Hello, OnPolitics readers.
Sad news out of Ukraine Tuesday as Fox News veteran announced cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski was killed yesterday outside of kyiv.
Zakrzewski was traveling with Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall in Horenka, a city 20 miles from the Ukrainian capital, when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire. Hall was taken to a hospital with injuries.
Zakrzewski, who was no stranger to reporting in war zones, recently received the “Unsung Hero” award during Fox’s annual employee spotlight award ceremony in December.
“Pierre was a war zone photographer who covered nearly every international story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement. “His passion and talent as a journalist were unmatched.”
Zakrzewski is survived by a wife and remaining family, according to the statement.
Zelenskyy to address Congress: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy will address Congress virtually at 9 am Wednesday. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said in a statement that Congress remains “unwavering” in its commitment to supporting Ukraine amid the war.
President Biden to travel to NATO Summit: The White House announced Biden will attend the March 24 North Atlantic Alliance meeting in Brussels on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It’s Amy and Chelsea with today’s top stories out of Washington.
Russian protester interrupts news broadcast
Marina Ovsyannikova, a former employee of the state-owned Channel One network in Moscow, ran onto the set of a Russian evening live broadcast with a sign that reads in English: “No War.”
The sign also read in Russian: “Don’t believe the propaganda” and “you are being lied to.”
Ovsyannikova was later detained and taken into custody. She could face up to 15 years in prison under a new law passed by Russian lawmakers and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month that criminalizes words like “war” and “invasion” with respect to the Russia-Ukraine War.
In a pre-recorded video posted by human rights group OVD-Info after the protest, Ovsyannikova is shown calling Russia “the aggressor.”
“The responsibility for this aggression lies on the conscience of only one person and this person is Vladimir Putin,” she said. “My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian and they were never enemies.”
Zelenskyy later thanked Ovsyannikova for her bravery.
“I’m thankful to those Russians who don’t stop trying to deliver the truth, who are fighting against disinformation and tell real facts to their friends and families, and personally to that woman who went in the studio of Channel One with an antiwar poster,” he said during a Monday video address.
Real Quick: stories you’ll want to read
- VA may close three hospitals: The Department of Veterans Affairs wants to close three hospitals as part of a system overhaul that includes opening new facilities to expand care for veterans.
- SCOTUS’ possible first federal public defender: Supporters of SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson say her two-and-a-half years as a public defender will bring a much needed different perspective to a court where two current justices – Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor – worked as prosecutors.
- US residents with ties to Russia, Ukraine unite against Putin: In the US, residents who identify with their Russian heritage and those who identify with their Ukrainian heritage express strikingly similar views about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a pair of exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University polls finds.
- Ginni Thomas attended Trump rally on Jan. 6: Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told The Washington Free Beacon she attended President Donald Trump’s rally Jan. 6, 2021, but didn’t help organize it and left before violence erupted at the Capitol.
Biden nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin withdraws Federal Reserve bid
Lacking a path for confirmation in the evenly divided Senate, Sarah Bloom Raskin withdrew Tuesday as President Joe Biden’s nominee to fill a top regulatory post at the Federal Reserve.
Raskin’s withdrawal as Biden’s nominee for vice chair of supervision on the Federal Reserve Board comes one day after Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., announced he opposed her nomination, effectively ending her chances. All Senate Republicans remained unified against Raskin’s confirmation, meaning the White House could not afford to lose a single Senate Democrat.
Raskin, nominated by Biden in January, faced criticism from Republicans and Manchin for past statements as a Federal Reserve Board governor critical of the Fed’s support of fossil fuel companies.
“Despite her readiness – and despite having been confirmed by the Senate with broad, bipartisan support twice in the past – Sarah was subject to baseless attacks from industry and conservative interest groups,” Biden said in a statement that did not mention Manchin’s resistance.
He accused Senate Republicans of being “more focused on amplifying these false claims and protecting special interests than taking important steps toward addressing inflation and lowering costs for the American people.”
Even after Manchin’s announcement, the White House had remained defiant about pressing ahead to seek bipartisan support for Raskin’s confirmation, praising her credentials and highlighting her prior Senate confirmations for Federal Reserve posts.
Raskin is married to Rep. Jamie Raskin. D-Md. The seven-member Federal Reserve Board of Governors oversees the central bank of the US and sets the nation’s monetary policy.
It’s Equal Pay Day, the first in a series of days across the year that highlights how little progress the country has made toward closing the gender pay gap. Here’s what advocates say we can do to close the divide. –Amy and Chelsea
www.usatoday.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism