Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes an unannounced visit to Ukraine, and there’s a new oldest wrongful conviction to be overturned based on DNA evidence. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.
Blinken makes unannounced visit to Ukraine amid counteroffensive
Secretary of State Blinken arrived in Kyiv Wednesday as part of an unannounced visit to meet with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky. During his two-day trip, Blinken is expected to announce an additional $1 billion aid package from the United States in a signal of continued support, according to senior State Department officials.
Blinken is also expected to get an update on Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia, now in its fourth month. This will be Blinken’s third trip to Ukraine’s capital since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Former Proud Boys leader sentenced to 22 years in prison
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 5 to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. That sentence tops the 18 years given to fellow former Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes as the harshest punishment handed down related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
The Justice Department is appealing Rhodes’ sentence, which was less the 25 years prosecutors had requested. Prosecutors sought a 33-year sentence for Tarrio.
Before the sentence came down, Tarrio called Jan. 6 a “national embarrassment.” He apologized to Capitol Police, as well as the lawmakers who were in the Capitol at the time of the attack.
Tarrio’s lawyers, who had asked for no more than 15 years, said they plan to appeal.
“While we respect the judge’s sentence, we respectfully disagree,” Nayib Hassan, an attorney for Tarrio, said. “There will be a day and a time where an appeal will come and we expect appeals to come soon… we will be filing it in due course.”
Tarrio is the final Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy to receive his sentence.
61 ‘Cop City” protesters indicted in latest Georgia RICO case
61 protesters of a planned police and firefighter training facility in Atlanta have been indicted on racketeering charges. The “Stop Cop City” movement has gone on for more than two years.
Those who oppose the training facility fear it will lead to lead to greater militarization of police in Atlanta. They have also expressed concern that the facility’s construction in an urban forest will cause environmental damage.
However, ongoing protests have at times veered into vandalism and violence. In the indictment, Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr described the protesters as “militant anarchists” who supported a violent movement that prosecutors have traced back to the racial justices protests of 2020.
“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants are members of Defend the Atlanta Forest, an anarchist, anti-police and anti-business, extremist organization,” Carr said at a Tuesday news conference. “We contend the 61 defendants together have conspired to prevent the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center by conducting, coordinating and organizing acts of violence, intimidation and property destruction.”
The indictment is the latest application of the state’s anti-racketeering or RICO law. It comes just weeks after the same law was used to indict former President Donald Trump and 18 others over an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
In the Cop City case, many of the 61 indicted were already facing separate charges related to the protests. This includes:
- More than three dozen people already facing domestic terrorism charges in connection to violent protests
- Three leaders of a bail fund previously accused of money laundering
- Three activists previously charged with felony intimidation after authorities said they distributed flyers calling a state trooper a “murderer” for his involvement in the fatal shooting of a protester
Russia, Saudi Arabia extend oil production cuts
Gas prices are at the highest seasonal level in more than a decade, with the national average for regular gasoline at $3.81 per gallon. That price is likely to remain high after news of Saudi Arabia and Russia extending voluntary oil production cuts through the end of 2023.
1.3 million barrels of crude oil per day will be trimmed from the global market through December. The oil production cut extension adds new pressure on Saudi Arabia’s strained relationship with the U.S. President Joe Biden warned there would be consequences for Saudi Arabia over its partnership with Russia.
Man cleared of rape conviction from 47 years ago
A man wrongfully convicted of rape nearly five decades ago has been exonerated after the intervention of the Innocence Project. The organization said the “wrongful conviction is the longest to be overturned based on new DNA evidence.”
72-year old Leonard Mack, a Vietnam veteran, spent 7.5 years in a state prison on charges of raping a teenage girl back in 1976. The new DNA evidence linked a convicted sex offender currently behind bars to the crime.
Flamingos blown across U.S. by winds from Hurricane Idalia
More than 150 flamingos have showed up in states they usually don’t call home. The recent observations by bird watchers came just after Hurricane Idalia blew through Florida and neighboring states.
Bird researchers believe the flamingos originate from Mexico. They have been spotted in the following states:
- Florida
- Texas
- Alabama
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- Virginia
According to the researchers, the birds were blown in by the hurricane and dropped out along the coast. Bird watchers have called the relocation “unprecedented.”
