Politics
At NATO, Biden’s top diplomat keeps eye toward leaders not condemning Putin
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is in pleasant territory: the headquarters of NATO the place European leaders, nearly to a person and lady, are supportive of U.S.-led efforts to punish Russia and assist Ukraine.
However what does a talented diplomat like Blinken do in regards to the many international locations not on board? Does he stress, promise or punt?
Earlier than he traveled Tuesday to NATO headquarters in Brussels, Blinken spent hours on the phone with leaders of strategically essential international locations whose reluctance to hitch the marketing campaign has most perturbed the administration. Amongst this group are robust U.S. allies like India, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Blinken spoke to India’s overseas minister twice prior to now week. His aides declined to say whether or not there was any indication that India, or anybody else, had modified its place to sentence Russia. “We’ll see,” was the final response.
Right here in Brussels, Blinken anticipated that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Group together with the European Union would come along with one more batch of financial sanctions to impose on Russia, in addition to packages of support — deadly weapons and medical provides and meals — for Ukraine. The administration has repeatedly extolled its success in bringing allies collectively for an unprecedented unity on this trigger.
“Clearly within the wake of the horrific pictures popping out of Bucha, we now really feel much more compelled to take a contemporary have a look at extra types of help, individually, collectively, any approach that we will,” U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith mentioned in a briefing Tuesday.
Britain, which is now not a part of the EU, introduced sweeping new sanctions Wednesday, together with freezing all belongings of Russia’s largest financial institution, promising to cease Russian coal and oil imports by 12 months’s finish and focusing on extra oligarchs. In the meantime, the Biden administration sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two daughters and the household of Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov and in addition focused two main Russian monetary establishments.
The European Union, nonetheless, did not agree on extra sanctions that might ban Russian coal, amongst different restrictions. The group was to proceed negotiations on Thursday, additional demonstrating the challenges of accelerating assist even among the many keen.
Regardless of the EU’s lack of motion, the argument in Brussels is a comparatively straightforward one for Blinken. European leaders, confronting a disastrous struggle on their jap edges, have extra at stake than anybody.
Even inside this Western alliance nonetheless, there are strains — america and powers like Germany stay at odds over imports of Russian power and different points.
Requested whether or not the alliance unity might be maintained in what might stretch out to be a battle of months, even years, White Home spokesperson Jen Psaki acknowledged the problem.
“‘Unity’ doesn’t imply ‘equivalent,’ ” she mentioned, chatting with reporters Tuesday. “And as we’re trying on the penalties individuals are setting up, the actions they’re taking, our expectation shouldn’t be that it’s equivalent. It’s simply our effort to do every little thing we will to ensure it’s coordinated, and it’s unified because it presumably might be.”
Blinken’s hand could also be strengthened by the rising reviews of atrocities that the Ukrainians blame on Russian occupying forces, and whose pictures and movies of Ukrainians shot within the head or buried in unexpectedly dug mass graves have revulsed many elements of the world.
In Bucha, a suburb north of Kyiv, and presumably different cities, Russia engaged in “a deliberate marketing campaign to kill, torture, rape,” Blinken informed reporters who traveled with him to Brussels.
“This reinforces our willpower — and the willpower of nations all over the world — to guarantee that a method or one other, in the future or one other, there was accountability for individuals who dedicated these acts, those that ordered them,” Blinken mentioned.
But it was not clear that different international locations past NATO and the European Union would in truth rush to hitch a marketing campaign pushing for the prosecution of Russian President Vladimir Putin on struggle crimes costs. U.S. officers privately acknowledge that some international locations might proceed to take a seat this one out.
Every nation has its causes for siding with Russia or, a minimum of, stepping gingerly the place Moscow is anxious. Many have robust commerce ties or rely upon Russia for power and weapons, like India. There’s additionally anti-U.S. sentiment amongst some, or a notion that the U.S. and NATO are partly responsible for the disaster unfolding in Ukraine due to their growth to international locations nearer to Russia’s borders, which Putin views as a provocation. Some have had a protracted diplomatic or political connection to Moscow, or, within the case of nations like more and more autocratic Hungary, a brand new one.
U.S. officers are hoping that if some international locations can’t make a full dedication to confronting Russia, they’ll make different contributions, comparable to diplomatic efforts or strictly humanitarian support. One instance is Israel, whose Prime Minister Naftali Bennett may nonetheless be capable of pursue a supposedly impartial place of mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
The following large take a look at for whether or not the U.S. has assist for increasing its base on this combat is in an upcoming U.N. Basic Meeting vote to kick Russia out of the physique’s Human Rights Council.
The decision proposed by america is, Biden administration officers acknowledge, extraordinary, however they contend {that a} Russian presence on the human rights monitor is a travesty and preserve they’ll marshal the votes vital.
“Given the rising mountain of proof, Russia mustn’t have a place of authority in a physique whose objective — whose very objective — is to advertise respect for human rights,” the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, informed the physique Tuesday. “Not solely is that this the peak of hypocrisy — it’s harmful.”
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia responded with the inventory response of his authorities, that the our bodies in Bucha had been a part of a situation staged by “Ukrainian neo-Nazis.”
He warned international locations in opposition to being “manipulated” by Washington.
Following the day of conferences with its transatlantic allies Wednesday, Blinken lauded the “extraordinary unity” the U.S. and its NATO companions have proven within the the aftermath of Russia’s invasion. That unity stands in distinction to the years of the Trump administration, when the previous president was dismissive of NATO and worldwide alliances generally. Since taking workplace, Blinken has labored to restore the injury performed throughout that point.
Employees author Eli Stokols contributed to this report from Washington.
Politics
Dem leader condemns Thanksgiving bomb threats against liberal lawmakers after Team Trump targeted
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned several threats, mostly focused on lawmakers from Connecticut, targeting members of his caucus, just days after numerous threats were made against President-elect Trump’s cabinet selections.
Jeffries, D-N.Y., confirmed in a statement Friday that several Democrats were targeted with threats ranging from pipe bombs in their mailboxes to “swatting” — or filing a false police report on another person’s behalf that often results in a SWAT team being dispatched.
All of the threatening messages were signed “MAGA,” Jeffries said, adding law enforcement found no ordnance at any of the targeted lawmakers’ homes.
“America is a democracy. Threats of violence against elected officials are unacceptable, unconscionable and have no place in a civilized society. All perpetrators of political violence directed at any party must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said.
TOP DEM: ‘UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION’ IS A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY
“House Democrats will not be deterred or intimidated from serving the people by violent threats. We have been in close communication with the Sergeant at Arms office and it is imperative that Congress provide maximum protection for all Members and their families moving forward.”
After Jeffries spoke out, Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from neighboring Rhode Island, announced on Friday afternoon that his home had been targeted, as well. Magaziner said Providence police responded quickly and no one was harmed.
Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., had his home targeted by a bomb threat. A spokesperson said it appeared to be part of a “coordinated effort.”
Five other Democrats from the Constitution State received similar threats, including Reps. Joe Courtney, John Larson, Rosa DeLauro, Jahana Hayes and James Himes.
CT DEM SAYS IT’S CLEAR HUNTER BIDEN BROKE THE LAW
“There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility,” said Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who replaced Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Prior to that spate of threats, Trump’s U.N. ambassador-designate Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said she was traveling home to her North Country district for Thanksgiving when she was informed of a threat against her home.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. — Trump’s initial choice for attorney general — also received a threat.
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. — Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency — said his home was subjected to a “pro-Palestinian-themed” pipe bomb threat. Zeldin is Jewish.
Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., whom the president-elect tapped for Labor secretary, said her Oregon home was targeted, as was that of former San Diego Chargers cornerback Scott Turner, whom Trump named to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Trump nominees including Cantor-Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, America First Policy Institute President Brooke Rollins and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth also received threats.
In a statement, the FBI said it is aware of “numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners.”
“We take all potential threats seriously and, as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement,” it said.
Fox News’ Kevin Ward contributed to this report.
Politics
Capitol rioter's defamation suit against Fox News is dismissed
A Delaware court judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News filed by a Jan. 6 rioter who said the network falsely identified him as an FBI informant.
U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer L. Hall granted Fox News’ motion to dismiss the suit filed last year by Ray Epps.
Now based in Utah, Epps alleged his life was upended after former Fox host Tucker Carlson repeatedly described him as a federal agent who helped instigate the attack on the Capitol, which was an attempt to stop the certification of the election of Joe Biden.
Carlson described Epps as a principal in a false flag operation in which the government incited the Jan. 6 riot, an unfounded conspiracy theory. He made the false comments about Epps on his program over a period of nearly two years and in a series called “Patriot Purge” that streamed on Fox Nation in 2022.
In her remarks from the bench, Hall said Carlson did not act with malicious intent.
Fox News welcomed the judge’s decision, which is the third consecutive defamation case to be decided in favor of the network after the record $787-million settlement it paid to Dominion Voting Systems in April 2024.
Dominion said its business was damaged by false claims Fox News presented regarding voting fraud in the 2020 election. Fox News chose to settle the case rather than have its executives and on-air talent take the witness stand in a trial.
A separate defamation suit filed by Nina Jankowicz, the former head of the federal Disinformation Governance Board, was dismissed in July. Another case brought by Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, was thrown out on Tuesday.
“Fox News is pleased with these back-to-back decisions from federal courts preserving the press freedoms of the First Amendment,” the network said in a statement.
Epps was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and pleaded guilty in January to a misdemeanor charge for his role in the riot.
Epps testified under oath to the House committee investigating the attack that he had no involvement with the FBI, which has also stated publicly that he had no association with the bureau.
The lawsuit claimed Epps and his wife received threatening voice mails, emails and text messages because of Carlson‘s comments. Epps told the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” that the lies ruined his Arizona-based business and led to death threats.
Carlson’s prime-time program was pulled from the Fox News lineup on April 24, 2023, the day after Epps appeared on “60 Minutes.”
Politics
Political betting markets still have plenty of action despite end of election season
The end of the election season does not mean the end of political betting, with many platforms allowing users to place wagers on everything from the 2028 election to who will be confirmed to President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
“Some people will be amazed by this, but people are already betting on 2026 and 2028,” Maxim Lott, the founder of ElectionBettingOdds.com, told Fox News Digital. “There’s been about a quarter million dollars bet already.”
The comments come after the 2024 election produced plenty of betting action, with users across multiple platforms wagering over $2 billion on the outcome of the latest race.
WHAT ARE ELECTION BETTING ODDS? EXPERT EXPLAINS WHY TRUMP IS CURRENT FAVORITE
While mega sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the recent Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight, gives gamblers plenty to wager on after the election, those looking for something political to bet on will still have plenty of options.
One of the most popular topics is who will be the nominees for both major parties in 2028, with ElectionBettingOdds.com showing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President-elect JD Vance being the current leaders for Democrats and Republicans, respectively.
Other names with a significant amount of attention for betters include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the Democratic nomination, while Vance is trailed by names like entrepreneur and future head of the new Department of Government Efficiency Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump Jr. on the Republican side.
“The big Democratic governors are favored to be the next nominee,” Lott said, noting that Vance currently holds a sizable lead over other options on the GOP side.
TRUMP OPENS UP LARGEST BETTING LEAD SINCE DAYS AFTER BIDEN’S DROPOUT
Vance is also the current betting leader on who will win the 2028 presidential election, ElectionBettingOdds.com shows, followed by Newson and Shapiro as the next two likely options.
However, Lott warned it is still too early to tell what the future holds, noting that the markets will start to provide more clarity as more information becomes known over the next few years.
“As the future becomes clearer… as we get closer to 2026, 2028, these odds will change,” Lott said. “So if the Trump administration is doing really well, the economy is booming, inflation is not out of control, wars are ending, Vance’s odds will certainly go up.”
Bettors also are not limited to wagering on elections, with platforms such as Polymarket allowing users to place bets on Trump’s picks to serve in his Cabinet and whether they will be confirmed. Bettors can also place wagers on questions such as if they believe the war in Ukraine will end in Trump’s first 90 days or if there will be a cease-fire in Gaza in 2024.
According to Lott, taking a look at the current betting odds for many scenarios can help inform you about what is going on in the world, even if you do not place bets yourself.
“People often ask… is there any value to this… it’s just gambling. It’s silly,” Lott said. “But actually it’s very useful… if you want to know what’s going to happen in 2028 or if the Trump administration is going to be a success, you could read 100 news articles on it. Some will misinform you. Or, you can just go to the prediction markets and see… is Vance a 20% chance of becoming the next Republican nominee or is he a 90% chance? That tells you a lot.”
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