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 | | February 22, 2022: Protesters hold posters in front of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. | | Efrem Lukatsky, AP | |
| Happy Wednesday, OnPolitics readers! |
| In a push to compel the testimony of former President Donald Trump and two of his children, New York Attorney General Letitia James disclosed a potential game changer late Tuesday in a widening civil investigation of the Trump family business. |
| State investigators, the attorney general asserted, have "collected significant additional evidence indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions." |
| The state investigation and a parallel criminal probe by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office are two of the legal battles shadowing the former president. The New York court filing, which the company dismissed as a long-simmering political vendetta, underscored an expanding legal firestorm inching closer to the Trump business and the former president himself. |
| "In the past, Trump's approach to any legal trouble has been to brush it off as some sort of political gamesmanship," said Jimmy Gurule, a former Justice Department official in the George H.W. Bush administration. "But these are investigations on multiple levels, examining multiple courses of conduct. These are exceedingly serious matters. The big difference is that he is no longer president, and the mantle of immunity is no longer available to him." |
| It's Amy and Chelsey with today's top stories out of Washington |
What a Russian invasion of Ukraine could mean for energy prices, global security and more |
| President Vladimir Putin ignored months of intensifying warnings by President Joe Biden and other western leaders that Moscow would face "swift and severe costs" if Russia invaded Ukraine. |
| Now, as the Kremlin reaches into Ukraine, Putin's policy seems likely to come with significant costs, chiefly for Ukraine itself. While predicting the impacts of conflict is notoriously difficult, here are some probable consequences: |
| Ukraine resists: Ukrainians inside and outside the military have told USA TODAY in recent weeks that Putin won't take their country without a fight. In the days ahead of Moscow's assault, U.S. officials estimated the invasion could cause major loss of life, serious injury and capture, with Ukraine potentially suffering between 5,000 and 25,000 troop casualties, while Russia's better trained and better equipped military could see between 3,000 and 10,000 casualties. Civilian casualties could range from 25,000 to 50,000. |
| Security order tumult: The invasion could also lead to an increase in defense spending by the U.S. and NATO, effectively bolstering an alliance whose eastward expansion has long troubled Putin. The Pentagon has already announced it put 8,500 forces on "heightened alert" in the event they are needed as part of a 40,000-strong NATO Response Force, and Biden has sent 3,000 soldiers to Poland to reinforce NATO's eastern flank. |
| Weaponized energy: Russia is one of the world's largest suppliers of energy, and it could seek to withhold supplies to Europe while attacking Ukraine or in retaliation for sanctions. The Biden administration has said it has been working with its European partners and the region's energy suppliers to come up with contingency plans for alternative energy supplies. |
Real quick: stories you should read |
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President begins interviewing Supreme Court nominees |
| Biden has begun interviewing successors to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who intends to retire in June. The president's pick is sure to be groundbreaking, since Biden has committed to nominating a Black woman to the nation's highest court for the first time in history. |
| U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs are thought to be front runners among possible candidates. Biden has interviewed all three, according to multiple reports. |
| The president has said he will announce his nominee by the end of February, though the White House says a decision has not yet been made. |
| "The president has not made a decision about who (he) is going to nominate," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday evening. "I'm...not going to get into details about the internal process." |
| That's all for now, OnPolitics readers. Meanwhile, check out the "palindrome" newborns born on Feb. 22, 2022. — Amy and Chelsey. |
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