Senators are slated to received a classified briefing 10 a.m. Tuesday on the three unidentified flying objects shot down by the U.S. military in recent days.
The briefing comes after lawmakers expressed frustration about the lack of communication by the Biden administration in its handling of the objects as well as concern about relations between Washington and Beijing.
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What we know:Questions mount after flying objects shot down
Who is Nikki Haley? Former S.C. governor expected to run for president
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to formally announce a presidential campaign Wednesday in Charleston.
The announcement makes her the first major Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination, as well as the first member of his Cabinet — Haley was previously Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The Charleston event also comes as fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott mulls a possible presidential announcement.
Haley, though, has repeatedly bragged that she has “never lost a race.”
– Mabinty Quarshie
‘It’s always on my mind’: Five years after Parkland massacre
David Hogg fine-tunes his kick-flip between classes at Harvard and his work building consensus around gun violence prevention. Cameron Kasky immerses himself in comedy and writing in Los Angeles, frustrated with a broken American political system. Sari Kaufman flies to protests of the gun industry across the country while managing her political science coursework at Yale.
Nearly five years since a gunman killed 17 of their classmates and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day, three survivors at the forefront of the March For Our Lives movement in 2018 spoke with USA TODAY about their lives now – and what they want Americans to know as the nation reflects on the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“I’m still feeling the impacts of the shooting every day,” Kaufman said.
– Grace Hauck
White House rules out aliens, still can’t say who’s behind unidentified objects
The White House said Monday there are “no indications of aliens or extraterrestrial activity” from a series of unidentified objects the U.S. shot down from North American airspace.
“I don’t think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these crafts. Period,” White House spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing.
Kirby said the U.S. hasn’t determined the origins of the objects that were shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron one week after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon in the Atlantic Ocean. The Pentagon has also not identified the purpose of the objects, which Kirby said appeared to be moving by prevailing winds, not self-propulsion, about 40,000 feet high or lower.
Complicating the search for more details, the U.S. has not made it to the debris sites of the objects, which fell in remote areas and, in two cases, frozen waters. Kirby said the U.S. has spotted “no active tracks” of additional high-altitude objects Monday.
– Joey Garrison
More:White House rules out aliens, but still can’t say who is behind unidentified flying objects
Portions of Trump grand jury report to be released Thursday
A Georgia judge Monday ordered a partial public release of a grand jury’s investigative report on former President Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere in the 2020 election.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said three portions of the panel’s report will be released Thursday, including a section expressing concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath.
McBurney also said the grand jury’s conclusions would be made public, in a ruling that represented a partial concession to District Attorney Fani Willis who argued last month that full disclosure of the panel’s findings would damage an ongoing investigation.
“In this case, the state understands… the world’s interest, but we have to be mindful of protecting future defendants’ rights,” Willis told McBurney during a January hearing in Atlanta.
– Kevin Johnson
Trump Georgia investigation:Judge orders partial release of Trump grand jury report Thursday
Story Credit: usatoday.com