News Wrap: Blinken pledges to rush aid to Ukraine in Biden administration’s final months

In our news wrap Wednesday, Secretary of State Blinken pledged to rush aid to Ukraine in the Biden administration’s final months, a U.S. government employee has been charged with leaking classified information about Israel’s plans to attack Iran, the FBI revealed Chinese affiliated actors targeted telecommunications companies and drug overdose deaths appear to be showing a sustained decline.
Geoff Bennett:
The day’s other headlines start in Belgium, where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged to rush assistance to Ukraine in the Biden administration’s final months.
The nation’s top diplomat made the comments during a visit to NATO’s headquarters today, where he met with European officials. President-elect Trump has signaled that he wants to reassess the U.S. commitment to Ukraine. Blinken said that he’s determined to give Kyiv the aid it needs before Mr. Trump takes office in January.
Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: As we’re working to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to effectively defend itself, the United States continues to step up. President Biden is committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20.
Geoff Bennett:
Meantime, the war shows no signs of winding down. In Ukraine’s capital, residents scrambled for shelter in metro stations today, as Russia staged its first missile and drone attack on the city since August.
A U.S. government employee has been charged with leaking classified information about Israel’s plans to attack Iran. Asif William Rahman faces two felony charges related to the willful transmission of national defense information. He was arrested in Cambodia this week by the FBI and will make his first court appearance in the U.S. territory of Guam.
It’s not clear which agency employed him, but officials say he had top secret security clearance. The charges come after documents detailing Israel’s movement of military assets appeared last month on the messaging app Telegram.
U.S. officials formally admitted today the extent of China’s recent hacking of America’s telecommunication system. The nation’s Cyber Defense Agency and the FBI say their investigation revealed a broad and significant cyber espionage campaign.
In a joint statement provided to “PBS News Hour,” the agency said that the breaches enabled the theft of customer call records data and the compromise of private communications of a limited number of individuals in government or political activity. The hack also included court-approved surveillance.
Federal authorities have been looking into recent security breaches involving telecoms companies, random individuals and public figures, including president-elect Donald Trump.
Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. appear to be showing a sustained decline. Provisional data from the CDC today shows there were 97,000 overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in June of this year. That’s down 14 percent from the 12-month period before that. Experts say it’s hard to pinpoint a specific reason for the decline, but they cite the end of the isolation of the COVID pandemic and the increased availability of overdose-reversing drugs as potential factors.
Inflation climbed slightly last month due in part to higher prices for rents, used cars and airline tickets. The Labor Department said today that consumer prices rose 2.6 percent in October when compared to a year earlier. That’s up from a 2.4 percent reading in September, which was the lowest level since 2021. It’s also the first increase in seven months, which economists say could be a sign that a steady decline in inflation could be leveling off.
On Wall Street today, stocks drifted a bit following that inflation data. The Dow Jones industrial average added more than 40 points for a modest gain. The Nasdaq dropped 50 points, so about a quarter of 1 percent. The S&P 500 ended the day virtually unchanged.
And a passing of note: Ted Olson has died. He was one of the most consequential conservative lawyers of modern times. Among his official roles, Olson was assistant attorney general under Ronald Reagan and served as U.S. solicitor general under George W. Bush. He argued 65 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the Florida vote recount that helped Bush win the 2000 election.
But Olson also took positions in several landmark cases that broke with his conservative allies.
Woman:
In legal terms, basically, he said, home is here. You belong here as well.
Geoff Bennett:
He defended young undocumented immigrants known as dreamers from efforts to have them deported during the Trump administration. And he worked to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Theodore Olson, Former U.S. Solicitor General:
Today, we are more American because of this decision. When the citizens of California voted to take away the right to marry from many, many, many of our citizens in California, they violated the United States Constitution. That cannot stand.
Geoff Bennett:
Over his six-decade career, Olson also served as lead attorney in the Citizens United case that reforms campaign finance law, and he fought for the freedom of the press. In so doing, he displayed a commitment to his libertarian views that often broke with partisan ideology.
Ted Olson was 84 years old.