THE INTERNATIONALISTS out ***today***
What they’re saying:
@JonLemire
: “This is going to be the definitive account of Biden’s foreign policy.”
@peterbakernyt
: “Excellent”
@hughhewitt
: “Well researched and very well written”
@BeschlossDC
: “Excellent, revealing and newsworthy”
NEW: Biden tells reporters “I don’t think the conflict will be resolved until Putin gets out of Ukraine.”
Sides with Zelenskyy’s condition for peace talks.
Biden is weighing sending a "significant number" of M1 Abrams tanks -- possibly 30-50 -- to Ukraine. Announcement could come this week. w/
@laraseligman
NEW: Pentagon didn't inform the White House's NSC of SecDef Austin's hospitalization til Thursday, Jan. 4. Austin was hospitalized Jan 1.
Jake Sullivan didn't even know til Thursday.
DOD aides & lawmakers also in dark til Friday.
w/
@laraseligman
Spoke with 3 HPSCI members on the intel.
One said it’s “disturbing.”
Another said the issue is a longer-term concern, “not a today thing.”
And a 3rd confirmed “it’s a serious issue but not an immediate crisis.”
Still unclear what *it* is, though.
“The U.S. begged [Israel] not to do it,” said one of the U.S. officials. “At this point, it’s truly embarrassing how much Israel does not listen to us, but yet this doesn’t keep President Biden from blind fealty.”
NEW: President Joe Biden will consider conditioning military aid to Israel if the country moves forward with a large-scale invasion of Rafah, according to four U.S. officials.
With
@JonLemire
One DOD official said their office was told by Austin’s aides that the secretary was working from home for the week –– even though SecDef was in the hospital.
UPDATE: The Pentagon did not inform Biden for 3 days that SecDef Austin was hospitalized.
POTUS found out when Jake Sullivan briefed him on Thursday, shortly after DOD sent word over to the White House.
w/
@laraseligman
NEW: Pentagon didn't inform the White House's NSC of SecDef Austin's hospitalization til Thursday, Jan. 4. Austin was hospitalized Jan 1.
Jake Sullivan didn't even know til Thursday.
DOD aides & lawmakers also in dark til Friday.
w/
@laraseligman
Trump says Russia is not a threat, our greatest threat is our American representatives, we need to reevaluate the purpose of NATO, and most of the people in the State Dept, DOD and Intel Services need to be fired so he can put the right people in.
Congressional Ukraine Caucus co-chair on the counteroffensive: “I’ll be blunt, it’s failed.”
And he was blunt, too, about the prospects for a victory ahead: “I’m not sure it’s winnable anymore.”
NEW: After all hostages are released, the U.S. is preparing to hold internal conversations about whether to demand that Qatar shutter Hamas' office in the country, per 3 officials.
It'd be a major reprimand for Hamas & embarrassing for the non-NATO ally.
Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder to me: “We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.”
My wife has revealed she doesn’t like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“Peanut butter and jelly don’t mix,” she said, explaining that the bread “gets too wet.”
We had a genuine 10-minute discussion (read: fight) about this just now.
Biden is weighing sending a "significant number" of M1 Abrams tanks -- possibly 30-50 -- to Ukraine. Announcement could come this week. w/
@laraseligman
DOD's explanation is that the Pentagon's chief of staff was sick, therefore she couldn't notify DepSecDef Hicks or the White House about Austin's hospitalization for 4 days.
SecDef has many aides. The COS has a deputy. CJCS knew on Jan 2. Makes no sense.
.
@jaketapper
: Can Trump be trusted with the nation’s secrets ever again?
Former SecDef under Trump, Mark Esper: If what’s in the indictment is proven true, “No.”
.
@celinegounder
, Grant Wahl’s wife, shares what led to the prominent journalist’s untimely death: and “aortic aneurysm.”
“There was nothing nefarious about his death.”
My recap of the last week:
"U.S. Abrams tanks are pretty useless in a ground war in Europe" says U.S. that is about to send Abrams into a ground war in Europe
!!!!
“I don’t know that Ukraine can survive until February of 2024,” Sen.
@ChrisMurphyCT
(D-Conn.) said. “My sense is they start to run short on ammunition in the next several weeks.”
This tweet…this tweet right here…is *precisely* why Saudi is spending billions to boost its soccer league.
Better to equate Riyadh with an imaginary all-star team than with the real-life human rights abuses it commits.
Biden confirms Americans in first 50 hostages released: “Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released. “
Full statement from Biden after the Israel-Hamas deal, in which 50 women and children hostages will be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners and hundreds of aid trucks will enter Gaza daily during a 4-day pause
“Joe Biden and top aides have discussed the likelihood that Benjamin Netanyahu’s political days are numbered—and the president has conveyed that sentiment to the Israeli prime minister in a recent conversation.” W/
@JonLemire
&
@nahaltoosi
NEW: White House issues new arms-transfer memorandum that requires written assurances from foreign governments that they won't, among other things, use U.S.-provided weapons to violate human rights before receiving those weapons
.
@playbookdc
has the first look at the cover of my book, The Internationalists.
It’s an inside view of the Biden admin’s handling of foreign policy, including Afghanistan fall & defense of Ukraine vs Russia.
Out Feb 2024.
You can preorder here:
U.S. officials warn, though, that the deal isn't final until it's announced.
But as of now, deal looks like this:
- About 50 hostages released in exchange for ~ 150 Palestinian prisoners (3:1 ratio)
- 4 or 5-day pause in fighting
Biggest diplo breakthrough of the war.
BREAKING: A U.S.-brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a four or five day pause in fighting could be announced today.
@alexbward
“A 4 – 5 m wave will hit the Antonovsky bridge east of Cherson city after 19 hours, and there will be a backswell flooding up the Inhulets river, and after 4 – 5 days there would be some flooding up the river Bug to Mykolaiv.”
RIP
@GrantWahl
. Just an absolute gem of a human and a brilliant reporter. He’ll be missed by so many fans.
You didn’t need to like soccer to love his journalism. He found human stories surrounding the most human of games.
NEW: Zelenskyy dropped his condition that peace talks could only happen if Putin was out of power. That came after some soft nudging by the Biden admin.
Yesterday, NSC spox Kirby said the U.S. would not consider a change in Israel policy until Israel finished its WCK review.
Today, Kirby is saying the U.S. may consider a change in Israel policy if Israel doesn't make Gaza changes within "hours and days."
That's a shift.
We must respond to these repeated attacks by Iran & its proxies by striking directly against Iranian targets & its leadership. The Biden administration's responses thus far have only invited more attacks. It is time to act swiftly and decisively for the whole world to see. (2/2)
Trump just derailed the speakership of the US House while sitting in a courtroom for the civil fraud trial of his business epire and listening to the testimony of Michael Cohen.
The White House wasn’t notified when Austin had his Dec 22 surgery, DOD confirmed, which means the Pentagon *twice* failed to inform the White House of SecDef’s hospitalization
“The Economist estimates, from satellite imagery, that over a tenth of Gaza’s housing stock has been destroyed, leaving more than 280,000 people without homes to which they can return.”
.
@Charles_Lister
: "Four sources within the Defense and State departments said the White House is no longer invested in sustaining a mission" in Syria
NEW: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia was seeking a “short truce” with Ukraine during his
#HFX2022
address — a proposal he fiercely rejected — because it would simply allow Moscow’s forces to regroup.
NEW: F-16 and larger-range missiles could help Ukraine beat Russia, Gen. Cavoli tells lawmakers in Munich.
Comes as debate over sending Western fighter jets to Ukraine rages across Atlantic.
W/
@paulmcleary
“Senior U.S. officials are telling their counterparts in Ukraine that the expected winter fighting pause doesn’t mean talks should happen imminently” following Milley’s comments last week.
W/
@laraseligman
&
@ErinBanco
Recall: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said it was Russia struck Poland.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba said it was a “conspiracy theory” to say that Poland was hit by Ukrainian air defenses.
This is not a joke: Russia just sanctioned Jim Carrey. He and a hundred other Canadians are banned from entering the country after speaking out against the invasion of Ukraine
20 hours after my deadline—now my story has been read by >150k people—WH has sent comment. Spox Adrienne Watson: "This story is not true. Quotes attributed to US officials are made up."
Watson played no role in my interviews.
My quotes are real. Biden team again echoing Trump.
“An influential think tank close to Donald Trump is developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power, according to documents obtained by POLITICO”
W/
@HeidiReports
“A Ukrainian military source told me he believes that Russia’s long-range strikes, by cruise missiles that are among the most costly weapons in its nonnuclear arsenal, are aimed using satellite imagery provided by U.S. companies.” -
@gcaw
President Biden is ‘open’ to NATO SecGen Stoltenberg’s proposal of removing the Membership Action Plan requirement for Ukraine to join the alliance.
Move not a formal invite or timeline.
If allies agree, announcement likely at Vilnius summit.
I don't think we're paying enough attention to some Dems calling for the U.S. to label cartels as terrorists and some Repubs calling for the U.S. to militarily invade Mexico to root them out.
The Overton window here is shifting, and shifting fast.
Zelenskyy's message at the Munich Security Conference is clear: “Speed is crucial. [Putin] wants the world to slow down.”
Translation: Send me weapons, everyone, and now. Move quickly.
Comes as U.S. and German tanks are yet to arrive in Ukraine, for example.
Just before 11 p.m. a spokesperson for Walmart said there was no shooting at the facility.
“This shooting did not occur on Walmart property,” Joe Pennington said. “The (distribution center) locked down like everyone else and police searched the facility.”
Now we have information from our intelligence that the Russian military has placed objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Perhaps to simulate an attack on the plant. Perhaps they have some other scenario. But in
NEW:
@AmbJohnBolton
tells me "the indictment is devastating. Those who defended Trump before the charges were made public, or those who have not yet spoken, should very carefully weigh how history will consider their statements."
My family, which is largely from Lewiston, is *stunned* by the shooting there.
They’re sharing stories about growing up there and about how it is a great place to live.
They can’t believe, as with other close-knit communities, that this happened where they are/to them.
NEW:
@nedprice
is set to be
@USAmbUN
’s deputy, leading the Washington office and having more direct influence on key foreign policy issues. w/
@nahaltoosi
NEW: The Biden admin is urging Israel to open a second Gaza crossing at Kerem Shalom so more humanitarian aid can reach Palestinians, 3 U.S. officials and 3 aid group leaders said.
Israel so far has rebuffed those requests.
w/
@ErinBanco
An oral history of how the Biden admin handled the walk up to, and aftermath of, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — as told by the senior-most officials involved.
My highlight: Jake Sullivan saying intel downgrade strategy inspired by *Austin Powers*.
“Several of Mr. Biden’s top aides, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, recommended he make the move at a meeting of top national security officials last week…The State Department had been the last holdout” over humanitarian concerns & allies.
Asked repeatedly if he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, Trump doesn’t answer.
Instead, he says “I want everyone to stop dying” and that Europe should spend more for its defense.
Also Trump won’t say that Putin is a war criminal bc he wants to make a peace deal.
NEW: Senior U.S. officials have told their Israeli counterparts the Biden administration would support Israel going after high-value Hamas targets in and underneath Rafah
W/
@laraseligman
JUST IN: NSC spox John Kirby says there's "no evidence" that Israel deliberately struck WCK aid workers in Gaza. Adds that Israel is conducting an investigation and all should wait for those results, which U.S. would like made public.
NEW:
@VivekGRamaswamy
has told experts and supporters he would withdraw the U.S. from NATO as President.
It’s further than he or any other candidate has gone on America’s potential severance of the alliance.
His spox didn’t deny the comments.
Russia now promotes a conspiracy theory that it was allegedly a missile of Ukrainian air defense that fell on the Polish theory. Which is not true. No one should buy Russian propaganda or amplify its messages. This lesson should have been long learnt since the downing of
#MH17
.
.
@VivekGRamaswamy
tells
#NatSecDaily
how he would exchange what Russia already controls in Ukraine — parts of Donbas and Crimea — in exchange for an end to Russia’s strategic partnership with China
I am *not* surprised at the number of natsec reporters who have rolled their eyes at the breathless coverage of the Chinese spy balloon. To wit, from
@SCClemons
' opener to his newsletter today:
JUST IN: At Davos, national security adviser Jake Sullivan says one reason Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 was to disrupt regional normalization talks.
Argues only normalization deals pave way for a 2-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.