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National

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday that he fired the head of Ukraine's domestic security agency and its prosecutor general amid the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Driving the news: Zelensky fired Ivan Bakanov, chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, and Iryna Venediktova, the country's prosecutor general, after it was revealed that many in their departments were collaborating with Russia.

More than 60 employees in both offices "remained in the occupied territory and are working against our state," Zelensky said in a press release. 

"Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the national security of the state and the connections detected between the employees of the security forces of Ukraine and the special services of Russia pose very serious questions to the relevant leadership," Zelensky said. "Each of these questions will receive a proper answer."

“As of today, 651 criminal proceedings have been registered regarding treason and collaboration activities of employees of prosecutor’s offices, pretrial investigation bodies, and other law enforcement agencies,” Zelensky added.

Background: Zelensky and Bakanov go way back. 

Bakanov is a childhood friend of Zelensky, according to Politico. He also ran Zelensky's entertainment company and headed up his presidential campaign.

However, Politico reported in June that the Ukrainian president was hoping to remove his friend from his position leading the security service.

Zelensky fires two officials after dozens of staffers' "collaboration" with Russia

Ivan Bakanov, chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, and Iryna Venediktova, the country's prosecutor general, were fired after it was revealed that many staffers were collaborating with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on July 11 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo: Alexey Furman/Getty Images

Russian invasion of Ukraine

World

J.D. Vance (left) and Tim Ryan. Photos: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Democrat Tim Ryan is using his big fundraising advantage over Republican J.D. Vance in Ohio's Senate race to define himself as conservative-friendly through TV ads targeting GOP audiences — while Vance's campaign remains silent.

Driving the news: Ryan’s latest ad, airing exclusively on Fox News last week, shows him winning warm reviews from the conservative network’s hosts — including Tucker Carlson. 

Why it matters: It's an unorthodox approach that reflects how significantly this congressman of two decades must disrupt expectations to stand a chance in the state. 

That's the reality even against a rival with mixed reviews inside the GOP like Vance, a venture capitalist and bestselling memoirist who openly opposed former President Trump before embracing him. 

Once a swing state, Ohio now clearly favors Republicans. Trump won by eight points in 2020. The governor, attorney general and secretary of state all are Republican, as is the legislative majority.

Between the lines: General election voters don't traditionally pay much attention to races until after Labor Day. But Ryan is seeing if he can use summer's sleepy months to define Vance — and himself — with Republican audiences while he has the airwaves alone.

By the numbers: Ryan’s campaign has spent $6.4 million on television ads since winning the primary. Vance hasn’t spent any money on television spots since emerging as the GOP nominee. 

Ryan has aired TV ads saying "it is us versus China" and featuring a local sheriff accusing Vance of proposing to defund the police. His first general election ad dubbed Vance as an elitist who’s a “hit at Washington cocktail parties.”  

Vance's biggest funder, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, hasn’t spent on behalf of the Republican nominee since he won the hotly contested May primary. 

Thiel is waiting to reengage until after his other endorsed Senate candidate, Blake Masters, finishes the Arizona Senate primary in August, according to a Republican strategist allied with Vance. 

Protect Ohio Values, the pro-Vance super PAC that Thiel has funded, has only raised $675,800 since Vance won the Republican primary, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

What we're watching: Ryan’s campaign announced raising $9.1 million in the second fundraising quarter, a massive haul that broke fundraising records in Ohio.

Vance raised $1 million for his campaign account and brought in an additional $1.3 million through two joint fundraising committees and a leadership PAC. 

But the $726,000 raised through the leadership PAC, typically used as a vehicle to steer money to allies, can’t be used to spend for television advertisements, limiting its utility.

Republican Senate sources are expecting Ryan to maintain a significant fundraising advantage throughout the campaign, with Vance reliant on Thiel’s largesse to close the gap.

What they're saying: A spokesman for Vance's super PAC told Axios Ryan is "earning a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of Democrat money pits," arguing the congressman's huge spending has not manifested in the polls.

"[N]o amount of money can hide Tim Ryan’s record of voting for the failed Biden agenda 100% of the time," the spokesman added.

The bottom line: Whether or not he can beat the odds, Ryan has achieved his success so far by running to President Biden’s right and competing for culturally conservative voters in a state that’s been hostile for his party lately.

That approach could serve as a model for Democrats in certain swing states or districts who tailor appeals to moderates over the progressive base.

Tim Ryan's Ohio ad play: Run to the right

Ryan ran a new ad on Fox News showing him winning warm reviews from the conservative network’s hosts.

Ohio

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Scott Gottlieb Face The Nation

The U.S. has failed to contain the outbreak of monkeypox and is "at the cusp" of seeing the virus become endemic, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

Driving the news: According to CDC data, there are currently more than 1,800 monkeypox cases in the U.S. and more than 12,500 worldwide.

What they're saying: "I think the window for getting control of this and containing it probably has closed, and if it hasn't closed it's certainly starting to close," Gottlieb said.

"We're probably detecting just a fraction of the actual cases because we had for a very long time a very narrow case definition on who got tested," he added.

"By and large, we're looking in the community of men who have sex with men and STD clinics. So we're looking there. We're finding cases there. But it's a fact that there's cases outside that community right now. We're not picking them up because we're not looking there."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there's thousands of cases right now," he added of the U.S. case count.

"We made a lot of the same mistakes we made with COVID with this. Having a narrow case definition, not enough testing early enough, not providing a vaccine in an aggressive fashion. ... While it's not going to explode because it's harder for the virus to spread, it will be persistent."

State of play: Last month, New York City and Washington, D.C., began offering limited monkeypox vaccines and both quickly maxed out on appointments.

New York City opened three mass vaccination sites for monkeypox on Sunday, NBC 4 reports.

New York City health commissioner Ashwin Vasan said at the opening of one of the sites Sunday that the city is "fighting two pandemics at once," NBC 4 reports.

The big picture: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on Friday that it has ordered an additional 2.5 million doses of monkeypox vaccines to respond to the outbreak.

The World Health Organization is expected to meet this week to determine if monkeypox should be declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), its highest alert.

Former FDA chief warns U.S. has "failed to contain" monkeypox

"We're probably detecting just a fraction of the actual cases."

Monkeypox

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

Federal prosecutors are asking that Jan. 6 rioter Guy Reffitt, who was the first Jan. 6 defendant to go to trial earlier this year, receive a 15-year prison sentence, according to a court filing on Friday.

Why it matters: If accepted by the presiding judge, Reffitt's sentence would be the longest given to a Capitol rioter so far.

Reffitt's prison sentence would be nearly triple the more than five-year prison term handed down to Capitol rioter Robert Palmer, who is currently serving the longest sentence given to date.

The big picture: Reffitt carried a gun onto Capitol grounds and interfered with the police line during the riot. He also threatened to harm his son and daughter when he returned to Texas if they turned him in to the FBI.

A jury found him guilty of all charges back in March.

In the court filing, federal prosecutors argue that Reffitt played a central role in "overwhelming officers and showing the mob the way forward at the outset of the riot."

The filing notes that Reffitt has not shown any acceptance of responsibility for the events of Jan. 6 and is "defiant that he is a political prisoner."

The filing also notes that Reffitt took part in the insurrection with the "intention to use his gun and police-style flexicuffs to forcibly drag legislators out of the building and take over Congress."

What to watch: Reffitt is set to be sentenced on Aug. 1, AP reported.

Federal prosecutors seek 15-year sentence, the longest thus far, for Capitol rioter

Guy Reffitt was the first Jan. 6 defendant to go to trial and was found guilty on all charges earlier this year.

U.S. Capitol Police scuffle with rioters after they broke through security fencing outside of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Jan. 6

Amos Hochstein, a senior state department adviser for energy security, said on Sunday that he expects gas prices in the U.S. to fall to $4 per gallon.

The big picture: After months of skyrocketing, prices at the pump have finally begun to fall.

The national average had dropped to $4.532 per gallon as of July 17, according to the AAA average.

Driving the news: Both oil prices and prices at the pump have been falling quickly, Hochstein noted on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"I expect [the national average gas price] to come down more toward $4 and we already have many gas stations around the country that are below $4," Hochstein said. 

"This is the fastest decline rate that we've seen against a major increase of oil prices during a war in Europe where one of the parties in the war is the third largest producer in the world.  So these are extraordinary circumstances."

Hochstein added that some major oil producers in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have spare capacity and he hinted that they could increase supply to the market.

State Department adviser expects gas prices to fall to $4 a gallon

After months of skyrocketing, prices at the pump have begun to fall.

Amos Hochstein, senior energy security adviser for the U.S. Department of State, speaks during a conference in Houston on March 8. Photo:: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gas prices

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

President Biden chided reporters late Saturday for asking about his fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, which has garnered widespread backlash.

Driving the news: U.S. intelligence concluded MBS was responsible for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 — an allegation Saudi Arabia denies.

Biden on Friday said he raised Khashoggi's murder at the start of his meeting with MBS and that he "indicated" that he believed MBS was responsible for it.

The Saudi foreign minister later said he did not hear Biden blame MBS for Khashoggi's murder, Reuters reported.

State of play: "Why don't you guys talk about something that matters? I'm happy to answer a question that matters," Biden said when asked by a reporter whether he regretted the fist bump, per a White House pool report.

Asked whether the Saudi foreign minister was telling the truth about his meeting with MBS, Biden replied, "No."

What they're saying: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that he believed Biden should not have gone to Saudi Arabia.

"You have the leader of that country who was involved in the murder of a Washington Post journalist. I don't think that that type of government should be rewarded with a visit by the president of the United States.

"If this country believes in anything, we believe in human rights, we believe in democracy. I just don’t believe we should be maintaining a warm relationship with a dictatorship like that," Sanders said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) told MSNBC's "Velshi" on Sunday that Biden "going from calling MBS a pariah to fist bumping him was really disappointing."

"This whole trip sends the wrong message to human rights defenders and to the values that we say we have in upholding human rights," she added.

Omar noted that Biden ran on a foreign policy agenda of centering on human rights. "We have to stop ... saying we are going to do one thing on foreign policy and then doing the opposite."

"It messes with our credibility, it sends the wrong message. And I think it changes the way people view us around the world."

Biden downplays Saudi fist bump as Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar criticize trip

"Why don't you guys talk about something that matters? I'm happy to answer a question that matters," Biden said when asked by a reporter whether he regretted the fist bump.

President Biden walks off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on July 16. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Saudi Arabia

Bernie Sanders On This Week

Democrats continued to voice their opposition on Sunday to Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) apparent decision last week to close the door on a climate and energy package.

Why it matters: The failure to produce a package expanding clean energy and electric vehicle investments will make it more difficult for the U.S. to meet its climate change targets.

Manchin tempered his stance during an appearance on a popular West Virginia radio show on Friday, saying that he simply wants more time and to see how the Federal Reserve responds to the latest inflation numbers before agreeing to a spending package to fight climate change.

What they're saying:  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) disputed the notion that Manchin's decision was abrupt during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, telling host Martha Raddatz, "He didn't abruptly do anything. He has sabotaged the president's agenda."

"If you check the record, six months ago I made it clear that you have people like Manchin — Sinema to a lesser degree — who are intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda, what the American people want, what the majority of us in the Democratic caucus want. Nothing new about this," Sanders added, referring to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

"The problem was that we continued to talk Manchin like he was serious, he was not. This is a guy who's a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires."

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called Manchin's actions "really disappointing, not surprising" during an appearance on MSNBC's "Velshi" on Sunday.

Joe Manchin's scuttling of climate agenda action slammed by Democrats

"He has sabotaged the president's agenda," Sanders said on ABC's "This Week."

Axios

Sunday's top stories