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‘Will President Trump even notice Europe?’ asks Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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‘Will President Trump even notice Europe?’ asks Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an unflinching critique of Europe’s weakness, saying the region risked sinking into irrelevance unless it invested heavily in its own defence and deployed 200,000 troops to Ukraine after a ceasefire.

Speaking to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that Donald Trump’s return to the White House meant Europe needed to prepare for US disengagement from its security.

“Will President Trump even notice Europe? Does he see Nato as necessary?” Zelenskyy asked.

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Zelenskyy repeated his plea for Europe to provide meaningful security guarantees to Kyiv, on the assumption that Nato membership remains beyond Ukraine’s grasp because of misgivings in Washington and other capitals.

If Europe was serious about plans floated by French President Emmanuel Macron to put troops on the ground in Ukraine after a ceasefire, it would need to be a “minimum” of 200,000 soldiers to be an effective deterrent to Russia and supplement Ukraine’s 800,000-strong army, Zelenskyy said.

Macron has been sounding out European partners over their willingness to deploy military personnel either to train Ukrainian forces or in sufficient quantity to deter further Russian aggression. However, the idea has so far gained little traction.

“If the security guarantees are weak . . . then you’ll only get words from Russia and they come back with war,” Zelenskyy said.

He said he would resist any attempt by Russia to impose limits on the size of Ukraine’s armed forces as part of any peace deal with Moscow.

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The Ukrainian president said that while western allies saw the US as an indispensable security ally, nobody thought the same of Europe.

“Does anybody in the US worry that Europe might abandon them one day? The answer is No.”

It was “not even clear” Europeans would have a role in any negotiation to end the war in Ukraine, he added.

“Europe deserves to be more than just a bystander, with its leaders reduced to posting on X after an agreement has already been made. Europe needs to shape the terms of those deals,” Zelenskyy said.

He endorsed Trump’s call for Nato members to spend as much as 5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. 

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“If it takes 5 per cent of GDP to cover defence, then so be it.”

Zelenskyy barely addressed Trump’s professed desire to bring a swift end to the war — although the US president and his advisers have recently said it could take six months to reach a deal, rather than his campaign boast of 24 hours. Nor did he address those Trump supporters who have called for an end to US aid to Ukraine.

He insisted his relations with Trump were “good”, but said that some of the president’s allies spouted misinformation about Ukraine and used Russian propaganda points, so it was all the more important that Europe had a louder voice to counter those messages.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the WEF earlier on Tuesday that the EU would stand by Ukraine even if the US curtailed its support.

“We will continue to support Ukraine without question, whatever happens next,” she said.

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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