Kamala Harris news - VP meets Trudeau, refugees in Poland as White House says Russian economy ‘crushed’
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Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting Poland and Romania as part of the United States’ response to Russia’s assault on Ukraine, and part of Ms Harris’s increasingly visible foreign policy role in the Biden administration.
Ms Harris has emerged as a international emissary for President Joe Biden having recently met with multiple heads of state and attended the Munich Security Conference.
On Thursday she met with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and at a press conference after the meeting called for an international war crimes investigation into Russia’s bombing of civilians in Ukraine.
Ms Harris unveiled more financial support for Ukrainian refugees and met with a group, but evaded a question on civilians fleeing the conflict coming to America.
She also met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who is visiting Warsaw.
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, President Biden is trying to balance the international situation with pressures on the domestic front. Gas prices are at record highs and inflation has soared 7.9 per cent over the past year — the biggest spike since 1982.
Responding to questions regarding the response to the invasion of Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki pointed to historically-tough sanctions, declaring: “We have basically crushed the Russian economy.”
The president also met with the President Ivan Duque of Colombia, designating the country as a major non-Nato ally of the US.
Here are the developments that unfolded throughout 10 March 2022.
Psaki: ‘Not constructive’ to discuss specifics of Brittney Griner case
White House press secretary Jen Psaki refused to comment when asked if WNBA star Brittney Griner was being held as Vladimir Putin’s “bargaining chip.”
Ms Psaki told her daily briefing that discussing specifics in this kind of case was “not constructive to bringing people home.”
Graeme Massie reports.
Psaki refuses to comment on claim Brittney Griner used as Putin ‘bargaining chip’
Jen Psaki said it was ‘not constructive’ to discuss specifics in case
Civil rights groups warn Florida’s ‘election police’ could be used to intimidate voters
Florida’s state legislature has approved the creation of a new office dedicated to the investigation of election-related crimes, among the latest state-level Republican efforts targeting voting rights and election administration.
Voting rights and civil groups warn that such legislation – which has also been proposed by GOP officials in Arizona and Georgia – could end up criminalising a bedrock of democracy and be used to intimidate voters from casting their ballots.
Alex Woodward reports.
Florida’s ‘election police’ poses threat to voting rights, groups warn
GOP legislators approve DeSantis’s proposal for ‘Office of Election Crimes’ in sweeping election bill
Bill Barr reaffirms he would vote for Trump again if he were nominee
Appearing on Fox News, former Attorney General Bill Barr says he would vote for Donald Trump if he were Republican nominee in 2024.
This, despite publishing a book that largely disparages the former president and claims he “went off the rails” after the 2020 election.
Mr Barr did concede that he hopes that Mr Trump is not the nominee, citing many qualified people in the party.
He also said that Joe Biden is too old to govern at 78‚ the age Mr Trump would be in 2024.
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