Morning Report — Ukraine in the spotlight: ‘There’s only Plan A’

by Kristina Karisch - 02/19/24 6:33 AM ET

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris hold a joint press conference at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, Saturday Feb. 17, 2024. (Tobias Schwarz/Pool via AP)

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated Caroline Crowley’s name.

Curveballs, collapses, contradictions. Congress may be out this week, but lawmakers are still facing the pressure of looming government shutdown deadlines, as well as the shaky future of both the border bill and aid to Ukraine.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have both repeatedly stressed the importance of sending more aid to Ukraine, which continues to fend off Russia’s invasion. Harris, who attended the Munich Security Conference at the end of last week, vowed that she and the president would continue to support Kyiv.

“You have made clear that Europe will stand with Ukraine,” she told the gathered leaders, “and I will make clear President Joe Biden and I will stand with Ukraine.”

Neither Biden nor Harris can promise U.S. aid to Ukraine with any degree of certainty. The Senate passed a massive aid package last week that includes $60 billion for Ukraine, largely in weapons and other military supplies, amid warnings that Kyiv’s forces are running out of ammunition. Harris said on Saturday that there was no backup plan for giving Ukraine weapons and funding if the aid package fails in the House (NPR).

“There’s only Plan A, which is to ensure that Ukraine receives what it needs,” Harris said after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But House Republicans continue to block $60 billion in security aid even as Ukrainian troops have had to withdraw from the city of Avdiivka. And if former President Trump wins in November, the White House will be occupied by a public admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin who recently suggested Russia should “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that do not contribute sufficiently (The New York Times).

Upping the stakes is the Friday death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who since 2021 was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. Biden blamed Navalny’s death on Putin, saying in Friday remarks to “make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled” (The Hill).

Supporters of Kyiv have argued for months that a failure of Congress to prop up the beleaguered U.S. ally would not only risk the fall of a sovereign Ukraine but also send a signal to the world that Washington can’t be relied upon to defend democracy in the face of belligerent autocrats (The Hill).

“The world is watching and Putin must be punished,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said in a statement. “The U.S. Congress must pass aid to Ukraine to defend democracy, because a thug like Putin won’t stop and will murder anyone who stands in his way.”

ONE SENATOR UNDER FIRE for his decision to oppose a $95 billion defense and foreign aid package is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who railed on the Senate floor last year about a budget deal including “not a penny” to fund the war in Ukraine, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.

“He got sucked into the Trump orbit,” lamented one Democratic senator who worked with Graham on Ukraine funding. Architects of the bill saw Graham’s support as crucial to convincing a majority of Republican senators to vote for it and apply as much pressure as possible on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to bring it up on the House floor. In the end, only 22 Republicans supported the package in a 70-29 vote, and Johnson has vowed not to advance it in the lower chamber.

A bipartisan group of moderate House lawmakers unveiled an emergency funding bill Friday that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in addition to border security policy, as centrists seek another option to break the months-long impasse — but the measure has virtually no chance of passing through either chamber (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: Trumpworld is taking aim at the Republicans who supported the Ukraine aid push.

▪ The New York Times: Republicans are pushing a hard line on Russia while defending Trump’s NATO comments.

▪ The Hill: The White House has used Navalny’s death to crystallize the dangers of walking away from Ukraine and NATO allies.

▪ The Washington Post: The Kremlin is running a disinformation campaign to undermine Zelensky, documents show.

WHEN LAWMAKERS RETURN to Capitol Hill at the end of the month, they will also have to contend with early-March government funding deadlines, and the consequences of the collapse of a bipartisan border deal. Democratic appropriators say it could pose added hurdles to the annual funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), particularly as they look to dial up pressure on Republicans (The Hill).

“There are some challenges but we’re trying to address them,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas), top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees DHS funding, told reporters on Thursday, adding that negotiators “were expecting extra money on the supplemental — it didn’t happen.”

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

▪ It’s President’s Day! Here is a history of the holiday that commemorates what would be former President George Washington’s 292nd birthday.

▪ After four months of working closely together, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are moving back into their more familiar posture of hand-to-hand political combat.

▪ Andrew Hitt, an attorney and former chairman of the state Republican Party, sat down with CBS’s “60 Minutes” to explain how he says he and Wisconsin’s other GOP electors were tricked by the Trump campaign.

THE GOP WAS DEALT A BLOW in its effort to impeach the president after former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov was arrested on charges that he simply made up the bribery allegations that have become central to the case. GOP investigations have put the bribery allegations front and center of the impeachment push, leading Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the Oversight panel, to say the information in the indictment is so damaging that Republicans should simply call off their impeachment inquiry (The Hill).

“I think it’s an opportunity for them to say, ‘You know what, we gave it our best shot, but we’re gonna give up the ghost. There’s nothing there,’” Raskin told Chris Hayes on MSNBC.

Programming note: Morning Report’s Alexis Simendinger will be back in your inboxes Thursday.

LEADING THE DAY

POLITICS

TOUGH CHOICES: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley faces an upward road ahead for her long-shot presidential bid as she trails Trump less than two weeks before the GOP primary in her home state of South Carolina, writes The Hill’s Julia Mueller. Amid growing calls for Trump to be treated as a presumptive Republican nominee, many in the party are questioning Haley’s motives for staying in the race, with some speculating that she is gearing up for 2028 or positioning herself as a backup in case Trump can no longer run.

Trump now leads by nearly 35 points in South Carolina, according to the latest polling averages from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, as some view the state as Haley’s last stand to prove she can perform better than the polls predict.

“You want to campaign to win, and there’s no path to victory for her. And so she must be running for some other reason,” said Republican strategist Justin Sayfie, arguing Haley’s putting forward more of a “statement campaign” at this point.

On Sunday, Haley declined to say that she would support Trump if he wins the GOP nomination — her latest dig at the former president as she steadily sharpens her attacks against him heading into her home state’s primary (Politico). Haley’s continued rhetoric against Trump has seen her emerge — partly purposefully, partly unintentionally — as a key voice in the anti-Trump resistance, articulating a forceful case against four more years of the former president (The Washington Post).

“We need to wake up to the fact that — you look at what happened a few days ago — Donald Trump lost immunity, Republicans lost the vote on the border, Republicans lost a vote on Israel, Republicans fired their party chair. And basically you look at that: Donald Trump had his fingers on all of that,” Haley told reporters after a Feb. 10 rally in South Carolina. “Everything that he has done, from the rants, to talking about revenge after New Hampshire, to everything in between — it is total chaos.”

2024 ROUNDUP

▪ Meet North Carolina Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley, who has been thrust into the national spotlight after Trump backed him to serve as the next leader of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Also in the spotlight? Lara Trump, after her father-in-law tapped her to be the RNC’s co-chair.

▪ Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), one of the most prominent progressives in the Squad, is facing a challenging reelection bid over her stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.

▪ Progressive groups and Arab American grassroots organizations in Michigan are taking their protests over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war to the ballot box ahead of the state’s primary later this month.

▪ The House Republicans who ousted scandal-plagued former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) expressed few regrets for their decision — or for their inability to hold his seat in last week’s special election.

▪ Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) surprise bid to run for outgoing Sen. Ben Cardin’s (D-Md.) seat has roiled what was expected to be a surefire get for Democrats. A survey this week showed him tying or leading the top two Democratic contenders in the race.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets for a pro forma session on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

The Senate will hold a pro forma session on Tuesday at 9 a.m.

The president is in Delaware. He will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. and then depart Rehoboth Beach with first lady Jill Biden to return to the White House

Vice President Harris has no public schedule.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has no public schedule.

ZOOM IN

INTERNATIONAL

ISRAEL LAUNCHED STRIKES ACROSS GAZA over the weekend that killed at least 18 people. An airstrike in Rafah killed six people overnight — including a woman and three children — while another strike in Khan Younis killed five men. The airstrikes come as the U.S. has said it will veto a United Nations draft resolution circulated by Algeria calling for an immediate cease-fire and unhindered humanitarian assistance. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war so far. Instead, the U.S. is aiming to help broker a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement Saturday that Algeria’s draft resolution will “not be adopted” (The Hill and CNN).

“The United States will continue to engage in the diplomacy necessary to get a hostage deal over the finish line, and will be candid with Israeli and regional leaders regarding our expectations for the protection of more than one million civilians in Rafah,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “It is critical that other parties give this process the best odds of succeeding, rather than push measures that put it — and the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities — in jeopardy.”

Meanwhile, Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has warned that unless Hamas frees all hostages held in Gaza by 10 March an offensive will be launched in Rafah. It is the first time Israel has said when its troops might enter Gaza’s overcrowded southern city (BBC).

▪ The Washington Post: The top U.N. court is set to begin public hearings today into the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

▪ Haaretz: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday invoked Adolf Hitler while decrying Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, making him one of the first Western leaders to make such a direct comparison amid allegations of genocide.

THE HEALTH CARE CRISIS IN GAZA is unthinkably grim, even by the standards of war-ravaged regions. Infectious diseases from chickenpox to cholera are sweeping through the population; crucial medical supplies are blocked at the border; and hospitals are overrun with critically wounded patients. The Hill’s Joseph Choi and Sarakshi Rai report that as Israel is poised to launch an invasion into Rafah, the situation looks set to get worse. More than a million Palestinians have sought refuge in the southern city, largely women and children. Hope for a humanitarian respite is fading as U.S.-brokered cease-fire talks broke down in Cairo this week, and the U.S. has frozen funding to the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza, further endangering the already tenuous efforts to provide medical aid.

“The most emerging thing is the health issue,” Mai al-Kaila, minister of health for the Palestinian Authority, told The Hill this week. “Because we have lots of injured people per day. We have thousands, and there is no place to be treated, or no safe place to be treated, as you know that the majority of hospitals are out of service.”

▪ BBC: The World Health Organization has said Gaza’s Nasser hospital has ceased to function following an Israeli raid.

▪ Vox: Israel’s raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis might break international humanitarian law.

ELSEWHERE

TRUMP WORLD

FINANCIAL FREEZE: Trump’s fortune, which he rode to fame and is closely tied to his public identity, could take a massive hit from back-to-back verdicts in two New York civil cases that have resulted in astronomical financial penalties. A New York judge on Friday ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million — plus interest — for falsely altering his net worth on key financial statements to receive tax and insurance benefits. With interest, the state attorney general’s office said the figure will reach just over $450 million.

That number follows the $83.3 million another New York City jury said Trump must pay writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019, when he denied the longtime advice columnist’s accusation that he sexually assaulted her decades earlier. Together, the two penalties amount to a whopping $438.1 million — and interest on the fraud case fine could bring that number above $500 million (The Hill).

“It’s going to be fairly disruptive, both because he’ll lose a lot of money and also, he’s going to be put in a position where he might have to sell some of his properties — and might even have to sell them quickly or under unfavorable conditions,” said Will Thomas, a business law professor at the University of Michigan. “It’s kind of a double whammy.”

▪ The New York Times: In New York, condominiums in buildings emblazoned with Trump’s name began selling for less once he was elected president, according to an analysis.

▪ The Guardian: Trump has launched his own sneaker brand, a day after a New York judge ordered him to pay $355 in penalties for fraudulently overstating his net worth to dupe lenders.

HEALTH & WELLBEING

THE MOST COMMON ASTHMA INHALER for children was discontinued at the start of this year, and more than a month later, the situation has not improved. Families remain caught in the middle of a fight between a drug company and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) with no end in sight. Pediatricians say Flovent, the discontinued drug, has been the gold standard for treating asthma in young kids for more than 20 years, so changing patients to something different would be complicated even without the payment hurdle (The Hill).

“The minute I heard Flovent was going to go off the market I knew it was going to throw the system into chaos,” said Robyn Cohen, a pediatric pulmonologist and director of the pediatric asthma program at Boston Medical Center. “The amount of work to get patients to switch was going to be an exorbitant lift … it’s actually been worse than I envisioned.”

▪ The New York Times: How red wine lost its health halo. For a glorious decade or two, the drink was lauded as good for the heart. What happened?

▪ USA Today: Health care data breaches hit 1 in 3 Americans last year: Is your data vulnerable?

▪ Politico: Artificial intelligence is making critical health care decisions. The sheriff is MIA.

OPINION

■ Could Long COVID be the Senate’s bipartisan cause? by Zeynep Tufekci, columnist, The New York Times.

■ Manhattan district attorney gets Bragg-ing rights, by Jennifer Rubin, columnist, The Washington Post.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🍨 What was once a staple has become somewhat of an endangered species in the frozen dessert aisle.

Vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips has largely given way to flavors filled with more stuff, like cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, those two flavors are among the nation’s top five best sellers. The humble chocolate chip doesn’t even crack the top 10 anymore, and is now sold only in selected markets or at certain times of the year. The reasons for the flavor’s slide in popularity aren’t exactly clear.

“Chocolate chip used to be a flavor we produced constantly,” Caroline Crowley, communications specialist for Babcock Dairy Plant in Madison, Wis., told The New York Times. Chocolate chip hasn’t been a staple for a decade, she said: “Now it’s seasonal.”

One noted ice cream enthusiast who’ll surely be disappointed by chocolate chip’s downward trend? The president. In a 2022 interview with Vogue, Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden revealed that it’s his favorite flavor.

Stay Engaged

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