Top Democratic strategists have concluded that they lack the funds needed to fully contest all of their potentially winnable House races this cycle, people familiar with the situation said, forcing tough decisions about where to spend on television ads as Republican outside groups flood the airwaves.
The relative shortfall in outside spending is likely to leave some Democratic incumbents in contested races at sharp advertising disadvantages, while restricting the party’s ability to compete in open seats or to unseat Republican incumbents, these people said.
“There are places that I don’t know if we are going to be able to get to,” said Tim Persico, the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It’s just money. They have billionaires and corporations stepping up with big checks and we just don’t have the same type of support. We are just getting outspent everywhere, so it is just a question of how much can we withstand.”
Democrats pointed to a TV ad spending advantage by Republican outside groups, which have the flexibility to move money around the House landscape strategically in the final weeks. That edge has become more alarming as a recent shift in the national mood has put more seats in contention for Democrats, who find themselves hamstrung by the Republican advantage in donors on the GOP side.
Another House Democratic strategist said the inability to fully fund key races could prove to be the difference between winning and losing control of Congress, or between keeping Republicans to a five-seat majority and a 15-seat majority. “I don’t think it is hyperbole to say at this point that money is going to make the difference,” said this person, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk more freely about strategy.
Democrats are not favored by nonpartisan analysts to hold the House this cycle, because of the narrow majority they now enjoy and the historical head winds that the president’s party typically faces in his first midterm elections. But some Democrats feel their chances of winning have risen in recent months, given a summer spike in Democratic enthusiasm after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ruling establishing a constitutional right to abortion and a recent uptick in President Biden’s approval rating.
Ten people, including two teenagers and a young child, were killed in Friday’s explosion at a gas filling station in the northwest of Ireland, local authorities said.
Irish police said that among the 10 dead in the blast in Donegal ere four men, three women, a teenage boy, a teenage girl, and another younger girl. Police said earlier that eight people had been injured.
The explosion happened shortly after 3 p.m. local time on Friday in County Donegal at the Applegreen petrol station on the outskirts of the village of Creeslough.
Police said they believed it was a “tragic accident,” and the largest number of civilian casualty seen in decades in the region.
Superintendent David Kelly said: “This is a tragedy for our community. There are families left devastated.
“I want to offer, on behalf of myself and my colleagues that attended the scene, our very sincere condolences.
Speaking on Saturday morning to the national broadcaster RTE, Irish Prime Minister, known as the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin expressed his condolences.
Martin said: “It is absolutely devastating and quite shocking in terms of the enormity of this tragedy, the scale of it. An explosion ripping through the normality of a community, with people going to the shop, the normal toing and froing of life.
“Community is what defines our people and we are witnessing a terrible tragedy in a wonderful community,” he said.
Russia’s missile strikes on Ukrainian cities Monday, which President Vladimir Putin said targeted “energy, military command and communications facilities,” also hit downtown streets, a playground and residential areas, bearing a grim resemblance to Russia’s brutally indiscriminate military style in Syria, where the Kremlin’s new top commander of the war on Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, rose to prominence.
This is CNBC’s live blog tracking developments on the war in Ukraine. See below for the latest updates.
Russia says it has sent 900 Ukrainian soldiers to a former prison colony in a Russia-controlled part of Donetsk.
Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine is likely to continue throughout the summer and possibly beyond, despite signs that parts of the country are returning to some normalcy, Ukraine’s presidential advisor Oleksii Arestovych said, according to NBC News.
“It is quite clear to me that this war is unlikely to end by the fall,” Arestovich said on Ukrainian TV, NBC News reported. It comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks to extend martial law for another 90 days.
In some positive news, the U.S. Congress cleared $40 billion in aid for the war-torn country. It now goes to President Joe Biden for his final signature.
U.S. approves 10th security assistance package for Ukraine worth $100 million
The Pentagon announced the authorization of a tenth U.S. security assistance package of up to $100 million for Ukraine.
“Capabilities in this package are tailored to meet critical Ukrainian needs for today’s fight as Russian forces continue their offensive in eastern Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said during a daily press briefing.
The package includes:
18 155mm Howitzers
18 tactical vehicles to tow the 155mm Howitzers
Three AN/TPQ-36 counter-artillery radars
Field equipment and spare parts
— Amanda Macias
Zelenskyy praises passage of $40 billion U.S. aid package
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the passage of the $40 billion security assistance package, the largest U.S. aid package for Ukraine thus far.
Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that “$40 billion is a significant contribution to the restoration of peace and security in Ukraine, Europe and the world.”
President Joe Biden is slated to sign the bill after the Senate passed the measure with an 86 to 11 vote. The bill will finance defense equipment, refugee assistance as well as emergency food aid for Ukraine.
— Amanda Macias
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff speaks with Russian counterpart
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley spoke with his Russian counterpart via phone, the Pentagon confirmed.
“The military leaders discussed several security-related issues of concern and agreed to keep the lines of communication open,” Milley’s spokesman U.S. Army Col. Dave Butler wrote in a summary of the call with Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov.
“In accordance with past practice, the specific details of their conversation will be kept private,” Butler added.
The call comes a week after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held a phone call with his Russian counterpart, the first known discussion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
— Amanda Macias
Senate passes $40 billion assistance package for Ukraine
The Senate passed a $40 billion military and humanitarian assistance package for Ukraine, the largest aid package for the war-weary country to date.
The Senate voted 86 to 11 on Thursday, effectively passing the bill to President Joe Biden for his final signature.
The bill, which passed in the House on May 10, provides funding for defense equipment, migration and refugee assistance and emergency food assistance.
— Amanda Macias
Davos returns from pandemic, but without Russian guests
After a nearly 2-1/2-year hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Swiss town of Davos is set to again host global elites from business, government and activist groups for the World Economic Forum.
Russia’s war in Ukraine and climate change worries are expected to be on many minds at the event starting Monday as concern over the pandemic ebbs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to pipe in virtually. The biggest delegation of top Ukrainian government officials to leave the country since the war started are set to attend Davos in person, organizers said. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, forum hosts invited no Russian officials or business leaders this year.
“I’m positive that that was the right decision,” forum president Borge Brende said during a news conference Wednesday. “We do hope, though, that Russia will follow a different path … in the years to come, to start to stick to the U.N. Charter and to their international obligations.”
— Associated Press
Biden says Sweden and Finland have complete support from U.S. to join NATO
Biden’s remarks come on the heels of filed applications by both Sweden and Finland to join the world’s most powerful alliance.
Both Finland and Sweden already meet many of the requirements to be a NATO member, like having a functioning democratic political system, willingness to provide economic transparency and the ability to make military contributions to NATO missions.
However, all 30 NATO members must give unanimous approval for a country to be accepted into the alliance.
— Amanda Macias
NATO increases air policing flights over eastern flank
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg praised Denmark’s security contributions to the military alliance during a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Stoltenberg namely applauded Danish support in air policing missions over NATO member countries in the east.
From fighter jets to surveillance aircraft, the NATO alliance has placed up to 30 aircraft on patrol over the skies of its eastern flank. The additional flights come as Russian officials warn of “grave consequences” for any NATO expansion, including the recent applications from Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance.
So far, the U.S. has committed the most types of aircraft to complement the alliance’s security mission.
Here’s an overview of the NATO member aircraft flying the skies:
— Amanda Macias
UN says at least 3,811 killed in Ukraine since start of war
The United Nations has confirmed 3,811 civilian deaths and 4,278 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because the armed conflict can delay reports.
The international body said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes.
— Amanda Macias
Hundreds of Azovstal prisoners of war registered, Red Cross says
The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it continues to register prisoners of war from the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol, and has registered hundreds already this week.
The ICRC started to register combatants leaving the Azovstal plant on Tuesday, including the wounded, with the operation continuing through to today. It did not give an exact number of how many soldiers had been registered.
The Red Cross noted that it is not transporting POWs to the places where they are held, with Russia reporting yesterday that it had transferred 900 Ukrainian fighters from the plant to a former prison colony. It’s unknown what will happen to the fighters.
The Red Cross says it has been collecting vital personal information from the fighters who have been captured in a bid to help them keep in touch with their families.
In accordance with the mandate given to the Red Cross by the 1949 Geneva Conventions, it said it must have immediate access to all POWs in all places where they are held. The ICRC must be allowed to interview prisoners of war without witnesses, and the duration and frequency of these visits should not be unduly restricted.
Whenever circumstances permit, each party to the conflict must take all possible measures to search for and collect the dead.
—Holly Ellyatt
Russia forces focus fighting on Donetsk, Ukraine says
Ukraine’s armed forces have said the main focus of Russian fighters is on Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
In the latest operational update posted on Facebook, Ukraine said 16 Russian attacks were repulsed in the Donetsk and Luhansk directions last night with eight Russian tanks, 17 units of armored combat vehicles, four special armored vehicles and six conventional enemy vehicles destroyed.
They also said Russian forces were trying to regain lost positions around the major city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine. Earlier in the week, Russian forces were driven back as far as the border.
Ukraine claimed that Russia was looking to involve university students in occupied Donetsk “in hostilities” in the absence of other resources that could be mobilized. The information was not able to be verified.
— Holly Ellyatt
Correction: This post was updated to correct the location of Kharkiv. It’s in northeastern Ukraine.
Vyshyvanka Day in Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has wished his compatriots all the best for Vyshyvanka Day, a national day celebrating Ukraine’s folk traditions and culture with the national costume, the embroidered traditional dress called the “vyshyvanka.”
“I wish you health. Strong, unbreakable, brave and free. Happy Vyshyvanka Day, Ukraine!,” Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel today, while sporting his own embroidered shirt.
The day, traditionally celebrated on the third Thursday of May every year, has more resonance this year as it takes place as Ukraine remains under attack from Russia.
— Holly Ellyatt
Cease-fire in Ukraine impossible unless Russia withdraws all troops, official says
One of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s advisors has said that a cease-fire in Ukraine is impossible unless all Russian troops withdraw.
On Twitter Thursday, Mykhailo Podolyak said: “do not offer us a ceasefire – this is impossible without total Russian troops withdrawal.”
Ukraine is not interested in new “Minsk” accords and a renewal of the war in a few years, he said, referring to several failed agreements which aimed to end the conflict in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine —between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces — that had been going on since 2014 before Russia’s wider invasion.
Until Russia “is ready to fully liberate occupied territories, our negotiating team is weapons, sanctions and money,” he said.
— Holly Ellyatt
Moscow is firing senior commanders for battlefield failures, says British government
Moscow over recent weeks has fired senior military commanders for failures in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence pointed to Lt. Gen. Serhiy Kisel, whose forces failed to capture Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv. Also suspended was Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, who commanded the Black Sea Fleet until its flagship, the Moskva, was sunk in April.
Valeriy Gerasimov, Russian Chief of the General Staff, “likely remains in his post,” but it’s unclear whether President Vladimir Putin retains confidence in him.
The press office of the Russian defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an intelligence update, the British ministry predicted that Russia will face difficulty regaining the initiative in its war against Ukraine, because generals and other officials will want to seek cover by deferring to their superiors on key decisions.
“Many officials involved in the invasion of Ukraine will likely be increasingly distracted by efforts to avoid personal culpability for Russia’s operational setbacks,” the Ministry of Defence said.
— Ted Kemp
Russia says it has sent 900 Ukrainian soldiers to former prison colony
Russia said 900 Ukrainian soldiers have been taken to a former prison colony, in a Russian-controlled part of Donetsk.
Speaking on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, citing Russia’s defense ministry, that 959 Ukrainian fighters, including 51 with severe wounds, “have laid down their arms over two days.”
While the injured were receiving medical care at a hospital in the pro-Russian “Donetsk People’s Republic” in the Donbas region of east Ukraine, “the rest were sent to a pre-trial detention center,” she said, in Olenivka, where a former prison colony is located.
On Monday, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman said on Telegram that the Russian military was holding more than 3,000 civilians from Mariupol at the former penal colony with some subjected to interrogation and torture, she said. The information is unverified, however.
The soldiers had been holed up in the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol and had been evacuated earlier this week and taken to Russian-controlled territory. There were expectations that they could be exchanged for Russian soldiers in Ukrainian control but that’s uncertain.
Ukraine has said there are more of its fighters left in the Azovstal steelworks but has not said how many.
The complex was seen as the last stronghold of Ukraine’s forces in the southern port city — one that Russia has aimed to control from the start of its invasion on Feb. 24 and which is seen as a strategic objective for Moscow as it aims to create a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Ukraine said its soldiers had been “evacuated” while Russia claimed they had “surrendered.”
— Holly Ellyatt
Ukraine’s presidential advisor says the war is unlikely to end by fall
The war in Ukraine is likely to continue through the summer and possibly beyond, despite signs that some parts of the country are returning to some normalcy, Ukraine’s presidential advisor Oleksii Arestovych said, NBC News cited.
“It is quite clear to me that this war is unlikely to end by the fall,” Arestovich said on Ukrainian TV, according to NBC News.
This comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks to extend martial law for another 90 days, NBC News reported.
Since the war started on Feb. 24, martial law has been extended twice, with the current order set to end on May 25.
— Chelsea Ong
Biden optimistic about Finland and Sweden joining NATO, despite Turkey’s concerns
U.S. President Joe Biden sounded optimistic that Turkey can be persuaded to support Finland and Sweden in their bids to join NATO.
“I think we’re gonna be okay,” Biden told reporters when asked if he could convince Turkey to change its mind.
Biden’s remark came two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doubled down on his country’s opposition to the two new candidates for the international security alliance.
The White House nevertheless echoed Biden’s optimism at a press briefing.
“We’re confident that at the end of the day, Finland and Sweden will have an effective and efficient accession process, [and] that Turkey’s concerns can be addressed,” said Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan.
He noted that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in talks with his Turkish counterpart. “We feel very good about where this will track to,” Sullivan said.
— Kevin Breuninger
U.S. reopens embassy in Kyiv after closing it for three months
The U.S. reopened its embassy in Kyiv after closing it for three months before and during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“When we suspended operations at the embassy, we made the point clear: while we would relocate U.S. embassy personnel for their safety and security, this would in no way prevent our engagement with and support for, the Ukrainian people, government and civil society as well as our allies and partners,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a statement.
As it raised the American flag over the compound, the U.S. became the latest Western country to resume diplomatic operations in Kyiv.
Blinken said the U.S. enhanced security measures and protocols at the embassy ahead of the reopening and return of American diplomats.
WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) – The congressional committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas on Tuesday to three lawyers who joined former President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful attempt to overturn his election defeat: Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis.
The House of Representatives committee demanded the pro-Trump lawyers hand over documents and sit for depositions on Feb. 8.
Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, said in a statement that the panel expects the lawyers to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the Select Committee as part of its investigation into the causes of the deadly attack by Trump supporters.
The committee also subpoenaed Boris Epshteyn, a Trump political adviser.
Robert Costello, a lawyer for Giuliani, said in an interview that the subpoena was “political theater” and that his client was constrained by the legal doctrines of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege.
“I don’t think there’s anything here he can testify about,” Costello said.
Powell, Epshteyn, and Ellis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks about the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, during an appearance on the John Catsimatidis radio show in New York City, New York, U.S., September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
“The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former president about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” Thompson said in the statement.
Powell, Giuliani, and Ellis jointly spoke at a Trump campaign news conference on Nov. 19, 2020, where they vowed to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory. Powell promised to “release the Kraken,” likening their effort to a mythological sea monster.
The Trump campaign distanced itself from Powell after she claimed without evidence at the news conference that electronic voting systems had switched millions of ballots from Trump to Biden.
Giuliani’s New York law license was suspended in June, after a state appeals court found he made “demonstrably false and misleading” statements that widespread voter fraud undermined the election, won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The committee is aiming to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall, a source familiar with the investigation said last month.
CNN reported on Tuesday that the committee has subpoenaed and obtained records of phone numbers associated with one of Trump’s children, Eric Trump, as well as Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr.
The Select Committee’s members have said they will consider passing along evidence of criminal conduct by Trump to the U.S. Justice Department. Such a move, known as a criminal referral, would be largely symbolic but would increase the political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to charge the former president.
Cruz’s defense attorneys had urged the jury to sentence him to life in prison. The defense admitted Cruz was responsible for his actions and planned the school shooting, but argued Cruz suffered lifelong developmental delays that traced back to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
“Sentencing Nikolas to death will change absolutely nothing,” defense attorney Melisa McNeill said in closing arguments. “It will not bring back those 17 innocent victims that he viciously murdered.”
The prosecution, arguing for the death penalty, told jurors that Cruz researched previous mass shootings and planned a “systematic massacre.”
“Some of the remarks the defendant wrote on his YouTube were: ‘No mercy, no questions, double tap. I’m going to … murder children. … I’d love to see the families suffer,'” prosecutor Michael Satz said in closing arguments.
“He’s thinking ahead,” Satz said, by “not only looking to inflict pain” on the victims, but also “anticipating how that pain, fear and death … is gonna affect the families.”
Two people are dead and three injured after what appears to have been a targeted shooting at a home in northern Indiana, police said.
The incident occurred Saturday around 3:20 p.m., when an emergency call reported that five people had been “severely injured” in a shooting, the Goshen Police Department said on Facebook.
One man was pronounced dead at the scene, while a second man died after transported to a hospital in Goshen, police said.
Three additional shooting victims have been transported to area hospitals. Two women were airlifted to a trauma hospital in Fort Wayne, while a third woman was taken to a trauma hospital in South Bend, police said.
“Although the investigation is on-going, preliminary information indicates that the shooting was targeted, not gang related, and there does not appear to be any further threat of danger to the community at this time,” the Goshen Police Department said.
The Elkhart County Homicide Unit is leading the investigation into the shooting, police said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
An off-duty police officer who was running for state Senate as a Republican in Rhode Island suspended his campaign and faces charges after his Democratic political rival says he attacked her during an abortion rights rally.
The Providence police officer, Jeann Lugo, a candidate in the race for Senate District 29, has been placed on paid administrative leave following the incident at the State House in Providence on Saturday.
Rhode Island Political Cooperative Chairwoman Jennifer Rourke said Lugo punched her twice in the face, The Providence Journal reported.
“To me, this feels like an act of political violence similar to the acts of violence that we have seen across the U.S.,” Rourke said. “I’m a Black woman running for office. There was no need, no need for any of this. I’m not going to give up.”
Lugo, who has been on the force for three years, is under investigation, police said.
The incident comes as tensions run high after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion.
Lugo was arraigned on charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct on Saturday. He was later released on his own recognizance pending a July 8 court date, according to a news release by Providence Police spokeswoman Lindsay Lague.
Lugo was placed on administrative leave pending the criminal investigation and administrative review, Lague said.
Rourke denied Lugo’s allegation, which claimed she had become physical with him. Lugo did not deny punching Rourke.
“I’m not going to deny,” Lugo told The Journal of the punching allegation. “It was very chaotic, so I can’t really tell you right now. Everything happened very fast.”
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