After a woman revealed that Republican senatorial candidate Herschel Walker had urged her to have an abortion, Walker adamantly denied the story and claimed he had no idea who this woman could be.
But there’s a good reason the woman finds that defense highly doubtful: She’s the mother of one of his children.
When the woman first told The Daily Beast her story, we agreed not to reveal certain details about her identity over her concerns for safety and privacy. But then Walker categorically denied the story and said he didn’t know who was making this allegation.
On Wednesday morning, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade asked Walker whether he had figured out the woman’s identity, based on details in the original report.
“Not at all,” Walker replied. “And that’s what I hope everyone can see. It’s sort of like everyone is anonymous, or everyone is leaking, and they want you to confess to something you have no clue about.”
Walker then spun the report as an attack from “desperate” Democrats eager to maintain control of the pivotal Senate seat. Instead of being deterred by his now-public hypocrisy, he said he now feels “energized.”
“They see me as a big threat, and I know that and I knew it when I got into this race. But they don’t realize that I think they came for the wrong one. They energized me,” Walker said. “They energized me, because I know how they really want to try to keep this seat.”
The anonymous woman said that defense sounded ridiculous.
“Sure, I was stunned, but I guess it also doesn’t shock me, that maybe there are just so many of us that he truly doesn’t remember,” she said. “But then again, if he really forgot about it, that says something, too.”
The woman, a registered Democrat whose years-long relationship with Walker continued after the abortion, told The Daily Beast that her chief concern with revealing her name was because she is the mother of one of Walker’s own children and she wanted to protect her family’s privacy as best she could while also coming forward with the truth. (Walker has publicly acknowledged the child as his own, and the woman proved she is the child’s mother and provided credible evidence of a long-term relationship with Walker.)
The Walker campaign declined to comment for this story.
But even with the woman remaining anonymous, the story has still rocked Walker’s family in other ways.
After Walker denied the report, one of his three sons, conservative social media influencer Christian Walker, released a series of angry statements and videos condemning his dad as a liar, and alleging that the University of Georgia football hero had threatened to murder him and his mother—Walker’s ex-wife.
“I know my mom and I would really appreciate if my father Herschel Walker stopped lying and making a mockery of us,” Christian Walker tweeted after the abortion story broke Monday night. “You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence.”
The anonymous woman said that while she’s been a “good sport” about the campaign, after Walker’s denial, she could no longer keep this information from the public.
“I’ve been very civil thus far. I keep my mouth shut. I don’t cause any trouble. I stay in the background. But I’m also not gonna get run over time and time again,” she said. “That’s crazy.”
Walker and his campaign have put out seemingly conflicting messages to battle the story, denying it on one hand as a “lie” while also appealing to themes of religious redemption and forgiveness on the other. On Wednesday, Walker put out a new ad where he discusses overcoming his struggles with mental health “by the grace of God.”
But if Walker is seeking redemption for the abortion, that would be a recent shift. He lied about his role in abortions just this year—once in a June interview with The Daily Beast, and later to a Democratic activist posing as a Walker supporter, who caught his denials on video.
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Asked about the role faith played in Walker’s life, the anonymous woman, who identifies as a Christian herself, said even though Walker often talked about Christianity, he uses it “when it works for him.”
She said Walker frequently talked about being a Christian, but never once expressed any misgivings about abortion generally—or any regret about the one that they had. When she got pregnant again years later, the woman says she made a different choice, even though Walker said it still wasn’t “a convenient time” for him.
“He didn’t express any regret. He said, ‘relax and recover,’” the woman recalled, alluding to the message on the “get well” card Walker sent her along with the abortion payment.
“He seemed pretty pro-choice to me. He was pro-choice, obviously,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s anywhere in the Bible where it says ‘Have four kids with four different women while you’re with another woman.’ Or where it praises not being a present parent. Or that an abortion is an OK thing to do when it’s not the right time for you, but a terrible thing for anyone else to do when you are running for Senate. He picks and chooses where it’s convenient for him to use that religious crutch,” she said.
The campaign has used the woman’s desire to remain anonymous to raise money, saying in its first fundraising email after the news broke that “Now, they’re using an anonymous source to further slander me.”
Asked how she felt about the campaign’s boast that Walker saw record-setting contributions in the hours after he called her a liar, the woman said she hoped they would give the money away.
“It would be really nice if when he loses they would turn that money over to someone who needs it,” she said. “Maybe to a mental health organization. It would be really nice of them, instead of taking that and putting it in some other politician’s pockets, they used it to help someone else.”
Walker finds his campaign in crisis as election day is a month away. The outcome of the race could tip the balance of the Senate, and polls are tight. Recent surveys taken before the abortion news broke show Walker narrowly trailing his Democratic opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock.
But the woman’s allegation has reframed the race and sent Republicans scrambling.
According to The Daily Beast’s reporting, after Walker and the woman first conceived a child in 2009, he urged her to have an abortion and then reimbursed her for it. The woman provided a receipt from the clinic showing the date of the procedure, along with a signed personal check Walker had mailed her inside a “get well” card five days later.
On the whole, however, the story has clearly had traction.
“It’s good to see my story has been so well received,” the woman said, “because I’m telling the truth. I’m not trying to glorify abortion—that’s a very personal choice that everyone has to make for themselves—but I have no shame in it. It is what it is. It’s part of my story, and what makes me who I am today.”
The woman continued that she hopes her story makes other people feel less alone, “to maybe find comfort and a sense of dignity.”
“You’re not a monster, not a murderer,” she continued. “These are real life decisions that can completely change your life. Making it so black-and-white makes it easy for these old men to say it’s wrong or it’s right, but they’ve never been put in a position where it’s done to their body.”
She said it was wrong, however, for Walker to use abortion when it suited him personally and try to deny others the procedure when it suits him politically.
“He didn’t accept responsibility for the kid we did have together, and now he isn’t accepting responsibility for the one that we didn’t have. That says so much about how he views the role of women in childbirth, versus his own. And now he wants to take that choice away from other women and couples entirely,” she said.
“This was a decision I had to make—twice—about my future and a potential child’s future, and I was able to make it, both times. And Herschel was also able to have a say. The fact he now thinks it’s OK to just take that away,” she said, “I just can’t understand.”
Water — storm surge, rainfall, inland flooding and surf — directly cause 90 percent of tropical cyclone deaths in the United States, according to the National Hurricane Center. The top indirect killers: car wrecks, carbon monoxide poisoning, electrocution and heat. And the lethal danger persists after the skies have cleared, said Jay Barnes, a hurricane historian in North Carolina.
It is unclear whether the two leaders’ delicate détente will hold longer than Mr. Biden’s four hours on the ground, but they must now work together on a lengthy recovery effort, which could soon bleed into the midterm election season.
Mr. Biden and Mr. DeSantis will also have to contend with the influence of former President Donald J. Trump, another South Florida resident who has demonstrated little interest in ceding the political spotlight to rivals in either party.
While the president and the governor have stayed in regular telephone contact in recent days, they showed little interest in publicly detailing their conversations or suggesting that the nature of their relationship had changed.
Gestures of solidarity in a moment of crisis can carry political risk: Mr. Biden’s visit recalled the 2012 trip by President Barack Obama to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, when Chris Christie, the state’s governor at the time and a rising star in the Republican Party, was photographed conspicuously embracing Mr. Obama. Mr. Christie, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, was considerably maligned over the awkward embrace.
On Wednesday, the president and the governor settled for a handshake. While Mr. Biden views Mr. Trump as a threat to democracy, he speaks of Mr. DeSantis, 44, as an emerging force in a party he says he no longer recognizes.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Mr. Biden said this spring, targeting Mr. DeSantis, a former congressman who is running for re-election against Charlie Crist, a centrist Democrat. “It’s not even conservative in a traditional sense of conservatism. It’s mean, it’s ugly.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday claiming ownership of the beleaguered Zaporizhzhia power plant, even as the director of Ukraine’s nuclear power company said he would assume operations of the plant, which is Europe’s largest nuclear facility.
The announcement came hours after Putin signed laws annexing the Zaporizhzhia region. Earlier in the day, Energoatom chief Petro Kotin said he would be running the Russian-held plant from the capital, Kyiv. The company called Putin’s decree, “worthless” and “absurd.”
The plant has been the focus of deep global concern. Both sides blame each other for bombings that have damaged parts of the plant and threaten to trigger a catastrophe, international nuclear experts warn.
“The need for a Nuclear Safety and Security Protection Zone (NSSPZ) around #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is now more urgent than ever,” tweeted Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The plant’s Ukrainian director was kidnapped Friday and released this week by Russian forces who occupy the facility. Ukrainian workers continue to operate the plant, which halted power generation last month.
►A former Russian state TV journalist charged with spreading false information after staging an on-air protest against the war said in a Facebook post Wednesday that she has released herself from house arrest. Marina Ovsyannikova’s ex-husband says she fled with her young daughter.
►Russian troops used six Iranian drones to strike the town of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, leaving one person wounded, Ukraine’s presidential office said. The strikes were the first on the town since March, when the Russians retreated from the area around the Ukrainian capital.
Putin signs law annexing Ukraine land despite military setbacks
Putin, ignoring international outrage and the struggles of his military, signed laws Wednesday ratifying the annexation of four Ukraine regions, including two that make up the crucial Donbas region he has targeted since the war began.
“I want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that everyone remembers this – people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia become our citizens forever,” Putin said.
The paperwork is vague on the boundaries of the land Russia is claiming, but Russian media said Putin annexed about 43,000 square miles. Ukraine, almost the size of Texas, estimates about 15% of its territory was annexed.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the land grab might not be done, saying “certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia.”
Some of the territory has already been retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent weeks, and most of the world does not recognize the annexations.
“The worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on,” Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukraine President’s Office, said on Telegram.
Reduced oil production by OPEC+ benefits Russia
Wednesday’s decision by an alliance of oil-exporting countries to significantly slash production could boost Russia’s war efforts, as the expected rise in oil prices helps replenish the country’s coffers and blunts the impact of efforts by the U.S. and its allies to cut into the Kremlin’s leading source of revenue.
The reduction of 2 million barrels a day by OPEC+ will also make it easier for member Russia to withstand a European ban on most of Moscow’s oil due to start in December, though only to a certain extent because countries in the oil cartel already can’t meet their quotas.
President Joe Biden called the decision “short-sighted’’ in light of the negative effects Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had on the global economy, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who added: “It’s clear that OPEC+ is aligning with Russia with today’s announcement.”
The European Union agreed Wednesday on new sanctions that are expected to include a price cap on Russian oil, meant to diminish the funding President Vladimir Putin has available for his war machine. But with tighter oil supplies on the market, major buyers like China and India could be less likely to join the effort, limiting its impact.
Increasing signs of torture in liberated towns
The continued liberation of towns in the east and south of the country is reason to celebrate for Ukrainian troops. What they find is not.
Retreating Russian troops are not only leaving behind barren, destroyed communities, but also disturbing signs of abuse and torture.
Serhiy Bolvinov, who heads the investigative department of the national police in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said authorities are investigating an alleged Russian torture chamber in the village of Pisky-Radkivski. He posted a photo of a box with what looked like teeth and dentures, presumably extracted from those held at the site.
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, told The Associated Press four bodies had been found in Kharkiv towns with signs of torture. Authorities were trying to confirm whether they were civilians. All four had their hands bound or linked by handcuffs. Kostin also said the bodies of 24 civilians, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, were found in six cars near Kupiansk, also in Kharkiv.
Russian military struggles could topple Belarusian leader
Belarus’ opposition leader says she believes that Russian military setbacks in Ukraine could shake Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s hold on power. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Wednesday at a security conference in Warsaw that Russia appears to be “about to lose this war.” That could make it impossible for Putin to prop up Lukashenko, Putin’s closest global ally, she said.
Tsikhanouskaya fled to Lithuania after Lukashenko claimed victory in August 2020 elections that were decried in the West as fraudulent.
In annexed Luhansk, Ukrainian leader says de-occupation has begun
Ukrainian troops have begun driving Russian troops out of the Luhansk region and are “raising the Ukrainian flag” in some settlements, regional Gov. governor Serhiy Haidai announced on social media. Russia had taken almost complete control of the crucial province and had seized half of neighboring Donetsk before the Ukrainian counteroffensive began a month ago. About one-third of Luhansk was controlled by Russian-backed militias before the war began. Militia leaders tried to form the Luhansk People’s Republic, but only Russia and a few other nations recognized the republic.
EU approves 8th round of Russian sanctions
The European Union, citing the annexations, agreed Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Russia, including an expected price cap on Russian oil. Details of the sanctions were expected to be released as soon as Thursday, but curbs on EU exports of aircraft components to Russia and limits on Russian steel imports are expected to be included in the package.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the eighth round of sanctions, saying Europe is “determined to continue making the Kremlin pay” for invading Ukraine.
One week after Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida, President Joe Biden is visiting the area Wednesday to assess recovery and talk to families.
Ian, one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the U.S., also is expected to be one of the costliest.
Public officials’ handling of major disasters can be legacy-defining moments, which could have extra importance in the politically important state of Florida. That’s true for both Biden and for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a frequent critic of the presidentwho is up for reelection this year and could face off against Biden in 2024.
Biden has said his political disagreements with DeSantis are irrelevant to his administration’s response and has offered the governor “the fullest federal support.”
The mutual admiration society of President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis showed a few cracks Wednesday as the political rivals discussed how well they’ve worked together on recovery efforts from Hurricane Ian.
Sure, DeSantis praised the “team effort” between the administration and state and local officials. Yes, Biden said he’s been “in complete lockstep” with the Florida governor.
But DeSantis also seemed to take a dig at Biden’s aerial tour, before the briefing of storm-damaged areas.
“I was in Sanibel today,” DeSantis said near the start of his public remarks. “You can go over it in a helicopter and you see damage, but it does not do it justice until you are actually on the ground and you see concrete utility poles sawed off, right in half, massive power lines everywhere, massive amounts of debris.”
When it was Biden’s turn to speak, he said he’s sure that the damage looks a lot worse on the ground.
“But you can see a whole hell of a lot of the damage from the air,” Biden added.
– Maureen Groppe and Michael Collins
DeSantis praises federal role in hurricane recovery
Gov. Ron DeSantis thanked President Joe Biden for traveling to Florida to survey the hurricane damage and praised the “good coordination” between his administration and the White House.
“We appreciate working together across various levels of government,” DeSantis said with Biden and other officials standing by his side.
DeSantis particularly praised the administration’s doubling from 30 days to 60 days the amount of time the federal government will pay for 100% of debris removal and other costs. For some communities, the governor said, the cost of debris removal would eclipse their entire budgets.
Biden said DeSantis probably will need to ask for an additional extension.
“Unless you clear the area,” Biden said, “there’s not much else you can do.”
Biden, who took an aerial tour of the hurricane damage and got a briefing on the recovery efforts, said he has instructed his administration to bring together “every element” of the federal government to help with immediate needs and long-term rebuilding.
“Today, we have one job and only one job, and that’s to make sure that people in Florida get everything that they need to fully, thoroughly recover,” he said.
After Biden finished his remarks, reporters asked how he thought DeSantis has handled the hurricane response.
“I think he’s done a good job,” Biden said. “We have very different political philosophies, but we’ve worked hand in glove. … In dealing with this crisis, we’ve been in complete lockstep.”
– Michael Collins and Maureen Groppe
Biden gets aerial tour of hurricane damage
President Joe Biden helicoptered over parts of hurricane-battered Florida on Wednesday, shortly after arriving in Fort Myers.
Cecil Pendergrass, chairman of the Lee County Commission, joined Biden on the aerial assessment, which lasted about half an hour.
Next up is a briefing by federal, state and local officials at debris-covered Fisherman’s Wharf followed by a meeting with small-business owners and local residents.
Biden is expected to speak after 3 p.m. about what he’s seen and heard.
– Maureen Groppe
IRS helping FEMA’s jammed phone lines
Thousands of phone operators – including some from the IRS – have been helping field calls from FEMA’s jammed lines, according to the agency.
More help may be coming.
“We’re going to try to speed that up by having additional personnel,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said IRS operators are one of the backups used during the early days of a disaster.
If a caller still can’t get through, they can ask for a callback, or, if they have internet access, reach out through disasterassistance.gov, she said.
– Maureen Groppe
FEMA has activated hotel program for temporary housing
At DeSantis’ request, the federal government has turned on a program offering temporary housing for those in need after federal disasters. That means eligible Floridians can stay in participating hotels, said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
FEMA will also be working with the state to activate the federal direct housing program, which includes bringing in mobile homes for temporary shelter.
For homes needing roof repairs, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is providing blue coverings with fiber-reinforced sheeting to help reduce further damage to property until permanent repairs can be made.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has been tasked with planning permanent housing solutions, Criswell said.
“This is going to be a very complicated recovery process for long-term housing and permanent housing for many families. There are communities that have to be completely rebuilt,” she said. “So our role is to provide that temporary housing for families as they’re working through what we can do to support their permanent rebuilding.”
– Maureen Groppe
More disaster recovery centers are coming
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will open three Disaster Recovery Centers in Florida on Thursday, two days after the state’s first center began helping residents in Lee County, Criswell announced. Services will be provided by more than 10 federal and state agencies and nonprofit organizations.
The first center, at Lakes Regional Library in Fort Myers, was opened in coordination with insurance companies so residents could talk to their insurance provider while checking if they’re eligible for federal assistance, including a small-business loan.
Criswell said FEMA will continue to open centers around parts of the state hit by Ian.
– Maureen Groppe
First responders welcome Biden to Fort Myers
Firefighters from Cape Coral and other first responders were among those waiting for President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden after Air Force One landed in Fort Myers Wednesday.
The greeters did not include DeSantis and the state’s U.S. senators, all Republicans. But all three are expected to join the president later in his visit. The elected officials who met Biden included U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., whose district includes Fort Myers.
Cecil Pendergrass, chairman of the Lee County Commission, was also on hand to welcome Biden.
– Maureen Groppe
Search and rescue teams still going door-to-door in Lee County
Seventeen search and rescue teams continue to work in Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and has had the most deaths attributed to Hurricane Ian confirmed by Florida’s medical examiners.
Teams are moving door-to-door to make sure all residents are accounted for, according to Criswell. On Tuesday, they assessed 24,000 structures.
“They’re going to continue to be in the county until every structure has been looked at and cleared to make sure nobody still needs rescue,” she said.
– Maureen Groppe
FEMA: Federal aid for Florida will cost billions
Federal assistance to Florida will cost billions of dollars, Criswell told reporters Wednesday.
Damage to infrastructure is still being assessed as the federal government remains in the “lifesaving and stabilization mode,” Criswell said during the flight from Washington to Florida, where Biden will be getting an update on hurricane recovery efforts.
“It’s going to be in the billions. How many billions I don’t know yet,” she said. “But it will certainly be in the billions and perhaps one of the more costly disasters that we’ve seen in many years.”
– Maureen Groppe
The latest on death toll, power, more
The death toll – which county medical examiners said Tuesday night stands at 72 – is expected to rise as rescue and recovery efforts continue in areas battered by the Category 4 storm and the flooding it spawned.
The deployment of what the administration called an unprecedented number of search and rescue teams have rescued more than 3,800 people and 200 pets, according to the White House.
The federal disaster declaration includes 17 counties, making them eligible for various forms of federal assistance.
More than 4,000 federal response personnel are working in Florida and the Southeast.
On Wednesday, Biden extended for another 30 days the time period for which the federal government will cover 100% of the cost of debris removal and emergency protective measures.
What’s about to happen
Biden is traveling to Fort Myers where he is scheduled to survey storm-ravaged areas by helicopter before meeting with small business owners and local residents and thanking responders for their efforts.
In addition to hearing from DeSantis, Biden will receive updates from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, as well asstate and local officials.
“They’re going to talk about what else are the needs in Florida to get to a place of recovery, to get to a place of rebuilding,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden’s trip comes two days after he made a similar visit to Puerto Rico, where he promised to rebuild the island stronger than it was before Hurricane Fiona.
Top takeaways
Hurricanes can damage not just property, but also political reputations.
After leaving office, former President George W. Bush acknowledged his response to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina tarnished his legacy. A photo of Bush looking down from Air Force One on a flooded New Orleans as he was returning to Washington from a Texas vacation made him look, in his words, “detached and uncaring.”
Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles’ approval rating dropped precipitously after the state’s botched response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Successful disaster management can also be a political boost. In fact, some fellow Republicans blamed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for helping President Barack Obama win reelection by praising Obama’s response to Superstorm Sandy.
Biden and DeSantis
Biden and DeSantis, who may face each other on the 2024 presidential battlefield, have a combative history.
In a trip scrapped as Ian approached, Biden had planned to appear last week with Charlie Crist, the Democratic congressman challenging DeSantis for reelection in November. Last month, DeSantis – a frequent critic of Biden’s handling of border policies – flew planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
Biden and DeSantis have also clashed on pandemic policies, abortion rights, LGBTQ issues, inflation and other matters.
But the leaders have already shown they can work together during a disaster. After a 12-story condo building collapsed in Surfsidenear Miami last year, DeSantis praised the federal government for its quick response. Biden said it was important to show the nation that “we can cooperate.”
What they are saying
“I just want the people in Florida to know we see what you’re going through and we’re with you, and we’re going to do everything we can for you,” Biden said Friday.
“There will be plenty of timeto discuss differences between the president and the governor. But now is not the time,” Jean-Pierre said Tuesday of the political clashes between Biden and DeSantis.
“FEMA has been a great partner. The Biden administration has responded, as they have said, so there’s no complaints there,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said on CNN Sunday. “In times like this, people realize that it’s not about politics.”
“This is going to be a very long recovery, and it’s going to be a complicated one,” Criswell said on NPR Saturday.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the final papers Wednesday to annex four regions of Ukraine while his military struggled to control the new territory that was added in violation of international laws.
Ukrainian law enforcement officials, meanwhile, reported discovering more evidence of torture and killings in areas retaken from Russian forces. In Lyman, an eastern town liberated after more than four months of Russian occupation, residents emerged from their destroyed homes to receive packages of food and medicine.
In a defiant move, the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine.
Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia.”
Peskov did not specify which additional Ukrainian territories Moscow is eyeing, and he wouldn’t say if the Kremlin planned to organize more such “referendums.”
Putin last week signed treaties that purported to absorb Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia. The annexation followed Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in Ukraine that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as illegitimate.
The Russian president defended the validity of the vote, saying it’s “more than convincing” and “absolutely transparent and not subject to any doubt.”
“This is objective data on people’s mood,” Putin said Wednesday at an event dedicated to teachers, adding that he was pleasantly “surprised” by the results.
Putin also signed a decree Wednesday declaring that Russia was taking over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called it a criminal act and said it considered Putin’s decree “null and void.” The state nuclear operator said it would continue to operate the plant, which was occupied by Russian forces early in the war.
On the ground, Russia faced mounting setbacks, with Ukrainian forces retaking more and more land in the eastern and southern regions that Moscow now insists are its own.
The precise borders of the areas Moscow is claiming remain unclear, but Putin has vowed to defend Russia’s territory — including the annexed regions — with any means at his military’s disposal, including nuclear weapons.
Shortly after Putin signed the annexation legislation, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on his Telegram channel that “the worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on.”
“A collective insane asylum can continue to live in a fictional world,” Yermak added.
Zelenskyy responded to the annexation by announcing Ukraine’s fast-track application to join NATO. In a decree released Tuesday, he also ruled out negotiations with Russia, declaring that Putin’s actions made talking to the Russian leader impossible.
In the eastern Kharkiv region, more disturbing images emerged from areas recently reclaimed from Russia.
Serhiy Bolvinov, who heads the investigative department of the national police in the region, said authorities are investigating an alleged Russian torture chamber in the village of Pisky-Radkivski.
He posted an image of a box of what appeared to be precious metal teeth and dentures presumably extracted from those held at the site. The authenticity of the photo could not be confirmed.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general also spoke of new evidence of torture and killings found Wednesday in the Kharkiv region.
Andriy Kostin told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a security conference in Warsaw that he had just been notified of four bodies found with signs of possible torture. He said they were believed to be civilians but an investigation was still needed.
Two bodies were found in a factory in Kupiansk with their hands bound behind their backs, while two other bodies were found in Novoplatonivka, their hands linked by handcuffs.
During his public speech, Kostin said officials found the bodies of 24 civilians, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, who had been killed in six cars near Kupiansk. It was not clear when the discovery was made.
On the battlefield, Russia and Ukraine gave conflicting assessments of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Russian-occupied southern Kherson region. A Moscow-installed regional official insisted that Ukrainian advances had been halted.
“As of this morning … there are no movements” by Kyiv’s forces, Kirill Stremousov said Wednesday in comments to state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti. He vowed the Ukrainian fighters would not enter the city of Kherson.
However, the Ukrainian military said the Ukrainian flag had been raised above seven Kherson region villages previously occupied by the Russians. The closest of the liberated villages to the city of Kherson is Davydiv Brid, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.
The deputy head of the Ukrainian regional government, Yurii Sobolevskyi, said military hospitals were full of wounded Russian soldiers and that Russian military medics lacked supplies. Once they are stabilized, Russian soldiers were getting sent to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“Not everyone arrives,” Sobolevskyi wrote.
In the neighboring Mykolaiv region, the governor said Russian troops have started to withdraw from Snihurivka, a city of 12,000 that Moscow seized early in the war and annexed along with the Kherson region. A Russian-installed official in Snihurivka, Yury Barbashov, denied that Russian troops had lost control of the city, a strategic railway hub, but said the Ukrainian forces were advancing.
In the Moscow-annexed eastern Donetsk region, where Ukrainian forces still control some areas, Russian forces shelled eight towns and villages, the Ukrainian presidential office said.
After reclaiming the Donetsk city of Sviatohirsk, Ukrainian forces located a burial ground for civilians and found the bodies of four people, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.
When Russian troops pulled back from the Donetsk city of Lyman over the weekend, they retreated so rapidly that they left behind the bodies of their comrades. Some were still lying by the side of the road leading into the city on Wednesday.
Lyman sustained heavy damage both during the occupation and as Ukrainian soldiers fought to retake it. Mykola, a 71-year-old man who gave only his first name, was among about 100 residents who lined up for aid on Wednesday.
“We want the war to come to an end, the pharmacy and shops and hospitals to start working as they used to,” he said. “Now we don’t have anything yet. Everything is destroyed and pillaged, a complete disaster.”
In the Luhansk region, also in the eastern Donbas, Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Ukrainian forces have retaken six villages. He did not name the villages, but said the retreating Russian forces are mining the roads and buildings.
Haidai also said the Russian forces were indiscriminately drafting men from the Luhansk region. “They no longer ask about health and marital status; sick people and those with many children are being taken away,” he said.
In central Ukraine, multiple explosions rocked Bila Tserkva, a city about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the capital, Kyiv. Regional leader Oleksiy Kuleba said six Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones struck the city and set off fires at what he described as infrastructure facilities. One person was wounded.
A woman dressed in black raises a framed portrait of her son, Siavash Mahmoudi, in the air as she paces the sidewalk in Iran’s capital, Tehran. “I am not scared of anyone. They told me to be silent. I will not be,” the woman seen in a viral social media video yells, her voice fraught with emotion.
“I will carry my son’s picture everywhere. They killed him.”
Mahmoudi’s mother is among many Iranians who claim the regime tried to silence them as they mourned loved ones slain in ongoing nationwide demonstrations.
But Iran’s protesters, and their supporters, are defiant. For weeks, a nationwide protest movement has relentlessly gathered momentum and appears to have blunted the government’s decades-old intimidation tactics. Slogans against the clerical leadership echo throughout the city. Videos of schoolgirls waving their headscarves in the air as they sing protest songs in classrooms have gone viral, as have images of protesters fighting back against members of the formidable paramilitary group Basij.
These are scenes previously believed to be unthinkable in Iran, where the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei rules with an iron fist. But experts say that these protests transcend Iran’s many social and ethnic divisions, breaking a decades-old barrier of fear and posing an unprecedented threat to the regime.
Across Iran, protesters seem intent on exposing the weaknesses of a clerical establishment which is widely accused of corruption and has stamped out dissent with arbitrary detentions and even mass executions.
Tehran has been convulsing with demonstrations since the death in mid-September of Mahsa (also known as Zhina) Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died after being detained by the country’s morality police for how she was dressed.
Protests crop up sporadically in various parts of the capital throughout each day. At night, a chant that has become a staple of the protests — “death to the dictator” — sounds from the rooftops of buildings. It’s a reference to Khamenei, who was once considered beyond reproach because of his elevated clerical status.
‘This is not the end’
Anti-regime demonstrations have also penetrated the Islamic Republic’s power bases, including the Shia holy cities of Mashhad and Qom. Ethnic minorities — notably Kurds in the country’s north and northwest, and Baloch people in the southeast — have also staged protests, enduring what appear to be some of the most brutal crackdowns, with scores reportedly killed.
Secondary schools and universities around the country are flashpoints, and women and girls have been taking off their mandatory headscarves, known as hijabs.
“These terrorists think that our generation is the previous generation. We are not. Let me assure you,” a protester from Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology told CNN, referring to Iranian police who had violently cracked down on demonstrators on campus, and detained scores of young people.
Social media video showed cars filling the streets shortly after news spread Sunday of the crackdown on students, horns blaring in solidarity with protesters as the showdown unfolded at the university, known for educating Iran’s best and brightest students.
“If the dust settles and we stop protesting, they are going to kill even more of us. They are going to detain even more people and they are going to turn us to North Korea,” the impassioned protester said. “This is not the end. I promise you that.”
CNN has not been able to independently verify the number of the dead and injured, but state media says 40 people have died since the start of demonstrations in mid-September. Rights group Amnesty International says at least 52 have been killed. Over 1,000 people are believed to have been detained, including journalists and artists.
Last week, Amnesty International said it had obtained a leaked document which appeared to instruct commanders of armed forces in all provinces to “mercilessly confront” protesters, deploying riot police as well as some members of the military’s elite Revolutionary guards, the Basij paramilitary force and plainclothes security agents.
CNN has not seen the leaked documents obtained by Amnesty International and cannot verify the reporting. CNN has reached out to Amnesty International on how it received the leaked documents but hasn’t received a reply.
CNN has also reached out to Iranian government officials for a comment on Amnesty International’s reporting but hasn’t received a reply.
In addition, Amnesty International said it had seen evidence of sexual assault against female protesters – CNN has not been able to verify this. Social media video has also shown Iranian security forces dragging unveiled women through the streets by their hair.
An existential threat
The threat posed by these protests, analysts say, is existential to the regime, and is one of the biggest challenges the Islamic Republic has faced in years.
“These are primarily very, very young people, a younger generation who have apparently completely lost faith that this Islamic Republic can be reformed,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice-president at the Washington, DC-based Quincy Institute.
“They’re breaking from their previous generation who was seeking to reform the system from within,” Parsi added. “This new generation seems to not have any faith in that at all.”
The 83-year-old Khamenei, who commented on the protests for the first time on Monday, blamed – without evidence – the United States and Israel for fueling the protests. He also made clear that the regime would block the protesters’ desire for change.
“I say clearly that these riots and the insecurity were engineered by the US and the occupying, false Zionist regime (Israel), as well as their paid agents, with the help of some traitorous Iranians abroad,” said Khamenei in his address.
The current protests may eventually be quashed or simply lose momentum, but analysts say Iran can expect another cycle of nationwide demonstrations in months to come. The latest demonstrations follow similar, but less widespread, protests against the government in 2019, 2017 and 2009.
“The protests transcend social sectarian boundaries, bringing together a much broader strata of Iranian society than we have seen in years,” said Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project. “But they suffer from the same shortcomings that the previous movements in Iran also suffered from. Primarily, the lack of leadership.
“It’s very difficult to be able to maintain and sustain a movement that over the long run will bring the regime to its knees without coordination and leadership,” Vaez said.
Still, the protesters appear bolder than ever, sensing a window of opportunity that could quickly close as Iran appears to near development of a nuclear weapon, which would both entrench the regime’s grip on power and deepen its isolation.
This is the scenario that anti-regime Iranians are trying desperately to avoid, said Vaez.
“The only thing worse than a regime that kills and represses its own people is a regime with a nuclear weapon and that kills and represses its own people,” he said.
CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali, Artemis Moshtaghian, Hannah Ritchie, Mostafa Salem, Teele Rebane, Adam Pourahmadi and Celine Alkhaldi contributed to this report.
SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS, Oct 5 (Reuters) – South Korea and the U.S. military conducted rare missile drills and an American supercarrier repositioned east of North Korea after Pyongyang flew a missile over Japan, one of the allies’ sharpest responses since 2017 to a North Korean weapon test.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that nuclear-armed North Korea risked further condemnation and isolation if it continued its “provocations.”
However, Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy told a U.N. Security Council meeting called by the United States that imposing sanctions on North Korea was a “dead end” that brought “zero result,” and China’s deputy U.N. ambassador said the council needed to play a constructive role “instead of relying solely on strong rhetoric or pressure.”
Washington called the test “dangerous and reckless,” and the U.S. military and its allies have stepped up displays of force.
South Korean and American troops fired a volley of missiles into the sea in response, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday, and the allies earlier staged a bombing drill with fighter jets in the Yellow Sea.
The aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, a U.S. Navy ship that made its first stop in South Korea last month for the first time in years, will also return to the sea between Korea and Japan with its strike group of other warships. The South Korean military called it a “highly unusual” move designed to show the allies’ resolve to respond to any threats from North Korea.
Speaking during a visit to Chile, Blinken said the United States, South Korea and Japan were working closely together “to demonstrate and strengthen our defensive and deterrent capabilities in light of the threat from North Korea.”
He reiterated a U.S. call for Pyongyang to return to dialogue, and added: “If they continue down this road, it will only increase the condemnation, increase the isolation, increase the steps that are taken in response to their actions.”
The U.N. Security Council met on Wednesday to discuss North Korea despite China and Russia telling council counterparts they were opposed to an open meeting of the 15-member body.
The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, accused China and Russia this week of emboldening North Korea by not properly enforcing sanctions.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in an address to the Security Council, said North Korea had “enjoyed blanket protection from two members of this council.”
In May, China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-led push to impose more U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches, publicly splitting the Security Council for the first time since it started punishing Pyongyang with sanctions in 2006.
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A surface-to-surface missile is fired into the sea off the east coast in this handout picture provided by the Defense Ministry, South Korea, October 5, 2022. South Korean Defense Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
Kritenbrink also said a resumption of nuclear weapons testing by North Korea for the first time since 2017 was likely only awaiting a political decision.
South Korean officials said North Korea had completed preparations for a nuclear test and might use a smaller weapon meant for operational use or a big device with a higher yield than in previous tests.
SOUTH KOREAN MISSILE FAILURE
The South Korean military confirmed that one of its Hyunmoo-2C missiles failed shortly after launch and crashed during the exercise, but that no one was hurt.
Footage shared on social media by a nearby resident and verified by Reuters showed smoke and flames rising from the military base.
South Korea’s military said the fire was caused by burning rocket propellant, and although the missile carried a warhead, it did not explode. It apologised for worrying residents.
It is not rare for military hardware to fail, and North Korea has suffered several failed missile launches this year as well. However, the South Korean failure threatened to overshadow Seoul’s efforts to demonstrate military prowess in the face of North Korea’s increasing capabilities.
The Hyunmoo-2C is one of South Korea’s latest missiles and analysts say its capability as a precision “bunker buster” make it a key part of Seoul’s plans for striking the North in the event of a conflict.
In its initial announcement of the drill, South Korea’s military made no mention of the Hyunmoo-2C launch or its failure, but later media briefings were dominated by questions about the incident.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has made such displays of military force a cornerstone of his strategy for countering North Korea, had vowed that the overflight of Japan would bring a decisive response from his country, its allies and the international community.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned North Korea’s test in the “strongest terms,” and the European Union called it a “reckless and deliberately provocative action.” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the launch and said it was a violation of Security Council resolutions.
It was the first North Korean missile to follow a trajectory over Japan since 2017, and its estimated 4,600-km (2,850-mile) flight was the longest for a North Korean test, which are usually “lofted” into space to avoid flying over neighbouring countries.
Analysts and security officials said it may have been a variant of the Hwasong-12 IRBM, which North Korea unveiled in 2017 as part of what it said was a plan to strike U.S. military bases in Guam.
Neither North Korea’s government nor its state media have reported on the launch.
The search for a family of four kidnapped in California continues Wednesday as relatives appealed for the public’s help.
Authorities said they have a person of interest in custody and held a news conference in which they showed surveillance video of the family being forced into a truck by an armed man.
Watch the surveillance video in the video player above.
The kidnapping of 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur and Jasdeep Singh and the child’s uncle Amandeep Singh occurred on Monday in Merced, California.
“Every store, gas stations, everybody who has cameras please check the cameras,” Sukhdeep Singh, a brother of one of the victims, told reporters Wednesday. “We need the public’s help right now. Please help us … so my family comes home safe.”
According to the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation began Monday at 11:39 a.m., when the California Highway Patrol responded to a 2020 Dodge Ram that was on fire and asked the Merced Police Department to help track down the vehicle’s owner.
Roughly an hour later, at 12:35 p.m., Merced police officers arrived at the truck owner’s address and met with a family member there. Officers tried to contact the couple and the child’s uncle, but they were not able to reach them.
Watch the full news conference from authorities in the video player below
Later Monday, at 1:04 p.m., officers with the Merced County Sheriff’s Office responded to a business on South Highway 59. “During the primary investigation, Detectives determined that the individuals were kidnapped,” the sheriff’s office stated Tuesday.
The kidnapping involved a gun and restraints, according to Deputy Alexandra Britton, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.
A suspect was seen on surveillance video at a business putting two men into a truck, followed by a woman and a baby, Britton said.
In an initial statement about the case Monday, the sheriff’s office said it believed the family was taken “against their will” from a business in the 800 block of South Highway 59 in Merced, which sits between Modesto and Fresno in central California.
“We have no motivation behind it. We just know they are gone,” Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said in a video message posted on Facebook.
Warnke also said investigators collected evidence that indicates “the individuals involved in this destroyed evidence in an attempt to cover up their tracks.”
Video below: Central Valley family, including 8-month-old child, kidnapped, officials say
On Tuesday, authorities took a 48-year-old man into custody as a person of interest in the case.
Britton said the man’s family had contacted law enforcement and told them the man admitted being involved in the kidnapping. Law enforcement made contact with the man after the family’s call.
As they investigate, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office continues to ask the public to contact its office at 209-385-7547 to share any information they may have regarding the case. The FBI and the California justice department are also investigating.
“Investigators continue to follow up on all leads and are working diligently to find the family,” the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
Victim’s ATM card used following disappearance
Investigators learned Tuesday morning that an ATM card belonging to one of the victims was used at a bank in Atwater, California, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Atwater is about nine miles northwest of Merced. Britton said it is unclear whether the 48-year-old in custody is the person who used that card.
After that transaction, investigators were able to identify the 48-year-old man as a person of interest in the case and later took him into custody, officials said.
The man tried to take his life before law enforcement involvement, and he was receiving medical treatment and in critical condition Tuesday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities were working to confirm the man in custody is the same suspect they released photos of Monday, Alexandra Britton, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told CNN.
“Investigators obtained the surveillance photo of a subject making a bank transaction where the person is similar in appearance to the surveillance photo from the original kidnapping scene,” the sheriff’s office said.
On Monday, officials described the suspect as a man with a shaved head and was last seen wearing a hooded sweatshirt. He was considered armed and dangerous, officials said.
Walker raised $50,000 during that interview alone, a source close to his Senate bid told NBC News on Tuesday. The person called the haul a record for the campaign.
Walker’s Democratic rival, incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, has trounced the Republican in campaign fundraising. In the last fundraising quarter, Warnock’s campaign took in an average of almost $292,000 per day, NBC reported.
Warnock’s campaign has raised more than $60 million so far, versus about $20 million taken in by Walker, according to OpenSecrets.
The Senate race in Georgia, a swing state where President Joe Biden narrowly beat then-President Donald Trump in 2020, is one of several key elections that will determine which party controls the Senate after November’s midterm elections.
“Herschel has properly denied the charges against him, and I have no doubt he is correct,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday on his Twitter-like platform Truth Social.
Meanwhile, in a series of Twitter posts after The Daily Beast story published, Walker’s adult son Christian accused his father of lying and threatening violence against family members.
“Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one. He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it,” Christian Walker tweeted.
While the elder Walker has not responded specifically to Christian’s claims, he said Wednesday that he loves his son “unconditionally.” Walker added that he is “living proof that you can make mistakes and get up and keep going forward.”
Walker, a 60-year-old former football star, has run a scandal-plagued campaign for office. His ex-wife Cindy Grossman accused him of threatening to kill her, and Walker confirmed that he has more children than were previously known.
For the time being, Biden and DeSantis have put their budding political rivalry aside, and their administrations have worked in concert since the hurricane’s deadly collision with Florida’s west coast. DeSantis will join other local officials to brief Biden on the response and recovery efforts, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. The joint appearance will assure Floridians the state and federal government are coordinating closely to restore and rebuild, Jean-Pierre said.
“We are working as one,” she said.
DeSantis said Tuesday he would huddle with his emergency management team ahead of the President’s trip to see if there’s more that the state needs to ask of Biden when they meet. But he said the Biden administration has been helpful since before Ian made landfall.
“(The Federal Emergency Management Agency) has worked really well with the state and the local” governments, DeSantis said.
The past week marks the second time Biden and DeSantis have welcomed a brief truce in the aftermath of a tragedy. A week after a condominium tower collapsed in Surfside, Florida, last year – killing 98 people – Biden and DeSantis sat side-by-side in a public display of bipartisan mourning. They exchanged niceties in front of the cameras, with Biden affectionately patting DeSantis on the arm.
“We live in a nation where we can cooperate,” Biden said during their joint appearance. “And it’s really important.”
But the public animosity between DeSantis and Biden has only intensified in the 16 months since that day, with the White House and the country’s third-largest state seeming to be perpetually at odds. Biden has likened DeSantis to a schoolyard bully whose legislative agenda has targeted vulnerable LGTBQ kids. DeSantis has blamed Biden for rising inflation and earlier this year he accused the Democrat of withholding aid to tornado victims because the President “hates Florida.”
A rivalry grows, with pauses for unity in face of tragedy
The tensions reached an inflection point just weeks before Ian’s arrival, when DeSantis took credit for two flights carrying migrants from the border to Martha’s Vineyard. Biden criticized the stunt as “unAmerican.” DeSantis threatened future transports could be headed to Biden’s home state of Delaware.
Asked whether Biden would raise the issue of DeSantis transporting groups of migrants to democratic cities, Jean-Pierre said there will be “plenty of time to discuss differences between the President and the governor but now is not the time.”
The growing chasm in their fractured relationship has coincided with DeSantis’ swift rise within his party to become the most popular Republican not named Donald Trump. His penchant for grabbing headlines and angering liberals has made DeSantis a favorite among Republican voters, some of whom want to see him challenge Biden in 2024.
As he seeks reelection next month, DeSantis has made Biden into a staple of his campaign against his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist. The Republican Party of Florida has aired ads on DeSantis’ behalf that highlight the close ties between Crist and the President, suggesting Crist would “do to Florida what Biden’s done to America” and twice repeating a sound bite of Crist saying, “Thank God for Joe Biden.”
But those tensions have taken a backseat – at least for now – to the immense cleanup left behind by the hurricane’s sizeable wake. Biden has said he has spoken several times with the Florida leader and promised to “be there every step of the way.” DeSantis has praised the federal government response to the state’s many requests for help.
The Biden administration and DeSantis have also joined forces in pushing back against questions about the timing of evacuation orders in Lee County, where a catastrophic storm surge decimated homes and imperiled the lives of those who sheltered in place. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell defended Lee County officials, noting the unpredictable nature of this particular storm.
“As soon as the storm predictions were that it was going to impact Lee County, I know that local officials immediately put the right measures in place to make sure that they were warning citizens to get them out of harm’s way,” Criswell said.
At a news conference Monday, DeSantis attempted to shut down a reporter who was trying to ask the governor if Lee officials gave residents enough time to leave before Ian’s arrival. Lee ordered evacuation about 24 hours before the storm made landfall, later than neighboring northern counties despite forecasts that showed the potential for dangerous storm surge along the region’s coast.
DeSantis said the focus should be on “lifting people up and stop incessantly talking and trying to cast aspersions on people that were doing the best job they could with imperfect information.”
Biden to survey damage
Air Force One is expected to touch down early Wednesday afternoon in Fort Myers with first lady Dr. Jill Biden, who accompanied the President on Monday to survey damage to Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Fiona.
Biden will arrive in a community still shell-shocked by a storm that many thought was heading further north before a late wobble turned the eye toward Lee and Charlotte counties. At least 100 people died in Florida after Ian thrashed into the Gulf Coast as a massive Category 4 storm. Rescue teams continue to look for survivors as residents comb through the wreckage and search for temporary housing. More than 400,000 Florida customers remain without power, and it could be a month before electricity is restored in the hardest hit communities.
The visit has the potential to show how two men with vastly different temperaments approach a tragedy of immeasurable devastation.
Biden has often leaned into the role of consoler-in-chief, guiding the nation through the post-vaccine period of the Covid-19 pandemic and communities across the country through more localized tragedies. In less than two years as President, he has walked through the wreckage of tornado-ravaged western Kentucky, hugged the families of victims of mass-shooting in Uvalde and Buffalo and comforted those displaced by wildfires in the West.
Speaking in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday, Biden assured the island residents that “all of America’s with you.”
DeSantis, who styles himself as a hands-on leader, has commanded the state’s response with a laser-like focus on the logistics of getting the state back up and running. His news conferences rarely are flourished with personal stories of suffering and loss – a staple of Biden speeches. Instead, DeSantis is often forward-looking and matter of fact. He rattles off recovery stats and lays out in sobering detail the hurdles ahead and the state’s plans to overcome the collective hardship.
Asked by CNN on Sunday to give a message to people who could not reach their loved ones living in the storm’s path, DeSantis’ response was typically pragmatic: He focused on the state’s work with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to get the internet online in the affected communities.
“You will be able to log on,” DeSantis said. “So, that’ll be a comfort for a lot of people.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this incorrectly referenced the hurricane that caused damage to Puerto Rico. It was Hurricane Fiona.
The right wing Supreme Court majority built by ex-President Donald Trump has ruled just as conservatives had hoped on politically charged cases on abortion, climate and religion. Yet it has been far less tolerant of his efforts to block congressional investigators’ access to presidential records as well as prosecutors’ access to tax records and of his spurious election fraud claims. So Trump’s latest appeal to the nine justices in the Mar-a-Lago documents furor – another apparent delaying tactic – may be a long shot and could even backfire.
Trump on Tuesday filed an emergency application to the court to step into his dispute with the Justice Department over documents marked classified that he hoarded at the resort in Florida.
Unlike his frequently more florid and fantastical legal gambits, this one is narrow and legally nuanced – far smaller than a possible broader attempt to test an ex-president’s scope to claim executive privilege or some kind of claim that the search on his home in August was illegal. Instead, Trump wants the court to ensure that more than 100 documents designated as classified are included in a review by a third party official known as a “special master.”
The ex-President has every legal right to take such a step. But it’s also the case that Trump’s team has repeatedly sought to slow down the Justice Department’s classified documents probe in the courts, which reflects his characteristic desire to postpone accountability. In this case, any delays could push it closer to a possible Trump 2024 presidential campaign and fuel his claims of political persecution.
But, just as in other recent filings by Trump to the Supreme Court, the tactic may not work, according to legal experts.
“The Supreme Court has not looked very kindly on former President Trump in cases that he’s brought with respect to documents and his personal property both when Congress was the one seeking information from him and other government entities were the ones seeking information from him,” said Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst and former Justice Department official.
“He’s pretty consistently lost those cases. And it’s not hard to see how either the court just doesn’t take this up or rules against him if they do.”
The Supreme Court has often frustrated Trump
Trump has built a personal record of frustration before the Supreme Court.
In January, the court declined to block a handover from the National Archives of 700 documents that the House select committee probing the US Capitol insurrection said that it needed for its investigation. The Supreme Court several times rejected challenges to the 2020 election. The court has also ruled that the then-President was not immune from a New York subpoena in a criminal investigation seeking his tax records.
Trump has long appeared to believe that judges he appointed owe him loyalty. He nominated three of the Supreme Court’s nine justices – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
And he has typically reacted badly to his defeats before the top bench. In December 2020, for instance, he tweeted that the court had let him down and displayed neither wisdom nor courage in dismissing a challenge to the election.
But sometimes even humiliating court defeats can bring Trump other benefits.
While it is too early to predict how the court will handle this case, just bringing it to them works for Trump in a number of political ways.
It keeps him in the news and fuels a sense among his supporters that he is being treated unfairly. As in this case, Trump often substitutes a political or public relations strategy for a strong legal one. And it would be no surprise to see Trump fundraising off of his emergency request.
His latest move is also consistent with his habit of using every possible avenue in the legal system to slow a case or fog it up. Taking that a step further, CNN legal analyst Steve Vladeck suggested that the application to the court partly came across as an attempt by his team to placate a highly litigious client.
“This is what good lawyers who are stuck do to appease bad clients: The jurisdictional argument is narrow, technical, and non-frivolous. It’s a way of filing *something* in the Supreme Court without going all the way to crazytown and/or acting unethically,” Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor, wrote on Twitter.
‘Thin’ arguments about a legal emergency
Specifically, Trump’s emergency request does not ask the Supreme Court to restore a hold that district court Judge Aileen Cannon, whom he nominated, had imposed on the Justice Department accessing those documents marked as classified as it investigates their retention at Mar-a-Lago.
He instead wants the classified documents at issue included in a review by the special master after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the DOJ and exempted them from the review process.
The department had argued that including those documents in the special master review would harm national security.
But Trump’s team pushed back, saying in Tuesday’s filing that this position “cannot be reconciled” with the DOJ saying it may want to show those same documents to a grand jury or to witnesses during interviews.
And the application opened with a highly political argument – claiming that the “unprecedented circumstances” of the case represented an “investigation of the Forty-Fifth President of the United States by the administration of his political rival and successor” – that took large liberties with the facts of the Mar-a-Lago case.
That reasoning struck former White House counsel John Dean as “thin.”
“I didn’t see much of an emergency,” Dean, who was at the center of the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.
“The arguments are highly technical and not the sort of thing the Supreme Court, I would think, would want to get into given their current standing in public opinion.”
On Tuesday, residents in northern Japan woke to sirens warning them of the missile launch. North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile at 7:22 a.m. Japan time, which flew 4,600 kilometers (2,858 miles) for 22 minutes over Japan’s Aomori prefecture before landing in the Pacific Ocean, Japanese officials said. It reached an altitude of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
Three landfalls — Ian made landfall as a hurricane three times. It first came ashore as a 125-mph Category 3 storm near La Coloma, Cuba, early on Sept. 27. On the afternoon of Sept. 28, the storm struck Cayo Costa, Fla., as a Category 4 with 150-mph winds. Two days later, Ian made its final landfall near Georgetown, S.C., as a Category 1 at 85 mph.
Russian forces appear to be buckling under growing pressure as Ukraine continues to regain territory in the south, where Russian soldiers have been forced to retreat from previously-held settlements as Kyiv progresses with its counteroffensive towards the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.
A map used by the Russian Defense Ministry in its daily briefing on Tuesday confirmed significant Russian losses in Kherson – one of four Ukrainian regions Moscow is attempting to annex – compared to a map of the same area used in a ministry briefing a day before.
The map confirms reports from Ukrainian and pro-Russian officials, as well as pro-Russian military analysts, of significant Ukrainian gains towards Kherson, down the western bank of the Dnieper River.
Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, who spoke while the map was shown full-screen, did not mention the losses. However, he said that Russian military destroyed Ukrainian armor and killed Ukrainian forces in the area of several towns that are now understood to be under Ukrainian control – a tacit acknowledgment of Kyiv’s push.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the military for their “fast and powerful advances” in his Tuesday evening address, before celebrating that “dozens of settlements have already been liberated” this week.
Maria, 13, holds a photograph of her father, Yurii Alekseev, as she and her godfather, Igor Tarkovskii, attend Alekseev’s funeral in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 26. Alekseev, 50, was a territorial defense member who was killed by Russian soldiers, according to his family.
Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
In Kherson region, he said that Liubymivka, Khreshchenivka, Zolota Balka, Biliaiivka, Ukraiinka, Velyka, Mala Oleksandrivka, and Davydiv Brid had all been reclaimed, “and this is not a complete list.”
“Our warriors do not stop. And it is only a matter of time when we will expel the occupier from all our land,” the president added.
Zelensky on Wednesday assembled his top military and security staff to consider plans for “further liberation of Ukrainian territories,” according to the readout of the meeting from the President’s office.
Despite losing territory in the south to Ukrainian military at rapid pace, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed several laws ratifying the Russian Federation’s claimed annexation of four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Donetsk and Luhansk are both in eastern Ukraine, and fighting against Moscow-backed breakaway republics in each region has been raging since 2014. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are in southern Ukraine and have been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began in late February.
The annexations are illegal under international law. World leaders have said they are the result of “sham” referendums that will never be recognized.
Russia does not have full control of the regions it claims to have seized. In addition to Ukraine’s successes in the south, Kyiv’s forces made gains in Luhansk on Monday and liberated the strategic city of Lyman on Sunday, a key operational hub in Donetsk which the Russian army had used to funnel troops and supplies to the west and south.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it was forced to cede Lyman or risk encirclement of its troops there, allowing Ukrainian forces to potentially use the city as a staging post to push troops further east.
Asked by CNN how to interpret the language of the laws signed by Putin – which refers to the borders of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as “the territory which existed on the day of its adoption in the Russian Federation” – Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “I will leave this question unanswered.”
When pressed to clarify by CNN, Peskov added: “You should read the decree; there is a legal wording there. On the whole, of course, we are talking about the territory in which the military-civilian administration operated at the time of its adoption [as part of the Russian Federation].”
‘Painful as getting thumped on your melon’
The Russian-appointed deputy leader in the occupied Kherson region explained Ukraine’s rapid advance in recent days by saying that the Russian military was “regrouping.”
“The Russian army is conducting maneuvers,” Kirill Stremousov told Russian state news RIA Novosti. “The regrouping of the front in the current conditions allows us to gather strength and strike.”
The phrase “regrouping” was also used by the Russian Defense Ministry in September to describe the retreat of the Russian military in response to Ukraine’s offensive that recaptured the key city of Izium, in the Kharkiv region.
Stremousov on Wednesday claimed that Ukraine’s advance had been stopped, and that it was “impossible” for them to enter the occupied city of Kherson.
However, pro-Russian media has been uncommonly critical of the war effort in recent days, delivering gloomy reports that Russia’s campaign is suffering an operational crisis while Ukraine takes advantage on the battlefield.
“In the Kherson region, we have lost 17 settlements,” Alexander Sladkov, a leading Russian war correspondent, conceded on state TV Tuesday, before placing the blame on “fat” US weapons deliveries and “intelligence gathered via satellite reconnaissance.”
Sladkov is just one of several Russian correspondents in recent days to convey the losses Russia is suffering.
Alexander Kots, a correspondent for pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, who is embedded with Russian forces in the occupied eastern city of Svatove, told his Telegram followers Wednesday that the military lacks the manpower necessary to hold off a further Ukrainian advance into the Luhansk region.
“The Russian troops do not have enough manpower to stop the enemy attacks,” Kots said in a video. “The recent Russian losses are directly connected to that. It’s a very difficult period of time on the front line at the moment.”
He said that “we expect a serious fighting here very soon,” and that “it remains to be seen if it could stop the enemy advances.”
Kots confirmed that Russian forces were trying to fortify their defense at the line connecting the occupied cities of Kreminna and Svatova. Yuriy Podolyaka, a pro-Russian military blogger said on Monday that Russian troops had withdrawn to the Zherebets River, which runs just west of Kreminna and Svatova.
“The enemy is concentrating its forces to attack Svatove from two directions,” Kots said on Tuesday. “The enemy artillery is reaching and working over the Kreminna-Svatove road and its sabotage and reconnaissance groups can operate there. This area is being fortified by the Russian troops who dig trenches and place land mines.”
He said that Ukrainian forces are “on the high and enjoying a numeric advantage.”
“They don’t have problems with the intelligence data or high-precision weapons which they are constantly using. We are just waiting for our reserves to become fighting fit and join the battle.”
Meanwhile, state media reporter Evgeniy Poddubnyy, a correspondent for Russia 24, said Tuesday that “we’re going through the hardest time on the frontline” and that “for the time being it will become even harder.”
Sladkov, for his part, tried to put a positive spin on things.
“This doesn’t mean that we’ve collapsed like a house of cards. These mistakes aren’t gigantic strategic failures. We are still learning. I know this is hard to hear in our eighth month of the special operation. But we are reporters. We are waiting for reinforcements.
Sladkov’s admission on State TV was his second in less than a month, after he previously admitted that Russian forces had endured heavy losses on September 13, a Tuesday. At the beginning of this Tuesday’s interview, Sladkov quipped: “I only tell the truth on Tuesdays, and for other days I just make everything up.”
CNN’s Josh Berlinger, Julia Kesaieva, Victoria Butenko, Josh Pennington, Anna Chernova and Radina Gigova contributed to this report.
Why it matters: Tuesday’s emergency request by Trump’s legal team marks an escalation in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe.
The latest: Justice Clarence Thomas, who is assigned to oversee emergency requests in the 11th Circuit, requested the DOJ respond to Trump’s petition by 5 p.m. ET on Oct. 11.
Driving the news: Trump’s legal team in the filing asks that the special master be allowed to review the roughly 100 documents marked as classified that were found at Mar-a-Lago during the August search.
The former president’s legal team argues that the 11th Circuit lacked the judicial authority to stay the special master order “authorizing the review of seized documents bearing classification markings.”
“The eleventh circuit granted a stay of the special master order, effectively compromising the integrity of the well-established policy against piecemeal appellate review and ignoring the District Court’s broad discretion without justification,” per the filing.
“This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the special master.”
The big picture: The filing comes after an appeals court panel sided with the DOJ last month and said that it could continue its review of the classified documents as part of its criminal investigation into Trump.
Worth noting: Thomas has faced calls to recuse himself from cases involving Trump and the investigation of the Capitol insurrection given his wife, Ginni Thomas,’ active involvement in attempting to overturn the election and keep the former president in power.
Editor’s note: This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The United States and South Korea launched four missiles off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday morning local time, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The test was the allies’ second exercise in under 24 hours, following a provocative test-launch Tuesday morning by neighboring North Korea, which fired a ballistic missile without warning over Japan in a significant escalation of its weapons testing program.
The US and South Korea initially responded to the provocation with a precision bombing exercise on Tuesday, which involved a South Korean F-15K fighter jet firing two air-to-surface munitions at a virtual target in a firing range west of the Korean Peninsula, per the South Korean Joint Chiefs.
The allies typically respond to missile tests by North Korea with military exercises.
Wednesday’s launch included four ATACMS missiles, the statement by the South Korean Joint Chiefs said. Also known as Army Tactical Missile Systems, such weapons are surface-to-surface missiles that can fly around 200 miles (320 kilometers).
According to John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, the launch was designed to demonstrate that the US and its allies have “the military capabilities at the ready to respond to provocations by the North.”
“This is not the first time we’ve done this in response to provocations by the North to make sure that we can demonstrate our own capabilities,” Kirby told CNN’s Pamela Brown on the “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”
“We want to see the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, (North Korean leader Kim Jong Un) hasn’t shown an inclination to move in that direction, quite frankly he’s moving in the opposite direction by continuing to conduct these missile tests which are violations of security council resolutions,” he added.
On Tuesday, the US and Japan also conducted a joint response to the North Korean launch, with US Marine Corps and Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets flying over the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.
Following a 25-minute phone call with US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said North Korea’s latest launch posed “a grave challenge to peace and the stability of Japan, the region and the international community” and that Biden shared this view completely.
Analysts say there’s little the US and its allies can do to stop Kim’s relentless weapons buildup.
“The North Koreans are in no mood to talk. They’re in the mood of testing and blowing things off,” said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Failed US-North Korea summits during the Trump administration have led Kim to believe he can gain nothing from talks, Lewis said.
Since 2019 negotiations with former US President Donald Trump were cut short with no agreement, the North Korean leader has laid out a program to develop missiles with nuclear capability – and he’s following that timetable, Lewis added.
“North Korea is going to keep conducting missile tests until the current round of modernization is done. I don’t think a nuclear (test) explosion is far behind,” Lewis said.
Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, said North Korea is making progress.
Every time the Kim regime launches a weapon, “They learn, they get better, they get more capable,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.
Ankit Panda, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said North Korea appeared set on a course to develop nuclear weapons.
“Denuclearization is now I think in the dustbin of history as a failed policy,” he said.
“There is simply no practical plan at this point, especially in the short term, to bring North Korea to the negotiating table and to pursue denuclearization.”
LYMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets, offering more evidence Tuesday of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week.
Meanwhile, Russia’s upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexations following “referendums” that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as fraudulent.
Responding to the move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally ruled out talks with Russia, declaring that negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are impossible after his decision to take over the regions.
The Kremlin replied by saying that it will wait for Ukraine to agree to sit down for talks, noting that it may not happen until a new Ukrainian president takes office.
“We will wait for the incumbent president to change his position or wait for a future Ukrainian president who would revise his stand in the interests of the Ukrainian people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Despite the Kremlin’s apparent political bravado, the picture on the ground underscored the disarray Putin faces amid the Ukrainian advances and attempts to establish new Russian borders.
Over the weekend, Russian troops pulled back from Lyman, a strategic eastern town that the Russians had used as a logistics and transport hub, to avoid being encircled by Ukrainian forces. The town’s liberation gave Ukraine an important vantage point for pressing its offensive deeper into Russian-held territories.
Two days later, an Associated Press team reporting from Lyman saw at least 18 bodies of Russian soldiers still on the ground. The Ukrainian military appeared to have collected the bodies of their comrades after fierce battles for control of the town, but they did not immediately remove those of the Russians.
“We fight for our land, for our children, so that our people can live better, but all this comes at a very high price,” said a Ukrainian soldier who goes by the nom de guerre Rud.
Speaking late Tuesday in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said dozens of settlements had been retaken “from the Russian pseudo-referendum this week alone” in the four annexed regions. In the Kherson region, he listed eight villages that Ukrainian forces reclaimed, “and this is far from a complete list. Our soldiers do not stop.”
The deputy head of the Russian-backed regional administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian TV that Ukrainian troops made “certain advances” from the north, and were attacking the region from other sides too. He said they were stopped by Russian forces and suffered high losses.
As Kyiv pressed its counteroffensives, Russian forces launched more missile strikes at Ukrainian cities.
Several missiles hit Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, damaging infrastructure and causing power cuts. Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed. In the south, Russian missiles struck the city of Nikopol.
After reclaiming control of Lyman in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces pushed further east and may have gone as far as the border of the neighboring Luhansk region as they advanced toward Kreminna, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis.
On Monday, Ukrainian forces also scored significant gains in the south, raising flags over the villages of Arkhanhelske, Myroliubivka, Khreshchenivka, Mykhalivka and Novovorontsovka.
In Washington, the U.S. government announced Tuesday that it would give Ukraine an additional $625 million in military aid, including more of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that are credited with helping Kyiv’s recent military momentum. The package also includes artillery systems ammunition and armored vehicles.
Before that announcement, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis told a conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday that Ukraine needed more weapons since Russia began a partial mobilization of draft-age men last month. He said additional weapons would help end the war sooner, not escalate it.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the military has recruited more than 200,000 reservists as part of the partial mobilization launched two weeks ago. He said the recruits were undergoing training at 80 firing ranges before being deployed to the front lines in Ukraine.
Putin’s mobilization order said that up to 300,000 reservists were to be called up, but it held the door open for an even bigger activation. The order sparked protests across Russia and drove tens of thousands of men to flee the country.
Russia’s effort to incorporate the four embattled regions in Ukraine’s east and south was done so hastily that even the exact borders of the territories being absorbed were unclear.
The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, voted to ratify treaties to make the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. The lower house did so Monday.
Putin is expected to quickly endorse the annexation treaties.
In other developments, the head of the company operating Europe’s largest nuclear plant said Ukraine is considering restarting the Russian-occupied facility to ensure its safety as winter approaches.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Energoatom President Petro Kotin said the company could restart two of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s reactors in a matter of days.
“If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged,” he said.
Fears that the war in Ukraine could cause a radiation leak at the Zaporizhzhia plant had prompted the shutdown of its remaining reactors. The plant has been damaged by shelling, prompting international alarm over the potential for a disaster.
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