U.S. closer to approving ‘significant number’ of Abrams tanks to Ukraine

The Biden administration is leaning toward sending “a significant number” of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, two U.S. officials said, and an announcement could come as early as this week.

The development comes amid a public standoff with German officials, who are under pressure to send their own Leopard tanks and allow other European countries that operate the German-made vehicles to do so as well.

On Tuesday, shortly after news broke of the possible U.S. move, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that German Leopards were heading to Ukraine. Last week, Scholz told U.S. lawmakers that Berlin would approve the transfer only if the U.S. donated its own tanks first.

The transfer of U.S. and German tanks would mark a major development in the West’s effort to arm Ukraine. Top Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have spent weeks pleading for tanks as Kyiv prepares for fresh Russian offensives in the country’s east.

One of the two U.S. officials said the Biden administration is considering sending around 30 Abrams tanks.

The vehicles would likely come through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, according to a third person familiar with the issue. The program allows Washington to finance the purchase of weapons and equipment for Ukraine, as opposed to pulling them from existing U.S. stockpiles.

The Pentagon never took tanks off the table, stressed a fourth U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of an announcement. But in recent weeks U.S. officials have publicly cited the difficulties of providing the M1s, the Army’s main battle tank. They have said the Abrams made little operational sense for Ukraine at this moment because they guzzle jet fuel and require long supply lines to maintain.

“The Abrams tank is a very complicated piece of equipment. It’s expensive, it’s hard to train on. It has a jet engine, I think it’s about three gallons to the mile of jet fuel. It is not the easiest system to maintain,” Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy official, told reporters last week after a trip to Kyiv. “It may or may not be the right system.”

The developments come after weeks of tense discussions between Washington, Berlin and their European allies. Since Scholz met with U.S. lawmakers last week, the German government has shifted its stance, at one point denying it had linked the transfers of the Abrams and Leopards.

A parade of Democrats and Republicans has pressured the Biden administration to grant Berlin’s request to send U.S. tanks first.

“If the Germans continue to say we will only send or release Leopards on the condition that Americans send Abrams, we should send Abrams,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close Biden ally, told POLITICO moments before Sky News Arabia first broke news of the decision on Tuesday.

The M1 Abrams tanks currently in the U.S. Army’s motor pools would first need to be stripped of sensitive communications and other equipment before being sent to Ukraine, making it an expensive and time-consuming process.

A handful of countries operate less modern versions of the Abrams, including Australia, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait and Morocco, while Poland has 250 on order slated to begin arriving in 2024.

Egypt by far has the most Abrams tanks in service, with over 1,000 older M1A1 models as the result of a decades-long co-production deal with the United States.

Paul McLeary contributed to this report.

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German government faces growing rift over Scholz's reluctance to send Ukraine tanks

Members of Berlin's three ruling parties are publicly bickering over providing Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv.

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No. 2 House Democrat condemns violence after daughter charged with assaulting cop

WATERTOWN, Mass. — House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark is condemning violence against police after her daughter was arraigned Monday on charges that included striking an officer who was trying to arrest her over the weekend.

“I condemn violence against everyone, whether that is against police or against community members as a result of any person or government entity,” Clark, the second-ranking House Democrat, told reporters at an unrelated event in a Boston suburb on Monday afternoon.

Clark’s daughter, Riley Dowell, 23, was arraigned earlier in the day in Boston Municipal Court on charges of assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, vandalizing a historic marker or monument and tagging property. Assault and battery on a police officer can carry a sentence of up to two and a half years in prison or a fine of up to $5,000.

Dowell allegedly flailed her arms and struck an officer who was trying to arrest her after she was caught spray-painting a bandstand on the Boston Common on Saturday with anti-police slogans “NO COP CITY” and “ACAB” — “all cops are bastards” — according to a prosecutor and a Boston police news release. Dowell is nonbinary and was identified in a police news release on Sunday by her birth name.

Not-guilty pleas were entered on Dowell’s behalf. She was released on $500 bail that she posted at the police station on Saturday after her arrest. She is due back in court on April 19 for a pretrial hearing.

Swarmed by local journalists at a climate-related event with officials in Watertown, Clark largely responded to questions about her daughter’s arrest by referring to the statement she issued on Sunday.

“I love Riley, and this is a very difficult time in the cycle of joy and pain in parenting,” Clark had tweeted. “This will be evaluated by the legal system, and I am confident in that process.”

But, Clark added on Monday, “if we are talking about the importance of police in our communities, it has been my work and my vision and priority that every single person in every single ZIP code has … an assumption of safety in their communities. And that is the work that I’ve done. And police are critical partners in that work going forward.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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‘This is not a moment to slow down:’ U.S. says Ukraine making new gains

Kyiv’s forces are taking ground around a strategic city in the eastern Luhansk region, a senior U.S. military official said Monday, ahead of what is expected to be a new Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake territory this spring.

While the front lines in the fight remain largely static, as winter weather makes it difficult for tanks and armored vehicles to move quickly, the Pentagon is seeing Ukraine beginning to make progress. The strategic city, Kreminna, is seen as a gateway to Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, two key industrial centers in the Donbas region that Russia seized last summer.

“What we're seeing is Ukrainian counteroffensive operations, again, largely fluid in that area in terms of back and forth, making some incremental gains near Kreminna,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The gains come as the U.S. and Western allies drastically ramp up support for Kyiv ahead of the expected spring counteroffensive. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin alluded to the upcoming operation last week after a meeting of defense ministers at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, noting that now is the time for the West to provide additional arms and training Ukraine needs to smash through Russian lines.

“We have a window of opportunity here, you know, between now and the spring when they commence their operation, their counteroffensive,” Austin said Friday after announcing a $2.5 billion package of aid that includes additional armored vehicles and artillery. “That's not a long time, and we have to pull together the right capabilities.”

The new package included 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles — in addition to the 50 provided in a previous tranche — 90 Stryker armored combat vehicles, 53 mine-resistant vehicles, 350 Humvees, as well as additional air defenses, missiles and artillery.

At the same time, the Pentagon has begun large-scale training of Ukrainian forces on advanced tactics at a U.S. base in Germany. The training will enhance their fighting skills as the war enters a new phase, officials say.

“This is not a moment to slow down when it comes to supporting Ukraine in their defense,” the senior military official said.

The gains near Kreminna also come as Ukrainian officials sound the alarm about Russia laying the groundwork for a massive new campaign in the spring. The Ukrainian military has recently reported seeing increased Russian movement of troops, military equipment and ammunition in the Luhansk area.

Kreminna is one of the towns along Russia’s Svatove-Kreminna defensive line, said Michael Kofman, research program director at CNA’s Russian Studies Program. Taking Kreminna would be an important step for any further advances into Luhansk, he said.

“Seizing Kreminna would put Ukrainian forces on a path towards threatening Rubizhne, and provide one of the potential axes of advance towards Starobilsk, an important Russian logistics hub,” he told POLITICO.

The fighting around Kreminna is a continuation of Ukraine’s counteroffensive that began in the fall, when Kyiv’s forces swept through the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Now, Ukrainian soldiers have turned south to focus on Luhansk, but are meeting stiff resistance as Russian forces dig in there.

Moscow has in recent weeks sent in tens of thousands of replacement troops to bolster their front lines after suffering heavy casualties, particularly in the area around the city of Bakhmut in the central Donetsk region, the official said.

The new troops are not necessarily arriving in organized units, but are “filling in gaps” where Russia needs replacements and reinforcements, the official said, noting that they are “ill-equipped, ill-trained, rushed to the battlefield.”

“A key aspect is despite these increased numbers, in terms of replacements, reinforcements, not a significant enhancement in terms of the training of those forces,” the official said.

In Kreminna, Kyiv is looking to “exploit opportunities along the Russian defensive lines,” the official continued.

Top Pentagon officials have said Ukraine is unlikely to push Russia out of the country altogether this year. But Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley suggested on Friday that Kyiv could reclaim significant territory, depending on the new equipment and training Ukrainians receive in the coming months.

The equipment in the new U.S. aid package, combined with the previous one, includes capabilities equivalent to at least two combined arms maneuver brigades or six mechanized infantry battalions, 10 motorized infantry battalions, and four artillery battalions, Milley said.

“Depending on the delivery and training of all of this equipment, I do think it's very, very possible for the Ukrainians to run a significant tactical- or even operational-level offensive operation to liberate as much Ukrainian territory as possible,” Milley said. “Then we'll see where it goes.”

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DeSantis defends banning African American studies course as Black leaders call for action

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday stood by Florida’s decision to reject students’ access to an AP course on African American studies as outrage mounts surrounding the move, particularly among Black leaders.

The Republican governor said that he supports banning the course being offered to some high school students because its lessons delve too far into political agendas, broaching topics such as queer studies and abolishing prisons. Black officials in the state, from Democratic lawmakers to faith leaders, however, are seeking to overturn the DeSantis administration’s determination that the class “significantly lacks educational value.”

Yet during a press conference Monday, DeSantis showed no signs of reversing the decision to bar the course in Florida. The College Board, the organization responsible for administering standardized tests like the SATs, had spent a decade developing the African American studies AP course and is offering it to more than 60 schools the country as a pilot program.

“When I heard it didn’t meet the standards, I figured, yeah, they may be doing CRT,” DeSantis told reporters at an event in Jacksonville. “It’s way more than that.”

In Florida’s latest crackdown on how race is taught in schools, state education officials earlier this month rejected the African American studies course from being implemented. The move drew swift backlash in the state and beyond, racking up criticism from by academics, advocacy groups and liberal policymakers including the Biden administration, which on Friday said that blocking the course was “incomprehensible.”

A coalition of Black faith leaders is now pushing to meet with the DeSantis administration over its decision to block students from taking the course and is planning a march on the capitol in Tallahassee next month. They join a chorus of Black state lawmakers who have denounced the move by the Florida Department of Education, claiming it is an attempt to whitewash history.

“When you devalue my history, and say it lacks educational merit, that is demeaning to us,” Rev. R. B. Holmes, Jr., pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, told reporters Monday. “And it may be a problem in messaging, maybe they didn’t mean it that way. It already has national attention.”

Florida’s move to block the course follows a concerted effort by state republicans to restrict how race is taught in local classrooms. Under DeSantis, the state Education Department has rejected math textbooks over “impermissible” content, including teachings on critical race theory — something that Florida banned in education, along with the 1619 Project, through official action by its Board of education.

After the decision came to light last week, Florida’s education agency elaborated on rejecting the course in a tweet spelling out concerns with its lessons. The state took issue with several pieces of the College Board’s syllabus, such as parts on “Black Queer Studies,” advocacy for reparations, activism and intersectionality, which is a piece critical race theory, according to state’s education department.

Yet the agency’s defense did little to stem the criticism. Vice President Kamala Harris, who visited Tallahassee on Sunday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, criticized “extremist so-called leaders” who block history classes and prevent teachers from discussing “who they are and who they love” — a reference to the state’s controversial law banning educations from leading classroom discussions on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade.

“Every student in our nation should be able to learn about the culture, contributions, and experiences of all Americans — including Black Americans — who shaped our history,” Harris said.

Florida’s GOP-controlled statehouse in 2022 passed legislation to expand state anti-discrimination laws and prohibit schools and companies from leveling guilt or blame to students and employees based on race or sex. Dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act” by DeSantis, it created new protections for students and workers, including that a person should not be instructed to “feel guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” due to their race, color, sex or national origin.

Florida law requires public schools to teach students about the history of African Americans, including the “enslavement experience,” and steer them to develop an “understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on individual freedoms.” But the College Board lessons, according to DeSantis, are “pushing an agenda” on students.

“That’s the wrong side of the line for Florida standards. We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them,” DeSantis said Monday. “When you try to use Black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes.”

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Erdoğan says Turkey won’t support Sweden’s NATO bid

"That’s not happening," the Turkish president said of Sweden’s NATO bid following protests in Stockholm where a Quran was burned.

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Jan. 6 intruder who sat at Pelosi’s desk convicted on all charges

Richard Barnett, who famously put his feet up on a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office as rioters swarmed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was convicted by a Washington jury Monday of all eight charges he faced, including four felonies.

Barnett, 62, was convicted of obstructing Congress’ Jan. 6 proceedings, a charge that carries a 20-year maximum sentence, as well as disorderly conduct in the Capitol while carrying a dangerous weapon: a “Hike ‘N Strike” walking stick that doubles as a stun weapon. He was also convicted of stealing an envelope from the desk in Pelosi’s suite.

The Arkansan, who also goes by “Bigo,” became a symbol of the brazenness of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and his smiling image while seated in a desk chair in Pelosi’s suite quickly went viral. He left her a note that read, “Nancy, Bigo was here bi-otch,” and, after his arrest, tried to copyright the phrase. Video showed him waving the purloined envelope — addressed to then-Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) — outside the Capitol.

Emily Berret, who was an aide to Pelosi on Jan. 6, testified that the desk in the famous picture was hers, and she described the horror she experienced when she saw the image on the news while on lockdown with the speaker.

Barnett remained stoic as the verdict was read shortly before noon Monday. His partner, Tammy Newburn, was flanked in the public gallery by the mother of Ashli Babbitt — who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she sought to breach the House chamber on Jan. 6 — and the mother of Enrique Tarrio, who was at the same moment in a courtroom two floors below facing charges of seditious conspiracy. Also seated alongside Newburn was Nicole Reffitt, the wife of Jan. 6 defendant Guy Reffitt, who is serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence.

Barnett took the stand in his own defense, contending that he was “pushed” into the Capitol by the Jan. 6 mob and then roamed around looking for a bathroom until he stumbled into Pelosi’s suite. He said he took the envelope because he had bled on it and viewed it as a “biohazard.” He left an American flag on a side table inside the office as well. He said that he was angered by police actions outside the Capitol, disoriented after being maced in the rotunda and made overheated statements in the moment.

After he got home to Arkansas, Barnett quickly turned himself in, but claimed he lost his phone shortly after he arrived, and the Hike N Strike weapon was similarly missing.

Prosecutors forcefully rebutted Barnett’s contentions in tense cross-examination that caused Barnett to grow frustrated in front of the jury. Barnett described himself as a “fucking idiot” who made intemperate comments but said he shouldn’t be held criminally responsible for his actions.

They noted that he angrily berated Capitol Police officers inside the rotunda after leaving Pelosi’s suite, appearing to beckon the mob forward as he demanded the officers retrieve his misplaced flag. Though he didn’t deploy his stun weapon, prosecutors say its presence at his side presented a threat, and the jury agreed.

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Barnett vowed to appeal the verdict and said he had “absolutely not” received a fair trial, chiefly because he faced a jury in liberal-leaning Washington, D.C.

“I think the venue should have been changed. This is not a jury of my peers. I don't agree with that decision. But I do appreciate the process. And we are surely going to appeal,” Barnett said.

The prosecution asked U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to jail Barnett pending sentencing, but Cooper declined, allowing Barnett to remain under home detention until his sentencing, set for May 3.

While Barnett wasn’t accused of any violence on Jan. 6, prosecutors asking for Barnett to be put behind bars on Monday said the situation in Pelosi’s office could’ve been much worse if she’d been in her office when rioters like Barnett reached it.

“We can only imagine what would have happened if she had been there at that time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Prout said.

Prout said Barnett lied when he took the stand last week and hasn’t taken responsibility for his actions. “Since the trial testimony last week, the defendant has been tweeting and has expressed no remorse for his conduct,” she said.

A defense attorney for Barnett, Joseph McBride, noted that Barnett has been on pretrial release since April 2021 without notable incident. “It doesn’t make sense to throw him in jail at this moment,” McBride said.

Barnett insisted to reporters that he had expressed remorse, but he declined to say exactly what he regretted.

McBride and his co-counsel, Brad Geyer, also defended the defense’s unusual tactic of laughing during portions of the government’s case. McBride said it was an appropriate reaction to prosecutors seeking to leverage some of McBride’s more outlandish political statements.

“We think that it's absolutely objectionable, and ridiculous that a man could be on trial, and possibly be sentenced to the rest of his life in prison, and have tweets used against him — some political tweets,” McBride said. “So, we made a conscious decision to laugh at that because, at the end of the day, we don't believe that that stuff had any place in this trial.”

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