Wednesday briefing
‘Horrible stories of unimaginable cruelty’
President Biden condemned the “unimaginable cruelty” of Hamas attackers who raped and mutilated women in Israel on October 7, and blamed the terrorist group’s refusal to release the remaining female hostages for the failure of ceasefire negotiations. Hamas has rejected the accusations. Read an analysis of Biden’s foreign policy strategy.
“Survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific stories of unimaginable brutality,” Biden said. “Reports of women being raped – repeatedly raped – and their bodies mutilated while they were still alive – of female corpses being violated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then killing them.”
Matt Miller, a State Department spokesman, said “a number of people believe” that Hamas did not want to release female hostages because of the stories they would tell about how they were treated. But he said he was “unable to speak with a definitive judgment that this is the case.”
At the UN: A presentation organized in part by Silicon Valley CEO Sheryl Sandberg accused the organization ignoring the rape and mutilation of women by Hamas and told gruesome details from witnesses.
In Gaza: There is a humanitarian crisis worsening by the hour as a result of renewed fighting, the WHO said, calling for the protection of civilians as tens of thousands of people are displaced and hospitals face heavy bombardment. See maps of the attacks.
Other news from the war:
A faltering push for more American aid to Ukraine
President Biden is trying to replenish Ukraine’s war chest and to send aid to Israel. But that push is on the brink of collapse in the Senate, as Republicans prepare to block funding unless Democrats agree to curb migration from Mexico.
A vote to block the aid would highlight American resolve at a critical moment in Ukraine’s war against Russia. The country’s counter-offensive against entrenched Russian forces in southern Ukraine has so far failed to achieve its objectives, and Moscow’s forces have gone on the offensive in the east.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was expected to address senators via secure video to make a personal appeal for more aid. But he canceled at the last minute, leaving the field to Biden administration officials. No explanation was given.
War crimes: Prosecutors in Ukraine have done that started an investigation whether Russian troops shot dead two Ukrainian soldiers who were in the process of surrendering.
Vladimir Putin: The Russian leader will make it a rare trip today to the Middle Eastwhere he will discuss bilateral relations, oil and international affairs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The federal trial of Donald Trump
When Donald Trump goes on trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, federal prosecutors say wants to tell a compelling storyduring which he informed the jury about everything from his support for the far-right Proud Boys to his decade-long history of making baseless claims about election fraud, according to unsealed court papers.
The court papers, originally filed under seal in Federal District Court in Washington, contain a series of allegations against the former president that prosecutors from Special Counsel Jack Smith want to introduce during the election interference trial. Technically, any evidence falls outside the scope of the conspiracy charges the former president faces.
Under federal rules of evidence, prosecutors are allowed to introduce evidence at trial that predates or postdates the scope of an indictment if it can help them prove a suspect’s motive or intent to a jury.
Biden: The president suggested he might have been satisfied with just one term as his predecessor did not try to recapture the White House. “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I would be running,” he said. “But we can’t let him win.”
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