(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon on Tuesday announced a new commitment of $1.2 billion in military aid for Ukraine.
The package includes air-defense systems to help Ukrainian forces defend against a near-constant barrage of Russian strikes.
The aid also includes equipment to help “integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine’s air defense systems,” according to the Pentagon.
“We’re going to continue to rush air-defense capabilities and munitions to help Ukraine control its sovereign skies and to help Ukraine defend its citizens from Russian cruise missiles and Iranian drones,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing Tuesday.
At the same time, Ryder confirmed Ukrainian forces thwarted the Russian Kinzhal missile using an American-made Patriot system when asked during the briefing with reporters.
“We can confirm that the Ukrainians took down this Russian missile with a Patriot missile defense system,” Ryder said.
The new $1.2 billion in U.S. military aid will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which the U.S. uses to purchase weapons and equipment from the defense industry or from partner nations on behalf of Ukraine.
Because the process involves defense contracts and, when not already on shelves, the need to build the requested items, it can take months or years before it reaches Ukraine.
Because of this, USAI represents longer-term support for Ukraine. For more immediate support, the U.S. has used another means called Presidential Drawdown Authority, which pulls equipment from existing American stockpiles to be sent to Ukraine.
“The United States will continue to work with our allies and our partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer term security assistance requirements,” Ryder said.
The new USAI funds will also go toward artillery rounds, commercial satellite imagery services, and ammunition for anti-drone weapons.
The new $1.2 billion package will take the total USAI funds committed to Ukraine so far in fiscal year 2023 to roughly $5 billion. It will take total U.S. security assistance since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February of 2022 to nearly $37 billion.
During a press availability at the State Department Tuesday, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was reserved when asked to comment on reports that the U.K. is preparing to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, weaponry Kyiv has long coveted and that the Biden administration has declined to supply.
“I’m sure you understand that anything to do with operational details, about the nature the timing, the scale of our support would be counterproductive for us to discuss publicly,” he said.
But Cleverly staunchly defended the support provided by the U.S. and the speed at which it has reached Ukraine.
“It is the largest donor of the allies. So I wouldn’t want to imply that there’s either competition in between us or anything else,” he said. “We have worked in close coordination from the very start,” he said.
“The natures of our militaries is different,” he continued. “The natures of our political system is different. There are some things that the UK is able to do more quickly because of the nature of our political system. And there are some things that the American system allows them to do different and better. It’s not about always trying to replicate what our allies do.”
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame
Going to be in Nashville on Saturday, May 20? Then be sure to stop by the Country Music Hall of Fame for their Hatch Show Print Block Party.
Happening from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CT, the adult-specific event will be led by an instructor who will cover the basics of laying out images, creating layers and using color. Participants will learn the best way to sling the ink and roll it out with brayers and be given an opportunity to make pieces by hand.
As the CMHOF promises, “The final reveal is usually a WOW moment!”
Chicago is celebrating a huge touring milestone. The band is currently on the road, marking their 56th consecutive year of touring.
The 10-piece band, which includes founding members Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane and James Pankow, returned to the road once pandemic restrictions lifted and have been touring nonstop ever since. Last summer they headlined a 25-date tour with the Beach Boys‘ Brian Wilson.
Chicago doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon and will be busy throughout 2023, with their next show scheduled for Tuesday, May 9, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have dates confirmed all the way through November 11 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
(NEW YORK) — A jury on Tuesday found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in a lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll that claimed Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s then defamed her when he denied the claim in 2022.
Jury members found that Trump did not rape Carroll but sexually abused her, and awarded her a total of $5 million.
“I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS,” Trump posted to his Truth Social platform following the verdict. “THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
Here are the top five most consequential moments from the trial.
‘Trump raped me,’ Carroll says
Carroll told jury members that she and Trump were laughing and joking after they ran into one another near the Bergdorf Goodman department store entrance around 1996, and that he asked her to help him buy some lingerie as a gift. Then, she said, he led her into a dressing room, shut the door, shoved her up against a wall, and sexually assaulted her.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me,” Carroll testified. “And when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. And I’m here to try and get my life back.”
It was the first time a former U.S. president had been accused of rape in open court.
The ‘silent generation’
Under cross examination by defense attorney Joe Tacopina, Carroll said she didn’t report the alleged attack because, as a woman born in the 1940s, she’s a member of the “silent generation” that didn’t speak up about such things. The exchange came after Tacopina introduced several of her advice columns for Elle magazine in which she suggested that her readers call police in the event of a sexual assault or threat.
“There were numerous times where you’ve advised your readers to call the police” despite Carroll never reporting her own alleged rape to police, Tacopina said.
“I was born in 1943,” Carroll replied. “I am a member of the silent generation. Women like me were taught to keep our chins up and not complain. The fact that I never went to the police is not surprising for someone my age. I would rather have done anything than call the police.”
Trump doesn’t appear
Trump was not required to appear at the trial, as it was a civil case and not a criminal one. But Tacopina said at the start of the trial that Trump might decide to testify as the trial progressed.
The attorney subsequently informed the court that Trump had decided he would not testify — but then, while golfing in Europe, Trump made remarks suggesting he would return to New York to confront his accuser.
In light of those comments, the judge in the case gave Trump until Sunday to file a motion to reopen the case for the sole purpose of testifying.
“If he has second thoughts, I will at least consider it,” the judge said. But Trump ended up filing no motion, and did not appear at the trial.
The Marla moment
Carroll’s attorneys seized on Trump’s deposition last year when he was shown a 1980s-era photograph of Carroll, her then-husband John Johnson, Trump, and his then-wife Ivana Trump — and he momentarily mistook Carroll for his second wife, Marla Maples.
“That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife,” Trump said regarding Carroll, according to the deposition.
“The truth is that E. Jean Carroll, a former cheerleader and Ms. Indiana, was exactly Donald Trump’s type,” Carroll’s attorneys argued in court, referring to Trump’s 2022 Truth Social post calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!”
‘Access Hollywood’
Carroll’s attorneys juxtaposed Trump’s mistaken identification og Carroll with his remarks on the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape, on which he is heard saying about women that “I just start kissing them.”
“You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump says on the tape, which was played for the jury. “And when you’re a star they let you do it … You can do anything.”
“Whatever you want,” another voice on the tape is heard saying.
“Grab them by the p—-,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”
“What is Donald Trump doing here?” Carroll’s attorney said regarding the tape. “He’s telling you in his own words how he treats women. It’s his modus operandi.”
(NEW YORK) — A jury has found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case.
Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleged that Trump defamed her in his 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!” when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.
The former Elle magazine columnist added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.
The jury awarded Carroll a total of $5 million in the lawsuit. Jury members found that Trump did not rape Carroll but sexually abused her, and awarded damages of $2 million in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages for battery.
The jury awarded $1 million in damages, $1.7 million for reputation repair, and $280,000 in punitive damages, for defamation.
The jury reached its verdict after just under three hours of deliberations.
Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by about two dozen women, and has denied all such claims. Carroll’s battery allegation was the first to make it before a jury.
Trump called the verdict a disgrace, and a spokesperson for the former president said they would appeal.
“I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS,” he posted to his Truth Social platform. “THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
“Make no mistake, this entire bogus case is a political endeavor targeting President Trump because he is now an overwhelming front-runner to once again be elected President of the United States,” a Trump spokesperson said in a statement. “This case will be appealed, and we will ultimately win.”
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, told reporters on her way out of the courthouse, “We are very happy.”
Carroll was seated between two of her attorneys, Kaplan and Shawn Crowley, as the verdict was read. At one point Crowley put her arm around Carroll, who held hands with Kaplan.
Defense attorney Joe Tacopina was seen conferring with co-counsel Chad Siegel and Perry Brandt.
Before deliberations started, Trump posted on social media, “Waiting for a jury decision on a False Accusation where I, despite being a current political candidate and leading all others in both parties, am not allowed to speak or defend myself, even as hard nosed reporters scream questions about this case at me. In the meantime, the other side has a book falsely accusing me of Rape, & is working with the press. I will therefore not speak until after the trial, but will appeal the Unconstitutional silencing of me, as a candidate, no matter the outcome.”
Early in the trial the judge had admonished the defense over Trump’s social media posts about Carroll and her allegations. The judge did not address this most recent post, but previously indicated that if Trump wanted to speak about the case he should testify under oath, which Trump declined to do.
In a civil case jurors are allowed to draw a negative inference when a defendant decides not to testify.
“He just decided not to be here. He never looked you in the eye and denied raping Ms. Carroll. Never did that,” Carroll’s attorney, Michael Ferrara, told jurors during the trial.
Carroll testified during the trial that she ran into Trump near the Bergdorf Goodman entrance and that he asked her to help him buy some lingerie as a gift. The two were laughing and joking, she said, when he led her into a dressing room, shut the door, shoved her up against a wall, and sexually assaulted her.
She told the jury that she first met Trump in 1987 — but she struggled to pinpoint the date that she alleges he attacked her, which she estimated was sometime around 1996.
“And why is there no date to an event as significant as this in someone’s life?” defense attorney Joe Tacopina countered. “It’s not a coincidence. With no date, no month, no year, you can’t present an alibi.”
Carroll’s attorneys seized on Trump’s deposition last year when he was shown a 1980s-era photograph of Carroll, her then-husband John Johnson, Trump, and his then-wife Ivana Trump — and he momentarily mistook Carroll for his second wife, Marla Maples.
“That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife,” Trump said regarding Carroll, according to the deposition.
“The truth is that E. Jean Carroll, a former cheerleader and Ms. Indiana, was exactly Donald Trump’s type,” Carroll’s attorneys argued in court.
Carroll’s attorneys juxtaposed Trump’s mistaken identification with his remarks on the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape, on which he is heard saying about women that “I just start kissing them … I don’t even wait” and that when you’re a star you can “grab them by the p—-.”
“What is Donald Trump doing here?” Carroll’s attorney said. “He’s telling you in his own words how he treats women. It’s his modus operandi.”
The jury also heard from two other women who claimed they had been sexually assaulted by Trump, in what Carroll’s attorneys said showed a pattern of behavior on Trump’s part. Former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff testified that she was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in late 2005 when Trump asked to show her a room in the estate, then closed the door behind her, pushed her against the wall, and started kissing her. She told the jury that she tried to shove him away, and that the alleged encounter ended when a butler entered the room.
Jessica Leeds testified that she was seated next to Trump in the first-class section of a flight to New York in 1979, “when all of a sudden Trump decided to kiss me and grope me.” She said that she freed herself when Trump started putting his hand up her skirt, and went “storming back” to the coach section.
Trump, who chose not to testify in his own defense, has previously denied the allegations from both women, as well as from Carroll.
The defense called no witnesses but Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, told the jury that Carroll’s claim was “an unbelievable work of fiction” and that if the alleged attacker was anyone but Donald Trump, “we’re not here. Not on this story.”
“What they want is for you to hate him enough to ignore the facts,” the attorney said.
“There is no objective evidence to corroborate her claim, including a police report,” Tacopina told the jury. “She never went to the police, because it didn’t happen.”
Tacopina said Carroll “falsely alleged that he raped her,” and that’s why Trump publicly attacked her.
Tacopina said there was no reason for Trump to appear because Carroll’s story was “completely made up” and lacked credibility because she could not pinpoint when the alleged rape occurred.
“And if Donald Trump testified, what could I have asked him?” Tacopina said. “Where were you on some unknown date 27 or 28 years ago?”
Carroll’s lawsuit was her second against Trump related to her rape allegation.
She previously sued Trump in 2019 after the then-president denied her rape claim by telling The Hill that Carroll was “totally lying,” saying, “I’ll say it with great respect: No. 1, she’s not my type. No. 2, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” That defamation suit has been caught in a procedural back-and-forth over the question of whether Trump, as president, was acting in his official capacity as an employee of the federal government when he made those remarks.
If Trump is determined to have been acting as a government employee, the U.S. government would substitute as the defendant in that suit — which means that case would go away, since the government cannot be sued for defamation.
This month’s trial took place as Trump seeks the White House for a third time, while facing numerous legal challenges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, his handling of classified material after leaving the White House, and possible attempts to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 vote. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said last week she would decide whether to file criminal charges against Trump or his allies this summer.
ABC News’ Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.
Warner Bros. has apparently summoned Beetlejuice back to the land of the living.
Variety says the studio will reunite Michael Keaton with director Tim Burton for a sequel to the 1988 classic — and Burton will be directing the star of his hit Netflix show Wednesday, Jenna Ortega, in the lead role, to boot.
The trade also notes that Winona Ryder will be back to reprise her role as onetime goth girl icon Lydia Deetz, with Ortega playing her daughter.
The project will hit theaters September 6, 2024, and Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar will be writing the script, according to the trade.
The 1988 film had Keaton playing the horny human haunter who is summoned by a recently deceased couple (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) to rid their beloved country home of a yuppie family from the city.
But they get more than they bargained for with Keaton’s character, who unfortunately takes a shine to the still-living family’s depressed teen daughter Lydia, who befriends the friendly ghosts.
Old Dominion, Nate Smith, Kameron Marlowe, Tenille Townes and Restless Road will perform at the Unplugged and Chill event in Arlington, Texas, on May 12.
Presented by Sony Music and Coors Light, the show will feature acoustic performances from some of country music’s best hitmakers and newcomers, with net ticket proceeds benefiting ACM Lifting Lives.
Doors open at 7 p.m., and the all-ages event starts at 8 p.m.
The Roots‘ co-founder Black Thought is coming out with a new release, and this time it’s not music. Variety reports the rapper, born Tariq Trotter, will be sharing his life story in a memoir titled The Upcycled Self.
The book will start with the story of Trotter burning down his family home as a child and include “dramatic stories of the four powerful relationships that shaped him — community, friends, art, and family — each a complex weave of love, discovery, trauma, and loss.”
“This is the beautifully bluesy story of a boy genius’s coming of age that illuminates the redemptive power of the upcycle,” an announcement for the book says, according to Variety, defining “upcycle” as “to recycle (something) in such a way that the resulting product is of a higher value than the original item” and “to create an object of greater value from (a discarded object of lesser value).”
The Upcycled Self will release November 14 on One World.
Normally, you have to watch a reality show to see who becomes the baddie, but E! has taken the legwork out of the equation with an upcoming series called House of Villains.
Joel McHale will host the Big Brother-style “outrageously sinister competition elimination series,” which E! says “brings 10 of reality television’s most iconic and infamous villains under one roof.”
“They must outsmart, out-manipulate and out-scheme each other through a series of challenges in order to win a cash prize and the title of ‘America’s Ultimate Supervillain.'”
The show was part of NBCUniversal’s announcement of its upcoming unscripted shows on Tuesday.
The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell joined Fleetwood Mac in 2018 after Lindsey Buckingham‘s departure, and it sounds like he really liked the experience.
“It was tricky at first. I am not used to copying other people’s songs, per se. So, I had to dig in and do a little work to fill the hole there on the guitar. So, that was new for me,” he shares in a new interview with the East Bay Times. “But it was a challenge and I learned a lot. Then once we got out on the road, though, we had a blast.”
As for whether he’d tour with them again, Campbell doesn’t think it’s gonna happen, echoing the sentiments expressed by Mick Fleetwood earlier this year about the band’s future following the death of Christine McVie.
“I don’t think they are going to do it again,” he says. “I don’t really see it, because Christine is gone now and Stevie (Nicks) is really busy. So, I have my doubts that they would crank that up again.”
He adds, “I don’t really see that ship leaving the port again. But if they asked me, and my time was open, I would certainly do it because I love the people and their songs are really good.”
