乔·拜登总统周三发表了历史性讲话宣布他的计划从…完全撤出美国军队阿富汗到20周年纪念日今年9月11日的恐怖袭击。
拜登说:“我们不能继续延长或扩大我们在阿富汗的军事存在，希望为撤军创造理想的条件，并期待一个不同的结果。”
他在白宫的条约室发表讲话，前总统也在这里乔治·布什告诉美国人民，美国开始罢工反对基地组织在2001年开始了近20年的冲突。
安德鲁·哈尔尼克/通过盖蒂图像池
乔·拜登总统在白宫的条约室就美国撤军发表讲话
而总统的许多盟友，包括前总统巴拉克·奥巴马中央情报局局长威廉·伯恩斯发表声明支持这一重大外交政策决定拉响警报星期三在国会作证时警告说，撤军将抑制情报收集。
伯恩斯说:“当美国军队撤军的时候，美国政府收集威胁并采取行动的能力将会减弱。”。“那简直是事实。”
伯恩斯说，撤军的影响可能要到完成后才能感受到关注声明放大了共和党议员的反对声音，如参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)和参议员林赛·格雷厄姆(Lindsay Graham)，前者称之为“严重错误”，后者在周三下午举行了新闻发布会。
“你有合理的建议，但你忽略了它。这是你的，”格雷厄姆说。“这不是在军事上。这是你的。”
的纲要亚里沙·威尔斯马
副总统卡玛拉•哈里斯星期三说，她期待旅行到北三角国家“很快”作为她的领导角色的一部分努力阻止移民从中美洲到美国。哈里斯没有透露此次旅行的任何其他细节。
“我已经和墨西哥总统、危地马拉总统谈过了——我们有计划，我可能说得太多了——但是我们有正在制定计划哈里斯在与包括危地马拉、洪都拉斯和萨尔瓦多在内的该地区专家举行的虚拟圆桌讨论会上告诉记者。
卡罗琳·卡斯特/美联社
副总统卡玛拉•哈里斯在与外部国家安全专家的虚拟会议上发言
哈里斯没有表明她是否有计划访问南部边境，那里有联邦设施拥有创纪录的数字最近几个月的流动儿童。
共和党人——包括众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡和少数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯——越来越多地抓住白宫应对这一局面的方法。在周三的新闻发布会上，斯卡利斯展示了一个印有副总统照片和“失踪”一词的道具牛奶盒，让哈里斯成为共和党不作为的真实写照。
与此同时，白宫继续区分哈里斯的职责范围和边境危机。当被问及为什么副总统的边境访问似乎没有进行时，白宫新闻秘书Jen Psaki说，“总统要求副总统做的是在北部三角地带运行一个点，并成为与该地区领导人进行讨论的高级渠道。”
Psaki补充说，“其他高级官员”将继续参观向总统汇报的地区。
四名民主党议员计划在周四提出立法，将美国最高法院的规模从9名法官扩大到13名法官，此举将纵容该党的自由派，但已经在进行中触发推回从一些共和党人。
马萨诸塞州参议员埃德·马基。汉克·约翰逊。纽约市的蒙代尔·琼斯(Mondaire Jones)和纽约市的杰里·纳德勒(Jerry Nadler)也是众议院司法委员会(House Judiciary Committee)的主席，他们提出了一项“恢复最高法院平衡”的措施，称之为“必要的民主改革”。这一策略是民主党人最近一次推动反对共和党在前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)执政四年期间成功为国家最高法院设置三名法官的努力。
彭博通过盖蒂图像
2021年4月9日，美国最高法院大楼矗立在华盛顿特区。
它也紧随拜登之后公布两党委员会在斯蒂芬·布雷耶大法官上任几天后，给专家小组180天的时间来研究法院可能发生的变化，并就一系列潜在的变化提出分析报告受到批评的法院包装。拜登一直受到活动人士的压力，要求他抵消保守的转变法院的。
对拜登来说，这一宣布兑现了竞选承诺。但他此前曾表示，他“不支持”增加法院席位，同时拒绝透露他是否支持任何其他结构性改革。目前还不清楚该委员会是否会向总统提供建议。
美国广播公司新闻“从这里开始”播客。周四上午的节目由美国广播公司新闻部的斯蒂芬妮·埃布斯主持，她告诉我们为什么疾病控制和预防紧急中心的疫苗小组同意继续暂停强生疫苗。美国广播公司的“观点”联合主持人和前检察官桑尼·霍斯丁调查了对...的指控前明尼苏达州布鲁克林中心，警官金·波特在道特·赖特死后。美国广播公司新闻撰稿人斯蒂芬·甘亚德上校告诉我们为什么中国仍然是情报界关注的焦点全球威胁评估。
Biden's troop withdrawal plan marked by sobering concern: The Note
President Joe Biden gave historic remarks Wednesdayannouncing his planto fully withdraw American troops fromAfghanistanby the 20th anniversaryof the Sept. 11 attacks this year.
"We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create ideal conditions for withdrawal and expecting a different result," Biden said.
He spoke from the Treaty Room of the White House, the same space where former PresidentGeorge W. Bushinformed the American people that the U.S.had begun strikes againstal-Qaida in 2001, beginning the nearly 20-year conflict.
While many allies of the president, including former PresidentBarack Obama, have issued statements of support for this major foreign policy decision, CIA Director William Burnssounded the alarmduring congressional testimony Wednesday warning that withdrawal will inhibit intelligence gathering.
"When the time comes for the U.S. military to withdraw, the U.S. government's ability to collect and act on threats will diminish," Burns said. "That is simply a fact."
The impact of troop withdrawal likely won't be felt until after it's complete, but Burns'statement of concernamplifies opposition from Republican lawmakers -- like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who referred to it as a "grave mistake," and Sen. Lindsay Graham, who held a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
"You had sound advice, but you ignored it. This is on you," Graham said. "This is not on the military. This is on you."
The RUNDOWN withAlisa Wiersema
Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that shelooks forward to travelingto Northern Triangle countries "soon" as part of her leadership role inworking to stem migrationfrom Central America to the United States. Harris did not indicate any additional specifics regarding the trip.
"I've talked with the president of Mexico, the president of Guatemala -- we have plans, I'm probably saying too much -- but we haveplans in the worksto go to Guatemala as soon as possible, given all the restrictions in terms of COVID and things of that nature," Harris told reporters during a virtual roundtable discussion with experts on the region, which include Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Harris did not indicate whether she has plans to visit the southern border, where federal facilities have beenhousing a record numberof migrant children in recent months.
Republicans -- including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise -- are increasingly seizing on the White House's approach to the situation. At a Wednesday press conference, Scalise made Harris the literal face of the GOP's perceived inaction by displaying a prop milk carton with the vice president's photo and the word "missing" on it.
Meanwhile, the White House continues todraw a distinctionbetween the scope of Harris' responsibilities and the crisis at the border. Asked to explain why a vice presidential border visit doesn't appear to be in the works, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, "what the president has asked the vice president to do is run point on the Northern Triangle and be a high-level conduit in having discussions with leaders in the region."
Psaki added that "other senior officials" wouldcontinue to visitthe area to report back to the president.
A quartet of Democratic lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation on Thursday to expand the size of the U.S. Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices, a move that will indulge the liberal flank of the party but is alreadytriggering pushbackfromsome Republicans.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Reps. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., and Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who is also the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, are putting forward a measure to "restore balance to the Supreme Court," calling it "necessary democracy reform." The maneuver is the latest push by Democrats to counter the GOP's successful efforts to install three justices to the nation's highest court during former President Donald Trump's four years in office.
It also comes on the heels of Bidenunveiling a bipartisan commissionto study possible changes to the court, giving the panel of experts 180 days to produce a report with analysis on a range of potential changes, days after Justice Stephen Breyercriticized court packing. Biden has been under pressure from activists tooffset the conservative shiftof the court.
For Biden, the announcement fulfills a campaign promise. But he has said previously that he is "not a fan" of adding seats to the court, while declining to say if he supports any other structural changes. It is unclear if the commission will, in fact, provide recommendations to the president.
ABC News' "Start Here" podcast.Thursday morning's episode features ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs, who tells us why an emergency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine panelagreed to continue the pauseon the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. ABC's "The View" co-host and former prosecutor Sunny Hostin examines thecharges filed againstformer Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer Kim Potter after the death of Daunte Wright. And ABC News contributor Col. Stephen Ganyard tells us why China continues to be a focus of the intelligence community'sglobal threat assessment.http://apple.co/2HPocUL
