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DOJ recovers additional classified document from Pence's home

Federal investigators found one additional document with classified markings during a search of former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home on Friday.

The Justice Department conducted a search of Pence’s home roughly three weeks after his attorney notified the National Archives that they had discovered about a dozen documents with classified markings there. The search was conducted in cooperation with Pence’s team, and it lasted roughly five hours.

Devin O’Malley, a Pence adviser, said investigators removed “one document with classified markings and six additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice president’s counsel.”

“The vice president has directed his legal team to continue its cooperation with appropriate authorities and to be fully transparent through the conclusion of this matter,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Pence was not present for the search on Friday, but a member of his legal team was. The former vice president and former second lady Karen Pence had traveled to the West Coast for the births of their second and third grandchildren.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) was given unrestricted access to Pence’s home, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

The scope of the search included documents with classified markings or potentially classified materials, as well as documents the DOJ believed might be original Presidential Record Act documents. Former presidents and vice presidents are required to turn over materials to the National Archives for proper storage, though they are able to request copies of certain documents.

The terms of the search were the same as the ones applied to the search of President Biden’s home in Delaware and his old office in Washington, D.C., a person familiar told The Hill.

Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, had notified the National Archives on Jan. 18 that a small number of documents with classified markings were found at the former vice president’s Indiana home. Pence was not aware that the documents were in his home, Jacob said.

Officials had searched Pence’s home for classified documents out of an abundance of caution after sensitive government materials were found at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Del., and his office while he worked at the Penn-Biden Center in D.C.

The Pence documents were turned over to federal authorities the next day, along with two other boxes with copies of administration records, Jacob said.

Documents were found at Biden’s old office in November and at his home in December from his time as vice president. While the White House quickly alerted the National Archives and Justice Department, neither discovery was disclosed to the public until they were reported in the media.

Former President Trump was also found to have taken dozens of classified documents to his Florida estate upon leaving office in 2021. The FBI searched his home last August to recover those materials after months of attempting to get them back.

In response to the findings at Biden’s and Trump’s homes, Pence had said he did not take any classified material with him upon leaving office. Days after the discovery at his Indiana home, Pence said “mistakes were made” while packing up materials from his time as vice president, and he vowed to cooperate with federal officials on the matter.

Pence is mulling a potential 2024 presidential bid, making regular trips to early voting states including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Source: TEST FEED1

US shoots down another 'high-altitude object' over Alaska

The U.S. military on Friday took down an object flying over Alaskan airspace days after shooting down a Chinese spy balloon along the South Carolina coast, the White House confirmed.

John Kirby, a national security spokesperson for the White House, said the Defense Department was tracking a “high-altitude object” over Alaska at 40,000 feet that posed “a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight.

The object was shot down within the last hour at President Biden’s direction, Kirby said, and landed in U.S. waters.

The government is still collecting information about the object, Kirby said. It is not yet known whether it was operated by another country or if it was privately or commercially owned. Kirby also would not say if the object was a balloon or another device.

“We’re calling this an object because that’s the best description we have right now,” he told reporters.

“We don’t understand the full purpose. We don’t have any information that would confirm a stated purpose for this object,” he continued, adding that officials expect to be able to recover the debris.

The object was shot down by military aircraft that are part of U.S. Northern Command. The object first came to the administration’s attention on Thursday night, and Biden was briefed on the matter at that time, Kirby said. 

The decision to take down the object over Alaska comes six days after Biden directed the military to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon days after it was first discovered floating over the continental United States.

In that case, officials said they wanted to wait until the Chinese spy balloon was over water so that it did not pose a threat to people or property when it crashed down.

The object shot down Friday was much smaller than the Chinese balloon, Kirby said, comparing it to a small car, while the Chinese balloon was the size of three buses.

Biden drew criticism from Republicans in particular for waiting to shoot down the Chinese balloon last week, with critics claiming it allowed Beijing to collect potentially valuable information in the meantime.

The president in an interview on Thursday said he did not view the incursion of the Chinese balloon as a “major breach,” and he downplayed the potential effects on U.S.-China relations.

Updated at 3:05 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden traveling to Poland to mark one year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine

President Biden will travel to Poland on Feb. 20 to 22 to mark the one-year anniversary since Russia invaded Ukraine, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced on Friday.

Jean-Pierre said Biden will deliver remarks ahead of the one year anniversary of the invasion, which will involve “addressing how the United States has rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and democracy, and how we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

National security spokesman John Kirby said he did not have “any additional stops to preview” during the Poland trip when asked about a potential stop in Ukraine.

Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda on the trip, as well as leaders of the Bucharest Nine, which is a group of eastern flank NATO allies.

Kirby would not preview any announcements on further aid to Ukraine during the trip, but said that Biden “will certainly make clear that additional security assistance, additional financial assistance, additional help for Ukraine will be coming from the United States.”

The announcement comes after Biden told reporters on Thursday that there’s “a possibility” he will travel to Poland for the anniversary.

The president visited Poland in March, one month into the invasion. On that trip, the president said that Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t stay in power, a major moment that sparked the White House to try to walk back the comment.

Biden, earlier this week, said that Putin has “already lost Ukraine,” in an interview with PBS. He also stressed his support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion during the State of the Union on Tuesday and recognized Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., in the audience.

Source: TEST FEED1

White House says Biden won't do Super Bowl interview, blames Fox

President Biden will not sit for the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox, which is airing the game on Sunday, the White House said Friday.

The president typically gives an interview to air in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, and Biden has done so in each of his first two years in office, sitting down with CBS and NBC, respectively. The White House blamed Fox on Friday for the lapse this year.

“The President was looking forward to an interview with Fox Soul to discuss the Super Bowl, the State of the Union, and critical issues impacting the everyday lives of Black Americans,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted Friday. “We’ve been informed that Fox Corp has asked for the interview to be cancelled.”

Jean-Pierre’s claim comes after Fox News anchors said Tuesday night that the network was waiting on the White House to agree to a presidential interview.

“The president is going to be out on the road, taking his message to the road. Every year, traditionally, the network covering the Super Bowl gets an interview with the president of the United States,” said Bret Baier, a top anchor at the network, during its coverage of Biden’s State of the Union address. “We have formally asked for that interview, but we have not received an answer yet, whether they are going to officially do it or not … we’re running out of days.”

Jean-Pierre had been asked multiple times this week whether there was any word on if Biden would do the traditional Super Bowl interview with Fox, and in each instance she said she did not have any updates.

Biden this week has done televised interviews with PBS Newshour and Telemundo during separate trips to Wisconsin and Florida.

Presidents have for years done interviews with the network airing the Super Bowl, which is typically watched by millions of viewers. Former President Obama sat down twice for Super Bowl interviews with Fox during his presidency.

Fox News, the top-watched cable news network, has aggressively covered Biden’s campaign and presidency, with several of its leading prime-time hosts routinely criticizing his administration, policies and family business dealings. 

Biden has butted heads with Fox News White House corresopndent Peter Doocy throughout his administration, calling him a “stupid son of a bitch” last year. Biden later called Doocy to apologize.

Some Democrats have argued that Biden and the White House should ignore the network, saying it puts out misleading information through its opinion programming and does not fairly cover the administration.

Source: TEST FEED1

Hawley launches investigation into Missouri children’s hospital, demands records of ‘gender-related treatments’ for youth

Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) office will begin investigating the Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, the senator announced Thursday. In a letter sent to the university’s chancellor and hospital leadership, he also demanded the medical records of minors referred to the center be handed over.

“Starting immediately, your institutions must take steps to preserve all records, written and electronic, regarding gender-related treatments performed on minors since the opening of the Center,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Andrew D. Martin, St. Louis Children’s Hospital President Trish M. Lollo, and Christopher Lewis and Sarah Garwood, the co-directors of the hospital’s transgender center. “Additional oversight inquiries and outreach will follow.”

Hawley on Thursday said his investigation stems from a report published the same day in The Free Press by Jamie Reed, a former case manager with the hospital’s transgender center, that alleged years of potential malpractice. The center’s treatment of minors, Reed wrote, “is morally and medically appalling.”

Hawley in the letter sent Thursday wrote that “accountability is coming” and asked the letter’s recipients to provide his office with information related to the hospital’s treatment of transgender youth, including the number of minors that have been prescribed puberty blockers and hormone therapy and the number of cases where “serious medical complications” have been reported.

“As Senator for the State of Missouri, it is my responsibility to fully investigate these serious allegations,” Hawley wrote in the letter.

Hawley’s office is also requesting the number and percentage of minors treated at the Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center that have de-transitioned, or come to identify as their sex assigned at birth, and any sources of funding — federal and non-federal — the center receives for “gender-related treatments.”

Hawley’s office has also instructed Martin and hospital leadership to name all individuals and entities — including but not limited to parents, schools, psychologists and therapists — to which the center has provided “training, funding or any other assistance.”

The hospital’s transgender center is also being asked to prove that it has complied with federal conscience protections including the Church amendments of 1973 — legislation passed by Congress in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade that allows providers to decline to perform a “sterilization procedure” or abortion if it is inconsistent with their religious beliefs or moral convictions.

Hawley in Thursday’s letter additionally asked the center to provide his office with information related to how minor patients and their parents are typically informed about the known medical risks associated with gender-affirming medical care.

In a tweet on Thursday following Hawley’s announcement, the senator wrote that he had been assured by Martin that Washington University will be cooperating fully with his office’s inquiry. Hawley added that Martin said “he was appalled” by Reed’s allegations.

The university in a statement on Thursday said it was similarly alarmed.

“We are taking this matter very seriously and have already begun the process of looking into the situation to ascertain the facts,” the university said. “As always, our highest priority is the health and well-being of our patients. We are committed to providing compassionate, family-centered care to all of our patients and we hold our medical practitioners to the highest professional and ethical standards.”

Also on Thursday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) confirmed that a multiagency investigation into St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s transgender center had begun late last month when Reed provided his office with a sworn affidavit about her time working at the hospital.

“We take this evidence seriously and are thoroughly investigating to make sure children are not harmed by individuals who may be more concerned with a radical social agenda than the health of children,” Bailey said in a statement.

Missouri is one of 26 states to introduce bills to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youth this year, with at least eight separate measures under consideration in the Missouri House and Senate, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Source: TEST FEED1

Former acting Defense chief under Trump calls for military budget to be cut in half

Former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller is making the case for the Pentagon’s budget to be cut in half in his new memoir, “Soldier Secretary,” arguing the U.S. military should be molded into a leaner and nimbler fighting force with prioritized areas of focus.

At the end of his memoir, Miller writes the U.S. must adapt to the threats posed by foreign adversaries like Russia and China by reforming the military, which he calls “too big and bloated and wasteful.”

“Our colossal military establishment was essential for our Cold War victory, but the Cold War has been over for 30 years,” Miller writes. “If we are truly going to end American adventurism and retool our military to face the challenges of the next century, we should cut military spending by 40-50 percent.”

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2023 authorized $857 billion in topline defense spending, an increase from the $777 billion passed in the last fiscal year.

The U.S. spends far more than any other nation on defense, including China, which is in second place, spending around $300 billion on defense.

“We could cut our defense budget in half and it would still be twice as big as China’s,” Miller writes in his memoir.

The Pentagon’s budget has slowly climbed over the years, which has attracted critics on both the left and the right.

House Republicans are currently using the looming threat of a debt ceiling default to cut government spending.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has agreed to cap all spending at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to a 10 percent cut to the defense budget.

But many conservative lawmakers are zeroing in on cutting what they call “woke” programs, like diversity training.

Miller said he does not believe there is a real incentive in Congress to make significant changes to the defense budget.

“There’s no incentive to reduce military spending,” he said. “I think there’s whispers, but [we need] someone with the courage and experience to get in there and force it.”

In his book, Miller said slashing the budget by 40 to 50 percent wouldn’t be as dramatic as it sounds, arguing it would return the U.S. to pre-9/11 spending levels, which he says would make sense since “we are no longer waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Kate Bedingfield to depart as White House communications director

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield will leave her role at the end of the month, the administration announced Friday.

Bedingfield, a longtime Biden aide dating back to his time as vice president, will be replaced by Ben LaBolt, who served as an Obama White House press official and most recently joined the Biden administration on a temporary basis to assist with communications around the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Bedingfield had originally announced plans to step down as communications director last summer, but reversed her decision and opted to stay on through the rest of the year.

“Since my time as Vice President, Kate has been a loyal and trusted adviser, through thick and thin,” Biden said in a statement. “She was a critical strategic voice from the very first day of my presidential campaign in 2019 and has been a key part of advancing my agenda in the White House.  

“The country is better off as a result of her hard work and I’m so grateful to her – and to her husband and two young children – for giving so much,” Biden added. “Ben has big shoes to fill. I look forward to welcoming him back as a first-rate communicator who’s shown his commitment to public service again and again, and who has a cutting-edge understanding of how Americans consume information.”

LaBolt will become the first openly gay individual to serve as communications director, the White House said Friday.

Bedingfield’s exit marks the latest departure of a top administration official in the new year.

Ron Klain officially departed as chief of staff this week after two years on the job. He is replaced by Jeff Zients, who previously oversaw the administration’s coronavirus pandemic response.

Brian Deese is set to leave his post as director of the National Economic Council in the coming days. His replacement has not yet been named.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is also expected to become the first Cabinet secretary to leave the administration when he takes the job as head of the National Hockey League’s Players Association.

The departure of Bedingfield and Klain in particular marked the first major instance of turnover among members of Biden’s inner circle of senior aides who have worked with him for years. 

The change comes as Biden is preparing to officially announce plans to run for re-election in 2024, and some White House staff are expected to transition over to the campaign to assist that effort.

Klain vowed to do what he could to help Biden get re-elected. Bedingfield is likely to remain involved in Biden’s orbit, but it is unclear what, if any, role she would have on a 2024 campaign.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Lawmakers condemn China; Pence subpoenaed

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

China’s balloon surveillance program targeted more than 40 countries across five continents, officials told lawmakers as the House unanimously condemned Beijing on Thursday and President Biden said the balloon that traversed the United States does not represent a “major breach” of intelligence.  

Lawmakers learned that the Chinese balloon, currently being pulled from the Atlantic Ocean, had multiple antennas in an array “likely capable of collecting geo-locating communications,” while its solar panels were large enough to produce power to operate “multiple active intelligence collection sensors” (The New York Times and The Hill). Government crews are working to recover the balloon debris near Myrtle Beach, S.C., for further study.

The House quickly voted 419-0 for a resolution that condemns the Chinese Communist Party for “a brazen violation of United States sovereignty” at high altitude from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. The balloon was first publicly spotted over Montana.

Republicans have criticized Biden for waiting days to bring down the contraption. The president responded that he ordered the military to shoot it down “as soon as possible,” which turned out to be over water for safety reasons. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), sponsor of Thursday’s resolution, said he welcomed the bipartisan vote (The Hill).

“It’s too important of an issue,” McCaul told reporters on Monday. “We want to stand strong together against China instead of having our internal fights.”

Bottom line: The balloon incident has ruptured the administration’s hopes to smooth rocky ties with China and hardened anti-China attitudes in Congress.

Two Senate panels also held balloon-related hearings Thursday, and lawmakers from both chambers were briefed by the Biden administration. A classified briefing for House lawmakers turned tense when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), by her own account, criticized administration officials for waiting days to deflate the surveillance device with a fighter jet and a Sidewinder missile.

“I chewed them out just like the American people would’ve,” Greene told The Hill. “I tore ‘em to pieces.”

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Senate Republicans demand answers on handling of suspected Chinese spy balloon. 

▪ The Hill: Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R) defended Biden’s handling of the Chinese balloon.

Biden said during an interview with Noticias Telemundo that China’s balloon does not represent “a major breach” of intelligence. Some lawmakers want the Biden administration to punish China; a State Department official on Thursday said the U.S. is exploring options against the Chinese military and those supporting the program (The Hill).

The incursion, which until last week was largely unknown to much of the American public, seems to mark a new era of espionage and counter-espionage activities between the two countries, said John Ciorciari, the director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the University of Michigan.

“This incident makes it likely the U.S. accelerates different kinds of counterintelligence initiatives and expands to areas like, who do we grant visas to? Who is allowed to study at universities?” Ciorciari told The Hill. “An acceleration of those kinds of policies, the Chinese government will probably mirror.”

The balloon was not equipped with traditional meteorological equipment, which negates the tamer explanation of its purpose initially broached by Beijing. The Chinese program appears equipped to build “a picture of our radar, weapon system and communication capabilities and those of our allies,” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charlie “Tuna” Moore, a former fighter pilot who helped run operations out of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told The Washington Post.

As we head into the weekend, The Hill’s Brad Dress has compiled five big questions in search of answers about the Chinese spy balloon.

👉 Headline to watch: Federal special counsel Jack Smith, who has been investigating former President Trump on several fronts since late last year, has subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence to provide information following months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence’s legal team. It’s a major escalation of the Justice Department’s probe of efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. Pence is a potential 2024 presidential candidate (ABC News).

Related Articles

▪ CNN: U.S. officials disclosed new details about the balloon’s capabilities. Here’s what we know.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: China’s balloon program grew from a humble start.

▪ Bloomberg News: U.S.-China relations: A long history of balloons, bombs and drones.

▪ The New York Times: “Not just a silly balloon”: Dismay and fear over another U.S.-China clash.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS

The House’s new subcommittee dedicated to probing the so-called weaponization of the federal government held its first hearing Thursday, featuring a litany of GOP criticisms of Democrats, government and Big Tech that have featured prominently in conservative media over the last several years. 

Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said the panel will hold more public hearings in the future and take transcribed interviews from experts, government officials, journalists, FBI whistleblowers and “Americans who’ve been targeted by their government.” The panel will submit a final report to the House on its findings by January 2025, and, according to Jordan, will also propose legislation to “help protect the American people” (NBC News and The Hill).

“Millions of Americans already fear that weaponization is the right name for this special subcommittee — not because weaponization of the government is its target but because weaponization of the government is its purpose,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the only Democratic member invited to speak as a witness.

▪ The Hill: Who is former FBI agent Nicole Parker, who testified in the first House “weaponization” hearing?

▪ Politico: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is “raising hell” over the White House’s handling of a marquee Democratic bill.

▪ The Hill: Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was assaulted on Thursday in her D.C. apartment building’s elevator. She called 911 and the assailant fled.

▪ Reuters: Republican senators seek to reverse U.S. heavy-duty truck emissions rule.

A group of House Democrats unveiled a resolution on Thursday to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress, citing the long and growing list of resume fabrications that have defined his first weeks on Capitol Hill (The Hill). 

“This is not just a simple liar,” Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) told reporters on the steps of the Capitol. “This is a con man who does not belong in Congress, and he needs to go.”

Politico: Santos was charged with theft in 2017 case tied to Amish dog breeders.

While some Senate Republicans are backing Romney’s call for Santos to be kicked out of the House and are generally uncomfortable with the raucous behavior on display from their House colleagues at Tuesday’s State of the Union, they are more concerned that the White House is gaining the upper hand in fiscal reform and debt limit talks by painting Republicans as wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare. As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, some Republicans worry that Biden is spinning political gold out of Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) 12-point plan to “Rescue America,” which would imperil both programs, putting them at a disadvantage in this year’s budget talks.

The back-and-forth surrounding the State of the Union this week shows that Social Security and Medicare remain the unquestioned third rail of American politics as Republicans back away from their decades of calls to slash the pair of entitlement programs, write The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Al Weaver. 

“It’s essential. I mean, I live in an elderly state that … hits more people,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told The Hill. “In tight times like this … that it might actually be under duress or question is a terrible, not just practical, but political [issue] as well. So I think they’ve made it clear, and I’ve made it clear, we’re not going to touch it.” 

The Washington Post: Do Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare? Here’s what to know.

➤ POLITICS

There is no state more attuned to the politics of Social Security and Medicare than Florida, which is where Biden headed on Thursday, eager to make life uncomfortable for Republican leaders who face senior citizens known for their activism about federal entitlements and their history of participating in presidential elections.

In Tampa on Thursday, Biden reminded his audience that he recently signed major legislation that begins to give the government the power under Medicare to negotiate drug costs with pharmaceutical companies, capping the total that most Medicare recipients pay for a year’s worth of medications.

Some Republicans in the House and Senate would like to do away with the law that made those savings for seniors possible, Biden warned, because they’re pressing Democrats for deep cuts in federal spending. He blamed Rick Scott, formerly Florida’s governor, for opening that door.

“The very idea the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every five years I find to be somewhat outrageous, so outrageous that you might not even believe it,” Biden said, referring to Scott’s proposal to compel the reauthorization of both programs every five years (The Hill). 

The senator has confirmed his proposal but argues he’s not calling for cuts in either federal program for seniors.

“If Republicans in Congress have their way, the power we just gave Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices goes away,” Biden said, referring to provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. “The $2,000 cap next year on prescription drugs goes away. The $35-a-month insulin limitation goes away.”

The president also accused Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is eyeing a presidential run next year, of refusing federal cost-sharing to expand Medicaid for the poor and disabled in his state. “Over 1.1 million people in Florida would be eligible for Medicaid if Governor DeSantis just said, `I agree to expand it,’” Biden said.

On Thursday, Trump jabbed at Biden in his own fundraising emails for making a political play for Florida votes, while Biden’s focus appeared to be DeSantis. The governor is busy courting outside groups who are raising money and organizing for his anticipated campaign, writes The Hill’s Brett Samuels.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in his latest Memo that DeSantis is a common foe for Trump and the president.

Court watch:  👉A Texas district court judge appointed by Trump could ban commonly used abortion pills nationwide after Friday (Politico, USA Today, New York magazine, 19th News). Reproductive rights advocates worry that federal action has been too slow on the ground to protect access to health services, including medication abortion.

Trump may switch tactics and offer to turn over a DNA sample for a case in which E. Jean Carroll alleges he raped her in the 1990s. A trial is scheduled to begin in April (The Daily Beast).

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, warned those involved in promulgating assertions about his infamous laptop computer that they could face unspecified litigation over their claims (Politico).

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Hopes are fading that many more will be found alive in the ruins of towns and cities in Turkey and Syria, where a series of earthquakes have killed more than 20,000 this week. Additionally, a Turkish official said the disaster poses “very serious difficulties” for the holding of a scheduled May 14 election in which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — who imposed a three-month state of emergency following the quakes — has been expected to face his toughest challenge in two decades in power.

As anger simmers over delays in the delivery of aid and getting the rescue effort underway, the disaster is likely to play into the vote if it goes ahead (Reuters). Across the border in Syria, where millions displaced by the country’s civil war had been enduring a brutal winter without heating when the earthquake hit, the United Nations has said power outages are creating fuel shortages in hospitals (The New York Times).

Meanwhile, the Air Force is shipping thousands of pounds of equipment and search-and-rescue teams from the U.S. to Incirlik Air Base to help assist people in Turkey following this week’s devastating earthquakes. Equipment being provided by the U.S. includes concrete breakers, generators, medical supplies, tents, water and water purification systems (Military.com).

▪ The Wall Street Journal: After earthquakes, Turkey’s haven for refugees is a ghost town.

▪ The New York Times: In southern Turkey, a parking lot becomes an open-air morgue.

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday pursued a whirlwind diplomatic mission in Europe — lobbying for powerful new weapons — the opening phase of Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine was growing in scale and intensity.

Better trained and equipped divisions have joined tens of thousands of newly mobilized soldiers trying to break through well-fortified Ukrainian lines, and are attacking from multiple directions along the eastern front. The tempo of the fighting is expected to increase as Russia rains more artillery fire on the front lines (The New York Times and Reuters).

▪ BBC: Zelensky takes fighter jet bid to EU leaders.

▪ Politico EU: Zelensky seeks to place Ukraine at home in the EU.

▪ NBC News: Ukraine’s defiant city struggles to hold out as Russia pushes for a bloody victory.

▪ CNN: SpaceX admits blocking Ukrainian troops from using satellite technology.

▪ Bloomberg News: Russia to cut oil output in retaliation for the West’s sanctions.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a nationwide “state of disaster” Thursday as the country endures daily power outages of up to 10 hours. The electricity crisis is so dire that day-old chicks are freezing to death, grocery store owners are rushing to sell meat before it spoils and many businesses have been forced to shut down. Power cuts have been a part of life in South Africa for nearly 16 years, but the past several months have been the darkest yet as the dysfunctional state power company, Eskom, struggles to keep an aging fleet of coal-fired power stations online (The New York Times).

The Washington Post: Nicaragua frees more than 200 political prisoners, sends them to U.S.

OPINION

■ What liberals can learn from Ron DeSantis, by Pamela Paul, columnist, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3x7m9Cw

■ Biden’s State of the Union should have braced us for a long fight in Ukraine, by Joshua C. Huminski, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3RR1D2M 

WHERE AND WHEN

📲 Ask The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will convene at 11 a.m. for a pro forma session.

The Senate meets Monday at 3 p.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of Gina Méndez-Miró to be a U.S. district judge for the District of Puerto Rico.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. He and Vice President Harris will welcome the nation’s governors to the White House at 11:15 a.m. Biden and first lady Jill Biden will welcome Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and first lady Rosângela Lula da Silva to the White House at 3:30 p.m. Biden and Lula will hold a bilateral meeting at 3:50 p.m.

The first lady will welcome governors’ spouses to the White House for a 1 p.m. luncheon during the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington, which wraps up on Saturday. The Bidens will host governors and guests for a White House dinner on Saturday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the State Department at 1:15 p.m., after which he will join the president and Lula’s meeting at the White House.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will chair a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. In the afternoon, she will attend Biden and Lula’s meeting at the White House.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will deliver remarks at a political finance event held at the Loews Hotel in New Orleans, La., at 12:45 p.m. CT.  

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1:30 p.m.

The U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington will host Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein for a moderated conversation at 3 p.m. Information is HERE. Hussein, who met last week with his Saudi counterpart in Baghdad and was at the State Department on Thursday, is in the United States this week.

ELSEWHERE

➤ SUPER BOWL LVII

🏈 Actors Ben Stiller and Steve Martin pitch Pepsi Zero Sugar. Amazon goes to the dogs, literally, in an audition-themed ad with adorable canines (SuperBowl-ads.com). Samuel Adams, Jeep and Kia also bought commercial time during Sunday’s Super Bowl, but crypto companies are staying away following the FTX meltdown (Vox). 

The ad for TurboTax suggests Americans should nab more time to dance, and other things, if they let the company’s expertise smooth the way with the IRS. In the category of questionable timing and symbolism, human resources software company Workday released a Super Bowl ad featuring veteran rockers such as Kiss frontman Paul Stanley, Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett and Billy Idol — just days after laying off about 3 percent of its workforce (SF Gate). 

Ad Week tracks all the details HERE.

Inflation swallows this year’s commercials during the “big game” (advertisers cannot use the term “Super Bowl”) between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. Forbes reported a record-high average of $7 million for half a minute of commercial time in front of a gargantuan audience watching Fox. Total haul expected from ad revenues in 2023: at least half a trillion dollars (NBC DFW). 

NBC Sports: Here’s where to watch the game and everything televised with it.

💸 It’s big money: The sports betting market has exploded tenfold in three years from $0.4 billion to $4 billion, writes The Hill’s Daniel de Visé. Fifty million Americans will wager on the Super Bowl this weekend. More than half of the nation can now legally bet on sports, thanks to a surprise 2018 Supreme Court decision that legalized gambling on athletics. 

More than 30 states have approved sports wagering on the promise of massive tax revenues, which mostly haven’t materialized. Gamblers are reassured their losses support schools, which, of course, states have to fund anyway. Experts knowledgeable about gambling addiction fear a national epidemic to rival the opioid crisis.

▪ The Conversation: Data from New Jersey is a warning sign for young sports bettors.

▪ The Boston Globe: My experience with sports betting in Massachusetts: Magical and depressing all at once.

▪ Yahoo Finance: Super Bowl sports betting: The “menu of options is much greater,” analyst says.

➤  PANDEMIC & HEALTH 

Scientists reported on Wednesday that a single injection of a so-called interferon drug slashed by half a COVID-19 patient’s odds of being hospitalized. The results rivaled those achieved by Paxlovid, and the interferon shots hold even bigger promise, scientists said. By fortifying the body’s own mechanisms for quashing an invading virus, they can potentially help defend against not only the coronavirus, but also the flu and other viruses.

“It doesn’t matter if the next pandemic is a coronavirus, an influenza virus, or another respiratory virus,” Eleanor Fish, an immunologist at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the new study, told The New York Times. “For all the viruses we’re seeing that are circulating now, there’s utility to using interferon.”

For all of its promise, though, the drug faces an uncertain road to the commercial market. Regulators at the Food and Drug Administration late last year said they were not prepared to authorize it for emergency use. They suggested that only a large clinical trial conducted at least in part in the U.S. would suffice, executives said, a scenario that would require several years and considerably more funding.

▪ Politico: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added COVID-19 vaccinations for children, adolescents and adults to its immunization schedule.

▪ The Hill: American PPE manufacturers form lobbying group to boost U.S. production.

▪ CNN: Could you still have COVID-19 if you have symptoms but test negative? A medical analyst weighs in.

Medical systems disproportionately fail people of color, but a focus on fixing the numbers can actually lead to worse outcomes, WIRED reports, as the majority of algorithms developed to enforce “algorithmic fairness” were built without policy and societal contexts in mind. 

Information about the availability of COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots can be found at Vaccines.gov.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,114,249. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 3,171 for the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC shifted its tally of available data from daily to weekly, now reported on Fridays.)

THE CLOSER

And finally … 👏👏👏 Congratulations to Morning Report Quiz winners! This week we waded into trivia about State of the Union speeches past and present.

Here’s who finished, ahem, strongly, going 4/4: Paul Harris, Richard Baznik, Patrick Kavanagh, Mary Anne McEnery, Stan Wasser, Steve James, Robert Bradley and Lori Benso.

They knew that Harry S. Truman was the first president to deliver a televised State of the Union speech.

State of the Union remarks were typically delivered in December until 1934.

President Biden called the first lady “kid” when he addressed her during his Tuesday night speech (she’s 71).  

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first to call his “Annual Message” the “State of the Union.”

Stay Engaged

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The Memo: Trump and Biden find common enemy in DeSantis

President Biden and former President Trump have found at least one common foe: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Biden traveled to DeSantis’s home state of Florida on Thursday, just two days after his State of the Union address.

There, the president criticized DeSantis for the governor’s failure to expand Medicaid under the terms of the Affordable Care Act.

Biden asserted that more than 1.1 million lower-income Floridians would be eligible for Medicaid if DeSantis took that step, adding, “This isn’t calculus.”

En route to Florida on Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre poked fun at DeSantis for his bitter battle with the Walt Disney Company. The feud was first sparked by a DeSantis-backed bill restricting the teaching of sexuality in schools, but it has continued to intensify. 

“I certainly would not get into a fight with Mickey Mouse,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “I don’t think that would be the thing that I would be doing.”

Trump, as is his habit, has been even more confrontational — and personal.

Earlier this week, Trump twice promoted social media posts implying that DeSantis had partied with underage students years ago during his brief time as a high school teacher. 

The original poster in one of those instances resurfaced an old picture and accused DeSantis of “grooming high school girls with alcohol.” 

To this, Trump appended the comment, “That’s not Ron, is it? He would never do such a thing!”

Those actions drew a rare DeSantis jab back at Trump. 

“I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans,” the Florida governor said at a Wednesday news conference.

The attacks from Biden and Trump are, on one level, a testament to the Florida governor’s strength if and when he enters the 2024 presidential race.

It is widely expected that he will do so, though such an announcement may not come until after the Florida legislature ends its session in May. DeSantis’s team is reported to be hiring in advance of a White House bid.

There is no real question that DeSantis is Trump’s most serious rival for the GOP nomination at this point. The reality has been reflected in poll after poll.

An Economist/YouGov survey released Wednesday showed Trump with 42 percent support among Republicans and DeSantis with 32 percent. 

No other candidate reached double figures. Former Vice President Mike Pence was in third place with 8 percent and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, who is all but certain to announce her campaign next week, came fourth with 5 percent.

Trump has been increasingly eager to take DeSantis on directly. 

The 45th president told reporters late last month that DeSantis and his team were “trying to rewrite history” when it came to Florida’s record on COVID-19. 

DeSantis has become fiercely critical of COVID restrictions but he also approved a lockdown in Florida at the height of the pandemic, as Trump noted.

Trump also contended, as he has done in the past, that his own support was pivotal in getting DeSantis elected as Florida’s governor in the first place, in 2018. If DeSantis now runs against him, Trump said he would “consider that very disloyal.”

Trump has shown from the start of his political career that he enjoys igniting and intensifying feuds. A battle with DeSantis, if it happens, will likely be especially fierce.

“Trump does best and is most effective when he has an opponent,” said Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. “In this case, we don’t really know yet if DeSantis runs or not. So Trump has to create an opponent in DeSantis.”

Heye argued that on one hand this could be a challenge, since DeSantis is beloved by the populist-right base and is less easy to vilify with those voters than a more moderate figure would be.

That said, DeSantis faces challenges too. Getting past Trump at all will be a formidable task — and it will likely be made more difficult the more candidates get into the race.

“He still has to go out and earn it. This won’t he handed to him,” Heye said. “And those other people who are running are not about to roll over just because he is in the race.”

From the Democratic perspective, strategist Mark Longabaugh also hit a note of skepticism about DeSantis, arguing that his public persona is “brittle” and questioning whether he would live up to the hype.

Longabaugh pointed to past conservative Republicans whose candidacies were the subject of early excitement but fell flat. 

He cited then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in 2016 and then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry in 2012.

Biden and his party also believe they have an inviting target in terms of DeSantis’s embrace of hot-button social issues.

After DeSantis and his administration came out against an Advanced Placement course in African-American history last month, Jean-Pierre told reporters at a White House briefing that the decision was “incomprehensible”— and that the “study of Black Americas” itself was something that DeSantis “wants to block.”

Longabaugh, for his part, questioned whether DeSantis’s views on such topics really had “a broad constituency” of support.

There is an easy counter-argument for DeSantis to make, of course. He won re-election in Florida — a battleground state until recently — by almost 20 points in November.

Todd Belt, the director of the political management program at George Washington University, cautioned that “Democrats are having a difficult time right now trying to figure out how they counter the culture war arguments” coming from the GOP.

Either way, both Biden and Trump have reason to fear DeSantis.

And that’s one reason why the knives are being sharpened so early.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

Source: TEST FEED1