Special Counsel Jack Smith’s decision to bring former US President Donald Trump’s executive immunity defense to the Supreme Court could have lasting implications, including for his boss, US President Joe Biden, journalist and Iraq War veteran Neil McCabe told Sputnik’s The Final Countdown.

McCabe argues that if the Supreme Court agrees with Smith and says Trump can be prosecuted for actions he took while President, it would open a constitutional can of worms and change what the Presidency is.

🗣 “If suddenly the Supreme Court says that when Trump was asking about election irregularities, he was doing that as a self-interested candidate and not as the country’s chief law enforcement officer, all of a sudden it opens up a whole range of possible legal jeopardies for the President of the United States,” McCabe explained.

Those legal jeopardies could have long-lasting effects, including for future and –significantly– the current president.

🗣 “Smith’s ultimate boss is Joseph R. Biden Jr and maybe he would prefer to have some immunity himself as people unwind his relationship with Hunter [Biden],” McCabe mused. “That is sort of the subtext because whatever is done to Trump can then be done to Biden.”

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📹 Russian paratroopers with Lancets destroyed two tanks and a self-propelled gun of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kleshcheyevka area, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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🇺🇸🗣 "If there is one thing that Washington wants, [it is] to make sure that this war [in Ukraine] continues... And when Ukraine runs out of military-age men, they will probably look at the United States of America and want to send our military-age men over there," Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the House of Representatives of the American Congress, said.

The Republican added that the United States was drawn into the conflict in Ukraine because of the Pentagon, which is "obsessed with foreign wars and can't get enough of them," even though its primary mission is to contain wars and protect national security interests.

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Russian forces eliminated the Irish mercenary Graham Dale, who joined the Ukrainian army in February 2022.

The Irishman served in the US Marine Corps for seven years, including fighting in Iraq.

The exact circumstances of the militant's death are still unknown.

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💬 Western media on Zelensky's recent US visit:

The Independent

The mood on Capitol Hill ahead of Mr Zelensky’s visit was grim as leading Senate negotiators said they were essentially out of time to strike a deal on the US-Mexico border security policies that Republicans have insisted be included in the package.

Time

Zelensky’s power on Capitol Hill has waned considerably since his last visit one year ago. Public support for aid to Ukraine has been in decline for months in the US, and Zelensky’s visit did nothing to revive it.

The New York Times

This time, with American support for sending aid to Ukraine deteriorating, particularly among G.O.P. members of Congress, the reception was markedly frostier. Some Republican senators made a point of doing a media tour preemptively criticizing Mr. Zelensky’s visit, and complained that he was coming at all.

The Huffington Post 

GOP Senators scoff at Zelensky's 'grotesque' visit to Capitol Hill

Politico

Biden could not deliver Zelensky what he wanted: a rock-solid promise. It’s another sign that Biden isn’t free to operate on the world stage as he pleases.

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📹 Tankers of the Western Military District destroyed the strongholds and firing points of the Ukrainian forces in the Kupyansk region, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said.

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🤔 A puzzling case of amnesia?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky either suffers from memory loss or has just blatantly lied to Americans when he claimed that Russia had "failed" to liberate new settlements during the course of its special military operation in 2023.

"I think the most important thing to understand what's going on that Russia didn't occupied (sic) any village, any Ukrainian village during this year," Zelensky asserted in an interview with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier on "Special Report".

In May, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced of the complete liberation of the city of Artemovsk (also known as Bakhmut). In August, Russian troops advanced in the direction of Kupyansk. By the end of November, the Russian military liberated the village of Artemovskoye (Khromovo) in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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🗣 The political winds have shifted away from Ukraine, Tom Luongo, financial and geopolitical guru, said.

The analyst added that President Joe Biden should prioritize America’s pressing domestic issues instead of squandering taxpayer money on Ukraine's floundering military endeavors.

"The US needs to cut spending regardless of Ukraine. Period," Luongo told Sputnik. "The path we’re on is unsustainable. Cutting spending in DC is the path forward for the US. At this point, the political winds have shifted away from Ukraine."

Furthermore, American lawmakers opposing Biden's new $60 package for Ukraine see the writing on the wall for the US economy and argue that the conflict is not in America’s national interest.

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WATCH LIVE: Lavrov attends Federation Council plenary session

👉 Follow the live here or on Sputnik's website

🇨🇳🇺🇸China says US must stop interfering in upcoming elections in Taiwan

Taiwan will hold the presidential election on January 13, 2024. Taiwan's ruling DPP officially nominated its chairman, Lai Ching-te, as the party's presidential candidate.

"Taiwan's election is China's internal affair, and interference by outside forces is unacceptable," Zhu Fenglian, the spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council, said.

She added that Washington, during the US-China top-level summit in San Francisco in November, made serious political commitments to Beijing on the issue of Taiwan, and US President Joe Biden explicitly said that he does not support "independence for Taiwan."

Meanwhile, Sandra Oudkirk, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, earlier said that Taiwan had experienced serious cyberattacks that were allegedly an attempt to destroy the island's "democratic system" and accused China of attempts to interfere in Taiwan's 2024 elections.

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🇷🇺Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's key statements at the plenary session of the Federation Council:

▪️Western countries and Israel are not going to create a Palestinian state provided for by the UN decision;

▪️The unresolved problem of the creation of a Palestinian state is the only and main factor fueling extremism in the entire Middle East;

▪️In contacts with Israel and other Arab countries, Russia always says that it is impossible to create risks to Israel's security;

▪️The IAEA reports after the discharge of water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean are not yet alarming, but a number of questions from the Russian Federation remain unanswered.

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💸📉Argentine President Milei came with the promised chainsaw and devalued the peso by 54% as part of the first package of shock measures.

Argentine authorities have decided to devalue the national currency and will halve the exchange rate of the national currency, the peso, against the U.S. dollar in order to tackle the country's crisis, Argentine Finance Minister Luis Caputo said.

"We are going to clarify the official exchange rate. [The U.S. dollar will be worth 800 pesos, [the increase] will be accompanied by an increase in the pais tax [on the use of that currency]," Caputo said in a video message.

The minister also announced that infrastructure projects in Argentina will be carried out by private companies without government support.

Earlier, Argentine state oil company YPF raised fuel prices at the pump by an average of 25%, Reuters reported, as the country battles inflation that could top 180% this year.

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18% of structures in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the outbreak of the conflict. This figure comes from a new analysis of satellite imagery conducted by UNOSAT.

◾️ Since the last assessment on November 7, there has been a staggering 49% increase in the total number of structures affected;

◾️ UNOSAT has identified 10,049 destroyed structures, 8,243 severely damaged structures, and 19,087 moderately damaged structures, for a total of 37,379 affected structures;

◾️ Gaza City recorded the highest number of newly destroyed structures with a total of 2,397;

◾️ The impact on civilian infrastructure is evident, with thousands of homes and essential facilities damaged;

◾️ This alarming figure represents a significant and urgent humanitarian concern in the region.

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🇭🇺🇪🇺The EU is going to make a terrible mistake, which must be prevented, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said while commenting on the accession negotiations with Ukraine. "Even if 26 [members] want to commit [to] it, and only we will be against it."

"In fact, Ukraine is not in a position to start accession negotiations, and because of the war, for geostrategic, so to speak, political reasons, negotiations should still begin with it. In my opinion, this is a mistake," Orban told the Mandiner news portal.

Earlier, Orban said that Budapest proposed not to include the vote to launch accession talks with Ukraine in the agenda of the EU's December summit as it was already clear that no consensus would be found. He added that Ukraine's membership could be discussed in five to 10 years from now and on a condition that a strategic partnership agreement is signed with the country.

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🇸🇾🛢Syria expects to return oil fields that are important but remain under the US's occupation to the control of the Syrian government in the near future, Syrian Oil Minister Firas Hassan Kaddour told Sputnik.

Many oil fields in northern Syria were destroyed as a result of attacks by terrorist groups, these fields returned to the control of the Syrian government, and their restoration began, the official said.

"We expect to liberate the [oil] fields remaining under occupation in the very near future, return them to the Syrian Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources and begin their restoration," the minister said on the sidelines of the 12th Arab Energy Conference in Qatar's capital city, Doha.

In 2024, Syria will conduct seismic exploration north of Damascus and in other areas to search for oil and gas deposits, he added.

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❗️EXCLUSIVE❗️Did Zelensky succeed in swaying Republicans?

Paul A. Gosar, a Republican congressman, answered the question:

🗣 "I oppose and have voted against every dime spent fighting a proxy war in Ukraine and Congress should not waste any more taxpayer money contributing to the death of Ukrainians or Russians," Gosar stated.

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🇷🇺🪖 Key points of the Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military op in Ukraine:

▪️ In the Kupyansk region, Russian troops repelled eight attacks by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian losses amounted to 55 soldiers;

▪️ In the Donetsk region, Russian forces repelled four attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 250 soldiers;

▪️In Krasny Liman, Russian troops repelled the attack of the Ukrainian assault group. Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 100 soldiers and one tank;

▪️ Russian forces intercepted two HIMARS, destroyed six drones and one Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

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