Azerbaijan taps former oil industry leader to head this year's climate talks

Azerbaijan has selected its minister of ecology — a former state oil executive — to helm the United Nations climate talks later this year, in a move that stands to fuel debate about the oil and gas industry's role in international negotiations aimed at reducing fossil fuel use.

Mukhtar Babayev worked for the country’s state-owned oil company SOCAR for nearly 25 years before taking his current post as minister of ecology and natural resources in 2018.

It marks the second year in a row that an official with ties to the fossil fuel industry will oversee global climate negotiations, following the controversial COP28 presidency of Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber during the climate talks that ended last month in the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Jaber, who leads the UAE's state-run oil company, faced backlash from climate advocates and lawmakers who feared that his connections to the industry created a conflict of interest.

COP28 ended with a broad agreement to transition away from oil, gas and coal, the first time fossil fuels had been mentioned in the final outcome of climate talks over nearly 30 years. But the agreement failed to include language calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels, due in large part to opposition from oil- and gas-reliant countries

Several experts and climate leaders have called for an overhaul of U.N. rules to prevent oil companies from shaping the annual climate conferences.

“Given the enormous conflict of interest, oil industry executives should not be allowed to heavily influence, much less preside over, the summit,” Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist who works at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times last month.

After Babayev's appointment, Mann said in a post on X: “It appears that the @UNFCCC folks REALLY didn’t take to heart our suggestions," referring to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It’s up to the host country to select the president of the talks, and it’s not unusual for the minister of environment or ecology to be tapped as president-designate. It is unusual for that official to be a veteran oil executive.

That may owe to Azerbaijan’s status as a petrostate, with its economy highly dependent on the production and sale of its fossil fuel resources. Oil and gas supports around 90 percent of the country’s export revenue and finances around 60 percent of its government budget, according to the International Energy Agency.

It is the third oil exporter to host the annual U.N. climate talks after Egypt and the UAE.

Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister, Yalchin Rafiyev, will serve as lead negotiator of the talks, which begin in November.

Babayev’s chief of staff, Rashad Allahverdiyev, confirmed the appointments and said countries, observer groups and the U.N. climate secretariat had been notified of the selection.

Babayev, 56, has a degree in political science from Moscow State University and another degree in foreign economic relations from Azerbaijan State University of Economics, according to his profile on the ministry’s website.

During a plenary speech in Dubai, he said Azerbaijan aimed to cut its climate pollution 35 percent by 2030 and 40 percent by 2050. It has also set a goal of increasing its renewable energy capacity to 30 percent of its national energy mix this decade.

“As the impacts of climate change become increasingly evident, we acknowledge the necessity to unite our efforts, catalyze global cooperation and ensure that our actions are aligned with the gravity of the situation,” Babayev said.

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Ramaswamy wants the US out of NATO

Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has told multiple people he would withdraw the U.S. from NATO as president, the furthest anyone vying for the Oval Office has gone on the idea of ending America’s role in the alliance.

The remarks made to different groups experts and supporters, detailed to POLITICO by three people familiar with his comments, signal NATO’s days may be numbered if Ramaswamy or someone who shares his general worldview, like former President Donald Trump, wins the election in November.

Last October, Ramaswamy told POLITICO the idea of the U.S. leaving NATO was “reasonable,” but stopped short of supporting taking the U.S. out of the 31-nation bloc. Such a move would hobble the alliance and threaten NATO’s ability to serve as a credible deterrent force against Russia. It could also usher in the largest transatlantic crisis in decades, leading to questions from Europe, North America and even Asia about America’s willingness to defend or support allies in moments of need.

But Ramaswamy, who has also floated taking the U.S. out of the United Nations, has privately held the view that it’s past time to remove the U.S. from NATO. Asked about his comments out of the spotlight, Ramaswamy’s campaign spokesperson Tricia Mclaughlin declined to comment directly on what he would do regarding NATO, but didn’t deny the candidate’s stance.

“Vivek has serious concerns that most NATO allies fail to meet their military investment commitments and will reevaluate our own support as necessary. He also believes that post Cold War NATO expansionism has unnecessarily increased the risk of major conflict with Russia,” she said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have taken action to prevent the end of America’s prominent spot in NATO. Congress approved a bill that stops any president from unilaterally ending America’s participation in the alliance, which considers an attack on one member as an attack on all. The only time NATO acted on that was after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, leading allies to join American forces in Afghanistan to root out al-Qaeda.

It’s unlikely Ramaswamy will have the opportunity to order the withdrawal from behind the Resolute Desk. Polls show him a distant fourth in national polls and nowhere near winning in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But Ramaswamy is not the only NATO-wary Republican candidate. As president, Trump discussed taking the U.S. out of the alliance and may yet to do so if he reenters the Oval Office. “We have to finish the process we began under my administration of fundamentally reevaluating NATO's purpose and NATO's mission,” reads his campaign website.

It’s possible Ramaswamy joins a Republican administration, especially Trump’s, as he has remained in the frontrunner’s good graces and is close with Tucker Carlson, a staunch Trump supporter. Ramaswamy has taken positions that appeal to the MAGA base, like making a deal with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, cutting economic ties with China and ending American military adventures abroad. He has occasionally run afoul of U.S. foreign policy orthodoxy, such as when he suggested ending aid to Israel — even after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Ramaswamy, however, isn’t looking for a complete removal of the United States from world affairs. He has promoted military strikes on Mexican drug cartels to curb the spread of fentanyl, and has warned other countries, namely China, that if they wade deeper into the Western Hemisphere, they will “have hell to pay.”

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Florida attorney and Dem fundraiser John Morgan floats potential run for governor

Prominent Florida trial attorney John Morgan, known as the godfather of Florida’s medical marijuana amendment and a Democratic fundraiser, may add another title to his résumé: Florida governor.

Morgan this week teased a potential 2026 run on social media, saying “maybe I should run for Governor… as an Independent” in response to a recent story about Gov. Ron DeSantis touting Florida’s gradual minimum wage hike.

Morgan was the architect of the state’s 2020 initiative to increase Florida’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and took issue with DeSantis highlighting it while campaigning in Iowa for the GOP presidential nomination. The Republican Florida governor opposed it several years ago.

“This is hilarious. And why we despise most politicians,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “@GovRonDeSantis fought me tooth and nail along with his usual suspects.”

This isn’t Morgan’s first time floating a potential run for governor. During the 2018 election cycle, Morgan weighed — but ultimately turned down — a run for the Democratic nomination, saying at the time that “I can’t muster the enthusiasm to run for the nomination.”

He added: “I plan to register as an Independent and when I vote, vote for the lesser of two evils. And if I ever ran, run as an Independent.”

Morgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Morgan has widespread name recognition in the state, in part because of television ads for his legal practice that have dominated the airwaves in Florida for years. He’s also spearheaded several successful ballot initiatives, including one legalizing medical marijuana.

Despite being two years away, the field for the 2026 gubernatorial race is already taking shape since DeSantis is in his second term and can’t run again. Florida GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Byron Donalds are both expected to mount a bid, though Gaetz regularly denies that he’s interested. Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez and Attorney General Ashley Moody, both Republicans, have also been discussed as potential candidates.

On the Democratic side, state Sen. Shevrin Jones of Miami Gardens has said he’s weighing a bid, as is Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell.

Morgan this week also suggested that if he ran, he’d want former NBA star Grant Hill, who lives in Central Florida, to be his running mate. Hill’s name was previously floated as a possible candidate to run against Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who is up for reelection in 2024.

Morgan has supported Hill’s candidacy, telling the Orlando Sentinel last year that “a beloved celebrity makes a much better candidate than some political hack, especially when as smart and charismatic as Grant.”

Whether Morgan is serious about a run this time is yet to be seen, but he already suggested that if he was elected, he’d ensure that the Florida Legislature meet every two years instead of annually because “every time these folks get together they fuck the people over for the benefit of a few powerful interests.”

He also hinted that, not surprisingly, he wouldn’t be a typical elected official.

“One thing is for sure… We will all be smoking legal weed at the inauguration,” he posted.

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Eric Adams sues for $700 million from Texas bus companies in latest move against Gov. Abbott

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams is suing 17 Texas charter bus companies in his latest move to thwart Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's policy of busing thousands of migrants from his state's border to New York City.

The lawsuit seeks $708 million to cover the costs of caring for migrants transported to the city, the mayor said.

“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone,” Adams said in a video accompanying the announcement. “Texas Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul expressed support for the lawsuit, accusing Abbott of using "human beings as political pawns" in a statement.

"It’s about time that the companies facilitating his actions take responsibility for their role in this ongoing crisis,” Hochul added.

The move comes a week after Adams announced an executive order restricting how charter buses can drop off migrants in the city. In it, he required bus companies to notify his administration 32 hours in advance and drop off migrants only between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. on weekdays at a specific Manhattan location.

Last week’s order has already caused the bus companies, most of which are chartered by the state of Texas, to circumvent the new rules by dropping migrants off in areas outside New York City’s jurisdiction, such as Edison, N.J. and outside the weekday morning time frame. Since the order, migrants have been dropped off at “various NJ TRANSIT train stations,” a spokesperson for New Jersey’s Gov. Phil Murphy told POLITICO in a statement.

The lawsuit comes as Adams has continued to press federal officials for more migrant aid while blasting Abbott’s busing program as “cruel” and a “use of migrants as potential as political pawns.” It alleges the companies participated in "bad faith" conduct when they each "knowingly implemented Governor Abbott’s publicly articulated plan without any regard for the individuals they were transporting or an effort to help manage this humanitarian crisis," according to Adams' announcement.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has also criticized Abbott’s policies and issued a similar executive restricting migrant bus drop-offs. That order also led to chartered buses dropping migrants far outside Chicago city limits.

Separately, New York City has paid to transport asylum seekers to destinations outside the city. Between March and November, the city spent about $4.6 million to purchase more than 19,300 plane tickets for migrants seeking travel to other cities. A spokesperson for Adams claimed Abbott’s actions differ from the mayor’s because the Texas governor's program offers migrants little access to food, water and bathrooms and because the mayor's ticketing process intends to get migrants to their preferred destinations.

The governments of both Texas and New York City say the migrants are traveling willingly.

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Kirby: Russia used North Korean missiles in Ukraine

Russia recently used North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine and is seeking Iranian missiles, a top White House official said Thursday.

"Our information indicates that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles. On Dec. 30, 2023, Russian forces launched at least one of these North Korean missiles into Ukraine,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters, adding that Russia launched further missiles days later.

The first missile landed in an open field. The U.S. is still assessing the damage caused by the second launch, Kirby said during a White House briefing.

“We anticipate that Russia will use additional North Korean missiles to target Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and to kill innocent Ukrainian civilians,” he continued.

The partnership between the two countries is a result of their shared isolation on the global stage, and shows how Russian President Vladimir Putin has been forced to seek new avenues to support his offensive in Ukraine.

Kirby also confirmed Tuesday that Russia is seeking Iranian missiles, which was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The missiles would enhance the Kremlin’s ability to target Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and could be delivered to Russia as soon as the spring, but U.S. officials don’t believe the deal has been finalized.

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‘The grassroots have left DeSantis’: Trump crushes Florida governor in Miami-Dade GOP straw poll

MIAMI — Donald Trump trounced Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s home state. Again.

Miami-Dade County Republicans overwhelmingly chose Trump over DeSantis to be their presidential nominee in a straw poll the party’s executive committee held this week.

Of 65 party members who met in Miami Wednesday night, 53 votes went for Trump. Only five voted for DeSantis.

“[Trump] is charismatic and he knows how this game works in terms of loyalty and networking,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, who attended the meeting and voted for the former president.

Cabrera was a Florida state director for Trump and the Republican National Committee during the 2020 election. The straw poll, Cabrera said, “proves Miami-Dade County is Trump country.”

A video obtained by POLITICO of the meeting shows the crowd in the room erupting in applause then chanting, “Trump, Trump, Trump,” after state Rep. Alex Rizo, a DeSantis supporter and chair of Miami-Dade Republicans, announced the election results. The members recorded their votes on paper ballots.

The results show a stunning defeat for DeSantis, who was the first Republican in 20 years to flip Miami-Dade County from Democrat to Republican during his 2022 gubernatorial reelection victory. Ever since DeSantis entered the presidential race, polling shows the broad support he’d seen among certain key constituencies in Florida — Hispanics, women and independents — has fallen.

“I do think he has lost support,” said one member who attended the meeting, who asked to remain anonymous so as not to inflame DeSantis given that he’ll still have three years left as governor if he drops out of the presidential race. “He and many of them have tried to move to the right of Trump. That's not possible. Trump reflects the right. He is the standard.”

Another member who attended the GOP meeting, granted anonymity to freely discuss the vote, said of the straw poll: “It’s confirmation of what everyone’s been reporting for a while: that the grassroots have left DeSantis.”

Trump has worked to prove dominance over DeSantis in Florida through endorsements from the Republican congressional delegation and flipping some state lawmakers from DeSantis to his side, though most members of the GOP-controlled Legislature endorsed DeSantis.

Under pressure from Trump backers, top officials in the Republican Party of Florida voted in September to remove a provision in its state bylaws that required any candidate seeking to be on the March 19 presidential primary ballot to pledge loyalty to the eventual GOP nominee.

The former president, who has been wooing Florida GOP members, hosted state Republicans at Mar-a-Lago in November, days after he held a counterprogramming rally in the Cuban-majority city of Hialeah, while his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination debated in Miami. As part of the rally, Trump set aside VIP seating for grassroots supporters.

More broadly, Trump has for months dominated the GOP field, with national and early state polling showing him ahead by wide margins and DeSantis’ numbers mostly declining.

The Miami straw poll was impromptu and had not been on the party’s agenda, said Florida Rep. Alina Garcia, who has endorsed Trump and attended Wednesday’s meeting. Former state lawmaker and U.S. Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) called the motion to hold the vote, Cabrera said.

The vote isn’t binding in that the group isn’t formally endorsing a candidate for president ahead of Florida’s primary, but Broward County Republicans are meeting Thursday night to survey their members about an endorsement, state committeeman Richard DeNapoli confirmed to POLITICO.

Other votes cast on Wednesday night included three for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and one for entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Two people wrote down names of politicians not running for president: U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rene Garcia. One piece of paper was left blank.

Asked about the straw poll results, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung replied, “Ron DeSanctus is still in the race?” The DeSantis campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Garcia, the state representative, insisted DeSantis remained popular — but as governor. She said people in attendance at the Miami meeting thought Trump had the right experience to be president and that DeSantis could still run in 2028.

“Gov. DeSantis has been a very good governor,” she said. “But we want him for governor. Right now, we want President Trump for president, and it is what it is.”

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New Jersey considered $5 million to handle migrant influx but didn't follow through, records show

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration considered setting aside $5 million in federal Covid-19 aid for a “rapid response plan” for migrants coming into the state from the southern border last summer but the plan never came to fruition, according to records and his office.

That proposal, mentioned in a June application to use relief funds and obtained by POLITICO through a public records request, was in anticipation of “an influx” of migrants with the lifting of so-called Title 42 restrictions a month earlier. New Jersey is seeing migrants bused to the state en route to New York City, although it is unclear what level of state involvement there will be. The Democratic governor said Wednesday the arrivals by bus from Texas the past week is “a manageable situation” and stressed that most migrants were not staying in the state.

The records offer a glimpse how the Murphy administration could address migrants entering the state should the situation escalate. The Title 42 policy, which was started by the Trump administration and carried through the Biden administration until May 2023, allowed for asylum-seekers to be turned away at the southern border on public health grounds. That happened an estimated 2 million times while the policy was in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As a result of the federal [public health emergency] ending, Title 42 has also been rescinded,” the application, signed by the state Department of Human Services' acting chief financial officer at the time, said. “Border arrivals are expected to increase and NJ is on the top list of states for migrant arrivals. This plan has been put in place in the event NJ receives an influx of migrant arrivals by bus or other means."

Murphy spokesperson Tyler Jones, referring to the $5 million requested by Human Services, said in a statement to POLITICO that “to date, no American Rescue Plan funds have been distributed for this purpose.”

Twenty-six buses carrying about 1,200 migrants from the southern border have been sent to train station stops in New Jersey the past week, Murphy said Thursday at an unrelated event, to sidestep New York City rules limiting when bused migrants can arrive there.

It has highlighted the gridlock in Washington on immigration reform while forcing Democrats to live up to their rhetoric embracing immigrants or risk appearing hypocritical to voters who will decide the presidency and control of the House in November. New York Mayor Eric Adams, for example, has said migrants are draining city resources and will “destroy” his city, and his public criticism of Biden has severely damaged the relationship between the Democratic president and mayor of the country’s largest city.

The major Democratic-led cities of New York and Chicago have been popular destinations for Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and even Democrat-run governments to send migrants over the last year. Local orders over the past month in those two cities have restricted arrival times for bused migrants, leading buses to drop them off in neighboring municipalities as a workaround.

Long before the publicized migrant drop-offs at train station stops in New Jersey, though, state officials planned for “an influx” of migrants.

The application from DHS proposed spending the $5 million to help coordinate “mass shelter activities including shelter, food, crisis counseling and as needed wrap-around social services for newly arrived individuals.”

“Funds will be utilized to support these activities in the event this plan is activated,” the application said.

The $5 million pales in comparison with what other Democratically controlled governments have spent on the migrant crisis. Chicago recently set aside $95 million in federal pandemic moneyto address migrants sent to the city. New York City is expected to spend a total of $12 billion on migrants over the course of three fiscal years and has said federal assistance has fallen short of demand.

The New Jersey application also mentions a “migrant task force” put together by the governor’s office, although the existence of such a task force has not been publicly acknowledged and the governor's office declined to comment on it.

That proposal came about two months before the Biden administration considered a South Jersey airport as a potential relocation spot for migrants from New York City, which Murphy — who once said New Jersey would be a “sanctuary state” under his watch — said was not feasible.

Murphy’s office declined to comment on whether such a proposal could come back or if it has resurfaced due to migrants passing through the state en route to New York City.

Murphy, when asked by a reporter Wednesday whether he had a plan to deal with more migrants coming into the state, said: “There is a plan in place, and that is that New York City has the federal resources in place.”

Adams’ office did not seem to agree. “While we are grateful for the help our federal partners have provided thus far, simply put, it’s not enough,” Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said in a statement to POLITICO. “We need meaningful financial help, expedited work pathways, and a national resettlement strategy.”

Murphy has been diplomatic with his public comments about immigration, saying it’s shameful Congress has not addressed much-needed reform while also decrying the actions of Abbott.

"The last thing we need is governors like Greg Abbott doing political stunts,” he said. “This is not a time for stunts, this is a time to figure out a solution that's broad and comprehensive.”

A spokesperson for Abbott, in a statement to POLITICO, said Murphy should redirect his frustration towards Biden.

“Instead of complaining about migrants passing through New Jersey on the way to their final destination in New York City, Governor Murphy should call on his party leader to finally do his job and secure the border — something he continues refusing to do,” Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said in a statement. “Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue transporting migrants to sanctuary cities to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis.”

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