‘A disservice to the American public’: Democrats rip Biden over weapons sale to Israel

Democratic lawmakers are frustrated over President Joe Biden's move to bypass Congress and approve the direct sale of tank shells to Israel, saying the administration needs to be more transparent about the weapons it’s sending to the Middle East ally.

The criticism from Democrats came after the State Department approved the sale of nearly 14,000 tank shells worth roughly $106 million from U.S. Army stocks on Friday. To do so, it made an emergency declaration under the Arms Export Control Act that skipped normal congressional review channels.

“Do I have concerns? Yes, I do in regard to that,” said House Foreign Affairs ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who added that he was informed ahead of the sale by the administration. “Not because it's Israel or anyone else, because of any funding in that regards, it should come to us."

Meeks and the other leaders of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees normally must sign off on foreign military sales.

"For me, it's systematic,” Meeks said. “There's a reason Congress has oversight authority. And I want to make sure that oversight authority is continued.”

Some Democrats drew the comparison to the Trump administration, which similarly circumvented Congress to speed weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, sparking an uproar on Capitol Hill.

Under the Arms Export Control Act, Congress must be formally notified 15 days before the administration can conclude a large arms sale to Israel or other close allies — though the State Department has for years given more notice than that, on an informal basis.

"We already have a very short congressional review process. But I think that process is important, in all cases, for transparency and accountability,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “And I think the decision to short-circuit that process does a disservice to the American public."

A State Department official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken “determined an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer,” noting that the administration had used the same mechanism multiple times in recent years to expedite weapons transfers to Ukraine.

“We continue to be clear with the government of Israel that they must comply with [international humanitarian law] and must take every feasible step to avoid harm to civilians,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to speak on a sensitive topic.

The fight could culminate in a legislative push to terminate the sale, as the Trump-era maneuver did. But critics of the approach weren’t willing to commit to a specific course of action just a few days after the sale was announced.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has called on the Biden administration to do more to protect civilians in Gaza and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war, was also critical of the shortcut.

“The bottom line is, I think Israel has the right to defend itself against the terrorist group like Hamas, but they do not have a right to go to war against the women and children of Palestine, thousands of whom have already been killed,” Sanders said.

“And I am not supportive, as you may know, of giving more military aid to Netanyahu’s right-wing government in order to continue that terrible war against the Palestinian people,” he added.

Blinken on Sunday defended the shortcut, saying it applies only to a small portion of the U.S. aid sent to Israel so far, “and we want to make sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Hamas.”

The administration began shipping weapons to Israel within hours of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, and so far has refused to release a full list of what those weapons are.

The latest deal is for almost 14,000 120mm M830A1 High Explosive Anti-Tank Multi-Purpose with Tracer tank cartridges, as well as U.S. support, engineering and logistics, according to the State Department. The shells will come from U.S. Army inventory, so they can be transferred to Israel immediately.

During the Trump era, the workaround led to a standoff between Democrats and the administration over arms sales to the Middle East. Citing threats posed by Iran, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019 used an emergency declaration to justify the sales of billions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan.

Congress approved resolutions to overturn sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but then-President Donald Trump vetoed them.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) a critic of the move then, argued this week that there are some key differences now: Israel has already been attacked and the Biden administration doesn’t have “a predilection to try to circumvent Congress.”

“You have a clear ally who is in the midst of a war and who needs materiel desperately in order to fight and succeed, whereas the other one wasn’t the same urgency as the Israeli one,” said Menendez, who stepped down as Foreign Relations Committee chair in September amid federal corruption charges.

Indeed, Israel’s fight against Hamas in response to the group’s shock Oct. 7 attacks could assuage some lawmakers’ concerns over being skipped. The top Senate Foreign Relations Republican, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, said the move was justified given the conflict.

"Israel's self-defense is currently a matter of extreme concern and urgency," Risch said in a statement to POLITICO. "This is a case where the use of an emergency designation is appropriate, and I have received the required details on these sales from the executive branch, as is expected."

But it’s unlikely to satisfy Democrats who’ve complained that the U.S. isn’t doing enough to ensure weapons sent to Israel aren’t responsible for preventable deaths as civilian casualties mount and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens.

“I have deep concerns about the current military operations in Gaza and the lack of a meaningful response by the Israeli government to our stated concerns,” said another Democratic lawmaker and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about a sensitive topic. “The bypassing of Congress for these munitions only heightens my concern.”

Biden has acknowledged the issue, saying at a closed-door fundraiser on Tuesday that international support for Israel is fracturing due to “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza. In his bluntest public criticism of the conduct of the war, Biden added that Netanyahu “has to change.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led a letter sent to the White House last week calling for more Israel aid oversight. It was signed by Sanders and Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

The lawmakers urged the administration to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, complaining that waivers for required congressional notification of the sales would damage lawmakers’ ability to discern whether U.S.-supplied weapons are contributing to civilian casualties.

To Warren, the administration bypassing Congress over the weekend was another cause for alarm

“The White House made a mistake by avoiding transparency with Congress,” Warren said in an interview. “If they want to provide these arms to Israel, then they need to explain to Congress why and what conditions they've put on their use.”

Asked if Democrats might resort to a joint resolution to disapprove the sale, she noted that one previous resolution to cancel a sale to Riyadh “started with a letter.”

“I don’t think there is anyone left in the administration who doesn’t know how unhappy some of us are that Congress was not consulted,” she added.

Biden is simultaneously pushing lawmakers to pass $111 billion of emergency funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan before the end of the year. That package is in limbo in the Senate as Democrats and Republicans attempt to strike a deal on immigration and border policy, though a breakthrough is unlikely before both chambers leave for the holidays.

Biden’s original supplemental spending request sent to Congress in October included a legislative proposal to allow aid to Israel to bypass congressional notification requirements. Kaine said he’s concerned by the proposal and arms sales bypassing Congress generally.

“Bypassing congressional notification troubles me,” Kaine said in a brief interview. “There is a portion of the supplemental that I don't like which is that it waives congressional notification of the aid to Israel, but not to Ukraine, Taiwan or any other nation, and I don't think Congress should, generally, be giving up the congressional notification [requirements].”

Van Hollen indicated lawmakers could respond outside the arms sale issue.

"The recourse would be if committee members made it clear that this decision to bypass congressional review would create bigger problems in the future,” Van Hollen said. “In other words, sending a strong signal that there's a purpose for review — which is transparency, is accountability — and if the administration is not going to cooperate with that process, then Congress will be less cooperative when it comes to other issues."

Anthony Adragna contributed to this report.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/6juW79r
via IFTTT

Read More

Ukraine to EU: Don’t wait on US to make decisions

‘The next country that Russia may attack will be a European country, it will not be somewhere else,’ Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tells POLITICO.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/TGcpkQm
via IFTTT

Read More

‘I was afraid for my life’: Ga. poll worker describes fear and threats after Giuliani’s false fraud claims

Shaye Moss woke up on Dec. 4, 2020, thinking she might be in line for a promotion after overseeing a grueling but accurate count of presidential ballots in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena.

Instead, she stepped into a nightmare.

That day, the Trump campaign and Rudy Giuliani began spreading and promoting a lie that Moss was at the center of a vote-stealing effort to flip votes in Georgia from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. And it precipitated a torrent of threats and racist attacks that haven’t stopped since.

“I was afraid for my life,” Moss told jurors from the witness stand Tuesday in a Washington, D.C., courthouse where she and her mother, Ruby Freeman, are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages from Giuliani.

Moss described the sinking feeling moments after her supervisor showed her the false claims that had begun spreading online, drawn from surveillance video in the State Farm Arena showing election workers performing routine tasks. But Giuliani and others twisted the video to contend that it really showed a massive election fraud operation, helmed by Moss and Freeman, that should result in prison time.

Moss has already told a version of her story to the nation, appearing for testimony in a public hearing of the House Jan. 6 select committee last year. But Tuesday was her chance to retell the horrors she experienced straight to the man she says is primarily responsible for her anguish: Giuliani.

“How can someone with so much power go public and talk about things that he obviously has no clue about?” Moss wondered, under questioning from one of her attorneys, John Langford. “It’s just obvious that it’s lies. It’s hurtful. It’s untrue, and it’s unfair.”

Giuliani’s allegations — that Moss and Freeman orchestrated the ouster of election observers, concocted a false story about a water main break, trucked suitcases of fraudulent ballots and passed USB drives around to manipulate vote tallies — have all been debunked repeatedly by elections investigators. But he and Trump helped amplify them during the frenzied final weeks of Trump’s presidency, as he sought to cling to power despite his defeat.

Jurors got to hear Moss describe her rapid descent from her “bubbly” and “happy” existence into a life of fear and dread, losing the job she said she had hoped to retire in and having to upend her entire existence — from her appearance to her attitude.

“Every single aspect of my life has changed. I am literally not even that same person that was smiling on those selfies,” Moss said. “Everything’s changed. Everything’s turned upside-down. Everything is different.”

“People are messaging me,” Moss recalled, “calling, texting, online, saying that I need to die, they’re gonna kill me, they want to kill my mom, they know where we are, they know where we sleep and we should die.”

Giuliani sat silently at the defense table as the powerful testimony unfolded. He occasionally looked at Moss and jotted down notes with a Sharpie.

Langford played video clips for the jury of Giuliani on his video podcast, “Common Sense,” declaring that Moss and other election workers were engaging in blatant ballot rigging. The lawyer for Moss and Freeman followed up those clips with threatening and racist messages that Moss received on Facebook shortly after Giuliani leveled his unfounded accusations on Facebook.

One message shown to jurors told Moss to “be glad its [sic] 2020 and not 1920.”

Moss said the reference to her race was clear.

“Everyone knows exactly what a Black woman would be doing in 1920,” Moss said.

Some of the messages said Moss had committed treason. She said she initially didn’t know what the word meant, recalling only that it had some historic significance, perhaps related to Paul Revere. But the references to her being put to death alarmed her.

“They could hang me and hang my mom, that was my concern,” Moss said.

After the messages were shown, Langford gestured at Giuliani, suggesting that the vulgar messages Moss was receiving were the direct product of the Trump lawyer’s public allegations.

Giuliani’s lawyer, Joseph Sibley, told jurors in an opening statement Monday that his client had not made any racist remarks or issued any threats. However, the former New York mayor unambiguously accused the poll workers of crimes.

“These people should all go to jail — for a long time,” Giuliani said in one clip shown to the jury.

Freeman, who worked alongside her daughter on Election Day and is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, appeared to tear up as her daughter began emotionally recounting her experiences. A member of their legal team handed her a stack of tissues. Freeman, who also appeared before the Jan. 6 committee, is expected to testify later in the trial and describe how Giuliani’s false claims forced her to rebrand her business, sell her home and conceal her identity.

Moss said that in the wake of the fraud allegations she rarely goes out and in particular avoids doing so with her mother. “Definitely not. I don’t want anyone to see my mom and I together. They might recognize us,” she said.

Moss seemed careful not to explicitly reference Trump supporters, even as she expressed continuing fear of those who’d heard what she repeatedly called “lies” about her. She said she had dreams about being accosted by “political people,” but never made any reference to Trump, although the judge has ruled that Giuliani is liable as part of a civil conspiracy for libelous statements Trump made about the actions Moss and Freeman took.

The plaintiff’s attorneys also spent portions of Tuesday’s proceedings showing jurors deposition testimony of two Georgia election investigators who probed and discredited the false allegations lodged by Giuliani and others. Those investigators, Frank Braun III and Frances Watson, described reviewing the surveillance footage that Giuliani had mischaracterized, reviewing voting machine logs, talking to witnesses and more. They determined that the footage showed election workers performing routine, unremarkable tasks.

Moss repeatedly emphasized that the videos in question simply reflected her doing her job.

“It shows us working,” she said. “The same procedures I’ve done for years.”

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/yRb3qC1
via IFTTT

Read More

Cyberattack cuts many internet connections in Ukraine

Ukraine’s largest telecom operator was targeted by a cyberattack on Tuesday that severely impacted internet services in portions of the country, with government agencies blaming Russia.

The attack comes as experts are warning that Russia is likely to intensify its cyberattacks on Ukraine in the winter months and marks one of the largest cyberattacks against a Ukrainian company since the beginning of Russia’s invasion early last year.

Ukrainian telecom group Kyivstar posted in a translated statement on X on Tuesday morning that the company was “the target of a powerful hacker attack” which caused “a technical failure” that led to the company’s telecom and internet access networks collapsing. The company, with about 26 million customers in Ukraine, wrote on X that “our enemies are insidious, but we are ready face any difficulties, overcome and continue working for Ukraine.”

Ukrainian government steps in: The Security Service of Ukraine on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into the incident, according to a translated statement from the agency, and the SSU suspects that “Russian special services” are behind the attack. The SSU, which is working with Kyivstar to recover from the attack, sent a team to the company as soon as the attack was reported.

But not every agency is rushing to blame Russia. Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection, the nation’s cybersecurity agency, said in a statement sent to reporters that “it is too early to draw conclusions,” and noted that specialists from Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response team are involved in responding to the attack.

View from industry: The internet connectivity tracking group NetBlocks posted on X on Tuesday that “connectivity has collapsed” on Kyivstar networks, that the incident impacted “fixed-lined and mobile services" and that the hacking incident "impacted all regions of the country with high impact to the capital." Isik Mater, director of research at NetBlocks, said via email that the attack is "among the most serious faced by Ukraine" since the Russian invasion.

"The incident has clearly had heavy impact to the capital and far beyond, including all major cities and regions, affecting both mobile and fixed-line services with a knock-on impact to dependent sectors including air strike alert systems and banking," Mater said.

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at the internet observatory company Kentik, further confirmed this, posting on Xthat at one point, mobile traffic on Kyivstar’s network “almost hitting zero.”

Not new: Kyivstar has been a target of cyberattacks from Russia since early in the invasion. The company’s CEO, Oleksandr Komarov, told POLITICO during a visit to Washington last year that the organization’s employees had to scramble to defend against both physical and cyberattacks. In addition, Russian-linked cyberattacks against Ukrainian critical infrastructure have been widespread, including attacks on energy substations.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/NrhujeV
via IFTTT

Read More

The other Menendez gets a primary challenger for 2024

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla announced Tuesday he will challenge Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) in the Democratic primary, setting up a showdown in a very blue North Jersey district.

The election will test Menendez’s balancing act and whether he can avoid being dragged down by his father, Sen. Bob Menendez, who faces federal charges alleging he was an agent of the Egyptian government while leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and accepted bribes in the form of gold bars and envelopes of cash. The senator has denied the allegations but he faces his own political challenge, with Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J) and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy seeking his seat next year, though he has not said whether he will run for reelection.

In a largely positive campaign launch video, Bhalla focused on discrimination but also support he faced because of his Sikh faith, his subsequent work as a civil rights attorney and his climate change record as mayor.

The campaign video also flashed an image of Rob Menendez’s father.

Hoboken is a small, densely populated city right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. The city was walloped during Hurricane Sandy and climate change has been one of Bhalla’s major issues. The city is taking oil companies to court and the mayor has worked to reduce flood risk, running in one race, in part, on the esoteric but important issue of stormwater management.

“As our Congressman, I will fight to make healthcare a right for everyone, take on climate change, protect a woman’s right to choose, battle back against hatred, and build an economy that works for all,” he said in a statement.

Shortly after the elder Menendez was indicted this fall, Bhalla said he was seriously considering a run against his son, a first-term member of Congress.

At first, it appeared the whole Menendez family’s support in North Jersey could crumble, but there is some indications Rob Menendez has been able to hold on to key supporters in the Democratic Party.

While Hudson County Democrats abandoned the elder Menendez, the son last week sewed up most of the county's Democratic support. Hudson County Executive-elect Craig Guy, its Democratic chair Anthony Vainieri and all but two of its mayors — Bhalla and Jersey City's Steven Fulop — last week backed Menendez for reelection to his House seat.

In a statement, Rep. Menendez questioned Bhalla's move.

"While we have advocated tirelessly for Hoboken, it seems the only reason Ravi has entered the race after endorsing me in 2022 and publicly applauding our work this year is because a week after losing control of the city council, he sees no political future for himself in Hoboken," he said.

Matt Friedman contributed to this report.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/eWsAZ9H
via IFTTT

Read More

Trump secures massive slate of Mississippi GOP endorsements

Donald Trump’s campaign is set to announce on Monday that he has won nearly across-the-board support from top Mississippi Republican officeholders.

Among those set to back the former president include both of Mississippi's U.S. senators, all three Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation and 8 of 9 statewide elected officials. The only statewide elected official not endorsing is Michael Waton, who as the secretary of state is responsible for overseeing Mississippi’s elections. He has remained neutral.

The announcement is the latest signal that the Republican party is rallying around Trump as the first primary contests near. The state’s primary will be held March 12, the week after Super Tuesday.

In recent months, Trump has unveiled similar slates of endorsements in more than a half-dozen other states. His campaign has promoted the endorsements as a sign of strength in a race where polls have shown him with a wide lead over his primary rivals.

Trump has been personally involved in securing endorsements, in many instances placing calls to officeholders who are still neutral. Over the weekend, he had a call with Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, and another with a broader group of Mississippi Republicans who are endorsing him.

Brian Jack, a senior Trump campaign aide and a former Trump White House political director, has coordinated the state-by-state endorsement push. Will Russell, a former Trump White House aide, has been tapped to lead the campaign’s Mississippi operation.

The endorsement race in the 2024 GOP primary has been lopsided. Combining Mississippi endorsements with other endorsements compiled by FiveThirtyEight.com, Trump has now won 17 endorsements from senators while his primary rivals haven’t received any. He has 89 endorsements from House Republicans, compared to 5 for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 1 for former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Seven governors have announced their support for Trump, and just two for DeSantis.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/knz4h3T
via IFTTT

Read More

America 'doesn’t want' retribution from Trump, McCarthy says

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has officially pledged his fealty to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election — despite some concerns about Trump’s messaging.

“What President Trump needs to do in this campaign, it needs to be about rebuilding, restoring, renewing America. It can't be about revenge,” McCarthy said during an interview with CBS’ Robert Costa that aired Sunday.

"He's talking about retribution, day in, day out,” Costa pointed out.

"He needs to stop that," McCarthy responded, adding later that he expects Trump “adapt” when he “gets all the facts.”

Trump is showing no signs of slowing down his calls for revenge. He’s fueled his campaign and rallied supporters on the slogan for months.

But Trump’s calls for vengeance don’t line up with what voters want, according to McCarthy.

"America doesn't want to see the idea of retribution," he said. "If it's rebuild, restore and renew, then I think you'll see that.”

McCarthy announced last week that plans to leave Congress by the end of December after a year that saw him win the long-coveted job of speaker only to be ousted in October.

Though Trump pulled for McCarthy during his lengthy speakership bid in January, he was silent when eight hard-core members of McCarthy’s caucus voted him out in the fall. But McCarthy, who came to Trump’s side at Mar-a-Lago in 2021 after initially condemning the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, will still ride the Trump train in 2024.

“I'm not gonna stop giving him the advice. And look, I lost the job of Speaker. Maybe I don't have the best advice,” McCarthy said. “But I know one thing is: I love this country. I want tomorrow to be better than today. And I'm gonna do everything in my power, and I'm gonna be engaged in the process to make it better."

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/NoJp18S
via IFTTT

Read More