NEW: Two top security officials at USAID were put on admin leave Saturday night after refusing to allow officials from Musk’s DOGE to access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told @MarquardtA & me
@MarquardtA On Sunday, in response to CNN’s report, Musk said that “USAID is a criminal organization.”
“Time for it to die,” he posted on X. It was one of many posts and reposts by the X owner attacking the agency on Sunday.
.@SecBlinken warns against a “Potemkin peace” in Ukraine that would come from a ceasefire in the coming months, saying such a move “would legitimize Russia’s land grab” and “reward the aggressor and punish the victim.”
@SecBlinken “We will support efforts – whether by Brazil, China, or any other nation – if they help find a way to a just and lasting peace, consistent with the principles in the UN Charter,” @SecBlinken says in speech in Helsinki.
@SecBlinken “The prerequisite for meaningful diplomacy and real peace is a stronger Ukraine – capable of deterring and defending against any future aggression,” @SecBlinken says.
The US has “information that Russia’s planning for its further invasion of Ukraine includes a forced capitulation of Ukraine’s democratically elected government, including dissolving all local municipal governments in Ukraine,” per @USAmbOSCE. osce.usmission.gov/the-russian-fe…
According to @USAmbOSCE, “new governance structures were to be set up in ‘liberated’ territories under Russian control” and “plans for a new government and new constitution are being developed by Russian officials and so-called ‘separatists.’”
The world also “should expect Russia to intensify its ongoing forced transfers of local populations from areas of Ukraine’s south and east to Russia or Russia-controlled parts of the Donbas via so-called ‘filtration camps,’” @USAmbOSCE said today.
NEW: Biden admin has curtailed the number of flights to the US for Afghans who worked alongside the US as it prioritizes the evacuation of American personnel from the country, three sources familiar with the situation told CNN.
The last flight for the time being of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and their families bound for Fort Lee, Virginia, has left Afghanistan, sources tell me, @priscialva and @kylieatwood
It is unclear how long the pause in flights will last and the situation remains fluid. As of last week refugee resettlement agencies were preparing for a large influx of arrivals & Biden administration officials were discussing an uptick in SIV flights. cnn.com/2021/08/15/pol…
NEW: The Trump administration has determined that the Chinese government has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Uighur Muslims and ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, China, per @SecPompeo
Pompeo said in a statement, released on his last full day as top US diplomat, that he believes “this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state.”
He also said the crimes against humanity “are ongoing and include: the arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty of more than one million civilians, forced sterilization, torture of a large number of those arbitrarily detained, forced labor..."
His nearly three-year term was marked by an "America First" approach that saw fundamental, oftentimes controversial shifts in foreign policy & of his most consequential decisions were announced in the final weeks of his tenure, leaving behind a minefield for the Biden admin
He pledged to bring "swagger" to the State Department, but he is leaving it "hollowed out," in the words of his ousted ambassador to Ukraine. cnn.com/2021/01/17/pol…
NEW: @USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick has been ousted, sources tell CNN.
She received a note from the White House this afternoon telling her that she needed to resign by 5:00pm or she would be terminated, the sources said.
Her ouster comes the same day that John Barsa's term as acting administrator of the agency expires under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and sources believe that she was fired so he could be named to her #2 post and remain at the helm of USAID.