Closing summary
First lady Jill Biden made clear she thinks her husband, Joe Biden, will stand for a second term – though we are still waiting for an announcement from the man himself. Otherwise, top American officials spent most of the day restating their support for Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Speaking before the UN security council, secretary of state Antony Blinken warned that anything less than Russia’s full withdrawal from the territory it seized will weaken the global body’s charter, while Biden highlighted the bipartisan nature of Washington’s support for Kyiv. Many Republicans do indeed support Ukraine’s cause – but others in the party argue it is a distraction from more pressing issues. This divide could prove crucial to the course of the war in the months to come.
Here’s what else happened today:
Blinken warned China against getting involved in the conflict by providing Russia with weapons.
Kamala Harris condemned conservative efforts to block access to medication abortion nationwide.
The American public is divided over how long to support Kyiv, with more Republicans preferring limits on US aid, and more Democrats in favor of helping them fight against Russia until the job is done.
The Treasury announced new sanctions against Russian individuals and companies involved in the war effort, but such measures haven’t proven as successful as Washington has hoped.
It turns out that Democrats in Congress have access to the 40,000 hours of footage Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy gave Tucker Carlson earlier this week.
The White House has released a photo from earlier today, when Joe Biden marked the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine with its president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the leaders of the G7, as America’s top allies are known.
The group includes Canada, Germany, the European Union, Japan, Britain, France and Italy:
Today, President Biden met with G7 Leaders and President Zelenskyy to continue coordinating our efforts to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable for its war. pic.twitter.com/JDs4Z3geY4
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 24, 2023
Updated
As Biden inches closer to announcing what is widely expected (most importantly, by his wife) to be his re-election campaign, a poll released earlier this week brought good news for his standing among Democrats.
The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll shows an even half of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents believe the party has a better chance with Biden as the nominee, against 45% who think they’d be better off backing someone else. That’s an improvement for the president from November of last year, when it was roughly flipped: then, 54% wanted someone else, while a mere 38% backed Biden.
The survey also had bad news for Donald Trump in his quest to be renominated for the presidency by the GOP. Among Republicans and independents who lean towards the party, 54% believe the GOP is best off with someone other than Trump as the nominee, while 42% thought the ex-president remained the best man for the job.
Joe Biden will meet with congressional Democrats next week, Punchbowl News reports.
His allies hold the majority in the Senate but lost control of the House following last November’s midterm elections, though only by a handful of seats. Punchbowl reports he will first meet with House Democrats during their annual retreat in Baltimore:
Biden will speak to House Dems on Wednesday in Baltimore, @PeteAguilar announces https://t.co/qKpRM94FZe
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) February 24, 2023
Then with senators:
Schumer’s office says Biden will speak at a special Senate Dem caucus lunch next Thursday
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) February 24, 2023
Earlier this week, Democrats erupted in fury when they found out that Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy handed over to Tucker Carlson 40,000 hours of video footage surveillance and other cameras in the Capitol picked up on January 6.
The concern was not only that it could reveal details of the building’s security, but also that Carlson, a conservative firebrand who has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the insurrection before his audience of millions, would use the footage to distort what happened that day.
As it turns out, Democratic leaders in Congress have access to that footage as well. Washington Post opinion columnist Greg Sargent confirmed as much from the Capitol police. In his column today, he argues that Democrats should fight fire with fire, and release the footage to news organizations in an attempt to counter whatever Carlson has planned for what he’s been given.
Let’s take a quick dip into Trumpworld, where the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has an exclusive on the ongoing mess that is Donald Trump’s possession of classified materials:
Donald Trump’s lawyers found a box of White House schedules, including some that were marked classified, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in December because a junior aide to the former president had transported it from another office in Florida after the FBI completed its search of the property.
The former president does not appear to have played a direct role in the mishandling of the box, though he remains under investigation for the possible improper retention of national security documents and obstruction of justice. This previously unreported account of the retrieval was revealed by two sources familiar with the matter.
Known internally as ROTUS, short for Receptionist of the United States, the junior aide initially kept the box at a converted guest bungalow at Mar-a-Lago called the “tennis cottage” after Trump left office, and she soon took it with her to a government-leased office in the Palm Beach area.
The box remained at the government-leased office from where the junior aide worked through most of 2022, explaining why neither Trump’s lawyer who searched Mar-a-Lago in June for any classified-marked papers nor the FBI agents who searched the property in August found the documents.
Around the time that Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago from his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey at the end of the summer, the junior aide was told that she was being relocated to a desk in the anteroom of Trump’s own office at Mar-a-Lago that was previously assigned to top aide Molly Michael.
The junior aide retrieved her work belongings – including the box – from the government-leased office and took them to her new Mar-a-Lago workspace around September. At that time, the justice department’s criminal investigation into Trump’s retention of national security documents was intensifying.
Several weeks after the junior aide moved into her new workspace, federal prosecutors told Trump’s lawyers in October that they suspected the former president was still in possession of additional documents with classified markings despite the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago on 8 August.
Vice president Kamala Harris condemned the “partisan and political attacks” on reproductive rights that have put the fate of medication abortion in the hands of a single, conservative judge in Texas.
Convening a White House meeting with reproductive rights advocates and providers on Friday, Harris addressed the pending lawsuit, brought by abortion opponents, that threatens the access to the abortion drug mifepristone.
“This is not just an attack on women’s fundamental freedoms. It is an attack on the very foundation of our public health system,” Harris said.
Medication abortion now accounts for the majority of abortions in the US. It is also used as a miscarriage treatment. Abortion rights advocates have warned that a decision to reverse a decades-old approval of the drug by the Federal Drug Administration would have “devastating” consequences for women’s reproductive health.
Harris said the legal challenge, as well as legislative efforts in Republican-led states that would restrict access to medication abortion, amounted to an attempt by political activists to undermine the FDA’s authority, accusing them of trying to “question the legitimacy of a group of scientists and doctors who have studied the significance of this drug.”
The vice president said supporters of the lawsuit should “look in their own medicine cabinets” and question whether they would be willing to do away with any FDA-approved medication that they use to alleviate pain and improve their quality of life. “Mifepristone is no exception to that process,” Harris said.
The FDA approved mifepristone, in combination with a second drug, in 2000, deeming it a safe and effective way to terminate a pregnancy up to 10-weeks.
During the pandemic, the FDA expanded access to the pills by allowing patients to obtain them by mail through telehealth rather than requiring in-person hospital or clinic visits. The agency further broadened the availability of the medication when it announced in January it would allow certified retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone, known under the brand name Mifeprex.
US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has not indicated when he will rule, but advocates are preparing for a possible decision as soon as today.
Since the supreme court decision to end the Constitutional right to abortion, Harris has led the administration’s public response.
During Friday’s roundtable, she said the participants would discuss ways to ensure Americans are aware of the lawsuit and its possible ramifications as well as what policymakers and providers could to ensure patients “have access to the medication that they need.”
Last weekend, Joe Biden clandestinely traveled to Ukraine via a mode of travel he personally prefers, but which is unusual for a modern American president: a passenger train. The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont spoke to the man who made it happen:
Alexander Kamyshin, the head of Ukraine’s railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, doesn’t get much sleep at the best of times. On Sunday night, as Joe Biden was being ferried into Ukraine in a 10-hour night journey from Poland – in a carriage now known as “Rail Force One”, he got almost none.
Along with others involved in the secret operation to bring the US president to his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Kamyshin watched the progress of the train in a command centre.
A handsome bearded man sporting a hipster-ish braid of hair that falls over the shaved sides of his head, Kamyshin is deliberately vague about many of the details.
But in the past year, his dedicated team has brought in world leaders, VIPs and diplomatic missions on an almost daily basis as part of a programme called “Iron Diplomacy”.
Security is everything, he told the Guardian in an interview at Kyiv’s main railway station. “We have not had one leak. There have been no photographs from train attendants. We respect the confidence of the delegations.
“It’s not a challenge. It’s our job that we do every day. Imagine,” he says with smile, “the president of the United States coming to a war-torn country by train.
Here’s a video that’s worth watching of Jill Biden describing her husband’s willingness to continue serving as president for a second term:
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) February 24, 2023
First lady Jill Biden has long been described as a key figure in US president Joe Biden’s orbit as he plans his future – after today revealing to the Associated Press that he’s close to confirming he’ll seek a second term in the White House.
Because I’m his wife,” she laughed, AP writes.
But she brushed off the question about whether she has the deciding vote on whether the president runs for reelection.
Of course he’ll listen to me, because we’re a married couple,” she said. But, she added later, “he makes up his own mind, believe me.”
Biden did the interview in Kenya, during the second leg of her trip to Africa this week. Earlier she was in Namibia.
Strongest sign yet that Biden will seek second term
First lady Jill Biden has given one of the clearest indications yet that Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview today that there’s “pretty much” nothing left to do but figure out the time and place for the announcement.
Although Biden has long said that it’s his intention to seek reelection, he has yet to make it official, and he’s struggled to dispel questions about whether he’s too old to continue serving as president. Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term.
“He says he’s not done,” the first lady said in Nairobi, the second and final stop of her five-day trip to Africa. “He’s not finished what he’s started. And that’s what’s important.”
She added: “How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it?”
Biden aides have said an announcement is likely to come in April, after the first fundraising quarter ends, which is around the time that Barack Obama officially launched his reelection campaign.
Updated
The day so far
Top US officials have restated their support for Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Speaking before the UN security council, secretary of state Antony Blinken warned that anything less than Russia’s full withdrawal from territory it seized will weaken the global body’s charter, while Joe Biden highlighted the bipartisan nature of Washington’s support for Kyiv. And indeed, many Republicans support Ukraine’s cause – but others in the party argue it is a distraction from more pressing issues. This divide could prove crucial to the outcome of the war in the months to come.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Blinken warned China against getting involved in the conflict by providing Russia with weapons.
The American public is divided over how long to support Kyiv, with more Republicans preferring limits on US aid, and more Democrats in favor of helping them fight against Russia until the job is done.
The Treasury announced new sanctions against Russian individuals and companies involved in the war effort, but such measures haven’t proven as successful as Washington has hoped.
But the bipartisan comity over Ukraine has its limits.
There’s been a definite increase over the past year in the number of lawmakers who have questioned Washington’s support to Ukraine, particularly among Republicans.
Their argument is that Joe Biden cares more about Ukraine than various issues at home, especially those they’ve turned into cudgels against the administration such as border security, or the recent derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
This tweet from GOP senator Josh Hawley captures the dynamic well:
The Republican Party can be the party of Ukraine and globalists or the party of East Palestine and working Americans. Not both
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) February 24, 2023
But it’s in the House where some of Ukraine’s biggest congressional foes can be found. “We can’t care more about Ukraine than we do our own country. President Biden has failed to lead on the train derailment, the border, inflation, crime, and so much more,” House Republican Jake LaTurner said in a statement released today.
“The White House continues to prioritize Ukraine while leaving American communities behind. It’s unacceptable.”
And while the Senate’s top Republican Mitch McConnell issued a statement of strong support for Ukraine today, his counterpart in the House, speaker Kevin McCarthy, has made no public statement that this blog is aware of.
Back in Washington, Mitt Romney was one of several Republican lawmakers who tweeted strong statements of support for Ukraine on the war’s one-year anniversary – which caught the eye of Democratic president Joe Biden.
Biden has been eager to play up the bipartisan nature of US support for Ukraine. Here’s what Romney, who represents Utah in the Senate and was the GOP’s nominee for president in 2012, had to say:
It is in America’s interest to support Ukraine. If Russia can invade, subjugate, and pillage Ukraine with impunity, it will do the same again to others, and a world at war diminishes the security of Americans.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) February 23, 2023
And here is Biden’s response:
I think Senator Romney would be the first to tell you that we don’t always agree.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 24, 2023
But he knows what I know: that standing with Ukraine — and standing up for freedom — advances our national security. https://t.co/X67SkDIL6W
While Antony Blinken spoke highly of Ukraine’s will to fight in his interview with ABC News, he declined to say whether he thought the war would still be raging this time next year.
Here’s more from his appearance:
“Here we are, a year later — Ukraine is still standing. It remains free. It remains independent. Putin's first objective was to erase Ukraine from the map … That failed and will never succeed.” — @secblinken on the one year anniversary of war in Ukraine. https://t.co/QmvhIPiiZk pic.twitter.com/SwZiga6cCP
— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 24, 2023
A particular concern for the United States and Kyiv alike is the possibility that China could intervene in the conflict by providing Russia with weapons.
American officials have issued strong statements in recent days warning Beijing against getting involved. In an appearance on ABC News this morning, US secretary of state Antony Blinken summed up his message to China in three words: “don’t do it”.
“We’re very concerned that they’re thinking about it. Up until now, Chinese companies have provided non-lethal support,” Blinken said. “From day one, President Biden warned President Xi not to provide material lethal assistance to Russia for use against Ukraine or to engage in the systematic evasion of sanctions. And the information we have suggests that they’re now actively thinking about it, which is why we’ve been public about warning them not to.”
The United States’s warning about China’s potential involvement is the latest example of how it has tried to pre-empt Russia and its allies’ war strategy by releasing intelligence shortly after it is gathered.
“We always have to get the balance right between making sure that we’re protecting the way we get our information and releasing it,” Blinken told ABC. “But we thought it was really important to make clear that China’s looking at this. And what they’re hearing not just from us but from many other countries around the world is: Don’t do it.”
Speaking before the global body’s security council, Antony Blinken argued that the United Nations charter demands Russia withdraw from Ukraine and hand back the territory it seized.
“History teaches us that it’s the nature of peace that matters. For peace to be just, it must uphold the principles at the heart of the UN Charter: sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence. For peace to be durable, it must ensure that Russia can’t simply rest rearm and relaunched the war in a few months, or a few years. Any peace that legitimizes Russia’s seizure of land by force will weaken the charter and send a message to would-be the aggressors everywhere that they can invade countries and get away with it,” the US secretary of state said.
He specifically warned against normalizing the types of war crimes the United States accuses Russia of commiting in Ukraine.
“We can never let the crimes that Russia has committed become our new normal. Bucha is not normal. Mariupol is not normal. Irpin is not normal,” Blinken said, referring to cities where Russia is accused of deliberately killing large numbers of civilians. “Bombing schools and hospitals and apartment buildings to rubble is not normal. Stealing Ukrainian children from their families and giving them to people in Russia is not normal. We must not let President Putin’s callous indifference to human life become our own. We must force ourselves to remember that behind every atrocity in this wretched war, in conflicts around the world, is a human being.”
Secretary of state Blinken addresses UN security council
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is speaking before the UN security council on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Follow this blog for the latest updates from his address.
A new poll indicates Americans are growing split over how much longer to provide aid to Ukraine, with the divide occurring along familiar partisan lines.
The Fox News survey finds 50% of respondents argue Washington should support Ukraine for as long as it takes them to win against Russia, while 46% believe there should be some sort of time limit on the support.
Democrats are more in favor of sticking with Kyiv, with 66% percent backing support until victory over Russia is achieved. By a 61% margin, Republicans support the idea of a time limit. Independents are divided more closely, with 49% backing a time limit and 45% in favor of long-term support.
The top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has put out a statement expressing strong continued support for Ukraine.
Though he’s one of Joe Biden’s chief antagonists in Congress, McConnell has generally approved of the administration’s strategy towards Kyiv, and reiterated that in his statement today. Here’s part of it:
As my fellow leading Republicans and I have explained, it is not an act of charity for the United States and our NATO allies to help supply the Ukrainian people’s self-defense. It is a direct investment in our own core national interests. America is a world power with worldwide interests. Our security and prosperity are deeply intertwined with a secure and stable Europe. If Putin were given a green light to destabilize Europe, invading and killing at will, the long-term cost to the United States in both dollars and security risks would be astronomically higher than the miniscule fraction of our GDP that we have invested in Ukraine’s defense thus far.
The United States hoped its aggressive sanctions regime would crush Russia’s economy and convince president Vladimir Putin to rethink his invasion of Ukraine.
It hasn’t quite turned out that way.
Bloomberg reports that Russia’s economy shrunk by 2.5% last year – far from the 10% drop expected when the US and its allies first announced the economic countermeasures. Meanwhile, Moscow’s central bank projects economic growth could resume this year.
That said, the country is on course to lose a lot of money, specifically $190bn in GDP by 2026 compared to the economy’s trajectory before the war.
New US penalties target Russian mining sector, sanctions evaders
The United States has announced a new battery of sanctions again Russia, targeting its mining sector and dozens of people and companies involved in helping it evade Washington’s trade restrictions, according to the Treasury department.
“As the Ukrainian people continue to valiantly defend their homeland and their freedom, the United States is proud to support Ukraine through economic, security, and humanitarian assistance,” Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said in announcing the penalties.
“Over the past year, we have taken actions with a historic coalition of international partners to degrade Russia’s military-industrial complex and reduce the revenues that it uses to fund its war. Our sanctions have had both short-term and long-term impact, seen acutely in Russia’s struggle to replenish its weapons and in its isolated economy. Our actions today with our G7 partners show that we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
The newly sanctioned individuals and companies include “firms that produce or import specialized, high-technology equipment used by Russian defense entities and companies that make advanced materials used in Russian weapons systems,” Treasury said.
Updated
Washington crucial to Ukraine war effort — but Kyiv argues for more
Sanctions, weapons and statements: while it hasn’t sent its own troops, the United States has made a robust effort to help Ukraine and penalize Russia ever since Moscow’s troops poured over its borders a year ago today.
The aid and intelligence approved by Joe Biden has proved crucial to Ukraine’s battlefield success, which has seen it not only fend off Russia’s initial attempt to storm the capital, but also retake ground lost in the war’s early days. On top of that have been public statements of support from Biden and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who have visited each other capitals even as the war raged.
But Ukraine has continued to ask for more sophisticated weapons it argues it needs to sustain the war effort – most recently advanced fighter jets. These negotiations form one of the few public points of tension between Kyiv and its western supporters, but could prove decisive in determining the war’s trajectory.
Updated
Ukraine war enters second year amid questions of continued US aid
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Today marks the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a grim milestone in a conflict that shows no sign of ending, and in which the United States has played a major role. Aid, particularly of weapons and ammunitions, from Washington and its European allies has proven vital to Kyiv’s defense against Russia’s assault, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy continues to push for more. He has an ally in Joe Biden, but while they have yet to decisively turn against assisting Ukraine, there are signs Republicans are growing wary of Kyiv’s cause. Expect to hear plenty about this dynamic today.
Here’s what else is happening:
Biden and Zelenskiy will hold a virtual meeting with leaders of G7 countries at 9am eastern time to discuss efforts to aid Ukraine.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken will speak before the UN security council at 10am about the war’s anniversary.
Kamala Harris will hold a meeting on reproductive healthcare access at 11 am.
