@ABC News State Dept reporter-producer. Hoya. New Yorker. Outrage is easy; nuance is hard. conor.j.finnegan@abc.com
More high-level engagement from Biden admin on #Ethiopia †@JakeSullivan46 called @DemekeHasen to again express "grave concern" about "humanitarian & human rights crisis" in #Tigray . But more🥕 than stick here—NSC says US "ready to help Ethiopia address the crisis, building on.."
New: Blinken announces @GayleSmith as State Dept's new Coordinator for Global COVID Response and Health Security, who says, "American leadership is desperately needed, and I'm extremely confident we can rise to the occasion. I'm honored to be here. "
Amid Russia's largest military buildup on #Ukraine 's border in six yrs, Pres@ZelenskyyUa visits Ukrainian troops in conflict-torn eastern region #Donbas after another soldier was killed Wed night—the 25th this yr, compared to 50 in all of 2020. More:
New: State Dept will now exempt all immigrant and fiancé visa applicants from geographic COVID-19 restrictions (like most of Europe, Brazil, South Africa, China, etc), allowing them to travel to US
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New: @SecBlinken tells @HFACDemocrats he "very much understand(s)" concerns abou #TPLF , but "situation i #Tigray is unacceptable &has to change." Says they've seen "acts of ethnic cleansing in western Tigray," &there needs to be "full accountability," "independent investigation"
Quite the statement from the nation's top diplomat: Sec Pompeo responds to @NPR , saying @NPRKellyKelly lied and... insinuating she misidentified Ukraine on that map. "This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt Pres Trump and this administration."
WOW: Tillerson had "every intention of staying... did not speak to the President and is unaware of the reason," according to Under Sec of State Goldstein.
New: @SecBlinken confirms he'll name special envoy for Horn of Africa, saying, "We need a senior person who is going to be focused full time on the challenges that we're seeing...in a sustained way," esp #Tigray , #GERD , Sudan-Ethiopia tensions—and hopes to have announcement soon
CONFIRMED: Haiti summoned top US diplomat over Trump's "shithole" comments. Currently no ambassador, so Charge d'Affaires Robin Diallo met w/ Haitian president.
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