Today’s Headlines and Commentary

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The Russian military announced a partial troop withdrawal from the Ukrainian border, according to the Associated Press. U.S. officials have said that they are currently reviewing Russia’s claims of partial withdrawal, while Ukrainian officials have expressed skepticism at the announcement. Russian President Vladimir Putin also expressed that Moscow is prepared for diplomatic security discussions with the United States and NATO, and called for “peaceful” discussions over Ukraine’s bid to join NATO. Putin said, “We need to solve this issue today by peaceful means through a diplomatic process. We want our partners to hear our concerns and taken seriously.” Western leaders previously rejected Russia’s demands to bar Ukraine and other former-Soviet nations from joining NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders, and decrease military forces from Eastern Europe. Despite the rejection of Moscow’s main security demands, the U.S. and NATO have agreed to engage in talks about other security measures previously proposed by Russia.

U.S. government intelligence and national security agencies met to discuss strategies the Biden administration can use to respond to potential Russian cyberattacks amidst the crisis in Ukraine, reports CNN. The officials discussed how U.S. agencies can work with companies in critical sectors of the economy to confront potential hacks from criminal operations or state actors.

Former President Trump’s longtime accounting firm cut ties with him and the Trump Organization, writes the New York Times. Mazars USA disclosed in a letter that the Trump Organization’s annual financial statements are not entirely reliable and instructed the organization to retract its statements of financial condition from 2011 to 2020. The financial statements are currently at the center of an investigation by the New York attorney general into whether Trump exaggerated the value of his properties to defraud his lenders into providing him the best possible loan terms. 

The national leader of the Proud Boys testified before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to Politico. Enrique Tarrio appeared for an interview in front of the panel and reportedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate when answering most of the committee’s questions. Tarrio has not been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, but his communications with other Proud Boys leaders have been featured in court documents related to other Jan. 6 prosecutions.

The Canadian government invoked emergency powers to end the weeks-long disruptive protests in Ottawa, reports the Wall Street Journal. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday measures that include limits on public gatherings. In addition to limiting social gatherings, the Canadian government is also extending special measures to target money laundering to capture transactions, including cryptocurrencies, on crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe. At a press conference, Trudeau spoke about the government’s response to the protests. He said, “It is now clear that there are serious challenges to law-enforcement’s ability to effectively enforce the law. We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue.” 

The U.S. government requested the arrest and extradition of the former Honduran president, writes the New York Times. Juan Orlando Hernández is accused in a federal court in New York of receiving money from drug cartels. The accusations against him were made in two drug trafficking cases being pursued by prosecutors in New York’s Southern District. It is unclear if Hernández will be extradited to the United States. The Honduran Supreme Court is responsible for implementing the extradition request, and was reportedly stacked with loyalists by Hernández before he left office. 

The families of children killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School reached a settlement agreement with Remington Arms, according to the Washington Post. Remington Arms is the gun manufacturing company that made the Bushmaster AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle used by the shooter during his deadly rampage in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 28 people, including 20 young children. In the lawsuit, the families alleged that Remington knowingly and negligently marketed military-grade weapons to mentally unstable individuals. The settlement marks the first instance in the United States of a gun manufacturer accepting liability for a mass shooting. 

A new report led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that the sea level will rise as much in the next 30 years as it did in the past 100 years, reports CNN. Scientists wrote in the report that the sea level is very likely to rise another 10-12 inches by 2050. The implication of a rising sea level is a sharp increase in the frequency of coastal flooding, even on days where it is not raining. Additionally, every inch of sea level rise contributes to an increase in hurricane storm surges, coastal erosion and wetland loss. 

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes discussed the potential implications of the expiring statutes of limitations for obstruction offenses against Trump described in the Mueller report. 

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Natalie Orpett sat down with Wittes and Jurecic to discuss their recent article about potential obstruction charges against Trump, what could be going on inside the Justice Department and what we can expect from Attorney General Garland.

Alex Kostin explored Russia’s attempts to gain access to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in an attempt to dominate the Arctic politically. 

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