Biden’s intelligence access to President’s Daily Brief revoked, DNI Gabbard says
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has officially revoked access to the President’s Daily Brief, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard posted on Monday.
Former President Joe Biden — who barred Trump from receiving classified briefings after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob — will no longer receive the top-secret intelligence information according to Trump’s directive, a process he first ordered begun in February.
The moves are the latest in Trump’s retribution campaign against what he claims was “weaponization” of the justice and intelligence segments of the federal government under Biden and Democrats.
Trump also ordered revoked the security clearances of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former national security adviser Jake Sullivan, former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and attorneys Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, and Andrew Weissman.
Gabbard confirmed the decision on X, writing: “Per @POTUS directive, I have revoked security clearances and barred access to classified information for Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Andrew Weissman, along with the 51 signers of the Hunter Biden “disinformation” letter. The President’s Daily Brief is no longer being provided to former President Biden.”
Andrew Weissman, who has most recently been a commentator on MSNBC, served as the chief prosecutor in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mark Zaid is a national security lawyer who represented the whistleblower at the heart of the Trump first impeachment inquiry involving Ukraine. Eisen is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, an attorney and a CNN legal analyst and co-founder of the States United Democracy Center.
In February, Trump issued an executive order to start the process of revoking security clearances held by dozens of intelligence officials he says falsely claimed in a letter during the 2020 election season that Hunter Biden’s laptop contained Russian disinformation.
Yevhenii Vasyliev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukrainian forces on Sunday launched a new offensive inside Russia’s western Kursk border region, going on the attack with substantial forces according to reports from Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported a large-scale attack by Kyiv’s forces involving armored columns that began on Sunday morning, with Ukrainian troops attacking in three directions inside Kursk.
Ukraine first seized a foothold inside the Kursk region with a surprise offensive in August. But Kyiv’s forces have since been slowly pushed back by Russia, including recently with support from North Korean troops.
A Ukrainian military source confirmed to ABC News that a new offensive operation had begun.
The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Andrii Yermark, also appeared to cryptically confirm the offensive, writing on Telegram: “Kursk Oblast, good news! Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s counter-disinformation center, also wrote that Ukrainian troops have gone on the attack in multiple directions inside Kursk.
Videos posted to Russian military blogger channels appeared to show columns of Ukrainian armored vehicles on the move. The Ukrainian assault appears to be Kyiv’s most substantial offensive operation in Kursk since August.
Multiple Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian troops, tanks, armored vehicles and demining equipment attacked the villages of Berdin and Bolshoye Soldatskoye, north of Sudzha — the main administrative border town that Ukraine captured in August.
Bloggers also reported an attack further west on the border town of Tetkino.
Prominent Russian military bloggers — some close to Russia’s Defense Ministry — said that the offensive was expected but that the situation is challenging for the Russian defenders.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that two assaults were repelled. “The operation to destroy the Ukrainian Armed Forces formations continues,” it wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian troops appeared to make small advances on Sunday but did not achieve significant breakthroughs of the Russian lines, according to open-source monitors. Some Russian military bloggers said they believe Ukraine will attempt another push through Monday, with others suggesting Kyiv’s main attack was yet to come.
The new Ukrainian assault comes just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, with the expectation that his new administration will push for a peace deal to end the nearly 3-year-old war.
ABC News’ Natasha Popova contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced on Monday that the United States would offer almost $2.5 billion in defense assistance to Ukraine, a move that will bring an “immediate influx of capabilities” as the country defends itself against Russia’s assault.
“At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office,” Biden said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Smartphones, sneakers and board games headline a wide-ranging set of products at risk of price increases as a result of China tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, experts told ABC News.
The tariffs, which took effect on Tuesday, slap a 10% tax on all imported goods from China, the third-largest U.S. trade partner.
The Trump administration had also threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but the U.S. reached an agreement with each of those countries on Monday, pausing the tariffs for one month.
Still, trade experts said they expect the China tariffs to increase prices paid by U.S. shoppers, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to consumers. The tariffs could hike prices for an array of goods, from curtains to saucepans to winter coats.
“If you could light up everything around you that has been touched by Chinese manufacturing or inputs, your whole room would light up,” Christine McDaniel, a former senior trade economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, told ABC News.
The exact price impact remains unclear, however, since businesses within the supply chain could opt to take on some or all of the tax burden, some experts added.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
In a series of social media posts over recent days, Trump said the tariffs target Canada, Mexico and China for hosting the manufacture and transport of illicit drugs that end up in the United States. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump urged the three countries to address his concerns, while acknowledging the tariffs may cause some financial hardship within the U.S.
“WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID,” Trump wrote.
Smartphones, laptops and video game consoles
Personal electronic devices make up a top category of products imported from China, meaning price increases could impact tablets, smartphones and laptops, experts said. Video cameras, headphones and video game consoles would also be impacted.
The U.S. imported $31.6 billion worth of electronic computers from China over the first nine months of last year, U.S. Census Bureau data showed. Those products accounted for 30% of the total value of U.S. computer imports over that period, the data indicated.
“The consumer electronic sector is heavily integrated across Asia — China being a huge center of that,” McDaniel said. “That would presumably be at the top of the list.”
Tennis shoes and sandals
Nearly all footwear sold in the U.S. comes from abroad, and much of it originates in China. That set of products includes tennis shoes, sandals and high heels, among others.
The U.S. imports between 96% and 99% of all footwear sold nationwide, the United States International Trade Commission, or USITC, found in 2020.
China accounts for about $4 of every $10 in imported footwear sold to U.S. buyers, according to the USITC.
Footwear could suffer significant price hikes since the Chinese firms manufacturing the products often face narrow profit margins, lending them little latitude to take on some of the tax burden, Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who studies trade policy, told ABC News.
If sellers were to pass along the full burden of the tariffs to U.S. consumers, it would amount to a 10% price increase. Lovely said the price hike for footwear could approach that upper limit.
“For items like this, I’d expect the price increases would be closer to 10% than 1%,” Lovely said.
Toys and games
As with footwear, almost all toys and games sold in the U.S. are imported. China accounts for the vast majority of those products.
The U.S. imported $18.8 billion worth of toys and games from China over the first nine months of last year, U.S. Census Bureau data showed. Those products accounted for nearly 80% of the total value of U.S. computer imports over that period, the data indicated.
Shares of toy companies fell on Monday in anticipation of the China tariffs. Mattel’s stock price fell about 4.5% while Hasbro’s dropped 2%. Each of the companies recovered much of the losses on Tuesday. They both source a lower share of their products from China than the industry average, MarketWatch reported.
