president nears his own self-imposed deadline for the historic Supreme Court pick.

At the formal announcement of Breyer’s retirement, Biden said he was seeking a candidate “with character” and a judicial philosophy that “suggests that there are unenumerated rights to the Constitution and all the amendments mean something, including the Ninth Amendment,” which states that “certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. issued a stark new warning Friday that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin during the Olympics.

“I do want to be clear: it could begin during the Olympics despite a lot of speculation that would only happen after the Olympics,” scheduled to end Feb. 20, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House, but he quickly added that the U.S. could not say whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a decision to do so.

Sullivan also said the situation had grown so dire that Americans in Ukraine should leave “immediately” — within the next 24 to 48 hours.

“We don’t know exactly what is going to happen. But the risk is now high enough, and the threat is now immediate enough that this is what prudence demands,” he said.

“If you stay you are assuming risk with no guarantee that there will be any other opportunity to leave, and there is no prospect of a U.S. military evacuation in the event of a Russian invasion,” he added, echoing what President Joe Biden said in an NBC News interview Thursday.

Sullivan said the U.S. is reducing the size of its “embassy footprint” in Kyiv.

Pressed by reporters about the evidence the U.S. had, Sullivan there is a “credible prospect Russian military action will happen even before the end of the Olympics.”

He went on to describe in vivid detail what could happen, including a “rapid assault on the city of Kyiv.” He said Biden wouldn’t put U.S. service members’ lives at risk in a war zone to rescue people who don’t leave now.

“If a Russian attack on Ukraine precedes it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians without regard to their nationality. A subsequent ground invasion would involve the onslaught of a massive force with virtually no notice, communications to arrange a departure could be severed and commercial transit halted,” Sullivan said.

“The president will not be putting the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk by sending them into a war zone to rescue people who could have left now but chose not to. So, we’re asking people to make the responsible choice,” he said.

Earlier Friday, Biden held a call with transatlantic leaders to chart next moves as talks over Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine showed no sign of defusing the crisis.

Biden spoke about “coordination on both diplomacy and deterrence” with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, NATO, the European Commission, and the European Council, according to the White House.

The president has remained largely silent on Ukraine over the past few days, instead holding public events focused on the U.S. economy.

The transatlantic call came as NATO warned Europe was facing a “dangerous moment.”

“This is a dangerous moment for European security,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday in Brussels.

European leaders have engaged in intense diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine over the past several weeks to avoid war in eastern Europe. But the talks have so far failed to yield much apparent progress.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, before meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the next day.

Russia and Ukraine held talks Thursday in Berlin, moderated by Germany and France, but after nine hours of discussion failed to even agree on issuing a joint statement.

Western officials had hoped that the latest round of the so-called “Normandy Format Talks” would push forward the diplomacy by Macron and other officials who have been shuttling between capitals over the past couple weeks.

The sides remained at an impasse, though, over Russia’s insistence that the Ukrainian government speak directly with Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.

Biden said Monday that Americans currently in Ukraine should leave, and on Thursday, he repeated that message with more urgency.

“American citizens should leave now,” Biden Thursday said in an interview with NBC News. “It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organization. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly.”

Senior U.S. officials say they do not believe Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has made a decision whether to invade Ukraine, even as he has amassed over 100,000 troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine.

The U.S. and other Western nations have warned of severe economic consequences to Russia if it does invade. Russia denies it plans to do so.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Russia and Belarus kicked off 10 days of joint exercises in Belarus, north of Ukraine.

“As we said before, we’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday in Melbourne, Australia. “To be clear, that includes during the Olympics.”

The Winter Olympics, which are ongoing in Beijing, are scheduled to end on Feb. 20.

ABC News’ Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden held a call with transatlantic leaders on Friday to chart next moves as talks over Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine showed no sign of defusing the crisis.

Biden spoke about “coordination on both diplomacy and deterrence” with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, NATO, the European Commission, and the European Council, according to the White House.

The president has remained largely silent on Ukraine over the past few days, instead holding public events focused on the U.S. economy.

The transatlantic call came as NATO warned Europe was facing a “dangerous moment.”

“This is a dangerous moment for European security,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday in Brussels.

European leaders have engaged in intense diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine over the past several weeks to avoid war in eastern Europe. But the talks have so far failed to yield much apparent progress.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, before meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the next day.

Russia and Ukraine held talks Thursday in Berlin, moderated by Germany and France, but after nine hours of discussion failed to even agree on issuing a joint statement.

Western officials had hoped that the latest round of the so-called “Normandy Format Talks” would push forward the diplomacy by Macron and other officials who have been shuttling between capitals over the past couple weeks.

The sides remained at an impasse, though, over Russia’s insistence that the Ukrainian government speak directly with Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.

Biden said Monday that Americans currently in Ukraine should leave, and on Thursday, he repeated that message with more urgency.

“American citizens should leave now,” Biden Thursday said in an interview with NBC News. “It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organization. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly.”

Senior U.S. officials say they do not believe Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has made a decision whether to invade Ukraine, even as he has amassed over 100,000 troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine.

The U.S. and other Western nations have warned of severe economic consequences to Russia if it does invade. Russia denies it plans to do so.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Russia and Belarus kicked off 10 days of joint exercises in Belarus, north of Ukraine.

“As we said before, we’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday in Melbourne, Australia. “To be clear, that includes during the Olympics.”

The Winter Olympics, which are ongoing in Beijing, are scheduled to end on Feb. 20.

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(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Bernie Sanders gave a speech on the Senate floor Thursday expressing grave concern over the “drumbeats” of war building in Washington, D.C., amid escalating tensions along the Ukrainian border.

Sanders, I-Vt., the de-facto leader of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, which had kept relatively quiet on the issue to this point, pleaded with government officials to not follow a similar path of past military conflicts.

“I’m extremely concerned when I hear the familiar drumbeats in Washington, the bellicose rhetoric that gets amplified before every war, demanding that we must ‘show strength,’ ‘get tough’ and not engage in ‘appeasement’,” said Sanders, who has, in the past, led the charge to defund the war in Iraq and to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

The senator focused on the “unintended consequences” that have resulted from previous American military involvements and the way wars have been portrayed in the lead up to those conflicts.

“They [wars] rarely turn out the way the planners and experts tell us they will. Just ask the officials who provided rosy scenarios for the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, only to be proven horribly wrong,” Sanders said.

Sanders reaffirmed his support for the pursuit of a diplomatic solution with Russia, the latest attempts of which have been led by French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately this week.

While condemning Putin over his responsibility for the current crisis, Sanders also called on officials to “consider the perspectives of our adversaries.” Putin has demanded the U.S. and Europeans commit to keeping Ukraine out of NATO, something the West has rejected outright.

“One of the precipitating factors of this crisis, at least from Russia’s perspective, is the prospect of an enhanced security relationship between Ukraine and the United States and Western Europe,” Sanders said.

In addition to his war critique, Sanders objected to potential sanctions against Russia and the possible impact on civilians. That includes a package the Senate has been discussing that could cause economic devastation in Russia and reverberate across Europe.

The legislation appears to be on hold following disagreement on a variety of issues, including the strength of the sanctions, leading some to suggest President Joe Biden should proceed on his own.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicated it would be better for Biden to take action as opposed to waiting for the passage of a sanctions package he believes wouldn’t deter Putin. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., struck a similar tone.

“We’re just a hair’s breadth away from an agreement on strong, message-sending sanctions legislation, but I really believe the Biden administration should act now — in fact yesterday,” said Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Concerns about a Russian invasion into Ukraine continue to build as the Russian military began a series of exercises in Belarus on Thursday that are expected to continue until Feb. 20.

“[We] must work hard to achieve a realistic and mutually agreeable resolution…that is not weakness,” Sanders said. “That is not appeasement. Bringing people together to resolve conflicts nonviolently is strength, and it is the right thing to do.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday setting in motion a plan to make $7 billion in Afghan funds held in the United States available to compensate victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, and to provide humanitarian relief and other support to the Afghan people dealing with crushing hunger, according to senior Biden administration officials.

The funds were deposited by Afghanistan’s central bank in the United States before the Taliban took over last year and have since been made unavailable to the Taliban. Much of the money comes from U.S. and other international donations over the past 20 years, according to the official.

The U.S. has struggled to determine how to provide aid to the Afghan people without money going to the Taliban.

Biden’s order would freeze the funds and set aside more than $3.5 billion for American victims of terrorism who are pursuing litigation against the Taliban, according to the officials. The money would be available to them pending the outcomes of their litigation, the officials said.

The administration would also ask a court to allow for the rest of the funds to be placed into a trust fund to be used “for the benefit of the Afghan people and for Afghanistan’s future,” a senior administration official said.

A senior administration official said the U.S. government would “take a couple of months” to figure out exactly how the fund would work and how the money would be used. Another official told ABC News the money would go toward humanitarian relief and “other needs.”

“We have not made specific decisions about how the funds will be used,” the senior official said.

That plan would have to clear several procedural and legal steps, including gaining legal approval, receiving a license from the Treasury Department and going through a due diligence process by the Federal Reserve, an official said.

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(WASHINGTON) — A bill that would eliminate forced arbitration agreements for sexual assault and harassment survivors in the workplace was approved in the Senate in a voice vote Thursday, and it now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

The legislation ushers in some of the most significant workplace reforms in decades.

New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has long championed the bill and is one if its lead authors, said the bill “will give survivors their day in court, allow them to discuss their cases publicly and end the days of institutional protection for harassers.”

“It will help us fix a broken system that protects perpetrators and corporations and end the days of silencing survivors,” Gillibrand said on the Senate floor Thursday.

An aide to the senator told ABC News that the bill will go into effect immediately after Biden signs it into law.

The bill’s passage comes a few years after the #MeToo movement launched cases of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace into the public sphere, revealing just how often men in positions of power settle cases and silence victims by using secretive processes.

These practices have allowed some men to move on to new jobs without having to reveal to the public that claims had ever been filed against them.

This bill would for the first time ensure that survivors of sexual harassment and assault have the option of suing their abusers in state, tribal or federal court.

The House voted on the bill in a bipartisan 335-97 vote earlier in the week. All the votes against it came from Republicans.

“Today, the House took a key step toward ending the shameful practice of forced arbitration of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. This landmark legislation will void agreements currently silencing more than 60 million workers as well as countless more consumers, who have been denied the freedom to pursue recourse for sexual assault and harassment by nursing home contracts, property leases and other legal agreements,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

“With today’s strong, bipartisan vote, the House sent a clear signal to survivors across our nation that they deserve the freedom to seek justice and to make their voices heard,” she added.

According to a summary of the bill, H.R. 4445, the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act “would allow sexual harassment and sexual assault survivors to elect to file a case in a court of law rather than be subject to mandatory, forced arbitration provisions in cases involving sexual harassment or sexual assault disputes.”

By voiding forced arbitration clauses in the case of sexual assault and harassment, “survivors are provided the freedom to decide what legal path works best for them — that can include bringing a claim in court, discussing their case publicly, or seeking another kind of legal remedy. It will eliminate institutional protection for harassers and abusers and give survivors the chance to pursue justice,” according to the bill summary.

Proponents of the bill say the point of the legislation is to get cases of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace out in the open so that predators are punished and unable to repeat their offenses. Typically, in arbitration cases, the facts of a case don’t become public, and the accused can often move on to their next place of employment without any public recourse.

Just before the bill passed, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was “long overdue.”

“It is an outrage that women and men who are abused can not seek justice are forced to be quiet are forced to keep the agony inside themselves, it is outrageous,” Schumer said. “For decades, this forced arbitration has deprived millions of people form the basic right to justice.”

Republicans who have opposed the bill say it’s an overreach by the federal government in workplace matters.

One of the most prominent advocates for ending forced arbitration in sexual misconduct cases, however, is Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News host who filed a lawsuit against the late Roger Ailes, the former head of the cable network.

“Yes we will make history and have all women’s voices lifted up!” Carlson tweeted ahead of Monday’s vote.

In a statement earlier this month, the White House’s budget backed the bill.

“This bipartisan, bicameral legislation empowers survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment by giving them a choice to go to court instead of being forced into arbitration,” the White House’s budget office, the Office of Management and Budget, said.

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