GMDC: US Rejects Russia’s Demand For Ukraine Not To Join NATO

---

*All this and more ahead!

Good Morning DC!

The United States has given its formal response to Russian demands for NATO to pull back from Eastern Europe and Ukraine to join the alliance. “If we do not receive a constructive answer from the West on our security demands, Moscow will take appropriate measures,” said Russia leaving “appropriate measures” open to interpretation. 

Psaki responded with a quote from Blinken from a couple of days ago where he said, “It was like the fox threatening to attack the hens in the henhouse because they were feeling threatened by the hens.” She added, “But our objective is to give them paths and to take part in a diplomatic conversation in good faith.

Washington has rejected Moscow’s demand to bar Ukraine from joining NATO. 

Biden has asked the UK and other NATO allies to deploy hundreds of more troops in advance to help reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. 

Tension is growing by the hour. 

AN UNEXPECTED NEWS DEVELOPMENT : 

Prince Andrew wants to go before a jury to contest the claim brought by Virginia Giuffre. 

In other news…

THE WHITE HOUSE

VP Kamala Harris is traveling to Honduras. The biggest news emerging from this trip will be the first meeting that President Castro will convene with a foreign official since inauguration. Harris and Castro spoke on the phone on December 10th of last year. They talked about deepening the partnership between the United States and Honduras on a number of priority issues. 

Yesterday, President Biden went around the table with questions for the assembled CEOs about helping workers return to in-person work, investing in digital technology for exporting American goods, and how “Build Back Better” would address those issues. President Biden expressed his fondness for the new electric F150 to Ford CEO Mary Barra.

“I’m looking for a job, Mary,” he said upon hearing the model’s ability to accelerate from zero to sixty in 4.4 seconds.

As Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, is retiring, President Biden said he would have “more to say later,” but not before the justice’s statement.

“There has been no announcement from Justice Breyer — let him make whatever statement he wants to make, and I’m happy to talk about it later.”

In the DC power circles, it is being proposed to Biden to select his Vice President, Kamala Harris, for the Supreme Court and Amy Klobuchar for his VP. However, “the President has every intention,” Psaki said, “of running for reelection, and for running for reelection with Vice President Harris on the ticket as his partner.” 

Several lawmakers sent a letter to the White House, including Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, asking for a release of the memo that the Education Department put together looking at the President’s legal authority to cancel student loan debt. What do we know so far? Biden is ready to sign a bill that would provide $10,000 in debt relief, and that appears to be his ceiling. 

DIGITAL ASSETS

Melania Trump’s NFT auction saw a final bid of $170,000, and, due to a decrease in crypto prices, SOL in particular used for this auction, fell short of $250,000.

Paris Hilton is looking to expand her NFT collection, and this time around she wants to add more female-led projects.

Erdogan, the President of Turkey, is looking at Metaverse as an area for their policy development. 

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Across the pond, in the UK, everyone is still eagerly expecting the publication of Sue Gray’s report. People are dying to find out the news, aren’t they?

Diane Abbott had to make a public apology once for drinking gin and tonic on the subway, but PM Johnson’s message was clear at Prime Minister Questions in the House of Commons – He won’t resign over partygate, no matter how the public and the members of his party feel about him breaking lockdown rules at Downing Street and lying about it.

But that’s not all. PM Johnson is in new hot water after being accused of lying to the public over the evacuation of animals from Kabul last year while people struggled to evacuate. An email released by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee seems to contradict Johnson’s version of events that took place during an evacuation of former Royal Marine Penn Farthing’s animal charity. No. 10 Spokesperson claims that “the PM didn’t instruct officials to take any particular course of action” and “had no role in authorizing individual evacuations from Afghanistan during Op Pitting, including Nowzad staff and animals.”

The legal requirement for masks in public places in England will be dropped from tomorrow. 

And that’s a wrap for this Thursday morning, January 27, 2022. Good Morning DC will be back tomorrow to bring you the latest first. 

Thank you for reading GMDC! Please help us spread the word and expand our Good Morning DC by referring your friend to sign up here.

#GMDC

INTERVIEW