(NEW YORK) — National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the latest reports of Ukrainian civilians being tortured and killed by Russian troops have been “horrifying…downright shocking, but they have not been surprising.”
Sullivan told ABC News “This Week” Co-Anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday that before the war began, declassified intelligence “indicated that there was a plan from the highest levels of the Russian government to target civilians who oppose the invasion.”
“So this is something that was planned,” he told Karl, adding that some units may have acted without direction from their leaders, frustrated by the level of opposition they’ve encountered from Ukrainians.
“I do think some of these units engaged in these acts of brutality, these atrocities, these war crimes, even without direction from above. But make no mistake, the larger issue of broad-scale war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine lies at the feet of the Kremlin and lies at the feet of the Russian president,” he said.
When asked if the acts amounted to genocide as suggested by United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv this week, Sullivan noted that the State Department usually makes that legal determination after an investigation and legal analysis.
“But let’s set legalities aside for a minute…I think we can all say that these are mass atrocities. These are war crimes,” he said.
In one of the latest incidents, at least 52 people, including five children, were killed during a missile strike at a train station in eastern Ukraine. Images of bodies strewn across luggage showed the magnitude of the attack, which injured at least 100.
Since the war began, the Biden administration has been steadily implementing sanctions meant to cripple the Russian economy and Putin’s funding of the invasion.
In the latest package, the U.S., in conjunction with its European Union and G-7 allies, imposed a ban on all new investments in Russia, increased sanctions on two major banks and sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters. But while the U.S. has banned Russian oil imports, European governments have not.
Asked if it was time for Europe to ban Russian oil and gas and imports, which come to an estimated $850 million per day, Sullivan said the president had been clear that the U.S. was able to do so “without imposing massive costs on the American people” but would continue to work with European allies to limit dependency.
“He is now working on a daily basis with his European colleagues on steps Europe can take to wean itself off of Russian oil and gas,” he told Karl. “In fact, the United States is surging gas exports to Europe in order for them to reduce their dependence on Russia.”
Karl followed up: “But you hear the frustration from President Zelenskyy. We heard it from the mayor of Kyiv that the money continues to flow, that the ruble is not in rubble as the president said…The money is still flowing and flowing in pretty dramatic levels.”
“If you look at independent projections of the Russian economy, it is likely to fall by something like 10 to 15% this year,” Sullivan said. “It is likely to cease to be one of the world’s major economies because of the economic pressure we have put on them.”
Sullivan also said the economy is being “artificially propped up” by Russian banks.
“Banks…are not allowed by the Russian government to sell dollars to customers. That’s how they’re protecting the ruble. But that has huge economic costs on the — on the Russian economy,” he added. “We will continue to squeeze the Russian economy so that Russia and the Kremlin feel the pain from what they have done in Ukraine.”
Sullivan conceded that although Putin has suffered several setbacks in his mission to topple the Ukrainian government, his tight grip on media has prevented Russians from hearing the truth.
“They are not getting the truth, for example, Jon, about the fact that the Russians lost and the Ukrainians won the battle for Kyiv,” he said. “Kyiv stands despite Russia’s effort to conquer the capital city of their neighbor and they were unable to do that, and they suffered a significant military defeat there.”
(NEW YORK) — As politicians spar over who’s to blame for recent increases in gas prices, a large majority of Americans say oil companies and Russian President Vladimir Putin are major culprits, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.
Along party lines, Americans are more likely to blame Democrats for the increase in gas prices than Republicans, according to the poll, which also found much greater enthusiasm about voting in this November’s elections among Republicans than among Democrats.
In the ABC News/Ipsos poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in partnership with ABC News using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, more than two-thirds of Americans blamed Putin (71%) and oil companies (68%) a “great deal” or a “good amount” for the increases in gas prices.
This comes the same week oil company executives were grilled by lawmakers about the skyrocketing gas prices, which have been declining in recent days.
Oil executives took turns defending their companies during Wednesday’s hearing with the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, pushing back on accusations of price gouging and citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for cost increases.
Democrats have pointed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the source of the rise in gas prices, with President Joe Biden coining it “Putin’s price hike,” while Republicans have argued that Biden’s energy policies are to blame.
Although the public appears open to Democratic arguments, they are more likely to place a “great deal” or a “good amount” of blame for the price increases on Democratic party policies (52%) and Biden (51%) than on Republican party policies (33%) and former President Donald Trump (24%). A strong majority of Americans (68%) also disapproves of the way Biden is handling gas prices. Not surprisingly, these assessments divide along party lines, with almost all Republicans (93%) disapproving compared to 41% of Democrats.
The public is split, with about half (49%) saying the price increases have caused financial hardship for themselves or others in their household, while 50% say it has not. Only 21% of Americans say it is causing them serious financial hardship. Republicans (60%) are more likely to say they’re facing financial hardship over rising gas prices than Democrats (32%).
Pain at the pump is considered to be one of several big political challenges facing Democrats this year. With the elections seven months away, just under 2 in 3 Americans (63%) are very (39%) or somewhat (24%) enthusiastic about voting.
The poll found greater enthusiasm among Republicans, with 55% saying they are “very enthusiastic” about voting compared to only 35% of Democrats — setting the stage for a challenging election year for Democrats, who will need to increase the intensity on their side of the aisle. On the opposite end, more Democrats (13%) say they are “not enthusiastic at all” about voting in the November elections compared to Republicans (5%).
The ABC News/Ipsos poll did find broad support for Biden’s policies regarding Ukraine, including placing tighter economic sanctions on Russia (79%), accepting refugees from Ukraine into the U.S. (63%), sending additional U.S. weapons and equipment to Ukraine (70%) and sending additional U.S. troops to nearby European countries but not Ukraine (53%).
Americans were less supportive of more aggressive options that Biden has said the U.S. won’t pursue, including sending troops to Ukraine (17%) and imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine (27%), which could mean direct military conflict with Russia.
Despite being in lockstep with White House policies, slightly more than half (53%) of Americans disapprove of the way Biden is handling the situation with Russia and Ukraine, with a great disparity in disapproval between Republicans (85%) and Democrats (28%).
Responses on a range of other issues, including the economic recovery, crime, climate change, inflation and immigration, have remained largely unchanged since the beginning of the year, with a majority of Americans disapproving of Biden’s handling of them.
One bright spot continues to be the president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with 58% of Americans approving — up from 50% in late January. COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have plateaued, while hospitalizations and deaths have largely trended downward. Cases have started to tick up across the Northeast and the West Coast, with the Washington elite facing a COVID-19 outbreak in recent days.
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted using Ipsos Public Affairs’ KnowledgePanel® April 8-9, 2022, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 530 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 4.9 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 27-26-40%, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s topline results and details on the methodology here.
ABC News’ Dan Merkle and Ken Goldstein contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The New York Attorney General’s Office asked a judge Friday to force Cushman & Wakefield to comply with subpoenas issued in connection with the civil investigation of former President Donald Trump.
The motion to compel followed two subpoenas, one issued this past February and another in September of last year, that sought documents and records associated with several Trump properties: 40 Wall Street, a skyscraper in Manhattan; Seven Springs, an estate in Westchester, New York; and Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles.
Cushman & Wakefield handled the appraisals of those properties, which have come under civil investigation by the attorney general’s office over possible manipulation as the Trump Organization sought tax breaks and favorable lending terms.
Trump and The Trump Organization have denied any wrongdoing. ABC News has reached out to both for comment on the attorney general’s new request.
Cushman & Wakefield, which has not been accused of any wrongdoing, complied with a subpoena issued early in the investigation, but said the two more recent ones were overly broad and amounted to harassment of the company.
“Cushman & Wakefield’s work for the Trump Organization is significant to our ongoing investigation into Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial practices,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “There should be no doubt that information about Cushman’s appraisal work for the Trump Organization is relevant to our efforts and that Cushman — like any other party — cannot defy a lawful subpoena because no one is above the law.”
ABC News has reached out for comment from Cushman & Wakefield.
The commercial brokerage, which also handled office leasing at several Trump properties, cut ties with Trump after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying in a statement at the time, “Cushman & Wakefield has made the decision to no longer do business with The Trump Organization.”
The Trump Organization purchased Seven Springs, the 212-acre property in Mount Kisco, New York, in 1995, hoping to develop a golf course and, when that was rejected, luxury homes.
In 2004, the Trump Organization valued the property at $80 million; in 2007 they valued it at $200 million; and by 2012, they valued it at $291 million, based on the contention the property was zoned for nine homes worth a supposed $161 million of profit, the attorney general’s office said.
Two separate professional appraisers valued the lots that were supposedly going to be developed at fractions of the prices used in the Trump Statement of Financial Condition, the attorney general’s office said.
The attorney general’s office has also raised questions about the true value of the Trump leasehold interest in 40 Wall Street. Outside appraisals conducted by Cushman & Wakefield in 2010-2012 for Capital One, which held a $160 million mortgage on the building, valued the Trump Organization’s interest in the property between $200 million and $220 million.
During the same period, according to the attorney general’s office, Trump’s financial statements represented that 40 Wall Street had a valuation of $601.8 million in 2010, $524.7 million in 2011, $527.2 million in 2012 and $530.7 million in 2013. Those values were between two and three times as much as recorded in the three consecutive appraisals.
(WASHINGTON) — The two men accused of impersonating federal law enforcement agents are a risk to national security, government prosecutors said in a court document, pushing to keep the men in custody Friday.
“In compromising at least four members of the USSS, they caused a risk to national security and the functioning of an essential government agency protecting the nation’s leadership,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Rothstein wrote in the document. “Because of the nature and circumstances of the Defendants’ conduct, this factor points in favor of detention.”
The judge did not make a ruling on their detention Friday. The parties will be back in court Monday.
Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali stand accused of impersonating federal law enforcement agents as well as giving lavish gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents and their families. The pair was arrested on Wednesday.
“They are not law enforcement agents, and they are not involved in sanctioned covert activities,” prosecutors wrote in the detention memo. “Neither Defendant is even employed by the United States government. But their impersonation scheme was sufficiently realistic to convince other government employees, including law enforcement agents, of their false identities.”
The federal government also alleges that after Taherzadeh was arrested, he was interviewed and admitted to posing as a law enforcement officer and providing free rent to U.S. Secret Service agents. He also allegedly provided a “doomsday bag,” generator, flat-screen television, two iPhones, a drone, a gun locker, a Pelican gun case and a mattress to agents and officers of the Secret Service.
Lawyers for the government were grilled by Judge Michael Harvey on the source of the funding of the men, saying they could have put all of the charges on credit, and asking whether any gifts were exchanged between U.S. Secret Service agents and the two men.
“Who is funding the scheme? If it is Mr. Ali buying that day’s lunch at Chick-fil-A, it’s far less important,” Harvey said.
Both of those answers, the government acknowledged, they do not know.
“The scale of the comprised situation that they created is quite large and it’s causing us to have to send agents out to interview many, many people. These aren’t people just dressing up for Halloween. This is very serious,” Rothstein said.
In an interview with agents, Taherzadeh said his co-conspirator Ali “funded most of their day to day operation,” but he did not know the source of the money.
The assistant U.S. attorney said Ali has “some sort of citizenship status in Pakistan,” citing an ID card from the country. The government said they will do more digging over the weekend. Ali, Rothstein said, was born in Pakistan. The identification card is “relevantly new”
Rothstein also revealed the men had immigration documents of certain people who are in the building and the government is trying to figure out if those documents are real.
The government also revealed Taherzadeh was a special police officer, which, according to Rothstein, is a contracted company that stands in building lobbies, and the suspect was working in this capacity at “some time.”
“I don’t want to spend time with additional amorphous representation,” Harvey told the prosecutors, asking for more details for the entirety of the case.
Charging documents unsealed Wednesday show the men attempted to gift members of the Secret Service not only rent worth up to $40,000 but also weapons, including offering to purchase a $2,000 assault rifle for a member of first lady Jill Biden’s detail.
Prosecutors said in the court filing they “compromised” U.S. Secret Service “personnel involved in protective details and with access to the White House complex by lavishing gifts upon them, including rent-free living.”
The government added, “They procured, stored, and used all the tools of law enforcement and covert tradecraft: weaponry, including firearms, scopes, and brass knuckles; surveillance equipment, including a drone, antennae, hard drives, and hard drive copying equipment; tools to manufacture identities, including a machine to create Personal Identification Verification (PIV) cards and passport photographs; and tactical gear, including vests, gas masks, breach equipment, police lights, and various law enforcement insignia.”
An assistant U.S. Attorney representing the government said at a previous court hearing on Thursday that Ali has “claimed to witnesses to have connections to the ISI, which is the Pakistani Intelligence Service,” and the government found three Pakistani visas as well as two Iranian visas “from July 31 2018 through December 28 2019 and December 28 2019 through January 25 2020. And we know that because the conduct in the complaint starts in February 2020.”
Prosecutors have also alleged the men kept binders full of residents who lived in the luxury Washington, D.C., Navy Yard building. Several residents who spoke to ABC News were disturbed by the details outlined in the government’s allegations, including that the accused had a list of residents in the complex.
“It was pretty crazy, I just got home from work and I just saw a bunch of FBI agents in the lobby,” building resident Thomas Lee told ABC News. “It’s scary. It’s my place of living. … I just came home and then there’s just FBI agents. I’m like … what’s going on?”
(MONTGOMERY, Ala.) — In the latest salvo of legislation targeting LGBTQ youth, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed into law two bills banning transgender health care for minors and teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through fifth grade.
The Alabama legislature passed the two bills focusing on transgender youth a day prior. SB 184 bans gender-affirming care, while HB 322 bans trans students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. HB 322 also limits LGBTQ content in classrooms due to a last-minute amendment.
SB 184, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, states that anyone who provides gender-affirming care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapy or physical gender-affirming surgeries — to anyone under 18 could be convicted of a felony and face up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Several Alabama physicians has said the legislation is riddled with misinformation about how gender-affirming care actually affects children.
“When lawmakers attempt to practice medicine with a life without a license, they realize quickly that there was a lot more they didn’t understand than what they thought they did,” Morissa Ladinsky, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, previously told ABC News.
For instance, the bill would ban minors from receiving gender-affirming “surgical procedures,” but in Alabama, such surgeries aren’t allowed until a patient reaches the age of legal majority for medical decisions, which is 19.
The legislation also makes the claim that puberty blockers can cause infertility or other health risks. According to Ladinsky, these potential side effects only present real risks after puberty and are not a risk to youth taking puberty blockers.
“I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl,” Ivey said in a statement after signing the bill into law. “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life. Instead, let us all focus on helping them to properly develop into the adults God intended them to be.”
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Shay Shelnutt, has called gender-affirming health care “child abuse.”
“We don’t want parents to be abusing their children. We don’t want to make that an option, because that’s what it is; it’s child abuse. This is just to protect children,” Shelnutt said Feb. 23 on the state Senate floor.
Courtney Roark, the Alabama policy & movement building director for the youth-led reproductive rights nonprofit URGE, slammed the bill’s passage as an attack on bodily autonomy for trans youth and their families.
“In yet another attack on our bodies, our autonomy, and our desire to live happy and healthy lives, Alabama politicians have passed and signed into law a bill that would criminalize doctors, principals, teachers, school counselors and nurses for providing gender-affirming care and support to trans and non-binary youth,” Roark said. “Trans and non-binary youth in our state and across the country already face extraordinary barriers to accessing the liberated and joyous lives they deserve.”
HB 322 would require students in public K-12 schools to only use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their assigned sex at birth.
Alabama state Rep. Scott Stadthagen, the sponsor of the bill, said the bill does not target transgender students.
“Almost every school district in this state is dealing with this issue with opposite genders wanting to use opposite bathrooms,” Stadthagen has said in debate. “I find this to be a safety issue. It is for protection of our students.”
“Here in Alabama, men use the men’s room, and ladies use the ladies’ room — it’s really a no brainer,” Ivey said in a statement. “This bill will also ensure our elementary school classrooms remain free from any kind of sex talk.”
An amendment to this bill would also prohibit classroom instruction or discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through the fifth grade in public K-12 schools. The language mirrors the controversial so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bills popping up across the country.
Ivey took issue with that characterization, saying in a statement, “Let me be clear to the media and opponents who like to incorrectly dub this the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ amendment: That is misleading, false and just plain wrong. We don’t need to be teaching young children about sex. We are talking about five-year-olds for crying out loud. We need to focus on what matters – core instruction like reading and math.”
LGBTQ suicide awareness group The Trevor Project condemned the passage of such bills.
“On likely the last day of Alabama’s legislative session, lawmakers have added last-minute votes to push the most extreme anti-transgender agenda we’ve seen to date — all within a matter of hours,” said Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project.
“These policies are not only cruel and unnecessary, they are unpopular among a majority of Americans,” they continued. “Criminalizing doctors, isolating trans youth from their support systems and stigmatizing conversations around LGBTQ identity will only fuel more bullying, anxiety and suicide risk among these youth.”
(WASHINGTON) — The White House is charging ahead with President Joe Biden’s schedule despite an uptick of COVID-19 cases among Washington politicians and staff members, including some in the president’s inner circle and others who have come near him at White House events.
White House officials have repeatedly said they follow advice from the president’s doctor, adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance and, in some cases, “go beyond it” to protect the president.
But recent close calls are putting a spotlight on how those prevention practices are being applied and where questionable exceptions are being made.
Even as administration officials say they’ll continue to adhere to strict protocols, the White House changed its tone Friday about the risk of Biden catching COVID.
In a shift in tone, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told CNN Friday morning it’s now “certainly possible” the president could still test positive for COVID at some point.
Noting that the president is vaccinated and double-boosted, press secretary Jen Psaki tried to clarify those comments during Friday’s White House press briefing.
“[I]t is also the case that despite all of the precautions we take and even with the president being double-boosted, he could still test positive for COVID,” she said, “just as people — many people in the White House have — many people in the press corps have. That is a possibility and we want to be transparent with the American public about that.”
In recent days, two White House staffers and at least 19 members of Congress have tested positive for COVID-19. On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested positive after being near the president on two different occasions earlier in the week — at one point they shared a kiss on the cheek.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the president was not considered a “close contact” of Pelosi, as defined by Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines because they had not been within six feet of each other for 15 minutes.
The president tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday morning, according to a White House official.
This week, when Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the Senate confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, she was not wearing a mask much of the time despite being deemed a close contact of her communications director, who tested positive two days before the vote.
According to CDC guidance, someone who is deemed a close contact should wear a “well-fitting mask for 10 full days” when around other people at home or in public.
A White House official later told ABC News Harris had gotten a doctor’s okay before going maskless while sitting on the dais during the Senate vote.
“After consulting with a White House physician and reviewing CDC guidance, which we do for all engagements, the vice president presided over the Senate while practicing social distancing — with limited and brief interactions from her chair. In addition, the vice president tested negative today, and will continue to maintain strong protocols and follow the CDC’s guidance,” the official said.
Despite the increasing number of new cases in people coming close to Biden, the White House said it does not plan to step up testing for Biden or enforce a stricter mask mandate around the president.
“That would be a decision made by his doctor. But that is not deemed to be necessary at this point,” Psaki told ABC Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce.
While masks are now optional at the White House campus, meetings with the president are often socially-distanced, officials said.
The White House says it has a strict testing protocol for any staffer or administration official who comes near the president as well as for Biden himself. When pressed on whether those same requirements apply to others who meet with the president, such as guests, Psaki said the White House would assess each situation on a “case-by-case” basis.
(WASHINGON) — The Pentagon has been providing daily updates on the U.S. assessment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s efforts to resist.
Here are highlights of what a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday on Day 44:
U.S. sending Patriot system to backfill Slovakia
After repeated pleas from Ukraine for help defending itself against Russian air strikes, Slovakia is sending its sole S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Ukraine, it announced Friday, and at the same time, the U.S. announced it is moving one of its Patriot missile batteries to Slovakia to replace it.
“At my direction, and at the invitation of Slovakia, U.S. European Command will reposition one Patriot missile system, manned by U.S. service members, to Slovakia,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Friday. “Their deployment length has not yet been fixed, as we continue to consult with the Slovakian government about more permanent air defense solutions.”
There has been talk of such an arrangement since last month when Slovakian defense minister Jaroslav Nad’ said his country was ready to deliver its Soviet-era S-300 to Ukraine on condition Slovakia’s air-defense capability be immediately backfilled.
“Should there be situation that we have a proper replacement or that we have a capability guaranteed for a certain period of time, then we will be willing to discuss the future of S-300 system,” Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger said in a joint press conference with Austin on March 17.
A U.S. military Patriot battery based in Germany was pre-positioned in Poland for this purpose, and that system will soon be moving to from Poland to Slovakia to replace its S-300, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
The Slovak military has previously said it had about 45 missiles for its S-300 system.
U.S. ‘not buying’ Russia’s denial of hitting railway station
The Pentagon is “not buying” Russia’s denial of responsibility, a senior U.S. defense official said.
“They originally claimed a successful strike and then only retracted it when there were reports of civilian casualties,” the official said. “It’s our full expectation that this was a Russian strike — we believe they used a short range ballistic missile, an SS-21.”
Why might the Russians have targeted it?
The official said the station is a major rail hub in a “very strategic location,” just south of the key city of Izyum.
“And we’ve been talking now for days and days about how Izyum was so important to them because it lies almost in the middle of the Donbas,” the official said.
Russian units ‘eradicated’
Some of the Russian battalion tactical groups (BTGs) that have withdrawn back across the Belarusian and Russian borders have been essentially gutted from hard fighting in Ukraine, according to the senior defense official.
“We’ve seen indications of some units that are literally, for all intents and purposes, eradicated. There’s just nothing left of the BTG except a handful of troops and maybe a small number of vehicles,” the official said.
In terms of total losses — counting troops, tanks, aircraft and missile inventory – Russia has lost between 15-20% of the combat power it originally had arrayed against Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, according to the official.
Russia hoping to recruit 60,000 new troops
Some of the Russian forces withdrawn from around Kyiv and elsewhere are now heading to the Russian cities of Belgorod and Valuyki, to the northwest of Donbas. But there are “no indications” that fresh troops are waiting there to join them.
For now, degraded Russian BTGs, usually made up of roughly 800-1,000 troops, are “exploring the option of” consolidating, banding together remaining forces and supplies to form new units.
“It’s really going to depend on the unit and how ready they are to get back into the fight, but we don’t believe that in general this is going to be a speedy process for them given the kinds of casualties they’ve taken and the kind of damage that they’ve sustained to their to their units’ readiness,” the official said.
Russia is also aiming to recruit upwards of 60,000 new troops, according to the official.
“They hope to get reinforced by new conscripts — there’s a whole new conscription schedule coming up here in May,” the official said, adding that Russian conscripts serve for one year.
“It remains to be seen how successful they’ll be on this, and where those reinforcements would go, how much training they would get,” the official said.
Additionally, the U.S. sees indications Russia has begun mobilizing reservists.
After Russian BTGs rebuild, “the most likely course of action would be for them to move immediately south right into the Donbas,” the official said.
The Pentagon estimates more than 40 Russian BTGs are already positioned in or near the Donbas region. The estimate was “more than 30” on Wednesday, meaning up to 10,000 more troops have arrived in recent days.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As she presided over Thursday’s historic confirmation vote for Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court, Vice President Kamala Harris gave an assignment to Sens. Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker — the only two Black Democrats in the Senate: Write a letter, using the vice president’s official stationery, to a young Black girl in their lives.
Before the vote, Warnock, speaking on the Senate floor, had spoken of the historic aspect of Judge Jackson’s confirmation by talking about his own daughter.
“Yes I’m a Senator, I’m a pastor, beyond all of that I am a father of young Black girl. I know how much it means for Judge Jackson to have navigated the double jeopardy of racism and sexism to now stand in the glory of this moment, in all of her excellence,” Warnock said.
“For my five-year-old daughter and for so many young women in our country, but really if we’re thinking about it right for all of us, seeing Judge Jackson ascend to the Supreme Court reflect the promise of progress on which on democracy rests. So, what a great day it is in America,” he said.
Later, Warnock shared on Twitter “Dear Chloé, Today, we confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court,” he wrote. “In our nation’s history, she is the first Supreme Court Justice who looks like you – with hair like yours.”
Booker said he has not yet decided who will get his letter.
After the vote, Harris said, “There is so much about what’s happening in the world now that is presenting the worst of … human behavior,” Harris said. “And then we have a moment like this that I think reminds us that there is so much left to accomplish.”
ABC News’ Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
Oliver Contreras/for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden celebrated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic confirmation to the Supreme Court at the White House on Friday with a tearful Jackson delivering a powerful message in perseverance.
“It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. But we’ve made it,” Jackson said, clutching tissues in her hand. “We’ve made it — all of us. All of us. And our children are telling me that they see now more than ever that here in America, anything is possible.”
Reminding that her family, in one generation, went from “segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States,” she said she hopes her ascension to the court is a moment in which all Americans can take great pride.
“The path was cleared for me, so that I might rise to this occasion, and in the poetic words of Dr. Maya Angelou, ‘I do so now while bringing the gifts my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave,'” she said.
“In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the supreme court of the United States. And it is an honor, the honor of a lifetime, for me to have this chance to join the court, to promote the rule of law at the highest level, and to do my part to carry our shared project of democracy and equal justice under law forward into the future,” Jackson said.
Biden, donning his trademark Aviator sunglasses when he stepped out onto the South Lawn, spoke before Jackson, calling it “not only a sunny day.”
“This is going to let so much sun shine on so many young women, so many young Black women,” Biden began. “We’re going to look back and see this as a moment of real change in American history.”
Biden recalled the promise he made in the 2020 presidential campaign — ahead of the South Carolina primary — to nominate the court’s first Black woman.
“I could see it as a day of hope. A day of promise. A day of progress. A day when once again the moral arc of the universe — Barack used to quote all the time — bends a little more toward justice,” Biden said.
While he thanked the three Republicans who broke party ranks to vote for Jackson, who were invited but not in attendance at Friday’s event, Biden blasted those on the committee for their treatment of his first nominee.
“It was verbal abuse, the anger, the constant interruptions, the vilest, baseless assertions and accusations,” Biden said. “In the face of it all, Judge Jackson showed the incredible character and integrity she possesses.”
As the event kicked off Friday afternoon, scores of guests gathered on the lawn, chatting and taking photos with a flag-draped South Portico behind them under a sunny April sky as the Marine Corps band played patriotic tunes. Jackson’s parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, who grew up under segregation in the South, her husband, Patrick, a general surgeon, and their two daughters, Talia, 21, and Leila, 17, were front row to witness the historic moment.
Kamala Harris was the first to deliver remarks at the outdoor event on the White House South Lawn, calling it a “wonderful day” before a cheering crowd, and offering the public a powerful image of the first Black female vice president alongside the first Black woman to soon sit on the Supreme Court.
“The young leaders of our nation will learn from the experience, the judgment, the wisdom that you, Judge Jackson, will apply in every case that comes before you — and they will see, for the first time, four women sitting on that court,” Harris said to applause.
When she is sworn in after Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of the term, Jackson will also serve on the first-ever high court where white men constitute a minority of the membership, and become the first former public defender and first Florida-raised judge to sit on the Supreme Court.
Her Senate confirmation by a 53-47 bipartisan vote Thursday marked a big political win for Biden’s long-term legacy — and his short-term efforts to energize Democrats. But a cluster of positive COVID cases since Monday, including some like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who have had contact with Biden, has raised questions about whether the celebration could turn into a superspreader event.
Jackson, the first Black woman nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court in its 233-year history, joined Biden in the Roosevelt Room Thursday afternoon to watch Democratic senators and other supporters break out in applause when Harris announced the vote.
But what should be considered a celebration for Democrats and the Biden White House risks being overshadowed by the pandemic Biden said this week is “under control.”
A growing number of Washington officials have tested positive for COVID, including two Cabinet members, two White House staffers, and at least 13 members of Congress.
Harris was in “close contact” with her communications director who tested positive, but she presided over Jackson’s vote in the Senate chamber without a mask just two days later. According to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone deemed a close contact should “wear a well-fitting mask for 10 full days any time you are around others inside your home or in public.”
“After consulting with a White House physician and reviewing CDC guidance, which we do for all engagements, the Vice President presided over the Senate while practicing social distancing — with limited and brief interactions from her chair. In addition, the Vice President tested negative today, and will continue to maintain strong protocols and follow the CDC’s guidance,” a White House official told ABC News.
The highly transmissible BA.2 variant appears to be closing in on Biden, 79, after he also appeared with Pelosi at two White House events this week — even sharing a kiss at one — prior to her positive COVID test.
Some 200 guests were invited to Friday’s ceremony including Jackson’s family, all current and former Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, some members of the House, Democratic members of Congress from Florida — Jackson’s home state — and all 53 senators who voted for Jackson’s confirmation. No justices will attend, however, ABC News has been told.
While Biden is sure to want Republicans on hand for the victory lap as he aims to shore up the court’s credibility and Jackson’s vote, all three who voted for Jackson won’t be there. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine won’t be attending after she also tested positive for COVID this week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski was traveling to Alaska and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who gave Jackson a standing ovation in the Senate chamber, won’t attend either, his office said, but didn’t explain why.
The White House insists it won’t be a repeat of former President Donald Trump’s infamous and maskless Rose Garden event in October 2020 at which he nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the court, but with hugging and maskless photos likely as part of Friday’s festivities, the White House risks appearances at odds with CDC protocols and public messaging it has touted.
While the White House has said Biden and his inner circle follow the strictest COVID protocols for safety, Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, notably is now acknowledging that it’s possible the president will test positive for COVID “at some point.”
“The president is vaccinated and double boosted, and so protected from severe COVID. We take every precaution to ensure that we keep him safe, we keep the vice president safe, the first lady, second gentleman, our staff here,” she said on CNN Friday morning. “But, you know, it is certainly possible that he will test positive for COVID and he is vaccinated, he is boosted and protected from the most severe strains of the virus.”
While masks are no longer required at the White House, senior administration officials say the president continues to be tested regularly and people meeting with him are also required to be tested. All White House employees also undergo regular testing.
When pressed on Thursday by ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce if those protocols also apply for other individuals meeting with the president, such as invited guests, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said they assess each event on a “case-by-case” basis.
“Now, if you are at an event, obviously there are assessments made on a case by case. But if somebody is going to be in close proximity, standing next to him, sitting next to him on a stage, that would be obviously different than a broad group of attendees,” she said.
Oliver Contreras/for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden celebrated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court at a large-scale event at the White House on Friday amid new concerns about COVID spreading among Washington’s power players.
Biden, donning his trademark Aviator sunglasses when he stepped out onto the South Lawn, said it was “not only a sunny day.”
“This is going to let so much sun shine on so many young women, so many young Black women,” Biden began.”We’re going to look back and see this as a moment of real change in American history.”
Biden recalled the promise he made in the 2020 presidential campaign — ahead of the South Carolina primary — to nominate the court’s first Black woman.
“I could see it as a day of hope. A day of promise. A day of progress. A day when once again the moral arc of the universe — Barack used to quote all the time — bends a little more toward justice,” Biden said.
The president hailed Jackson’s performance at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings — where he said Jackson showed that she’ll be an impartial, fair and thoughtful justice, and called her a “brilliant legal mind with deep knowledge of the law and judicial temperament … that is calm and in command. And humility that allows so many Americans to see themselves in Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
While he thanked the three Republicans who broke party ranks to vote for Jackson, who were invited but not in attendance at Friday’s event, Biden blasted those on the committee for their treatment of his first nominee.
“It was verbal abuse, the anger, the constant interruptions, the vilest, baseless assertions and accusations,” Biden said. “In the face of it all, Judge Jackson showed the incredible character and integrity she possesses.”
As the event kicked off Friday afternoon, scores of guests gathered on the lawn, chatting and taking photos with a flag-draped South Portico behind them under a sunny April sky as the Marine Corps band played patriotic tunes. Jackson’s parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, who grew up under segregation in the South, her husband, Patrick, a general surgeon, and their two daughters, Talia, 21, and Leila, 17, were front row to witness the historic moment.
Kamala Harris was the first to deliver remarks at the outdoor event on the White House South Lawn, calling it a “wonderful day” before a cheering crowd, and offering the public a powerful image of the first Black female vice president alongside the first Black woman to soon sit on the Supreme Court.
“The young leaders of our nation will learn from the experience, the judgment, the wisdom that you, Judge Jackson, will apply in every case that comes before you — and they will see, for the first time, four women sitting on that court,” Harris said to applause.
When she is sworn in after Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of the term, Jackson will also serve on the first-ever high court where white men constitute a minority of the membership, and become the first former public defender and first Florida-raised judge to sit on the Supreme Court.
Her Senate confirmation by a 53-47 bipartisan vote Thursday marked a big political win for Biden’s long-term legacy — and his short-term efforts to energize Democrats. But a cluster of positive COVID cases since Monday, including some like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who have had contact with Biden, has raised questions about whether the celebration could turn into a superspreader event.
Jackson, the first Black woman nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court in its 233-year history, joined Biden in the Roosevelt Room Thursday afternoon to watch Democratic senators and other supporters break out in applause when Harris announced the vote.
But what should be considered a celebration for Democrats and the Biden White House risks being overshadowed by the pandemic Biden said this week is “under control.”
A growing number of Washington officials have tested positive for COVID, including two Cabinet members, two White House staffers, and at least 13 members of Congress.
Harris was in “close contact” with her communications director who tested positive, but she presided over Jackson’s vote in the Senate chamber without a mask just two days later. According to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone deemed a close contact should “wear a well-fitting mask for 10 full days any time you are around others inside your home or in public.”
“After consulting with a White House physician and reviewing CDC guidance, which we do for all engagements, the Vice President presided over the Senate while practicing social distancing — with limited and brief interactions from her chair. In addition, the Vice President tested negative today, and will continue to maintain strong protocols and follow the CDC’s guidance,” a White House official told ABC News.
The highly transmissible BA.2 variant appears to be closing in on Biden, 79, after he also appeared with Pelosi at two White House events this week — even sharing a kiss at one — prior to her positive COVID test.
Some 200 guests were invited to Friday’s ceremony including Jackson’s family, all current and former Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, some members of the House, Democratic members of Congress from Florida — Jackson’s home state — and all 53 senators who voted for Jackson’s confirmation. No justices will attend, however, ABC News has been told.
While Biden is sure to want Republicans on hand for the victory lap as he aims to shore up the court’s credibility and Jackson’s vote, all three who voted for Jackson won’t be there. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine won’t be attending after she also tested positive for COVID this week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski was traveling to Alaska and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who gave Jackson a standing ovation in the Senate chamber, won’t attend either, his office said, but didn’t explain why.
The White House insists it won’t be a repeat of former President Donald Trump’s infamous and maskless Rose Garden event in October 2020 at which he nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the court, but with hugging and maskless photos likely as part of Friday’s festivities, the White House risks appearances at odds with CDC protocols and public messaging it has touted.
While the White House has said Biden and his inner circle follow the strictest COVID protocols for safety, Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, notably is now acknowledging that it’s possible the president will test positive for COVID “at some point.”
“The president is vaccinated and double boosted, and so protected from severe COVID. We take every precaution to ensure that we keep him safe, we keep the vice president safe, the first lady, second gentleman, our staff here,” she said on CNN Friday morning. “But, you know, it is certainly possible that he will test positive for COVID and he is vaccinated, he is boosted and protected from the most severe strains of the virus.”
While masks are no longer required at the White House, senior administration officials say the president continues to be tested regularly and people meeting with him are also required to be tested. All White House employees also undergo regular testing.
When pressed on Thursday by ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce if those protocols also apply for other individuals meeting with the president, such as invited guests, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said they assess each event on a “case-by-case” basis.
“Now, if you are at an event, obviously there are assessments made on a case by case. But if somebody is going to be in close proximity, standing next to him, sitting next to him on a stage, that would be obviously different than a broad group of attendees,” she said.
