KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Spiking tensions in eastern Ukraine on Friday aggravated Western fears of a Russian invasion and a new war in Europe, with a humanitarian convoy hit by shelling and pro-Russian rebels evacuating civilians from the conflict zone. A strong explosion hit the eastern city of Donetsk.
The Kremlin declared massive nuclear drills to flex its military muscle, and President Vladimir Putin pledged to protect Russia’s national interests against what it sees as encroaching Western threats. U.S. and European leaders, meanwhile, grasped for ways to keep the peace and Europe’s post-Cold War security order.
While Putin held out the possibility of diplomacy, a cascade of developments this week have have further exacerbated East-West tensions and fueled war worries. This week’s actions have fed those concerns: U.S. and European officials, focused on an estimated 150,000 Russian troops posted around Ukraine’s borders, warn the long-simmering separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine could provide the spark for a broader attack.
Vice President Kamala Harris said the U.S. still hopes Russia will de-escalate but is ready to hit it with tough sanctions in case of an attack. U.S. leaders this week issued their most dire warnings yet that Moscow could order an invasion of Ukraine any day.
“We remain, of course, open to and desirous of diplomacy … but we are also committed, if Russia takes aggressive action, to ensure there will be severe consequence,” Harris said at the annual Munich Security Conference.
While Russia snubbed this year’s conference, lines of communication remain open: The U.S. and Russian defense chiefs spoke Friday, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called for de-escalation, the return of Russian forces surrounding Ukraine to their home bases, and a diplomatic resolution, according to the Pentagon. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to meet next week.
Immediate worries focused on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting pro-Russia rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people.
A strong explosion was reported Friday in the center of the city of Donetsk, according to the rebel news agency DAN and an Associated Press stringer there. There were no immediate details on casualties or where it took place.
Separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that form Ukraine’s industrial heartland called the Donbas announced they are evacuating civilians to Russia starting Friday afternoon. The announcement appeared to be part of Moscow’s efforts to counter Western warnings of a Russian invasion, and paint Ukraine as the aggressor instead.
Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk rebel government, said women, children and the elderly will be evacuated first, and that Russia has prepared facilities for them. Pushilin alleged in a video statement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was going to order an imminent offensive in the area.
Shortly after his statement, authorities began moving children from an orphanage in Donetsk, and other residents boarded buses for Russia. Long lines formed at gas stations as more people prepared to leave on their own.
Putin ordered his emergencies minister to fly to the Rostov region bordering Ukraine to help organize the exodus and ordered the government to offer a payment of 10,000 rubles (about $130) to each evacuee, equivalent to about half of an average monthly salary in the war-ravaged Donbas.
Ukraine denied planning any offensive, with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba saying that “Ukraine does not conduct or plan any such actions in the Donbas.”
“We are fully committed to diplomatic conflict resolution only,” he tweeted.
Around the volatile line of contact, a UNCHR convoy came under rebel shelling in the Luhansk region, Ukraine’s military chief said. No casualties were reported. Rebels denied involvement and accused Ukraine of staging a provocation.
Separatist authorities reported more shelling by Ukrainian forces along the line. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the situation is “potentially very dangerous.” A surge of shelling Thursday tore through the walls of a kindergarten, injuring two, and basic communications were disrupted. Both sides accused each other of opening fire.
U.S. and European officials were on high alert for any Russian attempts at a so-called false-flag operation, according to a Western official familiar with intelligence findings. Ukrainian government officials shared intelligence with allies that suggested the Russians might try to shell the areas in the Luhansk region controlled by separatists as part of an effort to create a false reason to take military action, according to the official who was not authorized to comment publicly.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the threat to global security is “more complex and probably higher” than during the Cold War. He told the Munich conference that a small mistake or miscommunication between major powers could have catastrophic consequences.
While Russia announced this week it is pulling back forces from vast military exercises that had sparked fears of an invasion, U.S. officials have said they see no sign of a pullback — and instead saw more troops moving toward the border with Ukraine.
Austin said the U.S. believes Russia could launch an attack “any time.”
The Kremlin sent a reminder to the world of its nuclear might, announcing drills of its nuclear forces for the weekend. Putin will monitor the sweeping exercise Saturday that will involve multiple practice missile launches.
The move overshadowed Russian offers of continued diplomacy to defuse the Ukraine crisis.
While the Kremlin insists it has no plans to invade, it has urged the West to keep Ukraine out of NATO and roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe — demands roundly rejected by Western allies.
Asked about Western warnings of a possible Russian invasion on Wednesday that didn’t materialize, Putin said, “Frankly, I’m not paying attention to that. There are so many false claims, and constantly reacting to them is more trouble than it’s worth.”
“We are doing what we consider necessary and will keep doing so,” he said. “We have clear and precise goals conforming to national interests.”
Putin reaffirmed that Russia was open for dialogue on confidence-building measures with the West on condition that they will be discussed in conjunction with Moscow’s main security demands.
He also urged Ukrainian authorities to implement a 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine that was brokered by France and Germany, adding that “regrettably, we are now seeing the exacerbation of the situation in Donbas.”
NATO allies are also flexing their might, bolstering military forces around Eastern Europe, but insist the actions are purely defensive and to show unity in the face of Russian threats.
The U.S. announced the $6 billion sale of 250 tanks to Poland, a NATO member that has been occupied or attacked by Russia in the past. Announcing the deal, Austin said Russia’s military buildup had only reinvigorated NATO instead of cowing it, as Moscow had hoped.
World leaders meeting in Munich warned that Europe’s security balance is under threat. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the situation is “calling into question the basic principles of the European peace order.”
Biden planned to speak by phone Friday with trans-Atlantic leaders about the crisis and continued efforts at deterrence and diplomacy, and to give a speech about the situation.
Blinken revealed some conclusions of U.S. intelligence in Thursday’s speech at the U.N. Security Council, warning that Russia could create a false pretext for an invasion with a trumped-up terrorist bombing inside Russia, a staged drone strike, or a fake or real chemical attack.
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Isachenkov reported from Moscow and Madhani from Munich. Jim Heintz in Moscow, Matthew Lee and Karl Ritter in Munich, Jill Lawless in London, Raf Casert in Brussels, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Ellen Knickmeyer and Lolita Baldor in Washington, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
Daunte Wright’s father, Arbuey Wright, fought back tears as he described feeling cheated and hurt. He said the judge had seemed to care more about Ms. Potter than about Mr. Wright and his family.
“They were so tied up into her feelings and what’s going on with her that they forgot about my son being killed,” he said. “We actually thought we were going to get a little justice.”
Ben Crump, a lawyer representing Mr. Wright’s family, said many people have been sentenced to longer terms in prison for selling marijuana.
One of Ms. Potter’s lawyers, Paul Engh, said he was grateful that Ms. Potter was “shown mercy.”
It is rare that police officers are convicted and sentenced to prison for killing people. And prosecutions are unusual in the few situations in which officers have claimed they thought they were firing their Tasers.
In 15 previous cases over the past two decades in which officers said they confused their weapons, three were convicted of a crime, including two officers who fired fatal shots. Johannes Mehserle, a transit officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant III at a train station in Oakland, Calif., in 2009, was sentenced to two years in prison. Robert Bates, a volunteer sheriff’s deputy in Tulsa, Okla., was sentenced to four years in prison after he shot and killed a man while meaning to fire his Taser.
Prosecutors in the office of Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general, had suggested that they would ask Judge Chu to sentence Ms. Potter to a prison term beyond the standard sentencing range of 6.2 to 8.6 years, but in a new court filing this week they instead said that a sentence within that range would be appropriate.
Ms. Potter’s lawyers asked the judge to sentence Ms. Potter to probation, arguing that she would be a “walking target” in prison and that the prosecution’s sentencing request was “a political statement.”
A fire broke out Wednesday morning on the Felicity Ace, a ship about 650 feet long, near Portugal’s Azores Islands, according to the Portuguese navy. The ship had departed from Emden, Germany, on Feb. 10 and was scheduled to complete its 13-day trip and arrive in Davisville, R.I., next week, according to VesselFinder, a ship tracking website. The Volkswagen Group estimated that nearly 4,000 cars were aboard the Felicity Ace, according to the Drive, an automotive website.
Minnesota Rep. Jim Hagedorn, shown here when he was a candidate in 2018, has died at 59.
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Minnesota Rep. Jim Hagedorn, shown here when he was a candidate in 2018, has died at 59.
Jim Mone/AP
MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, a conservative Republican from southern Minnesota who followed his father’s footsteps into Congress, has died after a battle with kidney cancer, his wife said. He was 59.
“Jim loved our country and loved representing the people of southern Minnesota,” Carnahan wrote. “Every moment of every day he lived his dream by serving others. There was no stronger conservative in our state than my husband; and it showed in how he voted, led and fought for our country.”
Under state law, Gov. Tim Walz must call a special election to fill the vacancy. Hagedorn’s district leans Republican, and that didn’t change much when the state’s new congressional district maps were released Tuesday. Hagedorn carried the district by less than half a percentage point over Democrat Dan Feehan in 2018 and by 3 points in a rematch in 2020. No Democrats have launched campaigns for the seat in the current cycle. President Donald Trump carried the district with nearly 54% of the vote in 2020.
Hagedorn was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer in February 2019, shortly after he began his first term, and just a couple months after he married Carnahan, then state chairwoman for the Minnesota Republican Party.
He underwent immunotherapy at the Mayo Clinic. The treatment knocked back his cancer enough that doctors felt safe taking out his affected kidney in December 2020, which he said removed an estimated 99% of the cancer in his body. But he announced in July 2021 that his cancer had returned.
Hagedorn represented the 1st District, which stretches across southern Minnesota.
He won the seat in 2018 on his fourth try, after countless appearances in small-town parades and county fairs, and after nearly unseating then-Rep. Tim Walz in 2016. In both his 2018 and 2020 races against Democrat Dan Feehan, Hagedorn touted his staunch support for Trump and conservative positions.
“I want to be a partner with the president,” he was fond of saying during the 2018 campaign.
Trump noted their time spent campaigning together in a statement Friday, calling Hagedorn a “strong and effective legislator” who will be “greatly missed.”
In office, he voted against certifying President Joe Biden’s election, just hours after the failed Capitol insurrection, and he signed on earlier with other House Republicans to a last gasp bid to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Biden’s victory. He was actively raising money for another run in 2022.
“During his service, Jim’s focus was always on the priorities of the region: agriculture, small business, transportation, and our world class health care system,” his campaign said in a statement. “Moreover, he’ll forever be known as a commonsense conservative who championed fair tax policy, American energy independence, Peace Through Strength foreign policy, and southern Minnesota’s way of life and values.”
Hagedorn was the son of former congressman Tom Hagedorn, who represented some of the same territory from 1975-83. After getting his degree from George Mason University in suburban Washington, he worked as aide to Rep. Arlan Stangeland of Minnesota, then in congressional liaison positions with the Treasury Department, before returning home to Minnesota and launching his long quest for a seat.
“Jim lived a legacy of service to our state and our country,” current Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann said in a statement. “Please join us in praying for Jim and his loved ones in this time of sorrow.”
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy called Hagedorn “a patriot who will be remembered for his strong Christian faith, his deep passion for serving others, and his joyful spirit.”
“Even while battling cancer, Jim never stopped working to better the lives of his constituents and his fellow Americans,” McCarthy said in a statement. “He always put others ahead of himself.”
Civil lawsuits seeking to hold Donald Trump accountable for the January 6 insurrection can move forward in court, and the ex-President doesn’t have absolute immunity from litigation, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Trump’s statements to his supporters before the attack on the US Capitol “is the essence of civil conspiracy,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in a 112-page opinion, because Trump spoke about himself and rally-goers working “towards a common goal” of fighting and walking down Pennsylvania Avenue.
“The President’s January 6 Rally Speech can reasonably be viewed as a call for collective action,” Mehta said.
Democratic members of the House and police officers who defended the US Capitol on January 6 sued Trump, claiming he prompted his supporters to attack. Friday, Mehta wrote that the lawsuits could move to the evidence-gathering phase and toward a trial – a major loss in court for Trump.
“To deny a President immunity from civil damages is no small step. The court well understands the gravity of its decision. But the alleged facts of this case are without precedent,” Mehta wrote.
“After all, the President’s actions here do not relate to his duties of faithfully executing the laws, conducting foreign affairs, commanding the armed forces, or managing the Executive Branch,” Mehta added. “They entirely concern his efforts to remain in office for a second term. These are unofficial acts, so the separation-of-powers concerns that justify the President’s broad immunity are not present here.”
The decision was issued in a trio of lawsuits filed after the January 6 Capitol breach seeking to hold the former President and his allies accountable for the riot.
When the Senate failed to convict Trump last year in the impeachment proceedings examining his role in the attack, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – who voted against convicting Trump – noted that “civil litigation” was avenue through which Trump’s conduct could be addressed.
Two of the lawsuits were brought by Democratic House members, while a third was filed by Capitol Police officers.
The lawmakers allege that they were threatened by Trump and others as part of a conspiracy to stop the congressional session that would certify the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021, according to the complaints. They argue that Trump should bear responsibility for directing the assaults.
Trump’s legal team is likely to appeal the decision, which was made at the trial-level DC District Court. Representatives for Trump didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mehta ruling on what he calls a “one-of-a-kind case” sets up a rare instance where the former President could face concrete consequences for the insurrection.
But Mehta’s opinion, essentially melting away the protections of the presidency and the First Amendment because of the context of Trump’s speech and specific words and actions that day, could have further implications in court.
At this time, there are no public indications that the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into January 6, which includes several sets of conspiracy charges and a sedition case, has reached Trump. And after Republican lawmakers blocked Trump’s impeachment conviction, the GOP has largely fallen back in line behind the former President. The two House Republicans now serving on the committee to investigate the insurrection have faced calls for their ouster from the party, and Trump may very well be Republicans’ 2024 nominee for the White House.
The decision, Friday, however, sets in motion a path to civil trials months or years from now, where Trump is at the defense table.
Role of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers
Mehta wrote that it’s plausible the lawsuit could prove Trump entered into an agreement with far-right groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who are criminally charged for conspiracy and also named in the lawsuit.
The judge noted how Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” at a debate before the election, and that he likely was aware of the Oath Keepers attending his rallies and of violence planned because of his election loss.
“It is reasonable to infer that the President knew that these were militia groups and that they were prepared to partake in violence for him,” the judge said. “The President thus plausibly would have known that a call for violence would be carried out by militia groups and other supporters.”
The cases will proceed against the Oath Keepers organization and against Enrique Tarrio, the recently incarcerated leader of the Proud Boys. They sought to get the case dismissed but the judge concluded that the allegations – of a conspiracy between Trump and the extremist groups and leaders – were plausible enough to allow the litigation to move forward.
Partial victory for other Trump allies
Some of his allies who were named as co-defendants succeeded in getting the civil suits against them dismissed.
This includes his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, who were named as defendants in some of the cases, but successfully argued that the lawsuits should be thrown out.
The judge indicated he would also eventually dismiss the case against Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, but he wasn’t ready to do that on Friday due to technical reasons related to Brooks’ defense strategy.
They have all denied wrongdoing related to January 6.
Judge: Giuliani conspired to peddle disinformation
Regarding Giuliani, the judge said “there is little doubt” that he “was involved in a conspiracy” to peddle disinformation about the 2020 election – but that doesn’t violate the laws at issue in this lawsuit.
Democrats and police officers who filed the lawsuits “fall short” of establishing that Giuliani directly conspired to stop Congress from certifying the election on January 6 by force or intimidation, Mehta ruled.
Even though Giuliani spoke at the “Save America” rally before the riot, and told the crowd, “let’s have trial by combat,” the judge ruled that those comments weren’t strong enough to establish a conspiracy.
“Critically, Giuliani uttered no words that resembled a call to action. ‘Trial by combat’ was not accompanied by a direction to do anything,” Mehta wrote, calling it “constitutionally protected speech,” and pointing out that Giuliani didn’t know Trump would direct his supporters to march on the Capitol.
The judge said the allegations against Trump Jr. were even weaker, and thus should be dismissed.
“The allegations against Trump Jr. are insufficient to make him a co-conspirator in a plan to disrupt Congress from performing its duties,” Mehta wrote.
That situation was much different than Trump’s – who not only spoke about the crowd marching to the Capitol and fighting, but also failed to tell his rioting supporters to stand down as the violence unfolded. Instead, Trump criticized then-Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the electoral college certification, on Twitter, 12 minutes into the attack.
“When the President said to the crowd at the end of his remarks, ‘We fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,’ moments before instructing them to march to the Capitol, the President’s speech plausibly crossed the line into unprotected territory,” Mehta wrote.
This story has been updated with additional details.
U.S. officials say they expect a Russian attack on Ukraine in the next few days that could involve a broad combination of jet fighters, tanks, ballistic missiles and cyberattacks, with the ultimate intention of rendering the country’s leadership powerless.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Going nose-to-nose with protesters, police began arresting people and towing away vehicles Friday in a bid to break the three-week siege of Canada’s capital by hundreds of truckers angry over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Hundreds of officers, some in riot gear and some carrying automatic weapons, descended into the protest zone in the morning and led demonstrators away in handcuffs through Ottawa’s newly snow-covered streets as holdouts blared their horns in defiance. Police smashed through the door of at least one RV camper before hauling it away.
Tow truck operators — wearing neon-green ski masks, with their companies’ decals taped over on their trucks to conceal their identities — arrived under police escort and got to work removing the big rigs, campers and other vehicles parked bumper to bumper and shoulder to shoulder near Parliament.
Scuffles broke out in places, and police repeatedly pushed the crowd back amid cries of “Freedom!” and the singing of the national anthem, “O Canada.”
Hours into the show of force, authorities gave no estimate of the number of arrests or any injuries in one of the biggest police enforcement actions in Canada’s history, with officers drawn from around the country.
Some protesters surrendered and several trucks pulled out as the crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy unfolded. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said around midday: “There are indications we are now starting to see progress.”
But many other protesters stood their ground.
“Freedom was never free,” said trucker Kevin Homaund, of Montreal. “So what if they put the handcuffs on us and they put us in jail?”
The capital and its paralyzed streets represented the movement’s last stronghold after three weeks of demonstrations and blockades that shut down border crossings into the U.S., caused economic damage to both countries and created a political crisis for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They also shook Canada’s reputation for civility, with some foes of the unrest blaming the influence of the United States.
Over the past weeks, authorities had hesitated to move against many of the protesters, in part for fear of violence. The demonstrations have drawn right-wing extremists and veterans, some of them armed.
With police and the government facing accusations that they let the protests gain strength and spread, Trudeau on Monday invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act, giving law enforcement extraordinary authority to declare the blockades illegal, tow away trucks, arrest the drivers, suspend their licenses and freeze their bank accounts.
Ottawa police made their first move to end the occupation late Thursday with the arrest of two key protest leaders. They also sealed off much of the downtown area to outsiders to prevent them from coming to the aid of the protesters.
The emergency act also enabled law enforcement authorities to compel tow truck companies to assist. Ottawa police said earlier that they couldn’t find tow truck drivers willing to help because they either sympathized with the movement or feared retaliation.
As police worked to dismantle the siege, Pat King, a protest leader who has made white supremacist comments in the past, told truckers, “Please stay peaceful,” while also threatening the livelihoods of the tow truck operators.
“You are committing career suicide,” King warned on Facebook. “We know where the trucks came from.”
King himself was later arrested by officers who surrounded him in his car.
Ottawa police had made it clear for days that they were preparing to end the protest and remove the more than 300 trucks at any moment. On Friday, even as the operation was underway, police issued another round of warnings via social media and loudspeaker, offering protesters one more chance to leave and avoid arrest.
Some locked arms instead as officers formed a line to push them back.
“This is not Canada. We don’t need a split country!” one woman yelled.
Dan Holland, a protester from London Ontario, packed up his car, which was parked amid the trucks, as police closed in. “I don’t want to get beat up by this police,” he said.
Children bundled up in coats and hats stood amid the crowd. Police said that the protesters had put the youngsters in the middle in the confrontation and that the youngsters would be brought to a place of safety.
The occupation infuriated many Ottawa residents, who complained of being harassed and intimidated on the streets and obtained a court injunction to stop the truckers’ incessant honking of their horns.
The demonstrations around the country by protesters in trucks, tractors and motor homes initially focused on Canada’s vaccine requirement for truckers entering the country but soon morphed into a broad attack on COVID-19 precautions and Trudeau’s government.
Trudeau portrayed the protesters as member of a “fringe” element, and Canadians have largely embraced the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, with the vast majority of the population vaccinated, including an estimated 90% of the nation’s truckers. Some of the vaccine and mask mandates imposed by the provinces are already falling away rapidly.
The biggest border blockade, at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, disrupted the flow of auto parts between the two countries and forced the industry to curtail production. Authorities lifted the siege last weekend after arresting dozens of protesters.
The final border blockade, in Manitoba, across from North Dakota, ended peacefully on Wednesday.
Hagedorn, who was elected to the House in 2018, was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer in 2019 and began receiving care at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., according to KSTP, a St. Paul, Minn., television station.
President Joe Biden was set to speak to the nation Friday afternoon on what the White House said are U.S. efforts to ease tensions over Ukraine, amid increased shelling and possible false-flag attacks Russia could use to falsely justify an invasion.
Biden will make remarks after he holds a call with translatlantic leaders to discuss continued efforts at deterrence and diplomacy and what the White House called “Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine.”
Although he has said a diplomatic resolution is still possible, on Thursday he called the threat of conflict “very high” and that he expects Russia to invade Ukraine “in the next several days.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will participate in the call, along with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, the EU, and NATO, according to Trudeau’s office.
On Friday, the leader of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine called for his supporters to begin a mass evacuation to Russia, claiming Ukraine was readying for an invasion of the region. Ukraine immediately denied the claim.
The Biden administration has repeatedly warned Moscow will likely manufacture Ukrainian provocations to justify an invasion of its smaller neighbor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday warned the situation is “escalating,” appearing to place blame on Ukraine.
“All Kyiv needs to do is sit down at the negotiating table with representatives of Donbas and agree on political, military, economic and humanitarian measures to end the conflict,” Putin said Friday during a news conference alongside the leader of Belarus.
But Putin continues to demand assurances from the west that Ukraine will never join NATO, a concession U.S. officials are unwilling to make.
MUNICH, Feb 18 (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and leaders from three Baltic nations on Friday and said Russia must show it is open to diplomacy, while warning Moscow of severe consequences if it invades Ukraine.
The Russian defense ministry said earlier in the day that President Vladimir Putin would on Saturday oversee exercises by Russia’s nuclear forces involving the launch of ballistic and cruise missiles.
Heralding NATO unity, Harris said “an attack on one is an attack on all,” and the United States and its allies were ready to respond with sanctions if Putin decided to invade Ukraine.
“We understand and we have made clear that we remain open to diplomacy. The onus is on Russia at this point, to demonstrate that it is serious in that regard,” Harris said.
The United States and European countries remain on high alert should Russia create a pretext for invasion. Her comments appeared aimed at sending Putin a message the crisis has bolstered the 30-country NATO alliance’s resolve to push back against any Russian aggression.
At a news conference in Moscow, Putin said Russia needed to work on increasing its economic sovereignty. He said the West would always find a pretext to impose sanctions on Moscow. read more
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks prior to President Joe Biden signing an executive order on federal construction project contracts and labor agreements during a visit to Ironworkers Local 5 in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, U.S., February 4, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo/File Photo
Washington estimates that Russia has likely amassed between 169,000 and 190,000 military personnel in and near Ukraine, up from about 100,000 on Jan. 30, said Michael Carpenter, the permanent U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Biden on Thursday said the door to a diplomatic solution remains open but his sense was Russia would invade in the next several days. read more
Leaders from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said a show of unity, dialogue among allies, severe sanctions and reinforcement of NATO’s eastern flank remained the only options to deter Russia.
“Today the ghost of war is lingering in Europe, unfortunately we have to admit it. We see possibility of military conflict in Ukraine,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said.
He asked for a “permanent presence” of U.S. troops in his country, stressing the only way to stop Russia was “deterrence.”
During a three-day visit to the Munich Security Conference, Harris will also meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other world leaders on Saturday. read more
The Wootens — (from left) Nate, Tiffany, Mya and Cole — recently moved from red Indiana to Austin, a dark blue spot in the otherwise-red Texas.
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The Wootens — (from left) Nate, Tiffany, Mya and Cole — recently moved from red Indiana to Austin, a dark blue spot in the otherwise-red Texas.
John Burnett/NPR
There’s a private Facebook group with nearly 8,000 members called Conservatives Moving to Texas. Three of them are sitting at a dinner table — munching on barbecue weenies and brownies — in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. None are vaxxed.
And they love it here.
“As soon as I drove into Texas, literally, as soon as I could get into the state and stop at my first truck stop for gas it was, like, ‘This is wonderful,’ ” says Lynn Seeden, a 59-year-old portrait photographer from Orange County, Calif.
“People weren’t wearing masks — nobody cared. It’s kind of like heaven on earth.”
She says when the state of California forced her to close her photography studio over COVID-19 restrictions, she and her husband, a retired newspaper editor, knew it was time to “escape.”
America is growing more geographically polarized — red ZIP codes are getting redder and blue ZIP codes are becoming bluer. People appear to be sorting.
“We felt very out of place and very uncomfortable at times,” says Tiffany Wooten, a 43-year-old stay-at-home mom whose family recently relocated from conservative Indiana to liberal Austin. “We were looking at blue cities because we wanted to be with our own people.”
The trend seems to be quickening as conservatives flee places with strict COVID-19 rules.
Karen Bates, a 52-year-old mortgage executive, moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area with her family last year from Puerto Rico. She says the island’s government was going to force her teenaged daughter, who has Type 1 diabetes, to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. She now attends a Christian school.
“She’s not had to wear a mask,” Bates says. “She doesn’t have to get vaccinated. She’s thriving on the tennis team, making straight A’s. I love the freedom of [vaccine] choice in Texas.”
In the modern era, Texas has fashioned itself into a sort-of breakaway red-meat republic — banning books and restricting abortion, blocking mask mandates, and building its own border fence. It retains this national image in spite of the fact that its five largest counties went for President Biden.
But more and more Trump followers are flocking to red Texas in search of the promised land.
“People are asking, ‘Tell me about the most conservative towns. Where should I be moving?’ ” says Seeden, of the people who post comments on the Conservatives Moving to Texas page.
Americans have been ‘sorting’ politically for years
Conservatives from Southern California and elsewhere — (from left) Karen Bates, Bridget Melson, Lynn Seeden, Curt Seeden and Shirley Husar — found a more agreeable political environment when they moved to North Texas.
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Conservatives from Southern California and elsewhere — (from left) Karen Bates, Bridget Melson, Lynn Seeden, Curt Seeden and Shirley Husar — found a more agreeable political environment when they moved to North Texas.
John Burnett/NPR
The national real estate brokerage, Redfin, predicted that in 2022, “people will vote with their feet, moving to places that align with their politics.”
It’s actually been happening for some time.
Residents have been fleeing states like California with high taxes, expensive real estate and school mask mandates and heading to conservative strongholds like Idaho, Tennessee and Texas.
More than one of every 10 people moving to Texas during the pandemic was from California, according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. Most came from Southern California. Florida was the second biggest contributor of new Texans.
Family therapist and conservative activist Dr. Bridget Melson, 52, is a new Texan.
Six years ago, when Melson and her family decided to leave Riverside County, Calif., for the Lone Star State, they were methodical.
“We want our medical freedoms. We want our constitutional rights. We are definitely pro-life,” says Melson, who created the Facebook group. “We looked where the red counties were. We knew Austin was going to be a lost cause, and so we knew we didn’t want to be there. And we really wanted to have decent weather and the least amount of bugs, so we figured the Metroplex.”
Melson asked some friends to join her for interviews with NPR in her fashionable home in a posh rural subdivision with its own equestrian center. She sits on the Bartonville Town Council and is running for mayor. She maintains that Republicans migrating from blue states are the most militant about stopping creeping liberalism.
“People used to come up to me and say, ‘Don’t California my Texas.’ But we’re the damn cavalry! We’re here to save you. Because we know what’s going to happen. And if we don’t run for office, get involved in school boards, and pay attention and get out and vote, then you’re gonna California Texas.”
‘The Big Sort’ may be making Americans more politically extreme
While schools, crime, real estate prices and quality of life are still major considerations for folks who are moving, finding an area with shared political views is key.
Political scientist Larry Sabato posted an analysis on Thursday that shows how America’s “super landslide” counties have grown over time.
Of the nation’s total 3,143 counties, the number of super landslide counties — where a presidential candidate won at least 80% of the vote — has jumped from 6% in 2004 to 22% in 2020.
“Trump’s blowouts were concentrated in white, rural counties in the Greater South, Interior West, and Great Plains,” Sabato writes, “while Biden’s were in a smattering of big cities, college towns, and smaller counties with large percentages of heavily Democratic nonwhite voters.”
Put another way, Biden won 85% of counties with a Whole Foods and only 32% of counties with a Cracker Barrel.
What are the implications of people clustering in Sean Hannity’s America, or Rachel Maddow’s?
“Groups of like-minded people tend to become more extreme over time in the way that they’re like-minded,” says Bill Bishop, a journalist who wrote the influential book The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart in 2008.
Bishop’s book explains how Americans sorted themselves by politics, geography, lifestyle and economics over the preceding three decades. Sitting in a Central Texas café, Bishop says that trend has only intensified in the 14 years since the book’s publication.
“They are still sorting themselves in ways that end up that places are increasingly Republican or increasingly Democratic,” he says. “Then you can see that playing out in Congress. There are fewer people in the middle. And so politics becomes less about solving our problems anymore. It’s about cheering for our side. And so we’re stuck.”
Yet while social scientists and journalists may fret over this political segregation, for the people changing ZIP codes to be with their own tribe, it’s a kind of deliverance.
Moving to areas with people you agree with has advantages
The Wooten family moved to Austin last spring from Greenfield, Ind. — a suburb of Indianapolis. They’re renting an apartment in Central Austin with a view of Lady Bird Lake. They bought stand-up paddleboards for the lake and take hikes along the trails in and around the city .
“Indiana’s a red state as it is, but Greenfield is also very red,” says Tiffany Wooten. “We as Democrats felt very out of place. If people in public were talking about politics it was always a Trump view. We heard ‘Those damn liberals’ a lot.”
She says during the Trump years, it seems like people became more antagonistic toward them for being Democrats. She even fell out with some of her own family of conservative Christians over their support for the former president. And her 18-year-old son, Cole, says his politics ran counter to the kids at his high school, who were MAGA fans like their parents.
“Some of ’em would even have Trump meetups,” he says. “They would all bring their Trump flags and then just preach to each other about how great he was. It was just a really threatening atmosphere.”
One afternoon, they discovered someone had put broken glass in their mailbox.
“Yeah, we were open to moving, but Texas is a really red state,” Tiffany says. “Still, I was thinking in my mind, ‘How much worse can it get? We’re in Indiana.’ “
Fortunately for them, husband Nate, a construction executive, landed a new job in Austin. The Texas state capital is known for its liberal politics — the blueberry, as they say, in the red cherry pie.
“We feel good here, we feel safe here,” Tiffany says.
In fact, the COVID-19 protocols that drove some Californians to escape to North Texas are a plus for the Wootens in Austin.
“It does feel like people take (mask wearing) more seriously here than they did in Greenfield,” says Nate Wooten. “Just being considerate of other people. Even if you’re vaccinated and you go somewhere, still wear a mask.”
What a difference a new city makes. Twelve-year-old Mya Wooten is taking a social justice class at her private school in downtown Austin, an opportunity they would not have found in Greenfield. Mya says a recent assignment was to pick an issue to protest.
“It was ocean pollution, women’s rights, or LGBTQ rights,” she says. “So my topic was women’s rights, and I made a poster of an open woman’s mouth and it said, ‘I have the right to be heard.’ ”
By moving to Austin, the Wootens joined The Big Sort. They made Greenfield a tad less purple, and Austin a smidgeon bluer. Tiffany sometimes wonders if they’ve done the right thing.
“I’m not sure that it’s super healthy for us to be completely putting ourselves in a box and saying, ‘I’m gonna be with the blue people because they think exactly like me.’ We need to be able to communicate with each other even if we do not fully agree with each other.”
The Wootens miss having their ideas challenged and engaging with the other side. On the other hand, she says, “We feel among our people in Austin.”
Moscow-backed separatist leaders in conflict-hit eastern Ukraine have announced they will evacuate civilians to Russia as fears of a major escalation in fighting grow.
Friday’s announcement by the heads of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) came after the rebels and Ukraine’s government traded fresh accusations of shelling and other ceasefire violations in the Donbas region.
Meanwhile, Western powers continued to voice alarm over Moscow’s massing of more than 100,000 troops around Ukraine’s borders.
The United States and its allies have warned Russia may be attempting to manufacture a “pretext” for an attack on its neighbour by deliberately inflaming the conflict in Donbas.
Here are all the latest updates:
10 mins ago (15:10 GMT)
Evacuations signal a ‘very worrying development’
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from the village of Novoselovka, in eastern Ukraine, says the separatists’ evacuation announcements are “a very worrying development”.
“Of course, we can in no way confirm that this necessarily means there will be a definitive escalation [in fighting] from the Russian-backed separatists,” he said.
“They have been saying now for days that they believe the Ukrainian side may be planning such a move, but the Ukrainians have staunchly denied that.”
The head of the LPR, one of two separatist-held regions in eastern Ukraine, has announced an evacuation of civilians.
“To prevent civilian casualties, I call on residents of the republic… to leave for the Russian Federation as soon as possible,” Leonid Pasechnik said in a statement.
Pasechnik’s move came after Denis Pushilin, head of the DPR, announced an evacuation of the other rebel-held region in eastern Ukraine.
47 mins ago (14:34 GMT)
Blinken says US seeing false provocations
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that everything Washington has seen happening on Russia’s border with Ukraine in the past 24 to 48 hours is part of a scenario of creating false provocations designed to elicit a response.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference alongside German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Blinken also cast doubt on Russia’s claims it was pulling forces back from positions near its neighbour.
“On the contrary, we see additional forces going to the border including leading-edge forces that would be part of any aggression,” he said.
48 mins ago (14:32 GMT)
Germany cannot supply Ukraine weapons due to WW2 past, minister says
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has defended her country’s decision not to send weapons, saying its World War II past meant it had a duty to seek other ways to secure peace.
Baerbock pointed to Berlin being Ukraine’s biggest donor as an example of its support for Kyiv while she addressed the Munich Security Conference alongside Blinken, who agreed that Western powers were working in a complementary, coordinated way.
“This is our strength – we are standing all together but using our different roles of support, with our different histories,” Baerbock said.
53 mins ago (14:27 GMT)
France’s Macron voices concern over situation in eastern Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron has described the situation in eastern Ukraine as very worrying.
Macron told reporters at a European Union summit that he had heard reports coming in of several casualties in the region.
59 mins ago (14:22 GMT)
Putin warns of ‘deteriorating’ situation
Putin has warned the situation in eastern Ukraine is “deteriorating” and called for Ukraine’s government to hold negotiations with Moscow-backed separatists in control of swaths of territory in the region.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow alongside his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, Putin also said Russia was ready to follow a negotiation track with NATO on its security demands.
But he claimed that the US-led military alliance and Washington were not yet in a mood to engage on Moscow’s key concerns – namely that Ukraine never be permitted to join NATO and that the alliance cease all military activity in Eastern Europe.
Putin has accused the West of failing to engage with Russia over its main security concerns [File: Thibault Camus/Pool via Reuters]
2 hours ago (13:32 GMT)
Ukraine separatist leader announces evacuation of civilians to Russia
The DPR’s separatist leader has said rebel authorities will begin evacuating civilians to Russia as fears of a large-scale conflict grow.
“From today, a mass centralised departure of the population to the Russian Federation has been organised. Women, children and the elderly are subject to be evacuated first,” Pushilin said in a video message on the Telegram messaging service.
2 hours ago (13:15 GMT)
Putin ‘laying the groundwork’ for an invasion: Analyst
Heather Conley, the president of the German Marshall Fund of the US think-tank, says Putin is giving “all indications” he is prepared to launch an attack on Ukraine.
“He is laying the groundwork for the pretext, which has been the shelling along the line of contact in Donbas,” she said.
“He is waiting for the Ukrainian government to act to defend itself and we believe he will use that as the pretext for an invasion.”
2 hours ago (13:14 GMT)
UN chief voices concern over ‘conflict in Europe’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has used his opening speech at the Munich Security Conference to call for a de-escalation of the crisis.
“With a concentration of Russian troops around Ukraine, I am deeply concerned about heightened tensions and increased speculation about a military conflict in Europe,” Guterres said.
“I still think it will not happen. But if it did, it would be catastrophic,” he added.
2 hours ago (13:02 GMT)
Netherlands to send military equipment to Ukraine
The Netherlands plans to send military equipment to Ukraine, including rifles, ammunition, radar systems and mine-detecting robots, the country’s government has said.
“We continue to aim for a diplomatic solution”, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said. “But at the same time, Ukraine must be able to defend itself against a possible Russian attack.”
3 hours ago (12:48 GMT)
Videos of Russian military on the move spread on TikTok
As tensions ratchet up, footage posted online has become a valuable new tool for researchers analysing Russian military movements.
Russia’s build-up of military personnel threatening Ukraine probably totals up to 190,000 soldiers, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has said.
“We assess that Russia probably has massed between 169,000-190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine as compared with about 100,000 on January 30,” Michael Carpenter told an OSCE meeting on the Ukraine crisis, which Russia did not attend, referring to border areas and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
“This is the most significant military mobilisation in Europe since the second world war.”
4 hours ago (11:41 GMT)
Polish PM threatens tougher sanctions
European nations are preparing sanctions against Russia that will be much harsher than those imposed after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Poland’s prime minister says.
“We are constructing a package of concrete sanctions, which are to be much stronger than those from 2014,” Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference in Brussels, broadcast by Polish state-owned news channel TVP.
4 hours ago (11:30 GMT)
Lukashenko to take part in overseeing drills with Putin: Report
Lukashenko has said he will take part alongside Putin in overseeing forthcoming military drills, according to a report by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
The Belarusian leader remarks came after he held talks with Putin in Moscow. He did not say which drills. Minsk and Moscow are currently holding large joint exercises in Belarus.
Putin is expected to oversee drills of Russia’s nuclear forces on Saturday.
4 hours ago (11:16 GMT)
Russia ‘flexing its military and nuclear capabilities’
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow, says Russia does not see its holding of forthcoming military drills involving Putin as an escalatory action.
“These are annual drills that are scheduled to take place, usually in October, but this year they have been moved forward as they have been in the past,” she said.
“So it’s not completely unusual, but of course, this is going to be seen [by Kyiv and the West] as yet another step that Russia is taking to further flex its military and nuclear capabilities … this is really the pinnacle of Putin’s show of strength at this time.”
Former Ukrainian Defence Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk has told Al Jazeera he believes Putin will “try to get his hands on Ukraine” for as long as he is alive.
“This is his obsession and it seems he is determined to do it one way or another,” Zagorodnyuk said.
Kremlin says situation in Donbas ‘very concerning’
Moscow is alarmed by reports of intensified fighting in eastern Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
“What is happening in the Donbas is very concerning news and potentially very dangerous,” he told reporters.
5 hours ago (10:35 GMT)
US defence secretary announces Abrams tanks for Poland
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced the planned sale of 250 Abrams tanks to Poland as the US moves to strengthen the defences of a key Eastern European ally amid the mounting tensions over Ukraine.
“This is the most modern version of the Abrams, and will provide Poland with a highly-advanced tank capability,” Austin told a news conference following talks in Warsaw, adding that the delivery timeframe was under discussion.
“It will also strengthen our interoperability with the Polish armed forces, boosting the credibility of our combined deterrence efforts and those of our other NATO Allies.”
Austin said the Abrams tanks will boost the ‘combined deterrence efforts’ of Washington and Warsaw [File: Ints Kalnins/Reuters]
5 hours ago (10:00 GMT)
US VP Harris to meet NATO chief in Munich
US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the Munich Security Conference later on Friday.
Harris will also meet the leaders of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. She will then continue her three-day visit to the conference with meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other world leaders on Saturday.
6 hours ago (09:46 GMT)
NATO and the Ukraine-Russia crisis: Five key things to know
The future of NATO is at the centre of the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
Moscow wants guarantees that its neighbour, a former Soviet state, will be permanently barred from joining the US-led military alliance.
But Western leaders say the Kremlin cannot be allowed an effective veto on Kyiv’s foreign policy decisions and have defended NATO’s “open-door policy”.
Click here for five key things you need to know about the issue.
6 hours ago (09:29 GMT)
Ukraine says probability of a large-scale escalation is ‘low’
Kyiv estimates the probability of a major escalation of conflict with Russia to be “low”, Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov has said.
“Our intelligence sees every move that could pose a potential threat to Ukraine. We estimate the probability of a large-scale escalation as low,” Reznikov told Ukraine’s parliament.
He also said Russia had amassed some 149,000 troops around Ukraine’s borders and that another several thousand were expected to arrive soon.
6 hours ago (09:25 GMT)
Putin to oversee nuclear drills
Putin will oversee forthcoming exercises by Russia’s nuclear forces involving the launch of ballistic and cruise missiles, Russian news agencies report.
“On February 19, 2022, under the leadership of the supreme commander-in-chief of Russia’s armed forces, Vladimir Putin, a planned exercise of strategic deterrence forces will be held, during which ballistic and cruise missiles will be launched,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement carried by the agencies.
The ministry said it planned the manoeuvres some time ago to check the readiness of Russia’s military command and personnel, as well as the reliability of its nuclear and conventional weapons.
7 hours ago (08:47 GMT)
Timeline: How did the recent Ukraine-Russia crisis start?
Tensions over the Ukraine-Russia crisis have been simmering for months, with diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation showing little sign of progress.
Click here for a timeline of the main events so far.
7 hours ago (08:39 GMT)
‘War is totally avoidable and unnecessary’
Spain’s foreign minister has called on the Kremlin to take steps to de-escalate the current crisis and offered Moscow assurances that NATO and the European Union pose no threat to Russia.
“Neither NATO nor the EU have a hidden agenda or hidden interests or anything that cannot be explained,” Manuel Albares said on radio station Onda Cero. “War is totally avoidable and unnecessary.”
(Al Jazeera)
8 hours ago (07:35 GMT)
Russia, US defence chiefs to speak by phone
Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu will speak by phone with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin at the request of the US, Interfax cites the Russian ministry as saying.
9 hours ago (06:40 GMT)
Russia announces withdrawal of forces
Russia says it has started withdrawing more tanks and other armoured vehicles from areas near Ukraine’s border after running war games.
“Another military train carrying personnel and military equipment belonging to tank army units of the western military district returned to their permanent bases in the Nizhny Novgorod region after completing scheduled exercises,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Separately, it said 10 warplanes were being redeployed from the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula to airfields in other regions as part of drills.
9 hours ago (06:20 GMT)
Ukraine records 60 ceasefire violations over 24 hours
The Ukrainian military says it has recorded 60 ceasefire violations by pro-Russian separatists over the past 24 hours, with one soldier injured.
In a report, the military said separatists opened fire on more than 10 settlements, using heavy artillery, mortars and a tank.
10 hours ago (05:20 GMT)
G7 ready for ‘serious dialogue’ with Russia
Baerbock says the Group of Seven (G7) is prepared to have “a serious dialogue” with Russia.
In a statement issued ahead of Friday’s key security conference in Munich, she said Berlin and its partners in the group – Canada, France Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US – would use the event “to send out a message of unity”.
“We are ready for a serious dialogue on security for all,” the German foreign minister added. Russia is not scheduled to attend the annual conference, which runs until Sunday.
10 hours ago (05:20 GMT)
Russia says infantry units return after Crimea drills
Several mechanised infantry units that took part in drills in Crimea have returned to their bases, Interfax reports, citing Russia’s defence ministry.
The troops had pulled back to the regions of Dagestan and Chechnya following the exercises, Interfax reported.
11 hours ago (04:47 GMT)
Russian-backed rebels accuse Kyiv of shelling village
Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine have accused government forces of shelling rebel-held territory.
The DPR said Petrivske village was targeted at about 03:30 GMT, according to Interfax.
Former President Donald Trump slammed Hillary Clinton and New York State Attorney Letitia James in a lengthy statement Thursday – hours after the Democrats unloaded on him at a state party convention.
Trump used his familiar insult of “Crooked Hillary Clinton” to accuse the former Senator and Secretary of State Clinton of spying on him as a candidate, then added “the now totally discredited Fake News Media does everything they can not to talk about it.”
Clinton had lashed out at Trump during comments made in Times Square for state Democrat’s nominating convention as she faces scrutiny for a court filing by special counsel John Durham that accused her 2016 presidential campaign of paying for research to link Trump – then a GOP candidate running against Clinton — to Russia.
“They’ve been coming after me again,” Clinton said at the convention earlier in the day.
Former President Donald Trump accused New York Democrats of pursuing “the greatest Witch Hunt in history.”AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
“It’s fine, the more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get, so now his accountants have fired him and investigations draw closer to him,” Clinton said.
Also Thursday, a Manhattan judge ruled that the ex-president and his children Ivanka and Donald Jr. would have to testify as part of James’ probe into the Trump Organization’s business dealings. James, who dropped a short-lived run for governor and is now seeking reelection as AG, said at the convention she wouldn’t be “bullied” by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Trump.
Trump responded in his statement and exclaimed “THERE IS NO CASE.”
Former President Donald Trump has claimed Hillary Clinton’s campaign spied on him.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
“On the other hand, failed Gubernatorial candidate, Letitia James, can run for the office of AG on saying absolutely horrendous and false things about Donald Trump, a man she doesn’t know and has never met, go on to get elected, and then selectively prosecute him and his family,” Trump said, accusing James of trying “to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process.”
The former president said prosecutors “after viewing millions of pages of documents over many years” came up with a fringe benefits case on a car, an apartment and on grandchildren’s education.
“With the rest of the case, even Cy Vance, who just left the DA’s office without prosecuting anything additional, because there isn’t anything additional to prosecute—THERE IS NO CASE!” he railed.
Former President Donald Trump argued “THERE IS NO CASE!” for New York Attorney General Letitia James to prosecute his family.Debra L. Rothenberg/ZUMA Press Wire
“The targeting of a President of the United States, who got more votes while in office than any President in History, by far, and is a person that the Radical Left Democrats don’t want to run again, represents an unconstitutional attack on our Country—and the people will not allow this travesty of justice to happen,” Trump went on. “It is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history—and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary. It is not possible!”
A judge in New York ruled Thursday that Donald Trump and two of his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, can be deposed as part of a civil fraud investigation conducted by the New York Attorney General’s office.
Judge Arthur Engoron wrote that the Trumps’ fear that their depositions might end up being used in a parallel criminal investigation did not shield them from subpoenas.
“This argument completely misses the mark. Neither (the Attorney General) nor the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has subpoenaed (the Trumps) to appear before a grand jury,” Engoron wrote in his ruling.
The Trumps were challenging subpoenas sent in December seeking “testimony and documents in connection with an investigation into the valuation of properties owned or controlled by Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization, or any matter which the Attorney General deems pertinent,” according to a court filing.
Engoron wrote Thursday that Trump has 14 days to fulfill document requests and all three Trumps must appear for a deposition within 21 days. During the hearing, an attorney for Trump indicated that they would appeal such a ruling.
New York Attorney General Letitia James praised the ruling in a statement sent to media outlets, saying, “Today, justice prevailed.”
At Thursday’s hearing, attorney Alan Futerfas, who represents Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, accused James of blurring the lines between her investigation and a criminal probe being run by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
He noted that at least two of the attorney general’s staffers are working with the Manhattan District Attorney’s criminal grand jury running a similar investigation, a point that was central to the Trumps’ arguments against giving depositions in this case.
In New York, grand jury testimony comes with automatic transactional immunity — meaning a person can’t be prosecuted for what they tell a grand jury — but civil depositions don’t. The Trump attorneys argued that the civil depositions are an attempt to get around grand jury protections.
Judge Engeron repeatedly pressed the Trump attorneys on why their clients couldn’t invoke the Fifth Amendment during depositions, as Eric Trump did repeatedly during depositions for this investigation in 2020.
The Trump attorneys responded that prosecutors would be able to “draw an adverse inference” if the Trumps take the Fifth.
The judge pushed back on this repeatedly, asking at one point, “Is there any hint or suggestion that the attorney general is going to haul your clients in front of a grand jury?”
Futerfas replied, “To date, there is not.” He later said there’s no reason to believe either Ivanka Trump or Donald Trump Jr. are targets of the criminal probe, which has already led to charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
Ronald Fischetti, an attorney for the former president, said during the hearing that he is trying to protect his client from any potential criminal prosecution, which he said would be unfounded.
“I’m trying to protect my client from being charged, on charges that are not founded at all,” Fischetti said.
Fischetti said the fact that Trump is a former president makes this a “unique case.” He said if Trump were to sit for a civil deposition, and invoke the Fifth Amendment, “it will be on every front page in the newspaper in the world.”
“How can I possibly pick a jury in that case?” Fischetti asked.
Trump’s civil attorney, Alina Habba, asked the judge to pause the attorney general’s investigation altogether until the Manhattan D.A.’s probe is done. Both James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are Democrats. Habba implied implied that her Republican client’s political leanings mean he has “protected class” status, referring to legal protection against discrimination based on race, nationality, religion, disability or other factors.
The judge appeared unconvinced by that argument.
“We all went to law school and read the cases about protected classes,” Engoron said. “The traditional protected classes are race, religion, et cetera, Donald Trump doesn’t fit that kind of mode or model, he’s not being discriminated against based on race. Is he? Or religion, is he? He’s not a protected class. If Ms. James has a thing against him, that’s not in my understanding unlawful discrimination.”
Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly accused James of pursuing the investigation against him as a political ploy. That accusation is at the heart of a lawsuit filed by Trump on December 21. In a phone call with CBS News that day, he called himself an “aggrieved and innocent party” and called James’ probe “a hoax.”
On February 9, the Trump Organization’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, cited revelations from the attorney general’s investigation in a letter informing the Trump Organization it would no longer work for the company and that a decade’s worth of financial statements Mazars produced for it “should no longer be relied upon.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Kevin Wallace, from the attorney general’s office, spoke much less than the Trumps’ attorneys, but argued that “these respondents (the Trumps) are in a very common situation, of someone who’s facing potential criminal and civil liability.”
“And they need to decide if they are going to testify. And if they invoke their Fifth Amendment right, your honor is correct, they may be subject to an adverse inference. That’s what the law allows. They haven’t shown anything here that says it’s unfair. In fact, they sort of abandoned that argument,” Wallace said.
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