Holy, Holy, Holy: Guilty As F*#k Of Absolutely Everything
Wow. Just like the "stable genius" and "very innocent man" predicted, it turns out "even Mother Teresa could not beat these charges" - 'cause she too evidently had Michael Cohen pay off an adult film star she banged - which is why a blessed jury of regular Americans found Trump guilty of all 34 charges in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the 2016 election so we wouldn't know what an utter scumbag he is. Now, of course, we do. A good day.
Along with his endless squealing and whining about a witch hunt - aka a demand for accountability for just a few of his many crimes - Trump this week outlandishly compared himself to Mother Teresa, the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning Catholic missionary canonized in 2016 for her humanitarian work with the poor in Kolkata, India. God knows she had her own issues: Skeptics called her "an emotional con artist," anti-abortion zealot and outright sadist who clung to often-inadequate care of the sick and dying because their suffering brought them closer to God, just like Jesus would have wanted. Still, the Narcissist-in Chief adding her to the lofty, bonkers stable of luminaries he's just like - Lincoln, Washington, Mandela, Elvis and of course Jesus, along with the more dubious Al Capone and Hannibal Lecter - was a bridge of cognitive dissonance too far. "I'm sorry," said one baffled observer. "Did Trump pretty much just say Mother Theresa slept with Stormy Daniels and paid her off?" Yes. Yes, he did. Nothing to see here.
Starting out, he also - E.B. White wept - charged Judge Juan Merchan with "confliction." As in, "I would say, in listening to the charges from the judge, who's, as you know, very conflicted and corrupt, because of the confliction, very, very corrupt..." he blathered, before launching into the killer claim that, "Mother Teresa could not beat these charges." "These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged. The whole country's a mess...You have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can't breathe....It's a disgrace. Mother Teresa could not beat those charges, but we'll see. We'll see how we do." Well, now we know how he did. Watch Rachel Maddow and her straight-faced colleagues count down the "definitive" guilty verdicts, 1 to 34. A moment for the ages. Each, for a class "E" felony, carries a maximum sentence of four years. Don't hold your breath on prison for a first-time offender, but still: Now he's a twice-impeached, legally adjudicated rapist with 34 felony convictions - who, hallelujah, can't get a real estate license.
"This is a very sad day for America," the perp sulked. "The whole world is watching." Yes, gleefully. It's also "a very sad day for New York," which will now lose "trillions" of dollars in business because he was "treated very, very badly." Just like the massive outraged crowds, numbering five or six sad slouches, who daily converged at the courthouse to demand he be freed from "these fascists and these thugs that are destroying us (with) everything they do," also from a jury of random New Yorkers, each braver than every slimy GOP lawmaker (sic) who trudged there in fealty. When the verdicts were announced, hear the cheers outside as the guilty counts roll in: "Count 1,2,3,4...up to.24...guilty on all 34 charges." See the giddy headlines: "Queens Man Convicted." Read the shiny new Wikipedia entry for DJT: "American politician, media personality, businessman and convicted felon." And on behalf of Mother Teresa, see Franklin Graham's earlier plea to join him in prayer: "We pray that God's will be done." It was. Maddow: "The test for us as a country starts right now."
Update: The New Yorker was ready. So was the Grifter-In-Chief's political machine. Within four minutes of the verdict, his campaign sent out a rabid fundraising pitch shrieking, "I am a political prisoner!" and "JUSTICE IS DEAD IN AMERICA!", decrying his enemies' "sick & twisted goal (that) proud supporters like YOU will SPITwhen you hear my name." He also posted a darkly threatening video: "This is our final battle." David Frum, on Trump's Florida opposing voting by felons but not for felons, following "the foundational rule "if you’re a Trump supporter, you will sooner or later be called to jettison any and every principle you ever purported to hold." Heather Cox Richardson: "Today, twelve ordinary Americans did what Republican senators refused to do. They protected the rule of law and held Trump accountable for his attempt to rig an election...In a court of law, where prosecutors brought facts, witnesses were under oath, and jurors did not need him to keep them in positions of power, he lost."
Sanders, Omar Proposal Would 'End Absurd Corporate Welfare' for Fossil Fuel Giants
Demanding an end to a system in which American families have been forced to "pad the profits" of an industry that has heightened their risk of facing climate disasters, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar on Thursday reintroduced a bill to eliminate the estimated $17 billion in annual direct federal subsidies to fossil fuel companies.
The Vermont Independent and Minnesota Democrat urged passage of the End Polluter Welfare Act, which would save U.S. taxpayers up to $170 billion over the next decade.
The two progressive leaders emphasized that over the past three decades, the six largest private fossil fuel firms have made $2.4 trillion in profits "off the backs of people all around the world who have suffered, and are suffering, from the devastating repercussions of climate change," with an analysis in February showing that climate disasters now cost the U.S. nearly $100 billion per year.
The oil, gas, and coal industry spent nearly $137 million lobbying Congress in 2023 to ensure they would continue receiving U.S. taxpayer-funded subsidies.
"Compared to $17 billion in subsidies, that's a more than 12,300 percent return on investment," said Sanders' office in a statement.
The senator called the fossil fuel industry's treatment of the American public and their decades of denial that their emissions are dangerously heating the planet "one of the biggest scandals of our lifetime."
"At a time when scientists tell us we need to drastically reduce carbon pollution to prevent climate catastrophe, when fossil fuel companies are making billions of dollars in profit every year, and when working people across this country are living paycheck to paycheck, we have a fiscal and moral responsibility to put a stop to this absurd corporate welfare," said Sanders. "No, working families should not be forced to pad the profits of an industry that is destroying our planet."
Sanders and Omar said the End Polluter Welfare Act would further President Joe Biden's goal of eliminating tax preferences and loopholes for the fossil fuel industry, put forward in his Fiscal Year 2025 budget. The legislation would also:
- Prohibit taxpayer-funded fossil fuel research and development;
- Update below-market royalty rates for oil and gas production on federal lands;
- Recoup royalties from offshore drilling in public waters;
- Ensure competitive bidding and leasing practices for coal development on federal lands;
- End federal support for international oil, gas, and coal projects to help the international community move away from dirty fossil fuels to clean sources of power; and
- Guarantee the solvency of the Black Lung Disability Fund, ensuring continued medical care for tens of thousands of working-class Americans who have worked for decades in the energy sector.
Sanders and Omar previously introduced the legislation in 2020 and 2021.
"American taxpayers have been forced to foot the bill for corporate handouts propping up the fossil fuel industry that is driving the climate crisis," said Omar. "With the End Polluter Welfare Act, we're putting a stop to these subsidies that accelerate environmental devastation. It's time to transfer that revenue to invest in a clean energy future that protects our environment."
More than 300 organizations have endorsed the bill, and 26 members of the U.S. House have been joined by six senators in co-sponsoring it.
By supporting the bill, said Omar, lawmakers are choosing "to fight for our children's right to a healthy planet and economy powered by renewable sources, not wealthy CEOs' profits."
Sanders Warns 'Unjustifiably High' Prices of Weight Loss Drugs Could Bankrupt US Health System
Releasing the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee's findings on the prices of weight loss drugs in the United States, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday ramped up pressure on a Danish pharmaceutical company to lower the "outrageously high" prices of Ozempic and Wegovy, warning that the current pricing could bankrupt the country's healthcare system.
As chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, Sanders (I-Vt.) is leading an investigation into Novo Nordisk's weight loss drug pricing, and the report published Wednesday is the result of modeling his staff completed to show how the medications' exorbitant prices could impact prescription drug pricing across the United States.
The committee found that if half of all U.S. adults with obesity took Wegovy and other diabetes drugs that have recently been approved for weight loss, it could cost $411 billion per year. In 2022, Americans spent $406 billion on all retail prescription drugs.
Medicare and Medicaid would spend an estimated $166 billion per year on the medications if half of the programs' patients used them, rivaling the $175 billion the programs spent on prescription drugs in 2022.
"Today's report makes it crystal clear: The outrageously high price of Wegovy and other weight loss drugs have the potential to bankrupt Medicare and our entire health care system," said Sanders.
The projected costs are a far cry from what patients in Denmark and other European countries would pay for the same drugs.
Americans currently pay $969 per month for Ozempic and $1,349 per month for Wegovy. While the two drugs have the same active ingredient, the former is typically used to treat Type 2 diabetes and the latter is for weight loss and management.
Ozempic costs just $155 in Canada, $71 in France and $59 in Germany. Danish patients pay just $186 per month for Wegovy, while the medication costs $137 in Germany and $92 in the U.K.
Sanders' report says that Novo Nordisk's prices are "especially egregious" considering the fact that the company could make a profit off manufacturing them for less than $5 per month.
"The unjustifiably high prices of these weight loss drugs could also cause a massive spike in prescription drug spending that could lead to an historic increase in premiums for Medicare and everyone who has health insurance," said the senator. "There is no rational reason, other than greed, for Novo Nordisk to charge Americans struggling with obesity $1,349 for Wegovy when this same exact product can be purchased for just $186 in Denmark."
The report cites the North Carolina state health plan's decision last month to end coverage for Wegovy and similar medications.
The plan administrators "estimated that continuing coverage for Wegovy at its current price would require them to double insurance premiums. Faced with impossible choices, the health plan eliminated coverage," reads the report.
The reason nearly 20,000 teachers and other state employees in North Carolina lost access to the drugs, the report emphasizes, "was not because there were not enough drugs to meet demand, but because Novo Nordisk refused to lower prices to make those drugs widely available."
Thirty-five state Medicaid programs do not cover the medications at all, the HELP Committee noted, due to the price.
"As important as these drugs are, they will not do any good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them," reads the report. "Further, if the prices for these products are not substantially reduced, they have the potential to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and our entire healthcare system."
The committee found that if Novo Nordisk made the U.S. price of Wegovy equal to what Danish patients pay, the healthcare system could pay for new weight loss drugs for 100% of adults with obesity annually for less than what it costs to cover just 25% of those patients at the current drug prices.
The healthcare system would save up to $317 billion per year, according to the committee's modeling.
The report was released days after Sanders appealed to the Danish government in the pages of one of the country's largest newspapers, Politiken, calling on officials to force Novo Nordisk to lower U.S. prices.
"As many Danes may know, I have long admired the welfare system that has been built up in Denmark," wrote Sanders. "When I was a candidate for the presidency, I often pointed out that the United States could learn a lot from Denmark in terms of access to healthcare and education, as well as respect for the environment and workers' rights. There is a reason why Denmark is considered one of the happiest places on Earth in international surveys. The Danish people should be proud of what you have managed to achieve."
"So now I want to appeal to the people of Denmark and the charitable foundation that owns this hugely profitable company," he continued. "Help the American people do something about the epidemic of obesity and diabetes we are facing."
Pelle Dragsted, a member of Danish Parliament for the Red-Green Alliance and a democratic socialist, applauded Sanders' op-ed.
"Healthcare is a human right," said Dragsted on Monday. "Having an illness should never be the ruin of anyone. Our message to Novo Nordisk is clear: Choose basic decency and social responsibility over profit—lower your prices in the U.S."
More House Democrats Say 'No' to Netanyahu Speech to Congress
A growing number of U.S. congressional Democrats pushed back Friday against pressure to endorse House Speaker Mike Johnson's invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress—even as his government stands accused of genocide in a World Court case and he faces the prospect of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Opposition to Johnson's (R-La.) invitation—which the speaker formally announced Thursday—has been mounting following news that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for warrants to arrest Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders for alleged crimes committed on and after October 7 and Friday's International Court of Justice order for Israel to immediately halt its assault on Rafah.
While there is some question over whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will endorse a Netanyahu congressional address—with Johnson tellingThe Independent on Wednesday that Schumer said he'd sign the invitation letter—mainstream Democrats are joining the chorus of calls from progressive lawmakers and campaigners opposing the prospective speech. Several of the lawmakers spoke to Axios on Friday.
"I think it's a strange time to invite Netanyahu; it's a really divisive kind of move," Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) said, pointing to Khan's effort to arrest the Israeli leader.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said, "I don't think it's a good time... let's not complicate an already complicated situation."
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) asserted that Netanyahu "should be focused on freeing hostages, not on charming legislators."
Regarding whether Schumer would sign the invitation, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) simply said, "No."
Pelosi, Himes, and Peters were among the 173 House Democrats who last month voted to approve $26 billion in new U.S. military aid to Israel, in addition to the nearly $4 billion it already gets from Washington each year. Kildee voted against the aid package.
Congressional progressives have voiced opposition to a Netanyhau speech for days, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who caucuses with Democrats—indicating Wednesday that he would boycott any address by the prime minister and calling the invitation "a terrible idea."
Sanders told CNN's Kaitlan Collins: "Look, you have a prime minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history. Israel, of course, had the right to defend itself against the Hamas terrorist attack, but what Netanyahu has done is go to war against—all-out war—against the entire Palestinian people, women and children."
"Five percent of the population is now dead or wounded. Sixty percent of them are women and children. Some 200,000 housing units have been completely destroyed," he continued. "Every university in Gaza has been bombed. There is now imminent starvation taking place."
"So why you would invite somebody who has done such horrific things to the Palestinian people?" Sanders added. "I think it's a very bad idea."Sen. Bernie Sanders on Benjamin Netanyahu potentially being invited to address a joint session of Congress right now: “It’s a terrible idea. No I won’t go. You have a Prime Minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history.” pic.twitter.com/czy0CICqSo
— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) May 23, 2024
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said earlier this week that "if Netanyahu comes to address Congress, I would be more than glad to show the ICC the way to the House floor to issue that warrant."
Netanyahu—who faces multiple criminal corruption charges in Israel unrelated to Palestine—has addressed Congress three times. If he does so again he will have spoken before Congress more than any other foreign leader.
Controversy over a potential Netanyahu speech goes beyond Gaza and corruption charges. The prime minister raised eyebrows in 2008 after he said that Israel "benefited" from the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States—which he earlier called a country that "can easily be moved."
Southeast Abortion Clinic Wait Times Soared After Florida Ban
Wait times have increased at 30% of the abortion clinics in the states closest to Florida after its draconian six-week abortion ban went into effect on May 1.
The data comes from a survey carried out by Middlebury University economics professor Caitlin Myers and her undergraduate students, which was reported by The Washington Post on Friday.
"Distance and wait times are up... but telehealth is helping meet demand," Myers wrote on social media, summarizing her findings.
Suspecting that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturnRoe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, Myers began to survey abortion clinics about their wait times starting in March of that year. In her new survey tracking the impact of the Florida ban, Myers and her students called 130 clinics in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. They made their first round of calls last month before Florida's ban went into effect, and the next round on May 13.
Before the ban, the average Florida resident lived 20 miles from a clinic and would need to wait five days to access an abortion. After the ban, the driving distance increased by nearly 30 times to 590 miles and the wait time expanded to almost 14 days.
The Post also conducted its own analysis and found that the ban has forced around 7 million reproductive-age women in Florida and nearby states to travel farther if they need an abortion after six weeks, with the average woman now needing to drive for over seven more hours than before. The paper also found that the ban impacted a larger proportion of Black and low-income women when compared with national demographics.
Further, the Post spoke to clinic workers who detailed some of the individual stories behind the data.
Fort Lauderdale clinic director Eileen Diamond recounted the story of one woman who had traveled from Houston to Florida in search of an abortion, only learning after an 18-hour drive that Florida had passed its six-week ban. The woman, who was nine-weeks pregnant, then had to drive at least another 12 hours to Virginia and another 17 home.
"This woman was desperate," Diamond told the Post. "She had used everything she had to come to us."
Sometimes, different state restrictions can interact to make life even more difficult for those in need of abortion care. North Carolina, the closest state to Florida where abortion is legal after six weeks, requires patients to wait 72 hours between an initial consultation with a physician and the actual procedure, which puts up additional barriers for out-of-state patients. As the Post explained:
One Florida patient recently traveled 23 hours on a Greyhound bus for a consultation appointment at A Woman's Choice in Charlotte, according to Lakeynn Huffman, the clinic manager—returning home that night because she could not find childcare to cover the full 72 hours she had to wait between appointments.
The woman made the same trip two days later, Huffman said—traveling for a total of 92 hours to get an abortion.
While Florida's ban has put an additional burden on neighboring clinics, the rush has been less dramatic than after Texas passed its six-week ban in 2021. Myers explained that this is because more women are accessing abortion pills in the mail via telemedicine consultations.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments last month in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a case brought by right-wing anti-abortion activists that seeks to restrict access to the widely used abortion pill mifepristone. The court is expected to issue a final ruling in June.
"Telehealth is really a game changer for abortion access," Myers told the Post. "But it might be a fragile one."
US-Made Bombs Were Used in Israel's Tent Massacre in Rafah
Israel used U.S.-made bombs in its attack on a camp of displaced Palestinians outside Rafah that killed dozens on Sunday night, according to analyses from bothThe New York Timesand CNN.
Humanitarian groups had condemned the Israeli strike, which killed at least 45, mostly women and children, and injured more than 240. The attack left medical personnel dealing with charred corpses and missing limbs. An expert at the Council on American-Islamic Relations called it a "U.S.-backed massacre."
Using videos from the site of the attack, weapons experts identified remnants of GBU-39s, which are relatively small bombs designed and manufactured by Boeing in the U.S. One expert, interviewed by the Times and CNN, said that the tail actuation unit of the GBU-39 was visible, helping with identification of the weapon.
New analysis via @trbrtc, @robinnyc7, and @heytherehaley that the bomb dropped near the Rafah IDP tent camp was manufactured in the US. https://t.co/wp4AdlbufP
First person I saw with a correct ID of the munition was @Easybakeovensz, props to him: https://t.co/mTk8p7mngg
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) May 29, 2024
The news outlets indicated that at least some of the parts for the GBU-39s were also manufactured in the U.S., which experts were able to determine thanks to visible serial numbers and unique identifier codes. The Times cited Woodward, an aerospace manufacturer based in Colorado, as a manufacturer of one of the parts, while CNN cited an unnamed California parts manufacturer.
Israel's military has said that Sunday's strike was aimed at two Hamas leaders who were killed by the bombs. An Israeli military spokesperson told reporters at a Tuesday briefing that the bombs weighed 37 pounds—matching the weight of GBU-39s, though he didn't confirm the type of bomb that was used—and argued that they were too small to have started the large fire that erupted at the camp site. He said that the fire may have been a secondary explosion due to weapons being stored there.
The Biden administration used the bomb size as evidence that Israel's military had made an effort to be targeted in its attack. GBU-39s are more precise than other weapons that the U.S. has provided to Israel—including 2,000-pound bombs—and the Biden administration has encouraged Israel to use them so as to limit civilian casualties.
"The Israelis have said they used 37-pound bombs," John Kirby, a White House spokesperson, said at a press conference on the massacre on Tuesday. "If it is in fact what they used, it is certainly indicative of an effort to be discreet and targeted and precise."
Kirby said that Israel had not yet crossed President Joe Biden's "red line"—a threat to withdraw military aid if Israel invades Rafah—because its military was taking action in a corridor outside Rafah, rather than making a full-scale ground operation into the city.
"How many more charred corpses does he have to see before the president considers a change in policy?" CBS News' Ed O'Keefe asked in response, prompting Kirby to "flip out," according toThe New Republic's Hafiz Rashid.
Washington DC is under total occupation. This is over 100 years in the making - John Kirby and his crocodile tears on parade.
pic.twitter.com/TZeNniZfX9
— el_oso 🇺🇸 (@LopezMotorsCars) May 28, 2024
International condemnation of Israel, including an International Court of Justice ruling that Israel must stop its offensive in Rafah, hasn't stopped the U.S. from supporting the war effort. Last month, Biden signed a foreign aid bill that allotted billions in unconditional military assistance to Israel, and the White House announced another $1 billion in arms shipments on May 14.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Sunday attack a "tragic mistake" on Monday, but the Israeli military engaged in a similar attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 21.
This post has been updated to correct Ed O'Keefe's question to John Kirby.
Israeli Minister Threatens to Turn Occupied West Bank Into Ruins 'Like in the Gaza Strip'
One advocate responded: "Take this seriously. If extremists like Smotrich get their way they will do to the West Bank exactly what they have done to Gaza."
Israel's forces have killed at least 36,224 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in less than eight months, and far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday threatened to similarly attack the illegally occupied West Bank.
Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, shared on social media a video he recorded in Bat Hefer, following similar posts a day earlier. The Times of Israelreported that the minister's comments came after Palestinians' gunfire from Tulkarem in the West Bank toward the Israeli settlement.
"Our message to the neighbors beyond the fence in Tulkarem, Nur Shams, Shuweika, and Qalqilya: We will turn you into ruined cities like in the Gaza Strip if the terror you are exerting on the settlements continues," Smotrich said in Hebrew, according to a translation from Al Jazeera.
NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy pointed out that not only is Smotrich an advocate of illegal Israeli settlements—he has a home near Kedumim—but also "his role as finance minister means he oversees budgets, like police and army."
Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns of the U.K.-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, said of Smotrich's remarks: "Take this seriously. If extremists like Smotrich get their way they will do to the West Bank exactly what they have done to Gaza. Starting with the refugee camps and Area C communities (to a certain extent it has already begun)."
Since the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 500 Palestinians in the West Bank.
Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights group in the United States, issued a statement about multiple recent events, including the minister's comments.
"Every day, we see Israel's far-right government targeting civilian infrastructure vital to the lives of ordinary Palestinians, whether in Gaza or the West Bank," Hooper said. "This ongoing destruction has one goal—to make life unbearable for the Palestinian people and to force their removal from the land of Palestine."
CAIR also "condemned the far-right Israeli government's destruction of a vegetable market in the West Bank city of Ramallah," explaining: "During a raid, Israeli stun grenades and tear gas canisters ignited the blaze that consumed a large portion of the market. Some 200 shops and stalls were impacted."
The group further pointed out that the devastation in Ramallah followed Israeli forces bombing a pair of encampments in and near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, attacks that killed dozens of Palestinians displaced by the war—which over 30 countries have argued to the International Court of Justice amounts to genocide.
Smotrich has come under fire for other statements since Israel launched its retaliation for the October 7 attack. Just last month, in what critics called blatantly genocidal language, he advocated for "total annihilation" of Gaza.
In January, Smotrich said that the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza would be a "humanitarian solution" and "a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where, four minutes away from our settlements, there is a hotbed of hatred and terror, where there are 2 million people who wake up every morning with the desire to destroy the state of Israel."
Smotrich made similar remarks before the current escalation, declaring in March 2023 that an entire Palestinian town should be "wiped out" by Israel and that "there's no such thing as Palestinians because there's no such thing as a Palestinian people."
Biden Reportedly Gives Ukraine OK to Strike Russia With US Weapons
One high-ranking Vatican official warned that the new policy "could lead to an escalation that no one will be able to control."
U.S. President Joe Biden has partially lifted his administration's ban on Ukrainian use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia, according to Thursday reporting—a policy critics have called a provocative escalation of the 27-month war.
Citing "people familiar with the move," Politicoreported that Biden has quietly given Kyiv the green light to carry out limited cross-border strikes near Kharkiv as Russian forces menace Ukraine's second-largest city.
"The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them," one American official told the outlet. The official said that Biden's prohibition on long-range attacks inside Russia "has not changed." They gave a similar statement to The Hill.
"The No. 1 priority for U.S.-Ukraine policy should be avoiding escalation to direct U.S. conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia."
Russian President Vladimir Putin—who ordered the invasion of his neighbor in February 2022—warned Tuesday that any attacks by Ukrainian forces on Russia using Western-supplied weapons "can lead to serious consequences."
Biden's reversal came amid divided opinion in his administration over whether to allow Ukraine to use U.S. arms to attack Russia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken favored the more aggressive policy, which is supported by major NATO allies including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Anti-war voices sounded the alarm over Biden's shift, with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin
saying, "I think this possibility should concern everyone who cares about the fate of our world."
"It could lead to an escalation that no one will be able to control," he added.
Defense Priorities, a Washington, D.C.-based foreign policy think tank, said on social media that "the No. 1 priority for U.S.-Ukraine policy should be avoiding escalation to direct U.S. conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia."
"When the U.S. should be exercising its diplomatic power, it is instead entrenching itself deeper into a war Kyiv is unlikely to win," the Koch brothers-funded organization added.
'Historic Win for Accountability': New York Jury Finds Trump Guilty on 34 Felony Counts
"Now it's up to the American people to protect our democracy by holding Trump accountable at the ballot box and ensuring that a convicted fraudster never steps foot in the Oval Office again," said one democracy defender.
A New York jury on Thursday found former U.S. President Donald Trump guilty of all 34 felony charges related to the falsification of business records regarding hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election.
The verdict—which came on the second day of jury deliberations—marked the first time in U.S. history that a former president has been convicted of felony crimes. The presumptive 2024 Republican nominee faces 54 other federal and state felony charges across three more cases.
"I never thought I'd see the day," journalist Mehdi Hasan said on social media following the verdict's announcement. "Teflon Trump finally found guilty of crimes."
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington president Noah Bookbinder said after the verdict:
The conviction of a former leader is a sad day for the country, but today's conviction is also a historic win for accountability, and affirms that Donald Trump indeed broke the law by falsifying records in order to hide information from the American people ahead of the 2016 election. After reviewing an enormous amount of overwhelming evidence, the jury unanimously concluded that Trump engaged in criminal activity that demands accountability, all the more so because it may be only the first piece of what appears to have been a presidential crime spree.
Speaking after his conviction, Trump said: "This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt."
"I'm a very innocent man," added Trump, who is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the Republican convention. He could face up to four years behind bars.
Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000, while the owner of the The National Enquirer tabloid paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000. Both women say they had sexual relations with Trump.
President Joe Biden's reelection campaign issued a statement following Trump's conviction:
In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.
Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today's verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.
Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert said that "this is an historic moment for democracy."
"A jury heard evidence that Donald Trump illegally interfered in the 2016 election and rendered a fair and appropriate verdict," she continued. "New York's prosecutors served justice by bringing this case. We applaud the jury for doing its job and standing up for the fundamental principle that no one is above the law, not even a former president."
"Justice was served today, Gilbert added. "On to the next trial!"
Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, asserted that "this case was always about hiding key information from voters, and now a jury of the former president's peers have confirmed that he lied to the public by falsifying business records in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 election."
"This is a felony punishable with jail time or probation, and just like anyone else convicted of the same crime, we expect him to be sentenced accordingly," Lerner added. "We thank the jury—whom Mr. Trump and his lawyers helped to select—for doing their civic duty, and trust that the public will accept their decision as well as their right to privacy. Respect for the rule of law is the foundation of our democracy, but so is public trust in the process."
Sean Eldridge, founder and president of Stand Up America, said in a statement that "today's verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law in the United States of America, including a former president."
"Falsification of business records is a serious crime, and Trump is finally being held accountable like any other American would," he continued. "This verdict is not just about 'hush money payments.' It's about an illegal attempt to hide the truth from voters just days before the 2016 election, and it's part of Trump's clear pattern of doing anything—including breaking the law—in order to cling to power."
"Despite this monumental verdict, one trial isn't going to keep Trump out of the White House," Eldridge added. "The jurors have done their duty, and now it's up to the American people to protect our democracy by holding Trump accountable at the ballot box and ensuring that a convicted fraudster never steps foot in the Oval Office again."