Today so far
- Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, spoke more from Brussels, warning that when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the “suffering we’ve already seen is likely to get worse before it gets better.”
- The Biden administration is asking Congress for $10bn more to aid Ukraine.
- Joe Biden made some remarks in Washington on manufacturing and infrastructure.
- A federal appeals court ruled that the Biden administration can continue to rapidly expel migrant families unlawfully crossing the US-Mexico border, but should avoid sending them anywhere they could be persecuted or tortured.
Updated
Speaking of Poland, a bipartisan group of senators are calling on Joe Biden to expedite the sale of arms to the country amid tensions:
Bipartisan group of senators urging the Biden administration to expedite arms sale to Poland amid Russian invasion of Ukraine: https://t.co/XSGdPx0yH4
— Zach C. Cohen (@Zachary_Cohen) March 4, 2022
Updated
Amid the unrest in Europe, vice-president Kamala Harris will head to Poland and Romania next week to reaffirm the US-Nato alliance:
NEW: @VP to Poland and Romania March 9-11 pic.twitter.com/DBXtjjwsvd
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 4, 2022
Updated
And we finally have a statement from Donald Trump about Bill Barr, his second attorney general and the author of a book, out next week but extensively trailed, in which he says his former boss was unfit to be president and still will be if he chooses to run again.
In Trump’s words, Barr…
… wouldn’t know voter fraud if it was staring him in the face – and it was. The fact is, he was weak, ineffective, and totally scared of being impeached, which the Democrats were constantly threatening to do. They ‘broke’ him. He should have acted much faster on the Mueller Report, instead of allowing the fake Russia, Russia, Russia, Hoax to linger for so long, but it was the Election Fraud and Irregularities that he refused to act on because he wanted to save his own hide – and he did. He never got impeached, contempt charges never went forward, and the Democrats were very happy with him – but I wasn’t.
In Barr’s words – and to be fair, the words of many others – Trump’s lie about election fraud was just that, a lie. Barr resigned on 14 December 2020, at a meeting at which Trump gave him a bogus report about supposed fraud in Antrim county, Michigan, which he kept pushing on subordinates after that, as his attempt to overturn the election ran on and up to the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
Here’s more about Barr’s book – what’s in it and, more to the point, what isn’t:
Updated
A little tidbit from Joe Biden and his meeting today with Sauli Niinisto, the president of Finland:
Quite the Oval exchange today, via pooler @TalKopan:
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) March 4, 2022
Biden
“You know my predecessor who sat in this seat, President Obama used to say (if the majority) were Nordic countries, we’d be fine.”
Finnish president:
“Well we usually don’t start wars.”
Updated
Last night, the Florida senate passed a bill banning access to abortions after 15 weeks.
Vice-president Kamala Harris issued a statement today that “the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to do everything in our power to protect access to healthcare and defend a woman’s right to make decisions about her body and determine her future”.
“The right of women to make decisions about their own bodies is non-negotiable,” she said.
Updated
Former vice-president Mike Pence reportedly will call on Republicans to stop repeating the lie that Donald Trump keeps peddling that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Pence will call on GOP to stop fighting 2020 election results in speech to party’s top donors tonight. “We cannot win by fighting yesterday’s battles, or by relitigating the past.”
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 4, 2022
Updated
White House press secretary Jen Psaki fielded a question about Lindsey Graham and his comments calling for the assassination of Vladimir Putin.
“That is not the position of the United States government that is certainly not the statement you would hear coming from the mouth of anybody working in this administration,” she said.
When pressed further on the topic – on whether Joe Biden agreed with Graham that Putin’s death was the only way out of this war – Psaki staunchly doubled down.
“The president believes there continues to be a diplomatic path forward,” she said. “President Putin has the ability to deescalate. We have left the door open for months now to engage in deescalation.”
Psaki continued: “We are not advocating for killing the leader of a foreign country or a regime change. That is not the policy of the United States.”
Read more about the outcry against Graham’s comments here:
Updated
White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed the Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine.
The US embassy in Ukraine called the attack on the nuclear plant a war crime. But Psaki said the determination of Russia’s war crimes is still an ongoing process that is taking place within the administration.
It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant. Putin's shelling of Europe's largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further. #TheHague #Zaporizhzhia #StandwithUkraine
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) March 4, 2022
“It’s a legal review and a process that goes through the administration,” Psaki said. “What I will say, the intentional targeting of civilians or civilian objects would be considered a war crime. Regardless of legality, this action was the height of irresponsibility. The Kremlin must cease operations around nuclear infrastructure.”
Updated
White House press secretary Jen Psaki is at the podium for her press briefing and she began with the administration’s request to Congress for more funding for Ukraine.
Since 2021, the US has already provided more than $1.4bn to Ukraine, and administration officials are now requesting $10bn more to “deliver additional security assistance to Ukraine, to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance for the Ukrainian people and more support for stronger sanction enforcement and for US troop deployment to reinforce Nato’s eastern flank and deter Russian aggression,” Psaki said.
Updated
Back to the no-fly zone and whether it can be implemented in other ways than shooting down Russian jets, and how the US assesses Russian military strength after a week of war.
Blinken says the US is looking at what can be delivered to Ukraine for it to defend itself, every day.
On conclusions about Russian military strength, Blinken says he doesn’t want to draw any yet.
What we do know, he says, is “how extraordinary the Ukrainian people are. Their will, their determination, their absolute commitment to defend their country, to defend their freedom, to defend their future.
“That’s the story of the past week and it’s an incredibly powerful one.”
And with that, he’s gone.
Updated
Blinken is asked if energy sanctions on Russia are being considered.
“As a general proposition, nothing is off the table,” he says, adding that minimising harm to the US and partners and allies is also part of implementing sanctions, which means the US wants to avoid raising prices at the pumps at home.
“We have a strong interest in degrading Russia status as a leading energy supplier. Over time, this would be a profound strategic shift. That’s why Nord Stream two was shut down.
“That’s why we’re surging [liquid natural gas] to Europe right now, to help accelerate its diversification away from Russian gas. It’s why we’re denying critical technologies to Russia for further energy exploration … this is part of a process to reduce reliance, dependence on Russian energy.”
Blinken is asked how many more people have to die before energy sanctions are used but he avoids a direct answer, of course.
Updated
'Suffering likely to get worse before it gets better' - Blinken
Secretary of state Antony Blinken has just issued a fresh warning about the war, echoing other leaders of late who have warned that the worst is ahead.
An Irish questioner asks how much worse things are going to get in Ukraine, and if “the no to the no fly zone is set in stone completely or would you consider it if this conflict does become a massacre?
“And just to follow up – Was it naive of you and of course the Europeans to trust in Putin for diplomacy?”
“I think the terrible expectation is that the suffering we’ve already seen is likely to get worse before it gets better,” Blinken says.
With regard to the no fly zone, Blinken cites Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato general secretary, in saying that Nato has a responsibility to “ensure the war doesn’t spill over beyond Ukraine”. Shooting down Russian planes could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe, Blinken says.
“President Biden has been clear that we are not going to get into a war with Russia. But we are going to tremendous lengths with allies and partners to provide Ukrainians with the means to to effectively defend themselves. And of course, we’re seeing every single day, their extraordinary heroism as well as very, very real results in in what they’re doing to achieve that.”
About potential naivety, Blinken says the US was “the opposite of naive” and had warned for months that Putin was planning “an aggression of Ukraine”, and was prepared either way.
Updated
Blinken is asked if nothing the west and Nato has done has slowed the Russian invasion so far, what does he tell the Ukrainian people. He is also asked if arms supplies can be increased, to include heavier weapons such as jets.
Blinken takes the second part first. He’s in contact constantly with the Ukrainian government, he says, and touts how much security assistance has already been given.
He says Nato and the EU have discussed “what more we can do and how to do it effectively”, with the foreign minister of Ukraine contributing. “We’re working on that every day,” he adds.
No specifics – no surprise there.
He touts damage to the Russian economy as a result of sanctions and so forth.
“I have a list five pages long of all the businesses that have left Russia,” Blinken says, adding: “Let’s see how Russia responds to that.”
“Unfortunately this is not like flipping a lightswitch,” he says about the prospects of increasing aid and implementing harsher measures, even though “virtually the entire world” supports Ukraine.
“There is a huge weight bearing down on Russia,” he says. “Let’s see what the impact is.”
Updated
Blinken speaks in Brussels
Of the Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant yesterday, Blinken says: “The Kremlin should immediately cease all attacks around Ukrainian nuclear facilities and allow civilian personnel do their work to ensure the facilities’ safety and security, as both the IAEA director general and a resolution adopted yesterday by the agency’s board of governors have called on Russia to do.”
He says Nato, the EU and other partner nations have never before worked so closely together. He praises those countries which have accepted Ukrainian refugees. Humanitarian corridors are being worked on, he said, to allow people out and supplies in.
He says Vladimir Putin cannot have imagined the united response and the tide of protest that has “increasingly turned Russia into a pariah state”.
“We do not oppose the Russian people,” Blinken says.
He also says the US “will defend every inch of Nato territory”, if necessary.
He takes questions.
Here’s our latest reporting on the fighting in Ukraine:
Updated
Tony Blinken is now speaking in Brussels.
“Stability in Europe hangs in the balance and the international rules based order that’s critical to maintaining peace and security is being put to the test by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” he says, to begin.
Here’s the state department stream.
The Biden administration can continue to rapidly expel migrant families unlawfully crossing the US-Mexico border, but should avoid sending them anywhere they could be persecuted or tortured, a federal appeals court ruled today.
The mixed ruling on concerning the increasingly-controversial Title 42 rule largely upholds restrictions put in place by the administration of former Republican president Donald Trump aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19 even as many other coronavirus-related border bans have been lifted.
Reuters writes:
A group of affected migrants, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other non-profit organizations, sued over the expulsion policy known as Title 42, which the administration of Joe Biden, a Democrat who took office a year ago, has largely kept in place.
They argued the expulsions were illegal but the panel of appeals court judges disagreed, finding it likely that the covered migrants “have no right to be in the United States, and the Executive can immediately expel them.”
The court added however, that “the Executive cannot remove aliens to a country where their ’life or freedom would be threatened’ on account of their ’race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion’” or “to a country where they will likely be tortured.“
Biden has fought to retain the Title 42 order, which was issued in March 2020 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many Democrats, health experts and pro-immigrant advocates oppose the order, saying it unlawfully cuts off access to asylum and is not supported by scientific evidence.
Border arrests soared to record levels in 2021 during Biden’s first year in office and could climb even higher this year, officials told Reuters in January.
A federal judge ruled last September that the Title 42 policy could not be applied to families but the Biden administration appealed that decision. Early in his presidency, Biden exempted unaccompanied children from the expulsion policy.
Since Biden took office in January 2020, more than a million migrants have been expelled under the order. Many of those have been people who have crossed the border more than once.
Joe Biden did not take questions at his event on manufacturing and infrastructure, and therefore did not make any new comment on the Ukraine crisis.
His secretary of state, Tony Blinken, is however due to talk in Brussels soon. The Department of State live stream is here.
Biden describes his administration’s efforts to make the federal government buy more American goods, including making agencies which want to spend money abroad publicly seek waivers to do so.
He ties this effort back to the early days of the pandemic, when states and cities had to buy PPE and Covid tests abroad.
“Yes, we’re going to keep trading with our allies and friends,” Biden says, saying the US also needs “resilient supply chains of our own” – a nod to difficulties affecting many sectors of the economy which are likely to be worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Last year,” Biden says, “I released a plan to increase the number of contracts that go to small disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2025. This means more contracts will go to Black-, brown-, Asian American-, women-owned and veteran-owned small businesses in every state and territory, in every industry, from services to manufacturing to agriculture.”
And with that, he thanks everyone in attendance and leaves the stage without taking questions.
Joe Biden begins with a joke and a happy birthday to an aide, and thanks to the other speakers. He then revisits his State of the Union remarks about economic progress on his watch, touting various successes.
“This is what it looks like to grow an economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” the president says.
He also underlines progress against the coronavirus pandemic, after “two of the hardest years this country has ever faced”.
“We’re coming back stronger as a country,” he says.
So is American manufacturing, the president says, with companies investing at home rather than overseas. He gives examples of companies “innovating and inspiring” other companies, Tesla among them. He says he just had a “viral” (he means virtual) tour of Siemens facilities around the US.
America is divided. That’s not news. But the authoritarian ruler in the Kremlin deciding to invade a democratic neighbor – that’s the type of international crisis that traditionally might have inspired some closing of the ranks: set differences aside, let domestic quarrels rest.
But conservatives are evidently out on the idea of patriotic unity. The right’s reactions to Russia’s attack on Ukraine have ranged from blatant admiration for Vladimir Putin to anti-Russian saber-rattling combined with a shrill critique of Joe Biden.
Donald Trump initially called the invasion “genius”; he then defended his position at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the weekend, adding that Nato was “not so smart” and “our leaders are dumb.” Meanwhile, America’s most successful cable news host Tucker Carlson ridiculed American solidarity with Ukraine, a country he derided as “a tyranny”, led by “the people who paid off Joe Biden’s family”.
Trump is the political leader of the Republican party and probably its next presidential candidate. Carlson is one of the premier rightwing culture warriors in the country. Trump and Carlson are not fringe voices, and they aren’t outliers either: a last week’s CPAC, conservative speakers focused their ire on Biden’s supposed weakness as the real cause for Putin’s aggression; and they left no doubt who they considered the biggest threat – the “enemy within”, as Senator Rick Scott put it, the “militant left – wing in our country”.
Full column:
Summary
- Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, is in Brussels to meet with the foreign ministers of Nato and European Council. Ahead of his meetings, he warned that Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, will open “a Pandora’s box of trouble” for entire world if he continues his attack on Ukraine.
- The United Nations security council convened for an emergency meeting in New York today after Russian forces attacked and seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said “Putin must stop this madness and he must stop this now”.
- Joe Biden is meeting today with Sauli Niinisto, the president of Finland, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises the possibility that Finland could form a closer alliance with Nato.
- Conservative firebrand Lindsey Graham is calling for the assassination of Putin.
Close Donald Trump ally Roger Stone raged at the former US president in the aftermath of the failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election, according to a blockbuster report from the Washington Post, telling a friend Trump was a “disgrace” who would go to prison and adding: “He betrayed everybody.”
The Post said it had viewed 20 hours of footage of the political operative that had been shot for a forthcoming documentary. The footage, it said, showed Stone:
- Meeting and corresponding with members of a far-right militia since indicted for seditious conspiracy over the Capitol riot on January 6.
- Discussing a plan in which Trump would issue a blanket pardon to co-conspirators in the attempt to overturn the election, Senator Ted Cruz and congressman Jim Jordan among them.
- Saying Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, should be “punished” in a way that would leave him “braindead”.
- Suggesting violence against protesters for racial justice would be possible with the election out of the way.
“Once there’s no more election,” Stone reportedly said, “there’s no reason why we can’t mix it up. These people are going to get what they’ve been asking for.”
Full story:
The supreme court has reinstated the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 that killed three people and injured hundreds of others.
The Supreme Court REINSTATES the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. In a 6-3 decision, SCOTUS holds that a federal appeals court was wrong when it vacated his death sentence based on a jury-selection issue and an evidentiary issue.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) March 4, 2022
US ambassador to UN: "Putin must stop this madness"
The United Nations security council convened for an emergency meeting in New York today after Russian forces attacked and seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, had harsh words about the attack, saying it was “incredibly reckless and dangerous and it threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe”. “By the grace of god, the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night,” she said.
While she had a strong message about the escalation to attacks on nuclear plants - “nuclear facilities cannot become part of this conflict” - Thomas-Greenfield went harder on the overall war itself.
“Russia’s invasion has turned half a million children into refugees,” she said. “Russia has killed thousands of Ukrainians and sacrificed thousand more Russian soldiers’ lives in the process. Russia is destroying critical infrastructure, which is denying people drinking water to stay alive and gas that is preventing people from freezing to death in the middle of winter. The humanitarian impact of this destruction will be significant.”
She continued: “One hundred and forty-one nations across the world have called loudly and clearly on President Putin to stop this brutal, unjustified, unprovoked attack. Not only has he not listened, we just witnessed a dangerous new escalation that represents a dire threat to all of Europe and the world.
“To my Russian counterparts: This council needs answers. We need to hear you say, this won’t happen again,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “We call on you to withdraw your troops and weaponry from Ukraine. We call on you to respect Ukraine’s borders, its people and the UN charter. We call on you to respect your own troops enough to not send them into an unjust war, or on a suicide mission against a nuclear power plant.”
Thomas-Greenfield finished by noting that Russian forces are now 20 miles away from Ukraine’s second largest nuclear facility. “This imminent danger continues,” she said.
“President Putin must stop this humanitarian catastrophe by ending this war and ceasing these unconscionable attacks against the people of Ukraine,” she said. “Mr Putin must stop this madness and he must stop this now.”
Biden meets Finnish president as support for Nato grows in Finland
Joe Biden is meeting today with Sauli Niinisto, the president of Finland, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises the possibility that Finland could form a closer alliance with Nato.
Though Finland already cooperates with Nato, the country is not a member. Support for full membership has grown in the country in the days since the invasion: A poll by public broadcaster Yle last Monday said 53% of Finns support joining. In late January, the number was just 28% when the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper asked the question.
Biden and Niinisto “will discuss the US-Finnish defense relationship, which is very strong and in fact complements Finland’s close partnership with Nato”, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters ahead of the visit.
Niinisto said in a statement that people should “keep a cool head and assess carefully the impact of the changes that have already taken place and of those that might still happen.”
Updated
White House celebrates Siemens’ $54m investment in US manufacturing
Siemens has announced that it will invest $54m to expand US production of electrical parts, which will aid in the construction of everything from electric vehicle chargers to data centers.
Siemens said the investment will lead to the creation of 300 manufacturing jobs in the country. The CEO of Siemens USA, Barbara Humpton, is expected to join Joe Biden at the White House today to celebrate the new investment.
The White House championed Siemens’ announcement as the latest indication of how Biden’s “Made in America” agenda is strengthening US supply chains and creating good-paying jobs.
“You may recall the previous administration made big claims on how they would restore America’s industrial might. That turned out to be just rhetoric,” a senior administration official said. “President Biden followed through on his commitment to make ‘Buy American’ real.”
In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Biden emphasized his commitment to reinvigorating US manufacturing to strengthen both the economy as a whole and individual families’ financial prospects.
“There’s something happening in America,” Biden said Tuesday. “Just look around, and you’ll see an amazing story – the rebirth of pride that comes from stamping products ‘Made in America,’ the revitalization of American manufacturing.”
Updated
Blinken warns that Putin will open 'a Pandora's box of trouble' for entire world
Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, is now heading out of his meeting with Nato’s foreign ministers in Brussels and going into one with the European Council, the policy-guiding arm of the European Union.
Today's meeting with my @NATO Foreign Minister counterparts was essential, as we continue to consult with our Allies and European partners on Russia’s war of choice against Ukraine. We are united in responding to Russia’s aggression, and we remain #UnitedWithUkraine. pic.twitter.com/Wlg5sOBaAf
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) March 4, 2022
Before his next meeting, Blinken took a moment to speak to the press along with Josep Borrell, the vice president of the European Commission, and applaud the EU on taking “historic” action, “both with regard to sanctions and support for Ukraine”.
“We are faced together with what is President Putin’s war of choice, a war that was unprovoked and that is having horrific consequences for real people, for mothers, fathers, for children,” Blinken said. “We see the images on TV and it has to stop. We are committed to doing everything we can to make it stop.”
Blinken continued: “We’ve established together, after two world wars, that are so important to keeping peace and security for everyone, principles that President Putin is egregiously violating every single day - the notion that one country can’t simply go in and change the borders of another country by force or take it over, the principle that one country cannot dictate to another the choices that its citizens would make about their future, the principle that we are past the time of spheres of influence where one country subjugates its neighbors to its will.
“All of those things are at stake and if we allow those principles to be challenged as Putin is doing now with impunity, that will open a Pandora’s box of trouble, not just for us, but, quite frankly, for the entire world.”
Updated
As part of his “Made in America” agenda to bolster the country’s manufacturing sector, Joe Biden is also implementing changes to the Buy American Act.
As of now, products under consideration for federal procurement qualify as being made in America if 55% of the value of their component parts are domestically manufactured.
The Biden administration will change that threshold to 75% by 2029, with incremental increases to the requirement over the next seven years.
A senior administration official explained that the incremental nature of the policy change would “allow both small and large contractors time to transition their supply chains to domestic suppliers and to increase their use of American-made components”.
“It marks just one of many significant improvements to domestic sourcing policy that the Biden-Harris administration will be rolling out to ensure that taxpayer dollars help America’s businesses compete in strategic industries and help America’s workers thrive,” the official said.
Blinken: we don't seek conflict with Russia but we are ready for it
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, took a strong stance on the war today as he arrived for a meeting of Nato’s foreign ministers in Brussels, condemning what he described as Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the overnight Russian attack on civilians in Ukraine, while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists the alliance will 'defend every inch of NATO territory' pic.twitter.com/2g7F46UMLZ
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2022
“Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us we are ready for it and we will defend every inch of Nato territory,” Blinken said.
However, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg hedged their position a bit this morning, rejecting Ukraine’s demand for no-fly zones.
“We are not part of this conflict, and we have a responsibility to ensure it does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
“We understand the desperation but we also believe that if we did that (a no-fly zone) we would end up with something that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe involving much more countries and much more suffering,” Stoltenberg said.
Politico took a look at the cracking opposition to the US agreeing to aiding in a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Right now, Joe Biden is in the tricky position of remaining true to his promise to protect Nato territories without escalating into further war with Russia, while at the same time getting more and more pressure to intervene in a way that won’t lead to boots on the ground.
In presser today from Kyiv, Zelensky repeated call to NATO for no-fly zone: “How long do you need? How many arms and legs and heads should be severed so that you understand?...If you don’t have the strength to provide a no-fly zone, then give me planes. Would that not be fair?”
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) March 3, 2022
On Friday. Nato allies rejected Ukraine’s demand for no-fly zones.
“We understand the desperation but we also believe that if we did that (a no-fly zone) we would end up with something that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe involving much more countries and much more suffering,” Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said.
But in Washington, Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger is pushing for a no-fly zone. Politico is reporting that Republican senator Roger Wicker is also in support, as well as Democratic policymakers like Evelyn Farkas, the top official for Ukraine in the Obama Pentagon.
This is a good moment to renew my call for a no fly zone, at the invitation of the Ukraine government. I fear if this continues, we will have to intervene in a bigger way
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) March 4, 2022
Amid soaring tensions and continuous bloodshed in Ukraine, conservative firebrand Lindsey Graham is calling for the assassination of Vladimir Putin.
The Republican senator from South Carolina made his remarks first on Fox News with Sean Hannity - who has suggested assassinating Putin previously - before repeating his sentiments on Twitter.
Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022
The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out.
You would be doing your country - and the world - a great service.
The only people who can fix this are the Russian people.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022
Easy to say, hard to do.
Unless you want to live in darkness for the rest of your life, be isolated from the rest of the world in abject poverty, and live in darkness you need to step up to the plate.
Graham’s remarks were met with dismay from both sides of the aisle, with progressive congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeting, “Seriously, wtf?”
I really wish our members of Congress would cool it and regulate their remarks as the administration works to avoid WWlll. As the world pays attention to how the US and it’s leaders are responding, Lindsey’s remarks and remarks made by some House members aren’t helpful.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 4, 2022
Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, also responded by calling Graham’s remarks “an exceptionally bad idea”.
This is an exceptionally bad idea.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 4, 2022
Use massive economic sanctions; BOYCOTT Russian oil & gas; and provide military aid so the Ukrainians can defend themselves.
But we should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state. https://t.co/crPGHw9xyJ
Even far-right extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who won her seat expressing support for the conspiracy theory QAnon, called Graham’s statements “irresponsible, dangerous and unhinged”.
“We need leaders with calm minds and steady wisdom,” she tweeted. “Not blood thirsty warmongering politicians trying to tweet tough by demanding assassinations. Americans don’t want war.”
Updated
Blinken: we don't seek conflict with Russia but we are ready for it
Greetings, live blog readers. Happy Friday.
Per usual, we’ll have all our live updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine here, so make sure to keep an eye on that.
But on our end, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, took a strong stance on the war today as he arrived for a meeting of Nato’s foreign ministers in Brussels, condemning what he described as Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the overnight Russian attack on civilians in Ukraine, while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists the alliance will 'defend every inch of NATO territory' pic.twitter.com/2g7F46UMLZ
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2022
“Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us we are ready for it and we will defend every inch of Nato territory,” Blinken said.
Meanwhile in Washington, the Washington Post is reporting that previously unseen documentary footage shows Roger Stone, longtime ally of Donald Trump, working to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and secure pardons in the aftermath of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.
We’ll have more on that in a bit. Stay tuned.
