Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is booked and busy.
Haley made her debut as a presidential candidate Wednesday with a speech in Charleston, South Carolina.
Haley is spending the rest of the week in New Hampshire, holding two events to lay the groundwork for her campaign as she is the first Republican to formally challenge Donald Trump to be the GOP’s 2024 nominee. Several others are speculated to join Haley soon, including fellow South Carolinian Sen. Tim Scott.
Here’s what else is happening in politics:
Stay in the conversation on politics: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter
Biden remains ‘healthy, vigorous 80-year-old,’ White House doctor says after physical
President Joe Biden remains a “healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency,” the White House physician said Thursday after the president received his first physical in a year and a half.
One small lesion, however, was removed from the president’s chest during the examination and will be sent for a traditional biopsy, Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, said in a letter that otherwise mostly reflected his last medical checkup from November 2021.
Biden’s routine physical has taken on extra scrutiny as the octogenarian is widely expected to announce a reelection bid in the coming weeks or months. Already the oldest person to assume the presidency, Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term.
O’Connor observed that Biden’s gait remains stiff but has not worsened in the past year. He also occasional bouts of gastroesophageal reflux, which cause him to clear his throat often and may contribute to occasional cough and sinus congestion, the report said.
Biden weighs 178 pounds and had a blood pressure rate of 128/76 and pulse rate of 69, the physician’s report said. That’s six pounds less than the 184 pounds he weighed in 2021.
– Joey Garrison and Michael Collins
More:Biden remains ‘healthy, vigorous 80-year-old,’ White House doctor says after physical exam
Sen. Fetterman checks into hospital for ‘severe depression’
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., was checked into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for clinical depression, according to his office.
“While John has experience depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks,” Adam Jentleson, his chief of staff, said in a statement Thursday.
The Pennsylvania Democrat, who suffered a stroke during the 2022 campaign, was discharged from another hospital earlier this month after reportedly feeling lightheaded during a Democratic retreat.
Fetterman’s office said he did not suffer from another stroke.
– Phillip M. Bailey
More:Sen. John Fetterman checks into hospital for clinical depression, his office says
Supreme Court removes Title 42 immigration case from its calendar
The Supreme Court on Thursday removed from its calendar a major case involving a pandemic-era policy that allows for the rapid removal of migrants, known as Title 42.
The high court took the unusual step without explanation, though the Biden administration argued in a brief this month that the case might become moot given that it intends to cancel emergency declarations tied to COVID-19 the program relies on.
The justices had been set to hear arguments in the case March 1.
The administration intends to end the pandemic-era policy that allows for the rapid removal of migrants. And in November, a federal court required the administration to stop those removals. But a group of conservative state officials who say their states would be adversely affected want to step into the case and defend the use of Title 42.
– John Fritze
More:Biden tells Supreme Court that states should stay out of legal fight over Title 42 policy
Biden says unidentified objects likely not related to China or foreign surveillance
President Joe Biden said the three unidentified objects shot down over North American airspace were likely not related to China’s balloon surveillance program, but likely tied to either “private companies, recreation or research institutions.”
“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from another country,” Biden said in remarks on the takedowns that occurred over the last weekend.
“The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” said Biden.
– Ken Tran
Related:Mysterious flying objects shot down over North America likely not spy balloons, Biden says
Story Credit: usatoday.com