Zelenskyy says he and Biden will discuss how to ‘strengthen’ victory plan in Oval Office meeting
Here is Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement in the Oval Office before his closed-doors meeting with Joe Biden:
Mr. President, thank you for your strong support for the decision (to help) us protect Ukraine. Ukraine is our home. We deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side by side from the very first moment …
Your determination is incredibly important for us to prevail … We must restore normal life, and we greatly value your leadership. .. We also have 26 bilateral security agreements with partners based on the G7 security declaration. We have a strong security agreement with United States, and we are grateful for it and we will fully implement it.
And it’s very important that we share the same vision for Ukraine’s security future in the EU and NATO, and Ukraine is doing an unprecedented number of reforms on this path. Today we have a new support package … This will be a great help.
I raised with president Biden the plan of victory today. We are preparing to discuss the details to strengthen the plan, coordinate our positions… Thank you for that unwavering bipartisan support and to all American people. Together, we have to win, we will win.
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Updated at 15.17 EDT
Key events
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Sam Levine
Some more background:
After the 2020 election, Newsmax aired several false claims about the company, whose voting machines were only used in Los Angeles county in 2020. The network repeatedly aired false claims from Trump allies that the software was widely used across the country and that it had been hacked to change votes.
Smartmatic sued Newsmax, Fox, One America News Network (OANN) and others for broadcasting their false claims. It settled the case with OANN earlier this year and the Fox case is still pending in New York.
Smartmatic said in a statement: “We are very pleased to have secured the completion of the case against Newsmax. We are now looking forward to our court day against Fox Corp and Fox News for their disinformation campaign. Lying to the American people has consequences. Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable.”
First amendment scholars were closely watching the case and several others like it to see whether libel law can be used as an effective tool to police misinformation.
The case was set to be a kind of sequel to the defamation litigation between Dominion, another voting machine company, and Fox over 2020 election lies. That case settled just before the trial was set to begin, with Fox agreeing to pay Dominion $747.5m. Eric Davis, the judge who oversaw the Fox case, also was overseeing the Newsmax case.
Read the full story here:
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Updated at 16.51 EDT
Newsmax settles with voting machine company
Sam Levine
The voting machine company Smartmatic and the conservative outlet Newsmax have settled a closely watched defamation lawsuit days before it was scheduled to go to trial in Delaware.
A spokesperson for the Delaware courts said the case had settled on Thursday. He did not offer additional details.
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Updated at 16.25 EDT
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kamala Harris made an appearance together after meeting.
Harris emphasized: “Nothing about the end of this war can be decided without Ukraine.”
She also referenced, without explicitly mentioning, Donald Trump, who has said that Ukraine should have made concessions to Russian president Vladimir Putin before Russia’s attack:
“There are some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory,” she said. “These proposals are the same as those of Putin. Let us be be clear. They are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender.”
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Updated at 16.30 EDT
Today so far
Here’s a look at where things stand:
New York City mayor Eric Adams was charged in a 57-page federal indictment with crimes relating to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and receiving campaign contributions by foreign nationals, wire fraud, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and bribery. He has maintained his innocence.
Federal prosecutors called Adams’s alleged misconduct a grave breach of public trust. The US attorney for the southern district of New York Damian Williams strongly criticized the mayor at a press conference a little earlier.
Williams vowed to continue to investigate the mayor’s case and to “hold more people accountable”. Charges against Adams include bribery, wire fraud and acceptance of illegal foreign campaign contributions including from Turkish government officials. Williams said the mayor “kept the public in the dark”.
The indictment against Adams includes many luxury trips that were not put in annual disclosure forms, prosecutors say. Trips cost many thousands of dollars and included visiting Turkey and flying via Turkey while visiting countries such as China, India, France, Hungary and Ghana.
Federal agents raided Adams’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the early hours today, as reports emerged of the mayor being hit with a federal indictment. The raid reportedly included a group of nearly a dozen people in suits entering the property, with several carrying briefcases, backpacks or duffel bags.
Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are meeting at the White House as the Ukrainian president attempts to shore up support for his country’s war aims in its fight against Russia. Before the meeting, Zelenskyy thanked the US president for his support, saying: “Your determination is incredibly important for us to prevail … We must restore normal life, and we greatly value your leadership.”
Before their meeting, Biden released a statement, saying: “I am proud to welcome President Zelenskyy back to the White House today.” As part of the US’s “surge” in security assistance to Ukraine, Biden has directed the defense department to allocate all of its remaining security assistance funding that has been appropriated for Ukraine by the end of his term.
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Updated at 16.07 EDT
In a post on Twitter/X, Volodymyr Zelenskyy detailed his meeting with the House of Representatives on Thursday during which he presented his victory plan.
The Ukrainian president wrote: “We are at a critical juncture in this war. We need really strong pressure and strong positions for Ukraine,” adding: “We also discussed the situation on the battlefield, the protection of our energy grid, and the preparation of our country for the winter ahead.”
I had a meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives, during which I presented the key points of the Victory Plan, which can strengthen us on the path to peace.
We are at a critical juncture in this war. We need really strong pressure and strong… pic.twitter.com/dBzMBRolNj
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 26, 2024
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Updated at 15.36 EDT
Zelenskyy says he and Biden will discuss how to ‘strengthen’ victory plan in Oval Office meeting
Here is Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement in the Oval Office before his closed-doors meeting with Joe Biden:
Mr. President, thank you for your strong support for the decision (to help) us protect Ukraine. Ukraine is our home. We deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side by side from the very first moment …
Your determination is incredibly important for us to prevail … We must restore normal life, and we greatly value your leadership. .. We also have 26 bilateral security agreements with partners based on the G7 security declaration. We have a strong security agreement with United States, and we are grateful for it and we will fully implement it.
And it’s very important that we share the same vision for Ukraine’s security future in the EU and NATO, and Ukraine is doing an unprecedented number of reforms on this path. Today we have a new support package … This will be a great help.
I raised with president Biden the plan of victory today. We are preparing to discuss the details to strengthen the plan, coordinate our positions… Thank you for that unwavering bipartisan support and to all American people. Together, we have to win, we will win.
Share
Updated at 15.17 EDT
Here are some images coming through the newswires of Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting in the White House:
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Updated at 14.50 EDT
Biden says ‘Russia will not prevail in war’
Joe Biden thanked Volodymyr Zelenskyy for sharing his plan for victory, according to pool reports.
In addition to talking about military funding and Ukraine’s long-term security, Biden said: “We stand with Ukraine now and in the future … Let me be clear. Russia will not prevail in war.”
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Updated at 15.16 EDT
Zelenskyy arrives at White House
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived at the White House, according to pool reports.
The upcoming meeting between Zelenskyy and Joe Biden will mark the 11th meeting between the two leaders and Zelenskyy’s fifth visit to Washington since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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Updated at 14.16 EDT
Biden and Zelenskyy to meet at White House
Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to meet shortly at the White House as the Ukrainian president attempts to shore up support for his country’s war aims in its fight against Russia.
Ahead of the upcoming meeting, Biden released a statement, saying:
I am proud to welcome president Zelenskyy back to the White House today. For nearly three years, the United States has rallied the world to stand with the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom from Russian aggression, and it has been a top priority of my Administration to provide Ukraine with the support it needs to prevail.
As part of the US’s “surge” in security assistance to Ukraine, Biden has directed the defense department to allocate all of its remaining security assistance funding that has been appropriated for Ukraine by the end of his term. He has also decided to provide Ukraine with the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) long-range munition, as well as directed the defense department to refurbish and provide Ukraine with an additional Patriot air defense battery and to provide Ukraine with additional Patriot missiles.
Biden has also directed the defense department to expand training for Ukrainian F16 pilots, including by supporting the training of an additional 18 pilots next year.
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Updated at 13.58 EDT
Joanna Walters
Ahead of the bilateral meeting shortly at the White House between Joe Biden and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US president earlier today announced a “surge” in assistance to Ukraine’s resistance of Russia’s invasion of its territory, amounting to nearly $8bn in additional military aid.
It includes new long-range munitions. It’s still unclear how Biden is going to respond to Zelenskyy presenting what he has called a “victory plan” over Russia’s aggression, which would include use of US missiles to strike far within Russia.
Today, I am announcing a surge in security assistance for Ukraine and a series of additional actions to help Ukraine win this war,” Biden said in a statement, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) earlier.
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Updated at 13.42 EDT
Joanna Walters
The White House is not inclined to comment on the federal indictment of Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was just asked at the media briefing in the West Wing if Joe Biden has any comment on the mayor being charged and whether the US president thinks Adams should resign.
“I’m not going to comment on this ongoing matter, I will leave that to the Department of Justice,” Jean-Pierre said.
She was then asked for any response to Adams saying he was being targeted by the Biden administration for negative remarks he has made about insufficient federal support for the city in its handling of an increase in migrants arriving in the last 18 months, having been tactically bussed to New York by Republican leaders from states sharing the US-Mexico border, especially Texas.
Jean-Pierre said: “We have been always very clear …the Department of Justice is independent.”
And in response to a question, she said that although Adams attended a reception held by Biden at the Metropolitan Museum in New York last night, the US president “did not see the mayor and they did not speak”.
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Updated at 13.42 EDT
Interim summary
Hello, US politics blog readers, it’s been a lively morning and there is a lot more news to come. We’ll bring it to you as it happens. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is invited to a bilateral meeting with Joe Biden at the White House, taking place shortly. Zelenskyy will make remarks with Kamala Harris mid-afternoon, the US vice president and Democratic party nominee for president in this November’s election. Then the two will hold a meeting. Biden and Harris will make remarks together in the Rose Garden on addressing gun violence in America. Right now, the White House press briefing with Karine Jean-Pierre is under way and has just finished addressing the impending arrival in Florida of Hurricane Helene.
Here’s where things stand:
Federal prosecutors call New York mayor Eric Adams’s alleged misconduct a grave breach of public trust. The US attorney for the southern district of New York Damian Williams strongly criticized the mayor at a press conference a little earlier.
Williams vowed to continue to investigate the mayor’s case and to “hold more people accountable”. Charges against Adams include bribery, wire fraud and acceptance of illegal foreign campaign contributions including from Turkish government officials. Williams said the mayor “kept the public in the dark”.
Eric Adams’s alleged misconduct continued even after he was sworn into office, according to the indictment, which alleges that a Turkish official “repeatedly” asked Adams not to make any statements about the Armenian genocide during Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in 2022, to which request Adams acquiesced.
The indictment against Mayor Adams includes many luxury trips that were not put in annual disclosure forms, prosecutors say. Trips cost many thousands of dollars and included visiting Turkey and flying via Turkey while visiting countries such as China, India, France, Hungary and Ghana.
Eric Adams was charged in a 57-page federal indictment with crimes relating to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and receiving campaign contributions by foreign nationals, wire fraud, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and bribery.
Federal agents raided Adams’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the early hours today, as reports emerged of the mayor being hit with a federal indictment. The raid reportedly included a group of nearly a dozen men and women in suits entering the property, with several carrying briefcases, backpacks or duffel bags.
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Updated at 13.11 EDT
In a statement released on Thursday, Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the House of Representatives, said of Eric Adams’s indictment:
The indictment of a sitting mayor is a serious and sober moment for New York City. Like every other New Yorker and American, Eric Adams is entitled to the presumption of innocence. That principle is central to the administration of justice in the United States of America.
A jury of the mayor’s peers will now evaluate the charges in the indictment and ultimately render a determination. In the meantime, I pray for the well-being of our great city.
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Updated at 12.40 EDT
