Today's politics recap
- Joe Biden clarified his comments about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, after the president appeared to downplay the threat of a “minor incursion” into Ukraine. “If any – any – assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion,” Biden said. “Let there be no doubt at all that, if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price.”
- Biden’s initial comments about Ukraine had set off a flurry of criticism and a frantic clean-up effort by White House officials. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in response to Biden’s remarks, “We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones.”
- The US Treasury issued sanctions against four Ukrainian officials believed to be involved in a Russian conspiracy to discredit Zelensky’s government. “Russia has directed its intelligence services to recruit current and former Ukrainian government officials to prepare to take over the government of Ukraine and to control Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with an occupying Russian force,” the Treasury statement accompanying the sanctions said.
- The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection requested the voluntary cooperation of Ivanka Trump. According to the letter sent by committee chairman Bennie Thompson, investigators are seeking information from Ivanka Trump on Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Mike Pence to attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
- The Senate failed to pass Democrats’ voting rights bill or approve a change to the filibuster, underscoring the significant challenges that Biden faces in enacting his legislative agenda. During yesterday’s Senate session, the voting rights bill failed along party lines, while Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined their Republican colleagues in opposing a change to the filibuster.
- The Supreme Court rejected the latest bid by abortion providers to block Texas’ law banning abortions as early as six weeks – when many people do not even know they are pregnant. In a dissent, justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote: “Today, for the fourth time, this court declines to protect pregnant Texans from egregious violations of their constitutional rights.”
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The supreme court rejected the latest bid by abortion providers to block Texas’ law banning abortions as early as six weeks – when many people do not even know they are pregnant.
In a dissent, justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote: “Today, for the fourth time, this court declines to protect pregnant Texans from egregious violations of their constitutional rights.”
In December, the court allowed the Texas anti-abortion law, one of the strictest in the US, to remain in place, but left open the possibility of future challenges. The law encourages anyone to sue people suspected of providing or facilitating abortions, effectively giving rise to anti-abortion bounty hunters. It has led to an 80% reduction in abortions in state, Texas clinics say.
“Once again the supreme court has betrayed the people of Texas, who have been callously stripped of their constitutional right to abortion for more than four months now,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
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