last year the state department appointed desiree cormier smith as the state department's first specialntative for racial equity and justice. the position wass guided by two mandates one protecting and advancing human rights belonging to marginalized communities and number two, to combat systemic racism discrimination and xenophobia around the world. now a year later to commemorate the anniversary we are honored to host the special representative for a discussion on her accomplishments, what's to come and the importance of racial equity in foreign policy and diplomacy. prior to her appointment, special representative cormier smith served as an advisor in the departments bureau of organizational affairs along with previous positions with an open society foundation as a senior policy advisor and albright group the africa practice senior director. she began at the state department with assignments in mexico, south africa and washington, d.c. the recipient of four state department meritorious honor awards, the thomas pickering foreign affairsri undergraduate fellowship she's an alum of the

last year in june, 2022, the state department appointed desiree cormier smith is the state department's first special representative for racial equity and justice. the position was guided by two. one, protect and advance the human rights of people belonging to marginalized racial and ethnic communities and number two, to combat a systemic the systemicracism, discriminatd xenophobia around the world. now a full year later to commemorate the anniversary we to host the special representative at csis for a timely discussion on her accomplishments, what's to come, and the importance of racial equity in foreign policy. prior to her appointment, special representative desiree cormier smith served as a senior advisor in the department's bureau of international organizational affairs along withaf previous positions with e open society foundation as a senior policy advisor for africa, europe and eurasia and all stonebridge groups africa's practice as the senior director. ms. desiree cormier smith began her career as an officer at the state department with assignments in mexico, south africa and w

i don't i don't want to state department that thinks about the world like me i want a state department that when secretary who is duly confirmed tells them to left, they're going to go left and they're going to give me their ideas just like i did the president. but in the end, you an instruction, you should execute it. and we are long ways from that today. my first question from the audience, will you consider running for president. yes. yeah, i like that's a good question. yes. when will you make that decision? that was mine. when susan tells me i may i exactly, yeah. let me pause for a moment because gail wilson, the former first lady of california, is here. are you, gail? i just want you to stand up as a first lady. he had a wonderful first lady at the state department. how important? now you're first. oh, my goodness. all the difference in the world kept me humble when i thought i was all that and brought me up when the what and probably up when the washington post told me. i was a no good bum. okay. oh, good. very important. and daily. just the daily job. what has happened to our

because this really is frontier work for the state department.nd so a lot of the work does entail internal sort of advocacy and education, helping our colleagues understand not only why this is a foreign policy imperative, but also how they do it in a meaningful way in their work across regions, across areas. and so what helped a lot was building upon the work and learning from my counter parts focus on other communities, right? so i'm really honored to join the ranks of other principles and specials and ambassadors focused on other marginalized communities. that includes our newly confirmed ambassador for global women's issues, jessica stern, our special envoy for lgbtqia+ rights. our special advisor for international disability rights. our ambassador at large for international religious freedom. and our ambassador to monitor and combat anti-semitism. so i join them in collectively we are putting, we're making good on president biden's and secretary blinken's promise to put human rights at the center of our foreign policy. because we have to ack

the first year, i challenge 5 of the 6 regions the state department covers. i will be traveling to south-central asia. i will be going in a few months. once i hit that i will have been to every country in each of those regions and that is really important to underscore the global nature. it is not just a problem of the americas, not just an american problem. it really does affect every society in a myriad of ways so if we are able to underscore the global nature of it and equip them with the tools, the language, the knowledge to comfortably do this work in a robust meaningful way without sort of relying on me to travel there and say this is how you do it, that would be a huge marker of success and we are trying to facilitate that brain trust, we have stood up a community practice that includes colleagues from not just washington but those around the world and this is critically important because it allows them to come to each other and engage with each other. what we try to do is spotlight embassy or conflict at every one of those meetings where they talk abo

breaking tonight, a blistering state department report about the united states chaotic and deadly withdrawal from afghanistan cause both biden and trump administrations for numerous mistakes made during the draw down. explosive new claims from house republicans tonight about pandemics, dr. an no -- anthony fauci. we begin with a new pair of land sm mark rulings. here is chief legal correspondent and fox news sunday anchor. >> hands up. >> reporter: another day of decisions split, 6-3 showing deep divisions at the nation's highest court. an opinion by chief justice john robert, the majority struck down the biden administration plan to wipe out $430 billion in student loan debt. we hope the act allows the education secretary to waive or mo modify existing provisions. not to rewrite the statute from the ground up. they argue the secretary did have the power. the statute gives the secretary broad thought to relieve it on borrowers able to repay student loans. president biden who has vowed to wipe out student loan debt conceding he may not have the authority blasted the court and promised to find

so such employees do not even need the opinion of the state department, they feel it in their gut.n working for almost 5 years. uh bloomberg garlic 9 years old. i work with major media from the early nineties to the seventeenth year. i tried to get a new job at reuters with a rating news agency. i came in for an interview and a man in london wrote to ask me john what is your opinion on russia about putin's russia well he wanted to find out what i think, what my worldview is. well, will he believe in the worldview of the state department, no, not europe with her, just everything is clear, for example, africa, the middle east, south america, which yes reads the american press. well, they hardly need an orwellian big brother. evgenia petrukhina and the polynar state department let's return after a short advertisement, that's what you'll tell us about. the schismatics of the pzu occupy not only shrines, but also houses near kiev, the family of a priest with a child was driven out into the street by parishioners , forced to live in tents and pray on the street. do not pay commissions to

house issued its own reports back in april that we were told included, or summarized, both this state departmenteport and a defense department after action review that looked at the way the defense department performed in the evacuation and withdrawal from afghanistan. at this report has been classified. we have not seen that report. nevertheless, what was striking is the fact the state department criticized president biden as well as president trump. but the white house report that we were told it fed into lacked any of that criticism of president biden and basically blamed the chaos of the withdrawal in 2021 on failures of the trump administration host: -- administration. host: why was the biden administration at fault and why was the trump administration fault guest: -- fault? guest: it was president trump who entered into the withdrawal deal with the taliban in return for very little else. it was supposed to lead to peace talks between the taliban and the then western-backed government it's happened. president trump had been trying to withdraw troops all along until the end of his administra

state department put out a statement saying, the u.s.tment of state and our embassies and consulates abroad have no higher priority than the safety and security of u.s. citizens overseas. but it's important to note the context of all of this. this comes at a time where there's already been growing concerns about the deteriorating security situation in haiti. gang violence, instability, just last week, on thursday, non-emergency personnel were ordered to depart the country. that was an order by the u.s. state department saying, you must leave immediately, because of the deteriorating situation. even before that announcement, people who were living and working in that embassy had to live, work, travel under severe restrictions, because of concerns about security there. we know that secretary of state antony blinken has been working and talking about this, saying there has been a push to put in place an international or multi-national force to try to help bring stable to haiti, but this kidnapping comes really at a very scary time. >> thank

well, will he believe in the worldview of the state department?ith it, just everything is clear, for example, africa , the middle east, south america, which yes reads the american press. well, they hardly need a big brother for the eagle. he is now the message of the last minutes connected with the nato agenda, as ian stoltenberg states, turkish president erdogan agreed in principle to join the alliance with sweden, and the agreement was reached in the shortest possible time during today's negotiations, where the head of the european council also participated. charles michel. the investigative committee opened a criminal case on the murder of the deputy head of the krasnodar city department for mobilization work captain of the second rank. stanislav rzhitsky was killed today, during a morning jog, according to media reports, an unknown person ambushed him and shot him four times in the chest in the back. previously , rzhitsky was the commander of a submarine in krasnodar ; rista early this morning at a site located near the beregovoy street center

>> it's my understanding know. >> ten days later on march 26 the state department produce a memo that stated u.s. scientists assess the virus emerged naturally. they continue to say a lab leak was improbable and not supported by the available evidence. director ratcliffe, are the statements factual? >> they are not. >> mr. feith, do you, are the statements factual? >> no, a were at best overstated. >> mr. feith, you involved in the briefing that produced that memo? >> i was a recipient of the briefing that the memo is an account. >> so while serving at the state department investigating the origins of covid-19 were you ever briefed by an author of the proximal origin paper? >> yes, sir. >> during the operation of that memo which i i referenced aboo you believe the unnamed scientist had apparent conflicts of interest? >> in short, yes especially based on what we know since then about them. >> were the authors, where they the ones that were briefing the intelligence community, the authors of that? >> so that document is a write up of a so-called analytic exchange that had been hosted by

shot you are the ig at the department of state are you aware of the obstruction from department of state employees towards the inspector general over afghanistan? >> i have read mr. sopko's testimony i can say for our part we have not experienced the same. >> i'm not asking for u.s. inspector general is your role of having oversight over state. i are you aware of state department employees woefully ignoring and obstructing the investigations that are lawfully authorized by congress from sigar mr. sopko office are you aware of state department employees ignoring his investigations? >> i am aware of mr. sopko statements yes. >> miss angarella you are the ig. >> i'm acting in that role, yes it. >> acting similar line of question are you aware of usaid employees woefully obstructing sigar's ability to can correct congressional oversight which is her legal mandate? works i was in the same as ms. shaw i am aware of ig sopko's letter. we have not had any access and i would say further i am happy to partner with any oversight ig to do joint work or get access to any documents or people and assis

i wonder how are we deepening these with other departments like the department of state. space has become this new and niche exciting thing. i wonder what developments have been made by the space force in helping the department of state. >> wise everybody looking at me? -- why is everybody looking at me. >> secretary frank rose worked to this problem part is i believe he was working in the state department. try to get norms established and peopled to agree on norms. as mentioned, we are not there yet. it is a worthy effort to push that through. once you have that, as someone mentioned, when someone violates it. you have the ability to throw to marshmallow. that is the state department sending message that you signed up to this, you violated this, and that diplomatic pressure matters. it really matters. i am a big fan of come to some level of consensus on rules of the road in peacetime. they go out the window in any conflict, once the balloon goes up. it is important to help deterrence by holding nations accountable for their behavior. enabling the state department to fulfi

the opposition need to fund gladto us state department has criticized the decision. us state department of gold has criticized both abide and then trump administration's the handling of the 2021 evacuation from scottish stone. the view details the government shortcomings before and after us forces left. following the telephone's re taking of the capital, tactical haine has moved from washington dc. that which is very interesting is the us is that all along that they base their entire plan on the assumption that the ascii and forces would be able to keep cobble, and the tell bennett bay for weeks, months, possibly as much of the year. what they're saying now in these recommendations is in the future, if you have an assumption where your entire plan is based on that, you should put in place what's called the red team. those are basically outset experts you can come in and figure out if your premise is actually possible or if it doesn't happen, what will happen? so that's a recommendation for the future. another big concern is the state department jobs you're there for a year. so during th

over, until february of 2021 when president biden signed an executive order requiring that the state department fulfill its promise of creating a private refugee sponsorship program. the next event, , surprisingly, came from the department of homeland security though, in that event was the creating of the uniting for ukraine parole sponsorship u program. this allowed ukrainians fleeing the russian invasion toll come temporarily to the united states with a temporary status known as parole. after that, the administration, the department of homeland security expanded or created similar programs for cubans, for venezuelans first in october and then in january for cubans, haitians and nicaraguans. the same month, in january, the state department created the welcome for refugee were sponsorship program so finally state department and lamented phase one of its refugee sponsorship program and the first refugees actually arrived last week under the private sponsorship initiative of the state department. so i'm not going to go through this whole slide. but i wanted to just point out some general differen

tell us how you began in the military and then how you transitioned to the state department. sure, and yeah, it is complicated like most everyone's lives are complicated, not nothing is, are really straightforward. and even years afterwards and you look back, you wonder how does that happen? how do i get to that point? how am i here now? so um, but i graduated college, i work for a little bit in finance, so i was bored. this was the late ninety's. i want to do something bigger with my life. want to be part of something important or do something serious. want to challenge myself. i end up joining the marine corps and i went to officer candidate school on january of 1998. uh sir. uh, was it, uh, it was an open house. japan for a number of years, was in the pentagon and then ended up going to the rock wars. and after being in iraq where it's twice moved over to the state department where i was appointed as a foreign service officer. and he was in my that 3rd deployment to where that time to afghanistan with the state department as a political officer, when i was, you know, moral

they are implying when it comes to the state department. during this chaotic for the withdrawal, that there was not one person in charge. patty calling al jazeera washington as a bus, as cost and coal fight it west and india killing at least 25 passengers. a survivors were taking the hospital, the vehicle bust into flames off to slamming into a road, divide to please say the driver, lost control with a tie up uh at least 48 people have died in wisdom. can you know, through laurie crushed into other vehicles as a busy intersection for school. so helping those tribes and several doesn't have been seriously injured. please say the truck was kinda a shipping container when the driver lost control. and they don't, the road is unclear what caused the crash. the columbia has of those, the creation of a new ministry to protect the rights of women, and the most vulnerable people in the country, ministry of equality under equity. laws that come pain probus made by the president, gustavo petro, alexandra p. a. c. repulse of boca tom was. the ministry

the state department is still digging out from a processing backlog that started during the pack pandemice issue you are hearing from constituents right now? >> i have about 250 open cases right now. ♪ ♪ >> in the shadow of the colorado rockies, we found one of the largest personal collections of anything in america. >> first automatic 1937. >> about 1500 antique washington machines. >> there is always a beautiful one just around the corner. ♪ ♪ >> margaret: good evening, and thank you for joining us on this friday night. i am at margaret brennan in for norah. we begin tonight with the political impact of the new criminal charges against former president donald trump, who continues his bid for the white house. yesterday, the special counsel's office filed three new felony charges in its investigation of the former presidents alleged mishandling of classified documents. the new counts accuse trump of attempting to destroy evidence by pressuring a mar-a-lago employee to delete security video sought by prosecutors. it also includes an additional count for the willful retention of national de

their, i'm fine when it comes to the state department. during this chaotic withdrawal that there was not one person in charge particle, hain algebra, washington a protest. is it a wrong because demanded the government cut diplomatic ties of sweet and it's in response to the beginning of the koran install. came on wednesday, tens of thousands because of the swedish embassy in baghdad for a 2nd day of protests. events was organized by i suppose it was she, a politician, book to the outside of the building happened outside of middle school the 1st day of either had the. meanwhile, the prime minister of sweden is christa stone, has cooled. the com. you said there's a reason to insult people just because some things legal. they don't necessarily appropriate. then mold dave, uh, the multi that pardon me, to people have been killed in a shooting interest in our international apple. the gunman was like 43 old mans into deacon's done. he sees the boat offices fire on after being denied entry to mold dave the cause of my son do says the 2 people ki

they are implying when it comes to the state department. during this chaotic withdrawal that there was not one person in charge. patty calling l g 0. washington. poland and hungary have rejected the european union's revised assign them rules under this month, ministers agreed to imagine you migration vehicle. it changed how sign him see, cuz i processed that the buddha and relocated throughout europe. someone that came has more now from process the 2 seems to that at the summits here in process the 1st ukraine and fair that you can continue to provide assistance to ukraine in its time of the, the 2nd migration and what proposals could be brought forward to the measures already agrees in like some books, like even terry administers 3 weeks ago while on ukraine there was general consensus on migration. absolutely no consensus due to thermal. let's do our 2 countries, poland and hungary, which believe that because of the migratory packed and the decision making process for the qualifying majority, they were not prepared to validate the conclus

tell us how you began in the military and then how you transition to the state department. sure, and yeah, it is complicated like most everyone's lives are complicated, not nothing is, are really straightforward. and even years afterwards and you look back, you wonder how does that happen? how do i get to that point? how am i here now? so but i graduated college, i worked for a little bit in finance. i was bored. this was the late ninety's. i want to do something big with my life. want to be part of something important or do something serious. one to challenge myself. i end up joining the marine corps and i went to officer candidate school on january of 1998. uh sir, it was, it was an open house. japan for a number of years, was in the pentagon, and then ended up going to the rock wars. and after being in iraq where it's twice moved over to the state department where i was appointed as a foreign service officer. and he was in my that 3rd deployment to where that time to afghanistan with the state department as a political officer. when i was, you know, morally and intellect

he has since been deemed wrongfully detained by the state department. determination quite quickly. he's facing charges of espionage, and that is a really complicated charge that he is facing because what it means is that the russians are looking in return to get something for him that is related to their intelligence collection apparatus. if they're treating him as a spy, they want the united states to give them something that would help benefit their intelligence collection apparatus, their spy capabilities. paul whelan, who is another american still wrongfully detained in russia, he's also facing spy charges. behind the scenes u.s. officials have been working to try and figure out what they can offer to the russians to secure the release of both whelan and evan gershkovich. today the big news is the ambassador was able to see him. of course, he's in pretrial detention until at least august 30th. alex. >> is there any indication that the state department is getting any closer to getting whelan and gershkovich home, that this complicated deal could come

was fired from the state department, but only for. so, so that's how pervasive that's how pervasive the association was and the public imagination of homosexuality and diplomacy. the state department and the republican sweep in 1952 with dwight eisenhower and the republicans take control of congress and, the presidency for the first time since the new deal. one of the planks that the republicans were running on was to clean up the mess in washington. and it wasn't just the corruption. the truman administration, they were talking about the moral depravity of, the of the state department and j edgar hoover was spreading rumors. adlai stevenson was homosexual. and, you know, he had three strikes against him. adlai stevenson he was a bachelor. he was a former and he was an intellectual. right. so those three things were were kind of it was it was like three strikes. they were associated with homosexuality. so i have just going off in different directions, both of you. but i first i want jamie can you tell the joe alsop story of blackmail?

s embassy and department of state in washington. it was approved documents of cardboard documents that proves the publishing and ownership of this specific is site on behalf of hands of the owners of senior refugees. a we claimed that these properties were illegally confiscated and seized by the is there any authorities on the inside of the law and, and hopefully they won't get to the stage of a asking for a permit to build on the site. and the case is still ongoing. it also, is there any sort of these has made they have made a decision on that massive planning reps to that is a stage of us sort of these asking to issue a parent to build their uh do the diplomatic compound on the site. so we hopefully, if it wish and it would be appropriate not to go forward with the side. the answer that we got from the us department of state was that they haven't made up their mind yet. no final decisions were made. and it's through this process, the history of the land ownership on this i will be seriously consider the court in israel as a result

that's the state department program?reat, rainbow railroad.org will review to you or the state department pieces still moving out to make sure the partnerships can be ignited in rapidfire. then the second question, jonathan was -- jonathon: tech governance. >> yes. jonathon: we have five minutes and five questions. >> this is a very important subcomponent, discrimination isn't new and persecution isn't new in the amount of disinformation including deepfake showing president biden vilifying lg pt qi plus communities are exacerbated and will be challenging. jonathon: we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 questions, five minutes. lord jesus. [laughter] here's what i want to do, want you to eat your -- two east ask your brief question and it gets our tick elated and then administrator power will answer. real quickly. all five. >> thank you very much, very quickly, what would you say to other countries that stand on principle of no interference. we don't get to tell them how to treat their people. thank you. jonathon: thank you. >> domestica

i don't know whether it will, of course, the state department to by surprise that that will be the effect on moscow as you see, if you began your 2017 books. he blamed this with a quote from now saying that all imperialist states a week because their appetite is large, how over extended do you think that to the united states is now that a blinking state department. and david method zalinski is run out of ammunition. they a political and military fact in ukraine. it is that the united states is uh, does not have any troops on the ground. and that takes off the cable. um, the question of over extension. uh, and it loads it. the over extension question to the defense industrial base that is can the united states supply enough weapons to grade to defeat the rush, which i would not call out an example. that is not an example of low risk stranger . that's the question of the trends. industrial policies and one that can be readily address address since we're talking about shells artillery. we're not talking about rebuilding battle fleets, which takes years to do um, or rebuild the air force, whi

>> reporter: the state department says this is an ongoing investigation.ics surrounding this kidnapping other than saying of course they are aware of these reports of this kidnapping and they aren't talking about demands obi the kidnappers or who is holding this american and their son or daughter who is with them right now. a state department spokesperson said earlier today this. >> obviously the safety and security of american citizens overseas is our highest priority. we are in regular contact with the haitian authorities and continue to work with them and our u.s. government and interagency partners. but because it's an ongoing law enforcement investigation there's no more detail i can offer. >> reporter: jim, as you said in the introduction there, this happened on the same day that the state department withdrew many of its diplomats from haiti, nonemergency personnel at the u.s. embassy were withdrawn due to the security situation in ha haiti. i asked a state department spokesperson if there is, you know, any reason to believe there could be link anl b

we work with the state department and cdc that has, of course, made a major difference saving 25 million lives and 5.5 million babies is the estimate for the good done overtime. that has had a particular effect on lgbtqia plus communities around the world. beyond that we do agriculture and economic growth and inclusion, livelihoods work. in many parts of the world, if you are lgbtqia plus, coming forward to seek social services may risk something near and dear to you depending on the legal environment in which you are working. when the fallout from covid occurred and you saw such economic devastation around the world, given the fact lgbtqi had less people are often working in the informal sector and may have had, in some instances, less backup, the kind of crises that have befallen the planet have a disparate impact on marginalized communities and those that have in a sense faced. does -- pre-existing conditions including discrimination, violence, etc.. we went forth. we tripled the size of our staff. we have the great jay gilliam that many of you work with as our lead lgbtqia plus coord

certainly, the state department is on the front line for this. no one should be surprised they were involved in -- refused to relinquish power. i'm concerned the united states continues to partner with the same authoritarian actors in the region that have bargained away sudan's democratic future in order to secure their own interests. even neil, current efforts in saudi arabia yield a real humanitarian cease-fire, but we must also be very honest with ourselves about the motivations of some of the regional actors. in the four years and students general removed omar al-bashir from hope, a knife up towards corrupt military leaders has driven u.s. policy in sudan. this approach has powered sedans strongman, while victimizing the sudanese people, undermining the country's democratic future. the biden administration has sanctions only one sudanese entity under global minutes key, while president biden issued an executive order last week, there were no designations with the announcement. very disappointing. the u.s. has also not put its best to -- diplom

we look at that and other findings in a new state department report. and...epublican presidential candidates appear at an education event run by a group with increasing ties to far-right extremists. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of "the newshour," including jim and nancy goldman and kathy and paul anderson. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ >> and with ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of "the newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening and welcome to "the newshour." we are following two major decisions on the final day of the supreme court's term. the justices struck down president biden's plan to cancel more than 400 billion dollars in student loan debt for millions of borrowers. the court also ruled that a colorado

where their circumstances requiring someone know who the person is the state department department --inaudible] >> assistant secretary there's a hierarchy in their standard practice for government. >> you answer to the executive office of the president are you answered that the secretary because they are >> i -- to the president of united states. the secretary blinken completely informed and aware. >> thank you. that's good we just need to know the basic levels of transparency and an understanding of this first but i want to go to couple of questions on policy. global problems require global commitment and i want to go to some of the global commitments you might be looking at that were looked at in 27 and i want to understand if you are committing in united states of america to these policies are not. it's a simple yes or no question and i know you've researched and well and i've researched him well. we don't need an explanation. cross-border carbon trade are you planning to commit and this is the number one issue along with climate respirations you plan to commit america to cross-bor

the state department spokesperson has also said, it is imperative to take all possible proportions tont the loss of civilian lives. so, lines coming out there from the state department, saying that there closely tracking the situation in jenin, that it is imperative to take all possible precautions to prevent the losses is a billion lives, and as we been hearing from both sides, this is a very densely populated area —— prevent the loss of lives. no doubt, given the state of this operation, they will be civilian casualties. the palestinian authority has already reported that a number of people are trying to be evacuated to the hospitals, but that is the state department spokesperson, saying they are closely tracking situation in jenin. closely tracking situation injenin. night has fallen overjenin, but the images you are seeing are of earlier in the day, and as you can see, the plumes of smoke over that city, in and around that refugee camp. we are closely monitoring the situation there, butjust some lines coming in from the state department for you there. let's go to france. there hav

government-funded covid-19 research from the state department. y of state said that this hold on these nominees is not actually about their credentials at all. listen to what he told reporters just now -- >> no one is questioning the qualifications of these career diplomats. they're being blocked from leverage on other unrelated issues. it's irresponsible, and it's doing harm to our national security. >> reporter: and so what the secretary of state is asking congress to do is move swiftly. he said that the state department has worked extensively with the office of senator rand paul, but that obviously has not sufficed yet department and to the u.s. government. and so he is now urging all senators to try and get on board so that they can get these nominees through and onto their posts. of course, we should note that senate is going into recess in august. there's not much time before they're out for about five weeks. boris? >> timing is an important point here. kylie atwood at the state department. thank you so much. brianna? >>> coming this fall, s

certainly the state department is on the frontline of this. no one should be surprised at those involved in the beshear's teams genocide 20 years ago refused to relinquish power. the united states continues to partner with the same authoritarian actors in the region that bargained away students democratic future in order to secure their own interests. even now, when we hope great efforts and saudi arabia healed real humanitarian cease-fire. we must all be very honest with ourselves about the motivation of some of our regional actors. the four years since they removed omar al-bashir from power, and of hope towards corrupt military leaders on their foreign backers has affected u.s. foreign policy incident. this approach has empowered surgeons strongman well victimizing the sudanese people and undermining the country's democratic future. the biden ministration has sanctioned only one sudanese entity under global mick nipsey. president biden issued the order last week, no initiations with the announcement. very disappointing. the u.s. is also now p

state department. you may recall the biden administration's high profile negotiation to bring wnba star brittany griner home after she was detained in russia just after fogel over a similar drug-related offense. ms. griner is thankfully home. one of the differences between brittany griner and marc fogel's cases, less than three months after griner's arrest, the state department classified her as wrongfully detained. fogel deserves the same justice and we should be using every tool at our disposal to bring him home. i had the privilege of getting to know some of marc's family, some of whom are montanans, they have been fierce advocates here state tide, but -- stateside, but they fear they will never see their brother's face again or hear their father's voice, and we can't let that happen. working alongside the fogel family, i've also teamed up with president obama's u.s. ambassador to russia mike mcfall. mike mcfaul was my former boisen debate partner. mike mcfall and i are working together to imfloor t