Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced new sanctions against Iran and its economy, including on eight individuals the officials said were involved in missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. personnel on Tuesday night.
"We will continue to apply economic sanctions until Iran stops its terrorist activities and commit[s] that it will never have nuclear weapons," Mnuchin said.
Adding details to President Donald Trump's announcement Wednesday that he intended to further sanction Iran, whose goods are already heavily sanctioned, Mnuchin said the president will sign an executive order authorizing new sanctions including 17 against the nation's economy and sanctions against individuals he asserted, "advance Iran's destabilizing activities and were involved in Tuesday's ballistic missile strike." Mnuchin, who last announced sanctions against the Middle Eastern nation in September 2019 after suspected attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, said the administration has "100 percent confidence" that "the economic sanctions are working."
"We want Iran to behave simply like a normal nation," Pompeo told reporters in a White House briefing, saying he believed sanctions will help accomplish that goal. He added, "We're striking at the heart of the Islamic Republic's inner security apparatus."
Pompeo was pressed by reporters on the timing of attacks the president initially said were "imminent." The administration has been inconsistent in justification for the drone strike on Jan. 3 that killed Iranian top military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. In the past 24 hours, Trump said "they were looking to blow up our embassy," which the administration later explained he was referencing the storming of the Baghdad embassy on New Year's Eve. Though the Department of Defense had stated that the general had been "actively developing plans" to attack Americans in the region, Pompeo told Fox last night "we don't know precisely when and we don't know precisely where."
On Friday morning, Pompeo attempted to clarify the differing accounts, saying "we had specific information on an imminent threat and those included attacks on U.S. embassies. Period. Full stop."
Justification for the drone strike has had lawmakers up in arms for days, exacerbated by the five days it took the White House to brief Congressional leaders, a meeting two Republican Senators had excoriated as unacceptable and had them saying they would vote with Democrats in a war powers resolution.
Pompeo repeated this morning that Soleimani had been planning "a broad, large-scale attack against American interests," including U.S. embassies and bases in the region, and reiterated reports from the U.S. and its allies that the Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed after its takeoff in Iran, just hours after Iran had sent a retaliatory missile barrage at Americans housed in Iraqi bases, was "likely" shot down by an Iranian missile.
"When we get the results of that investigation, I am confident we and the rest of the world will take appropriate action," Pompeo said.
After 40 years of tension came to a head last month with the death of an American contractor, storming of the American embassy in Baghdad, and the killing of Soleimani, lawmakers worried the president had taken the U.S. to the brink of war with the Iran. On Jan. 8, Trump said Iran appeared to "be standing down" after its missile attack response.
Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leaders are now planning to amend the stop trading on congressional knowledge act, otherwise known as the 'Stock' Act. This 2012 law governs how members disclose the purchase or sale of stocks and amending it would close a loophole, eliminating the trading of individual stocks by members of congress. Pelosi has consistently opposed a ban on stock trading by lawmakers and congressional staff...so what's changed? Kedric Payne, Vice President of Campaign Legal Center, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for a controversial new version of the Alabama congressional map to remain in place. The lower court had previously ordered that the state must redraw that congressional map because it violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of Black voters. Redistricting expert Yurij Rudensky joins Cheddar News to weigh in.
Florida lawmakers have introduced a controversial bill restricting some discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms with young students. Supporters say the move empowers parents to have more of a say in what their children learn. Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
Congress this week passed a bill that would end forced arbitration for workplace sexual assault and harassment, one of the most significant changes to employment law in years. Cheddar News speaks with Marjorie Mesidor, Sexual Harassment Attorney, who explains that arbitrators are often retired judges or attorneys who "tends to have a more conservative view both to law and rewards."
As the situation with Russia has grown more precarious, the White House urged Americans remaining in Ukraine to leave immediately. The Biden administration that it sees continuing signs of escalation but did not have specific information detailing a timetable for a potential invasion. Kristine Berzina, senior fellow and head of the geopolitics team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, joined Cheddar News to provide her analysis. "There's talk of an impending phone call between President Putin, President Biden," Berzina said. "That is certainly a good sign to indicate that there would be significant cost."
Terrell Starr, host of 'Black Diplomats' podcast and senior nonresident fellow at the Eurasia Center for Atlantic Council, joins Cheddar News from Kyiv, Ukraine to discuss the mounting tension there.
The White House laid out plans for a $5 billion investment into a national network of charging stations to ease EV driving anxiety. Bruce Brimacombe, CEO of EV infrastructure GOe3 joined Cheddar News to discuss how much needs to be done for drivers to get over the fear of running out of energy. "People need to be able to do what they're doing now," he said. "But that is the way that if you're going to buy an electric car, you got to feel like you're not changing your world." Brimacombe noted that building out the infrastructure between cities was GOe3's own focus.
U.S. automakers are saying that the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, a crucial border crossing between the U.S. and Canada, is affecting their production lines. Michelle Krebs of Cox Automotive warns that the disruption "couldn't come at a worst time," amid chip and labor shortages in Detroit.
AND DETROIT-BASED AUTO MAKERS SAY THEY ARE SHUTTING DOWN PLANTS OR SCALING BACK PRODUCTION BECAUSE OF PARTS SHORTAGES.
Plans to add affordable housing to a development in Yellow Springs, Ohio, were squashed after comedian Dave Chappelle and other community members spoke out against the project. Chappelle threatened to pull the plug on his local comedy club and restaurant projects if the development had been approved.
