Ms. Bass issued a condemnation as well. “Let me be clear about what was on those tapes: appalling, anti-Black racism,” she said in a statement, adding that she had “spent the day speaking with Black and Latino leaders about how to ensure this doesn’t divide our city.”
“Homelessness is out of control, crime is on the rise, and Angelenos are being priced out of their hometown,” she said. “The challenges we face already threaten to tear us apart and, now, this hateful and shocking conversation among some of our city’s most powerful leaders could divide us even further. All those in the room must be held accountable.”
Eunisses Hernandez, a progressive who in June won Mr. Cedillo’s council seat in an upset, said she was “beyond disgusted.”
“We have three sitting council members being explicit about the Black community, and their language exemplifies anti-Blackness,” she said. “How is it we have these people in leadership?”
Latinos are by far the largest demographic among the city’s 3.8 million residents. But the Black community in Los Angeles has long wielded greater clout than would be suggested by its 8.8 percent of the population, and the Asian community has become a rising political force with nearly 12 percent of the population. White Angelenos, with more than 28 percent of the population, have long controlled much of the city’s wealth and power.
Residents of the city routinely tout their diversity as an asset, and, since the 1992 riots, have expressed pride in the strides they have made in race relations. In polls, Latino residents of the city repeatedly say that their Black neighbors understand them better than do any other ethnic group in Los Angeles, and vice versa, said Fernando Guerra, whose Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University regularly surveys the city’s residents.
Mr. Guerra said that when he heard the recording, he was appalled, particularly at the remarks about Mr. Bonin’s child. But he also noted that, as in most of California, getting along remains a work in progress and that unlike the county and state, the city of Los Angeles still allows elected officials, rather than an independent commission, to have the final say in their own district maps. That practice, he said, has contributed to ongoing racial tensions.
A Russian barrage pounded apartment buildings and other targets in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens, officials said Sunday.
The blasts in the city, which remains under Ukrainian control but sits in a region Moscow has claimed as its own, blew out windows in adjacent buildings and left at least one high-rise apartment building partially collapsed.
The multiple strikes came after an explosion Saturday caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia. The Kerch Bridge attack damaged an important supply route for the Kremlin’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine, an artery that also is a towering symbol of Russia’s power in the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called the attack “a terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services.
“There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Putin said during a meeting with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. “And the authors, perpetrators, and those who ordered it are the special services of Ukraine.”
Bastrykin said Ukrainian special services and citizens of Russia and other countries took part in the attack. He said a criminal investigation had been launched into an act of terror.
“We have already established the route of the truck,” he said, saying it had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia.
In Kyiv, presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak called Putin’s accusation “too cynical even for Russia.”
“Putin accuses Ukraine of terrorism?” he said. “It has not even been 24 hours since Russian planes fired 12 rockets into a residential area of Zaporizhzhia, killing 13 people and injuring more than 50. No, there is only one state terrorist and the whole world knows who he is.”
Podolyak referred to missile strikes on the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight that brought down part of a large apartment building. The six missiles were launched from Russian-occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region, the Ukrainian air force said.
The bombing of the bridge came a day after Putin turned 70, dealing him a humiliating blow that one military analyst called it a punch in the face for Putin on his birthday, CBS News’ Charlie D’Agata reports.
The rockets that pounded Zaporizhzhia overnight damaged at least 20 private homes and 50 apartment buildings, city council Secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said. At least 40 people were hospitalized, Kurtev said on Telegram.
The Ukrainian military confirmed the attack, saying there were dozens of casualties.
Rescuers work at a site of a residential area heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine October 9, 2022.
STRINGER / REUTERS
Residents gathered behind police tape by a building where several floors collapsed from the blast, leaving a smoldering chasm at least 40-feet wide where apartments once stood.
Tetyana Lazun’ko, 73, and her husband, Oleksii, took shelter in the hallway of their top floor apartment after hearing sirens, warning of an attack. They were spared the worst of the blast that left them in fear and disbelief.
“There was an explosion. Everything was shaking,” Lazun’ko said. “Everything was flying and I was screaming.”
Shards of glass, entire window and door frames and other debris covered the exterior floors of the apartment where they’d lived since 1974. Lazun’ko wept inconsolably, wondering why their home in an area with no military infrastructure in sight was targeted.
“Why are they bombing us. Why?” she said.
Oleksii, who sat quietly, leaning on a wooden cane, has suffered three strokes, Lazun’ko said. Breaking his silence, he said slowly, “This is international terrorism. You can’t be saved from it.”
In recent weeks, Russia has repeatedly struck Zaporizhzhia, which is the capital of a region of the same name that Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed in violation of international law last week. At least 19 people died in Russian missile strikes on apartment buildings in the city on Thursday.
“Again, Zaporizhzhia. Again, merciless attacks on civilians, targeting residential buildings, in the middle of the night,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a Telegram post.
“Absolute meanness. Absolute evil. … From the one who gave this order, to everyone who carried out this order: they will answer. They must. Before the law and the people,” he added
While Russia targeted Zaporizhzhia before Saturday’s explosion on the Crimea bridge, the attack was a significant blow to Russia, which annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. No one has claimed responsibility for damaging the bridge.
Putin signed a decree late Saturday tightening security for the bridge and for energy infrastructure between Crimea and Russia, and put Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, in charge of the effort.
Some Russian lawmakers called for Putin to declare a “counterterrorism operation,” rather than the term “special military operation” that has downplayed the scope of fighting to ordinary Russians.
Hours after the explosion, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that the air force chief, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, would now command all Russian troops in Ukraine. Surovikin, who this summer was placed in charge of troops in southern Ukraine, had led Russian forces in Syria and was accused of overseeing a bombardment that destroyed much of Aleppo.
The 19-kilometer (12-mile) Kerch Bridge, on a strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea and an essential link to the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The $3.6 billion bridge, the longest in Europe, is vital to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine. Putin himself presided over the bridge’s opening in May 2018.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video address, indirectly acknowledged the bridge attack but did not address its cause.
“Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state’s territory,” he said. “Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants a future “without occupiers. Throughout our territory, in particular in Crimea.”
Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian forces advanced or held the line in the east and south, but acknowledged “very, very difficult, very tough fighting” around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have claimed recent gains.
Train and automobile traffic over the bridge was temporarily suspended. Automobile traffic resumed Saturday afternoon on one of the two links that remained intact, with the flow alternating in each direction, said Crimea’s Russia-backed leader, Sergey Aksyonov.
The Russian transport ministry said on Telegram Sunday that passenger train traffic between Crimea and the Russian mainland resumed overnight “according to schedule.”
In a separate Telegram post Sunday, the ministry said car ferries also were working between Crimea and the mainland, with the first crossing taking place shortly before 2 a.m. local time (11 p.m. GMT).
While Russia seized areas north of Crimea early in its invasion of Ukraine and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim that territory as well as four regions Putin illegally annexed this month.
Russia has ramped up its strikes on the city of Zaporizhzhia since formally absorbing the surrounding region on September 29.
The regional governor of Zaporizhzhia reported that the death toll had risen to 32 after Russia’s missile strike on a civilian convoy making its way out of the city on September 30. In a Telegram post, Oleksandr Starukh that one more person died in the hospital on Friday.
A part of the Zaporizhzhia region currently under Russian control is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power station. Fighting has repeatedly imperiled the the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukrainian authorities shut down its last operating reactor last month to prevent a radiation disaster.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, said Saturday that the Zaporizhzhia plant has since lost its last remaining external power source as a result of renewed shelling and is now relying on emergency diesel generators.
The Crimean Peninsula is a popular destination for Russian tourists and home to a Russian naval base. A Russian tourist association estimated that 50,000 tourists were in Crimea on Saturday.
Driving the news: “Walker won his Senate primary not because of his political chops or policy proposals,” Duncan wrote in an editorial published on CNN last week.
“He trounced his opponents because of his performance on the football field 40 years ago and his friendship with former President Donald Trump — neither of which are guaranteed tickets to victory anymore,” he wrote.
“I’m not voting for Sen. Warnock, and like a lot of other Georgians, Herschel Walker has not yet earned my vote,” Duncan told the AJC.
“He’s got four weeks left to change our minds,” he added.
The big picture: Duncan, who was outspoken in denouncing and debunking the false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election, is the most prominent Georgia Republican critic of Walker, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes.
Trump and other influential Republicans have supported Walker after a report alleged the Georgia candidate paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.
State of play: Other Republican lawmakers in the state have been less outspoken, including Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who has largely avoided defending Walker.
“I can’t control what other people are doing. I certainly can’t control the past. But I can control my own destiny and that’s what we’re doing,” Kemp has said, the New York Times reports.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has used the controversy surrounding Walker to denounce her competitor, Kemp, per the AJC.
“He is always taking positions that are designed to undermine personal freedoms,” Abrams said, per the AJC.
“And you cannot say that you believe that Herschel Walker is entitled to his personal choices, but no one else in Georgia is.”
Hurricane Julia weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday.
According to the National Hurricane Center, portions of Central America could experience flash flooding and mudslides through Monday.
As of Sunday night, Julia was 95 miles southeast of San Salvador, El Salvador.
Julia had winds of 40 mph, and the system was moving west at 15 mph.
“Julia did a rare crossover from the Atlantic to Pacific basin today. The last storm to do that was Bonnie earlier this year in July,” WESH 2’s Cam Tran said.
“On the forecast track, the center of Julia will move close to and parallel to the Pacific coasts of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala overnight and on Monday,” the National Hurricane Center wrote. “Additional weakening is forecast, but Julia is expected to remain a tropical storm near the Pacific coast of Central America through early Monday.”
Julia is forecast to dissipate by Monday night. This storm is not expected to impact Florida.
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:
A tropical storm warning is in effect for…
* Pacific coast of Nicaragua from Puerto Sandino northward to the Honduras border
* Pacific coast of Honduras
* Coast of El Salvador
A tropical storm watch is in effect for…
* Pacific coast of Guatemala
A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours.
A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area.
KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN A HURRICANE WATCH IS ISSUED
Stay tuned to WESH 2 News, WESH.COM, or NOAA Weather Radio for storm updates.
Prepare to bring inside any lawn furniture, outdoor decorations or ornaments, trash cans, hanging plants, and anything else that can be picked up by the wind.
Understand hurricane forecast models and cones.
Prepare to cover all windows of your home. If shutters have not been installed, use precut plywood.
Check batteries and stock up on canned food, first-aid supplies, drinking water, and medications.
The WESH 2 First Warning Weather Team recommends you have these items ready before the storm strikes.
Bottled water: One gallon of water per person per day
Canned food and soup, such as beans and chili
Can opener for the cans without the easy-open lids
Assemble a first-aid kit
Two weeks’ worth of prescription medications
Baby/children’s needs, such as formula and diapers
Flashlight and batteries
Battery-operated weather radio
WHAT TO DO WHEN A HURRICANE WARNING IS ISSUED
Listen to the advice of local officials. If you are advised to evacuate, leave.
Complete preparation activities.
If you are not advised to evacuate, stay indoors, away from windows.
Be alert for tornadoes. Tornadoes can happen during a hurricane and after it passes over. Remain indoors, in the center of your home, in a closet or bathroom without windows.
HOW YOUR SMARTPHONE CAN HELP DURING A HURRICANE
A smartphone can be your best friend in a hurricane — with the right websites and apps, you can turn it into a powerful tool for guiding you through a storm’s approach, arrival and aftermath.
Enable emergency alerts — if you have an iPhone, select settings, then go into notifications. From there, look for government alerts and enable emergency alerts.
If you have an Android phone, from the home page of the app, scroll to the right along the bottom and click on “settings.” On the settings menu, click on “severe weather alerts.” From the menu, select from the most severe, moderate-severe, or all alerts.
PET AND ANIMAL SAFETY
Your pet should be a part of your family plan. If you must evacuate, the most important thing you can do to protect your pets is to evacuate them too. Leaving pets behind, even if you try to create a safe space for them, could result in injury or death.
Contact hotels and motels outside of your immediate area to see if they take pets.
Ask friends, relatives and others outside of the affected area whether they could shelter your animal.
NEW YORK — New York congressman and Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin says his family is safe after two teenagers were shot outside his Long Island home Sunday afternoon.
The boys, both 17, were walking with a third teenager on the street in Shirley, New York, where Zeldin lives when they were hit by gunfire from a moving car, Suffolk County Police said.
The wounded teens then tried to hide in Zeldin’s yard, ducking under his porch and into the bushes, while the person who was with them fled.
The congressman and his wife were not at home at the time of the shooting but their teenage daughters were in the kitchen doing homework when they heard gunshots and screaming, Zeldin said.
“One of the bullets was actually found 30 feet (9.14 meters) from where they sitting,” Zeldin said at a news conference late Sunday.
Police said the wounded teens’ injuries were not life-threatening. Both were treated at an area hospital. Authorities didn’t release their names but said the teens are from the nearby towns of Mastic and Mastic Beach.
“At this time investigators have no reason to believe there is any connection between the shooting and the residence,” the Suffolk County Police Department said in a statement.
Zeldin said he didn’t know the identities of the two people who were shot. He said his 16-year-old daughters locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911. The family is shaken but OK, he said. Zeldin and his wife were returning from a parade in the Bronx when the shooting occurred.
He said police officers were at his home investigating Sunday evening and were looking over the home’s security cameras.
Police had no information to release about who fired the shots, a department spokeswoman said.
Zeldin, who is running against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, has made violent crime a focus of his campaign. He has called for the state’s bail laws to be toughened, among other measures.
“Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door,” Zeldin said Sunday.
He said later in a post on Twitter that his daughters were at the kitchen table when the shooting occurred and that one of the bullets was found 30 feet away from them.
It’s the second scare he’s had in several months. In July, he was assaulted while campaigning in upstate New York when a man approached him onstage and thrust a sharp object near his head and neck. He was uninjured and the man was arrested.
Hochul said in a statement posted on Twitter that she had been briefed on the shooting.
“As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response,” the governor said.
Ahead of former President Trump’s Arizona rally for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on Sunday, a group of Republicans appeared with Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs on Sunday to pull support across party lines.
“There is a rally in Mesa, Ariz., today, featuring some well-known out-of-town guests. I am not there. I am here. … I am here campaigning for Katie Hobbs,” said Mesa Republican Mayor John Giles at the event.
“The reason for that is I’m very concerned about the future of our state,” Giles said, calling Arizona’s gubernatorial race “a choice between sanity and chaos.”
Trump-backed Lake touts the former president’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election, rejecting the results in President Biden’s favor.
Giles knocked Lake for being “singularly focused on an election that happened two years ago” and warned against putting “a conspiracy theorist” in office.
“I bet many of you never thought you’d be up here campaigning with a Democrat,” Hobbs quipped at the rally.
Other Republicans at the rally included former state legislator Steve May, former Scottsdale Mayor Sam Campana, and President and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Monica Villalobos, according to the Arizona Republic.
The former secretary of state knocked Lake’s positions on the 2020 election results, abortion and other issues.
“She’s still calling to decertify the 2020 election … and she continues to spread conspiracy theories about the last election while refusing to say if she’ll accept the results of this one. And more importantly, she’s refused to say whether or not she’d certify the 2024 presidential election if she’s governor,” Hobbs said of Lake.
The “Republicans for Katie Hobbs Coalition” rallied in Paradise Valley, Ariz., as Trump’s “Save America” rally got underway in Mesa. The former president is expected to speak tonight at 7 p.m.
Sereda Snizhana, 28, with her children, Artem, 2, and Ilona, 4, in their home in Dudchany, Ukraine, on Saturday. Ms. Snizhana and her family lived for months without electricity, water and gas while Russian forces occupied the town.Credit…Nicole Tung for The New York Times
Volodymyr Minko was at home in Dudchany, in the Kherson region of Ukraine, cleaning windows with his wife, when they noticed Russian soldiers hurrying out of a house across the street. The soldiers, Mr. Minko said, grabbed their belongings and fled in cars, leaving behind some weapons and ammunition.
“They left in such a rush,” Mr. Minko, 64, said. “It was obvious what was happening at that point: It was the end of them.”
The withdrawal of Russian forces last week from several villages on the west bank of the Dnipro River, including Dudchany, brought a welcome respite from the fear and unease that had gripped the area for months. But even as Ukrainian forces reclaim territory in Kherson, in the country’s south, the presence of the Russian occupation lingers — in possessions and munitions forsaken along the front lines, but also in the minds of residents who still remain far too close to the conflict.
Although homes in Dudchany sustained little structural damage, a few days ago a man there was killed in a Russian shelling attack. On a recent day, smoke bloomed to the south, from Ukrainian artillery shells that had detonated.
Since last Tuesday, when Ukrainian forces entered the village, Mr. Minko and his wife, Nataliia Minko, have been serving them meals while listening to the sound of Russian aircraft circling their otherwise bucolic settlement.
Mrs. Minko, 52, smiled as she ladled borscht into bowls in her kitchen before taking it out to Ukrainian soldiers who sat around her garden table. On Tuesday, she said, she and Mr. Minko awoke early to see three cars driving down the nearby highway.
“Listen!” Mr. Minko said, according to her recounting. “Those cars sound different from the Russian ones.”
As the cars approached, they realized it was Ukrainian soldiers who were coming.
“We hugged them,” Mrs. Minko said, “and cried.”
In a house at the opposite end of the street, Sereda Snizhana, 28, held her two children, Artem, 2, and Ilona, 4. They had been without electricity, gas and water for months, and could not afford to buy firewood.
“We didn’t want to leave because we didn’t want to leave our home,” Ms. Snizhana said. “We’re now relying on help from the Ukrainian soldiers.”
Nataliia Minko, 52, serves soup to Ukrainian soldiers in her home in Dudchany on Saturday.Credit…Nicole Tung for The New York Times
Back at the Minko household, Mr. Minko scoffed when asked about Russia’s attempts to illegally annex Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions after referendums in September that were widely discredited.
“I voted no in the sham referendum,” he said. “I’ve been living in Ukraine for 64 years. Why should I vote to join Russia? It was hilarious to be a ‘part’ of Russia, because it was fake. Everything was decided before the referendum.”
But not all of the approximately 3,000 Russian soldiers who were stationed in Dudchany immediately abandoned their posts. On Friday night, Mrs. Minko said, the Ukrainians caught an enemy soldier sleeping, hidden in a haystack.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden said Thursday during a fundraiser, referencing the October 1962 crisis that put the United States and the Soviet Union on the verge of nuclear war for almost two weeks.
On Sunday, speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said: “The president was reflecting the very high stakes that are in play right now.”
Kirby added in reference to Putin: “Neither we nor our allies are going to be intimidated by this and we’re going to continue to provide support and security assistance to Ukraine as is necessary.”
Pompeo said the Biden administration would have been better off using “quiet diplomacy” in pushing Putin to understand the consequences of using nuclear weapons. “I hope that they are doing this quietly,” he said to host Shannon Bream.
In discussing Saturday’s blast on the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia with the Crimea, territory that Putin annexed in 2014, Pompeo said: “My guess is that the Ukrainians had something to do with it.”
Pompeo said that no matter who damaged that bridge, the attack represented a symbolic defeat for Putin, noting that the bridge was opened with great ceremony by Putin in May 2018. “In different historical epochs … people dreamed of building this bridge,” Putin said to the workers at the time. “Then they returned to this in the 1930s, the ‘40s, the ‘50s. And finally, thanks to your work and your talent, the miracle has happened.”
On Sunday, Pompeo said the attack on the bridge was another sign of how disastrously bad that the Russian war against Ukraine has gone.
“The Russian military is failing desperately,” Pompeo said.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) also saw Putin’s situation as increasingly desperate.
“I do think Vladimir Putin is a cornered animal,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think he is right now unpredictable, unstable. He is getting beat in Ukraine, piece by piece, and he’s being embarrassed.”
But former Gen. Wesley Clark, who formerly served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, said he saw Putin’s threatening language as an attempt to drive a wedge in the West and encourage Western leaders to seek a negotiated settlement that would legitimize Putin’s seizure of land from Ukraine.
“When Putin said no one could win a nuclear war, OK then why is he threatening a nuclear war?” Clark said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”
“Because this is basically a psychological effort against the United States, and men like Donald Trump are picking it up and they want to undercut the will and resolve of the West to assist the Ukrainians in this fight. “
A Russian service member patrols the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in May.
Andrey Borodulin/AFP via Getty Images
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Andrey Borodulin/AFP via Getty Images
A Russian service member patrols the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in May.
Andrey Borodulin/AFP via Getty Images
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has restored some power, U.N. nuclear watchdog officials announced. It comes amid fears that total electricity loss would cause a nuclear accident.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called the restoration of power “a temporary relief in a still untenable situation.”
This is one of several times that the plant has lost external power in recent weeks.
Ukrainian authorities have tried using the plant’s own reactor and backup generators to supply some power, but those measures are not considered sustainable.
Rescuers use a hose to extinguish a fire in a residential building damaged after a strike in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Sunday.
Maryna Moiseyenko /AFP via Getty Images
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Maryna Moiseyenko /AFP via Getty Images
Rescuers use a hose to extinguish a fire in a residential building damaged after a strike in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Sunday.
Maryna Moiseyenko /AFP via Getty Images
The six-reactor plant is the largest in Europe. It’s been captured and occupied by Russian forces since March, though some Ukrainian workers still operate the plant. The city is the capital of the Zaporizhzhia region, one of four Ukrainian territories that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month.
Efforts to prevent a radiation disaster have also been stymied by the fact that the city has repeatedly been a target of Russian blasts. That has left not only the plant vulnerable, but also local residents who rely on it for electricity.
A shooting on the Shirley, New York, property of Rep. Lee Zeldin on Sunday left two injured, the congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate said in a statement. Zeldin’s family was unhurt.
“My 16 year old daughters, Mikayla and Arianna, were at our house doing homework, while my wife, Diana, and I were in the car, having just departed the Bronx Columbus Day Parade in Morris Park,” Zeldin said.
The two individuals who were shot had been laying down under the family’s front porch and in the bushes in front of the porch, Zeldin said.
“After my daughters heard the gunshots and the screaming, they ran upstairs, locked themselves in the bathroom and immediately called 911. They acted very swiftly and smartly every step of the way and Diana and I are extremely proud of them.”
The circumstances of the shooting were unclear. But Suffolk County Police said the shooting has no connection to the Zeldin family. A police spokesperson said the two people injured in the incident have been transported to area hospitals for treatment.
Zeldin said police investigators came to his home, and security footage was provided from the family’s home cameras. He said he did not know the identities of the two people.
“My daughters are shaken, but ok,” he said. “Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door. My family is grateful to all who have reached out and we will provide another update when we can.”
Zeldin has made criticism of rising crime a central theme in his gubernatorial campaign against incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. He was attacked by a man holding a sharp object on the campaign trail in July.
Hochul tweeted Sunday evening that she had been briefed on the shooting.
“As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response,” she wrote.
A leaked audio recording of three members of the Los Angeles City Council and a top county labor official punctuated by racist comments and derisive remarks about colleagues has rocked Los Angeles politics just a month before a key election.
The conversation includes Council President Nury Martinez, who is Latina, saying a white councilman handled his young Black son as though he were an “accessory” and describing the child as like a “changuito,” or little monkey.
Council President Nury Martinez makes racist remarks about Councilmember Mike Bonin’s young son while others chime in during this section of the conversation.
The group was discussing a dispute between Councilmembers Curren Price and Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who were at odds last year over whose district would represent USC and Exposition Park once the new maps were finalized. The clip begins with Martinez recounting a conversation she allegedly had with businessman Danny Bakewell.
She also said, “F— that guy… He’s with the Blacks” while discussing Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón, among other incendiary comments on the tape.
The recording, first reported Sunday by The Times, has sparked outrage, apologies and a legal threat over revealing the contents of the audio. Here is what we know about the recording so far.
A leaked recording of L.A. City Council members and a labor official includes racist remarks. Council President Nury Martinez apologizes; Councilman Kevin de León offers regret.
What is the origin of the tape?
The conversation took place in mid-October 2021.
Audio of it was posted on Reddit by a now-suspended user several days ago.
“Wow, you know it happens, but when you actually hear it, it’s unbelievable,” the now-suspended Reddit user said in text accompanying the audio, according to a screenshot reviewed by The Times. “The labor movement is in bed with City Hall.”
It was recorded “on LA County Federation of Labor property,” according to Julie Gutman Dickinson, a lawyer representing the L.A. County Federation of Labor.
The participants do not appear to know they are being recorded.
It’s unclear who made the recording or whether there was anyone else in the room at the time.
Who was present during the conversation?
Martinez, Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera were present during the conversation.
As City Council president, Martinez holds one of the most powerful positions in local politics, leading the city’s 15-member legislative body. De León, a former leader of the California Senate, was elected to council in 2020 and ran in this year’s mayoral primary, finishing third. Cedillo lost a June primary election, and his council term ends in December.
Rick Caruso and Karen Bass are running for Los Angeles mayor. Here is your guide to the race.
Herrera heads the politically prominent Federation of Labor — a coalition that represents more than 800,000 union members andspends big on behalf of its favored candidates at City Hall.
What was the focus of the conversation?
The group appears to have been meeting to discuss the city’s once-a-decade process of redrawing council district boundaries, which was underway at the time.
After weeks of debate over who should represent USC, Exposition Park and other institutions, the City Council voted unanimously to approve its new redistricting map.
The conversation focused heavily on council members’ frustration with maps that had been proposed by the city’s 21-member redistricting commission, as well as the need to reelect Latino council members. Martinez and De León were especially frustrated with proposals for taking economic assets, such as Van Nuys Airport and USC, out of heavily Latino council districts.
The wide-ranging, roughly hourlong conversation also includes discussion of Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas’ indictment and what should happen with his council seat, talk of upcoming council races, derisive remarks about council colleagues and numerous racist comments.
What has the political fallout looked like?
By Sunday afternoon, politicians and candidates in the Nov. 8 election had begun calling for Martinez to step down from her post — or resign altogether. Bonin and Councilmember-elect Eunisses Hernandez — who will soon fill Cedillo’s seat — have called on Martinez to resign.
The timing of the leak is hugely significant, coming a month before a pivotal city election. Martinez has endorsed a number of candidates in the Nov. 8 contest, including the mayoral bid of U.S. Rep. Karen Bass.
It was late at night, and Erik Cantu was in a McDonald’s parking lot, eating a burger.
The 17-year-old and a female friend the same age were sitting in a car with the engine running on the evening of Oct. 2 in San Antonio when suddenly, his driver’s seat door was flung open.
“Get out of the car,” a police officer said.
As shocking police body camera footage showed, Cantu quickly put the car in reverse and began trying to drive away, his open door swinging against the officer as he did so. The officer, James Brennand, then shot at Cantu — 10 times.
The entire interaction unfolded in less than eight seconds, but it was enough to send Cantu to a hospital with critical injuries and to lead police to fire Brennand.
“There is nothing I can say in defense of that officer’s actions that night,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told News 4 San Antonio. “I think what happened, initially, there was some contact made, but that did not justify the shooting.”
On Wednesday, police training commander Alyssa Campos said in a video statement that Brennand had been called to the McDonald’s to attend to an unrelated disturbance when he spotted Cantu’s car, which he believed had evaded him the previous day when he’d tried to make a stop because the license plate didn’t match the vehicle.
“The officer thought the car may be a stolen vehicle and called for cover,” Campos said.
But rather than wait for backup to arrive, Campos said, Brennand “abruptly” opened the car door and ordered Cantu to get out. When Cantu tried to drive away, Brennand shot five times through the door as it was closing.
As Cantu then drove away, Brennand told others on his police radio, “Shots fired! Shots fired!”
But Brennand then shot five more times at the car.
DUBAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Protests ignited by the death of a young woman in police custody continued across Iran on Sunday in defiance of a crackdown by the authorities, as a human rights group said at least 185 people, including children, had been killed in demonstrations.
Anti-government protests that began on Sept. 17 at the funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in her Kurdish town of Saqez, have turned into the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical leaders in years, with protesters calling for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“At least 185 people, including at least 19 children, have been killed in the nationwide protests across Iran. The highest number of killings occurred in Sistan and Baluchistan province with half the recorded number,” the Norway-based Iran Human Rights said on Saturday.
Authorities have described the protests as a plot by Iran’s foes, including the United States. They have accused armed dissidents amongst others of violence that has reportedly left at least 20 members of the security forces dead.
Videos shared on social media showed protests in dozens of cities across Iran early on Sunday with hundreds of high school girls and university students participating despite the use of tear gas, clubs, and in many cases live ammunition by the security forces, rights groups said.
The Iranian authorities have denied that live bullets have been used.
‘DON’T HIT MY WIFE, SHE IS PREGNANT’
A video posted on Twitter by the widely-followed activist 1500tasvir showed security forces armed with clubs attacking students at a high school in Tehran.
A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic’s “morality police”, in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS//File Photo
In another video, a man shouted “don’t hit my wife, she is pregnant,” while trying to protect her from riot police in the city of Rafsanjan on Saturday.
A video shared by Twitter account Mamlekate, which has more than 150,000 followers, showed security forces chasing dozens of school girls in the city of Bandar Abbas. Social media posts said shops were closed in several cities after activists called for a mass strike.
Reuters could not verify the videos and posts. Details of casualties have trickled out slowly, partly because of internet restrictions imposed by the authorities.
Meanwhile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted deputy interior minister warning of harsh sentences for those it referred to as rioters.
Amini was arrested in Tehran on Sept. 13 for wearing “inappropriate attire”. She died three days later at a Tehran hospital.
A state coroner’s report on Saturday said Amini had died from pre-existing medical conditions. Her father has held the police responsible for her death with the family lawyer saying “respectable doctors” believe she was beaten while in custody.
While the United States and Canada have already placed sanctions on Iranian authorities, the European Union was considering imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Iranian officials.
“Those who beat up (Iranian) women and girls on the street, who abduct, arbitrarily imprison and condemn to death people who want nothing other than to live free – they stand on the wrong side of history,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.
Sereda Snizhana, 28, with her children, Artem, 2, and Ilona, 4, in their home in Dudchany, Ukraine, on Saturday. Ms. Snizhana and her family lived for months without electricity, water and gas while Russian forces occupied the town.Credit…Nicole Tung for The New York Times
Volodymyr Minko was at home in Dudchany, in the Kherson region of Ukraine, cleaning windows with his wife, when they noticed Russian soldiers hurrying out of a house across the street. The soldiers, Mr. Minko said, grabbed their belongings and fled in cars, leaving behind some weapons and ammunition.
“They left in such a rush,” Mr. Minko, 64, said. “It was obvious what was happening at that point: It was the end of them.”
The withdrawal of Russian forces last week from several villages on the west bank of the Dnipro River, including Dudchany, brought a welcome respite from the fear and unease that had gripped the area for months. But even as Ukrainian forces reclaim territory in Kherson, in the country’s south, the presence of the Russian occupation lingers — in possessions and munitions forsaken along the front lines, but also in the minds of residents who still remain far too close to the conflict.
Although homes in Dudchany sustained little structural damage, a few days ago a man there was killed in a Russian shelling attack. On a recent day, smoke bloomed to the south, from Ukrainian artillery shells that had detonated.
Since last Tuesday, when Ukrainian forces entered the village, Mr. Minko and his wife, Nataliia Minko, have been serving them meals while listening to the sound of Russian aircraft circling their otherwise bucolic settlement.
Mrs. Minko, 52, smiled as she ladled borscht into bowls in her kitchen before taking it out to Ukrainian soldiers who sat around her garden table. On Tuesday, she said, she and Mr. Minko awoke early to see three cars driving down the nearby highway.
“Listen!” Mr. Minko said, according to her recounting. “Those cars sound different from the Russian ones.”
As the cars approached, they realized it was Ukrainian soldiers who were coming.
“We hugged them,” Mrs. Minko said, “and cried.”
In a house at the opposite end of the street, Sereda Snizhana, 28, held her two children, Artem, 2, and Ilona, 4. They had been without electricity, gas and water for months, and could not afford to buy firewood.
“We didn’t want to leave because we didn’t want to leave our home,” Ms. Snizhana said. “We’re now relying on help from the Ukrainian soldiers.”
Nataliia Minko, 52, serves soup to Ukrainian soldiers in her home in Dudchany on Saturday.Credit…Nicole Tung for The New York Times
Back at the Minko household, Mr. Minko scoffed when asked about Russia’s attempts to illegally annex Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions after referendums in September that were widely discredited.
“I voted no in the sham referendum,” he said. “I’ve been living in Ukraine for 64 years. Why should I vote to join Russia? It was hilarious to be a ‘part’ of Russia, because it was fake. Everything was decided before the referendum.”
But not all of the approximately 3,000 Russian soldiers who were stationed in Dudchany immediately abandoned their posts. On Friday night, Mrs. Minko said, the Ukrainians caught an enemy soldier sleeping, hidden in a haystack.
President Biden’s marijuana pardons are a small policy change to entice young voters, but they’ve immediately become a political lightning rod in at least one battleground state.
Why it matters: It’s the latest in a steady stream of small policy gifts to persuade the Democratic base that Biden has kept the promises on the 2020 campaign trail.
In Pennsylvania, Lieutenant Gov. and Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman is taking a victory lap, calling it a “BFD and a massive step toward justice.” He urged Biden to decriminalize marijuana during a Labor Day conversation in Pittsburgh.
Republican candidate Mehmet Oz jumped at the opportunity to paint Fetterman as soft on crime.
“We love having yet another opportunity to highlight just how extreme John Fetterman is — he wants to go even further than Biden — he’d decriminalize hard drugs like fentanyl and crystal meth that are literally killing Pennsylvanians, ” Oz’s spokesperson told Axios.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) issued a “one-time, large-scale pardon” for people with “minor, nonviolent marijuana convictions” on Thursday.
How it’s playing in other states:
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) toed a fine line, saying in a statement that she’s focused on helping law enforcement “go after violent criminals” while highlighting previous marijuana measures in the state. Her response proactively insulates herself from “soft on crime” attacks from Republicans.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Saturday he won’t follow Biden’s lead. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke promised to “legalize marijuana in Texas and expunge the records of those arrested for marijuana possession.”
In Massachusetts, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Maura Healey promised to “pardon state convictions for simple marijuana possession.” Healey’s GOP opponentGeoff Diehl called Biden’s plan “the latest in a series of outrageous moves […] to eliminate consequences for wrongful actions as he panders for votes for his party in the midterm election.”
In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson called Biden’s latest move a “flag of surrender in the fight to save lives from drug abuse,” adding the DOJ should not issue blanket pardons.
The big picture: The executive action brings the U.S. a step closer to federal decriminalization.
Biden previously opposed legalization before moving away from that position when he became the Democratic nominee for president in 2020.
DUBAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Protests ignited by the death of a young woman in police custody continued across Iran on Sunday in defiance of a crackdown by the authorities, as a human rights group said at least 185 people, including children, had been killed in demonstrations.
Anti-government protests that began on Sept. 17 at the funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in her Kurdish town of Saqez, have turned into the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical leaders in years, with protesters calling for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“At least 185 people, including at least 19 children, have been killed in the nationwide protests across Iran. The highest number of killings occurred in Sistan and Baluchistan province with half the recorded number,” the Norway-based Iran Human Rights said on Saturday.
Authorities have described the protests as a plot by Iran’s foes, including the United States. They have accused armed dissidents amongst others of violence that has reportedly left at least 20 members of the security forces dead.
Videos shared on social media showed protests in dozens of cities across Iran early on Sunday with hundreds of high school girls and university students participating despite the use of tear gas, clubs, and in many cases live ammunition by the security forces, rights groups said.
The Iranian authorities have denied that live bullets have been used.
‘DON’T HIT MY WIFE, SHE IS PREGNANT’
A video posted on Twitter by the widely-followed activist 1500tasvir showed security forces armed with clubs attacking students at a high school in Tehran.
A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic’s “morality police”, in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS//File Photo
In another video, a man shouted “don’t hit my wife, she is pregnant,” while trying to protect her from riot police in the city of Rafsanjan on Saturday.
A video shared by Twitter account Mamlekate, which has more than 150,000 followers, showed security forces chasing dozens of school girls in the city of Bandar Abbas. Social media posts said shops were closed in several cities after activists called for a mass strike.
Reuters could not verify the videos and posts. Details of casualties have trickled out slowly, partly because of internet restrictions imposed by the authorities.
Meanwhile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted deputy interior minister warning of harsh sentences for those it referred to as rioters.
Amini was arrested in Tehran on Sept. 13 for wearing “inappropriate attire”. She died three days later at a Tehran hospital.
A state coroner’s report on Saturday said Amini had died from pre-existing medical conditions. Her father has held the police responsible for her death with the family lawyer saying “respectable doctors” believe she was beaten while in custody.
While the United States and Canada have already placed sanctions on Iranian authorities, the European Union was considering imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Iranian officials.
“Those who beat up (Iranian) women and girls on the street, who abduct, arbitrarily imprison and condemn to death people who want nothing other than to live free – they stand on the wrong side of history,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.
When Amanda Trompeta was woken up by her dog barking early last Thursday morning, she assumed he was just frightened by Hurricane Ian. But then she got out of bed – and found herself standing ankle-deep in floodwater.
By the time the storm passed, three and a half feet of murky, dark water had swept into Trompeta’s house in the Orlando suburb of Winter Springs. “It went everywhere, every single room,” she said. “All the floors, all the walls have to be redone – everything is ruined.”
Despite the devastation, when Trompeta called her insurance company, she came to an unpleasant realization: “They are not planning on covering anything.”
Homeowners insurance policies typically don’t cover flood damage, and most people living in Ian’s path across Florida didn’t have a separate flood insurance policy. Inland areas that experienced historic rainfall and catastrophic floodwaters were especially unprepared, according to a CNN analysis of FEMA flood insurance data.
About a fourth of single-family homes in coastal Lee County, where Ian came onshore, are covered by federal flood insurance. The coverage rates are higher in some of the hardest-hit areas of the county, like Sanibel Island, where about half of homes are covered.
But further inland, only about 4% of single-family homes in Seminole County, 3% of homes in Orange County and 2% of homes in Polk County are covered by flood insurance. All of those counties have reported significant flooding during Ian.
“The most concerning factor coming out of the storm and all the losses is the lack of flood insurance, particularly in the Central Florida area,” said Mark Friedlander, the corporate communications director of the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group.
While people without flood insurance will still be eligible for assistance payments from FEMA and potentially other aid approved by Congress, many homeowners will likely only receive a tiny fraction of the cost of the damage they suffered.
“People are going to be really disappointed when they see what funds they get and how short they are in helping them recover,” Friedlander said.
Ian cut a swathe of disaster across Florida’s mid-section, inundating communities with historic levels of rain from Fort Myers on the southwest coast, through the Orlando region and up into the northeastern corner of the state. The floodwaters turned towns into rivers, and forced some residents to kayak through their living rooms to assess the damage.
In inland Central Florida – which marked its wettest month on record in September – officials reported considerable damage and high flood levels that persisted even days after the storm passed.
In Seminole County, northeast of Orlando, more than 5,200 residential buildings have been damaged by the storm, primarily due to flooding, according to a county spokesperson. “We’ve never had anything to this nature,” said Jay Zembower, a Seminole County commissioner, calling the flooding “a 500-plus-year event of quick rainfall in a short window of time.”
Polk County has counted about 3,000 buildings damaged in the storm, Orange County has tallied about 1,200, and Volusia County on the state’s eastern coast has at least 4,000 damaged, county officials said. All of the counties said their numbers are preliminary – in some cases because damage assessment teams still haven’t been able to reach some flooded areas.
Previous hurricanes like Irma in 2017 also caused significant damage in the region. But much of that damage in Seminole County, at least, was from wind and debris, which is covered by typical homeowners insurance policies, and not flooding, the county spokesperson said.
Now, the lack of flood insurance is a major hurdle for families trying to get back on their feet. Homeowners are generally required to purchase flood insurance if they live in a FEMA-designated flood zone and have a federally-backed mortgage. But the flooding from Ian stretched beyond that floodplain in Central Florida and elsewhere, according to an analysis by the satellite mapping company ICEYE.
That means that many of those affected by the floods, especially away from the coasts, likely didn’t have flood insurance and can’t count on any insurance payments to help them.
In Winter Springs, for example, at least 2,000 buildings have been affected, according to county officials, but there are only about 525 federal flood insurance policies active in the city, FEMA records show.
Trompeta, whose neighborhood is littered with debris and waterlogged furniture piled on front lawns, said the lack of flood insurance on the home that she and her fiancé bought a few years ago threw her carefully planned finances out of whack.
“It’s obviously a big setback,” she said. “We both have student debt,” and with the federal forgiveness program, she added, “I was on track to be debt-free in a year.”
“Now we have to focus on rebuilding the house so that we have some place to live,” Trompeta said.
Without flood insurance, people like Trompeta will be forced to apply for other government aid like FEMA’s individual assistance programs. Those payments are capped at about $38,000, and after past hurricanes, many people ended up receiving roughly $5,000 to $10,000, said Roy Wright, the former chief executive of FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program.
“The US disaster programs presume that homeowners are insured,” Wright said. The individual assistance programs “are there not even as a safety net but simply as a helping hand to those who were left in a bad spot,” he said.
Congress could also pass additional disaster aid – like lawmakers did in the wake of previous major hurricanes, like Katrina, Sandy and Harvey. But it could take months or longer for the funding to be approved and for affected communities to receive it, Wright said.
Experts like Wright said that the widespread damage from Ian should be a wake-up call that far more homeowners around the US need to purchase flood insurance – even if they don’t own a waterfront property. That’s especially the case as climate change leads to stronger and more frequent storms.
While some people have purchased private flood insurance that’s not captured in the FEMA data, the federal flood insurance program still accounts for about 80% of the policies in Florida, Friedlander said.
Research has also found that FEMA’s flood maps underestimate the danger in some areas as climate change advances, leaving some homeowners unaware of their level of risk.
Meanwhile, even some of the families affected by Ian who do have flood insurance are finding that it’s not enough to account for all of their damage. Federal flood insurance caps payouts for single-family home damage at $250,000 and contents of the home at $100,000.
Pamela Sanders said her family’s home in Geneva, Florida has had flood insurance for years, but she expects the damage the home suffered during Ian’s onslaught to exceed her maximum coverage. Floodwaters that swept through her neighborhood left the lower story of her house under water and mold is already growing on the second floor.
“It’s unbelievable,” Sanders said. “I always had a job, paid my bills, paid off my house, was all set for retirement – and now I’m 75 and homeless.”
“The first I knew about any of this was when some reporter asked me about an abortion. And I’m like, ‘No, that’s a lie.’ And then I was asked if I paid for an abortion, and I said ‘No. I did not pay for an abortion,’” Herschel Walker told NBC. “I’m not saying she did or didn’t have one [an abortion]. I’m saying I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know.”
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@
The Republican Senate hopeful spoke to NBC as on the same day The New York Times published an interview with the woman, corroborating her account of the abortion story. In the Times, the woman said Walker also urged her to have an abortion when she became became pregnant a second time.
Instead, she had the baby. Walker and the woman ended their relationship after she refused to terminate the pregnancy and she told the Times the former football star has had little interaction with the boy, now 10, since he was born.
The woman provided the Times and The Daily Beast with a copy of a $575 receipt from an Atlanta abortion clinic, a $700 check that she said was a reimbursement check from Walker and a copy of a “get well” card she said he sent her. It was signed “H” along with the message: “Pray you are feeling better.”
Walker’s explanation did not address those items.
The text exchange provided to NBC dated back to May 2022 and showed that the woman had previously expressed support for Walker’s candidacy.
“He’ll do great & you will keep him focused! Proud of you guys!” she wrote to Julie Walker on May 24, the day of Georgia’s primary election. “Wishing nothing but the best for you tonight!!!”
The escalating scandal has upended Georgia’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race, where polls have shown Walker neck-and-neck with his Democratic opponent, Raphael Warnock.
Republicans have rallied around Walker, although in Georgia, support from some leaders has been tepid. Gov. Brian Kemp, up for reelection, has steered clear of defending Walker. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has been of the few GOP officials to criticize him.
“I’m not voting for Sen. Warnock, and like a lot of other Georgians, Herschel Walker has not yet earned my vote,” Duncan told The AJC. “He’s got four weeks left to change our minds.”
On the campaign trail, Warnock has shied away from talking about the unfolding saga although he has been stressing his support for abortion rights. At a rally on Friday in Macon, Warnock didn’t mention Walker by name in his speech.
Credit: Curtis Compton / AJC
Credit: Curtis Compton / AJC
Pressed afterward by reporters, he called the allegations “disturbing.”
“We have seen some disturbing things. We’ve seen a disturbing pattern, and it raises real questions about who is actually ready to represent the people of Georgia,” he said.
Following an event in Norcross aimed at Asian American voters Friday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who supports abortion rights, used the Walker drama to take a jab at Kemp, who signed Georgia’s strict new abortion measure into law.
“He is always taking positions that are designed to undermine personal freedoms. And you cannot say that you believe that Herschel Walker is entitled to his personal choices, but no one else in Georgia is,” Abrams said.
“I think that anytime hypocrisy is revealed among Republicans then it’s incredibly important,” she added.
Walker has said he opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest or when the life of the mother is stake.
Staff writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this story.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden said Thursday during a fundraiser, referencing the October 1962 crisis that put the United States and the Soviet Union on the verge of nuclear war for almost two weeks.
On Sunday, speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said: “The president was reflecting the very high stakes that are in play right now.”
Pompeo said the Biden administration would have been better off using “quiet diplomacy” in pushing Putin to understand the consequences of using nuclear weapons. “I hope that they are doing this quietly,” he said to host Shannon Bream.
In discussing Saturday’s blast on the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia with the Crimea, territory that Putin annexed in 2014, Pompeo said: “My guess is that the Ukrainians had something to do with it.”
Pompeo said that no matter who damaged that bridge, the attack represented a symbolic defeat for Putin, noting that the bridge was opened with great ceremony by Putin in May 2018. “In different historical epochs … people dreamed of building this bridge,” Putin said to the workers at the time. “Then they returned to this in the 1930s, the ‘40s, the ‘50s. And finally, thanks to your work and your talent, the miracle has happened.”
On Sunday, Pompeo said the attack on the bridge was another sign of how disastrously bad that the Russian war against Ukraine has gone.
“The Russian military is failing desperately,” Pompeo said.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) also saw Putin’s situation as increasingly desperate.
“I do think Vladimir Putin is a cornered animal,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think he is right now unpredictable, unstable. He is getting beat in Ukraine, piece by piece, and he’s being embarrassed.”
But former Gen. Wesley Clark, who formerly served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, said he saw Putin’s threatening language as an attempt to drive a wedge in the West and encourage Western leaders to seek a negotiated settlement that would legitimize Putin’s seizure of land from Ukraine.
“When Putin said no one could win a nuclear war, OK then why is he threatening a nuclear war?” Clark said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”
“Because this is basically a psychological effort against the United States, and men like Donald Trump are picking it up and they want to undercut the will and resolve of the West to assist the Ukrainians in this fight. “
Former Gov. Bill Richardson said Sunday he is “cautiously optimistic” that two Americans wrongfully detained by Russia will be released and suggested they could be freed by the end of the year.
“I do think so. Now, I hate making predictions, but yes,” Richardson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked if he believed Griiner and Whelan may be released before the end of this year.
“I know (the families are) very emotional and this is a very emotional time. All I can say is that the Biden administration is working hard on it,” added Richardson, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration. “So am I. We coordinate, but not always agree on every tactical decision. But I’m not going to interfere in their process. I’m just giving you my assessment after two visits to Russia on behalf of American hostages.”
Griner was sentenced in August to nine years in a Russian jail after pleading guilty to drug-smuggling. The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist had been arrested at a Moscow airport and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage – which she said she had accidentally packed while in a hurry.
Whelan was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he has consistently and vehemently denied. He was convicted and sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.
President Joe Biden met separately with the families of Griner and Whelan at the White House last month, marking his first time personally meeting with them since their loved ones were detained in Russia.
On Sunday, Richardson characterized his meetings in Russia as being with “senior Russian officials, individuals close to President (Vladimir) Putin.”
“I am cautiously optimistic,” Richardson said of the negotiations over Griner and Whelan’s release.
“I got the sense that the Russian officials that I met with, that I’ve known over the years, are ready to talk,” he said. “I got a good sense from the Russians – the vibrations – but I’m not a government official.”
The Biden administration had previously distanced itself from Richardson’s efforts. Last month, a senior administration official told CNN that anyone “who’s going to Russia is going as a private citizen and they don’t speak for the US government.”
“I’m not part of the government, the government channel. I’ve always made that clear. I respect that. I think any decision, for instance, a release, a prisoner exchange, has to be made by the President. And I think the administration has done a good job on that,” Richardson said on Sunday.
Richardson on Sunday acknowledged the White House’s trepidation at him being involved in prisoner release negotiations, but cited his experience in past prisoner negotiations, including his role in the release of Trevor Reed from Russian custody earlier this year.
A source familiar with the situation previously told CNN that members of the Richardson Center had traveled to Moscow in February, in the days immediately before the Russian war in Ukraine began, to meet with Russian leadership. Following that visit, the Richardson Center came away with a clear sense of what the Russians were willing to do and how they were willing to do it, which was presented to the White House. Reed was freed in a prisoner swap in April.
“I’ve coordinated with the White House. I’ve coordinated as much as I can, but you know, sometimes they’re a little nervous about my doing this on my own,” he said.
“But at the same time, we’ve had success recently with Trevor Reed, the American hostage in Russia some months ago. Danny Fenster, a journalist in Myanmar at the end of last year,” Richardson added. “So, I know what I’m doing.”
Earlier this month, Biden announced the return of seven Americans who had been detained in Venezuela. The detainees were released in exchange for the release of two Venezuelans imprisoned in the US for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the country, both nephews of the Venezuelan first lady.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.
Russian rockets slammed into the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight as Moscow raced to restore transportation links to Crimea after a major explosion damaged the bridge connecting the peninsula to the Russian mainland.
The strikes on Zaporizhzhia killed at least 17 people and injured 40 others, according to Anatoly Kurtev, president of the city council. Dozens of apartment buildings were damaged or destroyed, and the death toll was expected to rise, authorities said.
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