President Joe Biden speaks about Ukraine from the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin listen. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden has announced that the United States would be delivering 31 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine as the country heads into a new phase of its war against Russia.
“With spring approaching, the Ukrainian forces are working to defend the territory they hold and preparing for additional counter-offensive,” President Biden said. “To liberate their land, they need to be able to counter Russia’s evolving tactics and strategy on the battlefield in the very near term.”
Biden explained that the tanks are some of the “most capable in the world,” they would improve Ukraine’s ability to fight in open terrain, and give them “an enduring capability to deter and defend against Russian aggression.”
The announcement was accompanied by Germany’s decision to send 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks to the nation as well.
“Germany supports Ukraine in defending against Russia’s aggression,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday. “We are supplying Leopard 2 tanks in close cooperation with our international partners.”
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to the Biden administration following Wednesday’s announcement.
“It’s an important step on the path to victory,” Zelenskyy said on Twitter. “Today the free world is united as never before for a common goal — liberation of Ukraine.”
However, it will likely be months before any tanks are delivered to the front and Ukrainian troops get fully trained to use the complex weapons.
It is extremely rare for federal prosecutors to get search warrants for lawyers "because they usually want to protect attorney-client privilege," explains Politico's Daniel Lippman. The fact that the FBI moved on Cohen suggests he "might not have been totally legal" in his work for Trump. The president blasted the raid, calling it a "disgraceful situation."
Democrats have already signaled that they're going to focus more on election interference and be "a little bit more aggressive than Republicans" during Mark Zuckerberg's testimonies this week, says Ali Breland, technology and politics reporter at The Hill. The Facebook CEO will appear before Congress Tuesday and Wednesday to face questions about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
President Trump's feud with Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos continues, as the president claims that the tech giant does not pay its fair share of taxes and that it's causing the U.S. Postal Service to lose money. Cheddar breaks down President Trump's claims and explores how Amazon's deal with the post office works.
The Facebook CEO's hearings on Capitol Hill will likely dominate headlines for days. If those stories focus more on the new initiatives that the social network has recently rolled out, rather than the data scandal itself, "that would be a big win," says Aaron Pressman, Senior Technology Reporter at Fortune Magazine.
The president is likely to respond to the brutal chemical attack in Syria that took place over the weekend, says Jon Miller, CRTV's White House Correspondent. That's based on the fact that, not only has the president taken military action against Syria before, but there also seems to be some support for some kind of a response among voters.
The trade war rhetoric "runs the risk of overplaying [Trump's] hand" in negotiations, says Clayton Allen, Vice President of Special Situations at Height Capital Management. That could, in the long run, come back and hurt employment rates in the U.S.
A lot of top executives of big name brands, like Apple or Starbucks, are starting to take political stances that are "unrelated to the bottom line," explains Aaron Chatterji, Associate Professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and author of a recent Harvard Business Review article about CEO activism.
Washington won't easily forgive Facebook for sending a "low-level" deputy to testify when Congress first wanted answers about Russia's role in the 2016 election. And legislators are likely to take out their frustration on the CEO when he appears before them next week, says Ken Gude, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.
President Trump is stoking fears of a trade war with China yet again. On Thursday evening, Trump threatened more tariffs on China worth $100 billion dollars, on top of the tariffs Trump is already planning. China immediately fired back, saying the country will continue to meet Trump's tariff threats with counter-actions.
President Trump also made news when he finally broke his silence on the Stormy Daniels controversy. When asked by reporters if he knew about the payment by his lawyer to Daniels, Trump quickly said, "no." Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels' lawyer, said Trump denying knowledge of the payment is "a gift from the heavens."
Executives and fighters from the UFC were at the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell on Friday in celebration of the organization's 25th anniversary. Amanda Nunes, a UFC fighter, and Lawrence Epstein, the COO of the UFC, join us to weigh in on the milestone and preview the UFC 223 taking place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn this weekend. Epstein also commented on the arrest of UFC star Conor McGregor, saying McGregor's actions don't represent UFC's values.
West Virginia is the first state to test out voting via blockchain, collaborating with venture capitalist Bradley Tusk. "[People] want to vote the same way that they order something from Amazon," says Mac Warner, WV's Secretary of State. The experiment has rolled out for deployed military voters in some counties, with plans to deploy it across the state for the midterm elections in November.
