Closing summary
It is now 4pm in DC. Here are the key events that happened across the country today:
A top White House cybersecurity adviser is set to retire next week, according to reports. On Wednesday, CNN reported that Chris Inglis is expected to depart the White House on February 15. Inglis is currently the National Cyber Director. Inglis, who has over forty years of national security experience, currently heads an office which was created in 2021 by Congress to advise the president on cybersecurity matters and to track how federal agencies manage their cybersecurity.
The accused Libyan man behind the deadly 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 190 Americans has pleaded not guilty to three federal criminal charges in Washington DC. On Wednesday, 71-year old Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud pleaded not guilty to two charges of an aircraft resulting in death and one charge of destruction of a vehicle used in foreign commerce, resulting in death. If found guilty, Mas’ud faces life imprisonment.
Former senior staff at Twitter began testimony on Wednesday before the House oversight committee about the social media platform’s handling of reporting on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. The hearing has set the stage for the agenda of a newly Republican-controlled House, underscoring its intention to home in on longstanding and unsubstantiated allegations that big tech platforms have an anti-conservative bias.
Joe Biden is drew pantomime-type laughs and boos from the crowd in DeForest, Wisconsin as he chuckles about sparring with “my Republican friends” during their heckling when he delivered the state of the union address last night. He spoke on the economy, already touting the low unemployment rate of 3.4%. Biden also talked about the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, and how funds from that going into infrastructure are going to refurbish crumbling bridges and other structures in Wisconsin and across the country, boosting jobs and middle class incomes.
Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz has been appointed by House speaker Kevin McCarthy to a select committee investigating the ‘weaponization’ of the government, NBC reports. Gaetz, who was one of the far-right Republicans that opposed McCarthy’s nomination as House speaker, replaced Texas Republican Chip Roy, according to the outlet.
During a press conference on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden put the Republicans who heckled during his SOTU address last night “on the defense.” “He called members out on live television in front of millions of Americans and effectively put them on the defense… That’s what the president did is put them on the defense.”
A new proposal in Missouri seeks to ban nearly all discussion of LGBTQ people, making it far more restrictive than Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law passed last year. Republican state senator Mike Moon’s bill would only allow licensed mental healthcare providers to talk to students about LGBTQ issues and gender identity in K-12 public schools, and only if guardians grant permission first.
A tense exchange between Republican congressman George Santos and Republican senator Mitt Romney was caught on video last night as Biden was due to deliver his address. “You ought to be embarrassed,” Romney told Santos, who is expected to face an investigation by the House Ethics Committee following revelations that the freshman congressman falsified large portions of his biography.
Joe Biden’s strong performance at the State of the Union address last night was a blow to critics on the right – and within his own party – and seemed a certain boost to the chances of him running for a second term in the White House in the 2024 election. And amid questions over his age as the oldest US president in history, at 80, vice president Kamala Harris praised him as bold and vibrant in an interview this morning, while he boosted her in a celebratory tweet.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. We will be back tomorrow with the latest developments in US politics. Thank you.
Updated
The US Navy has released dramatic photos of the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Saturday.
In a Facebook post, the US Fleet Forces Command wrote:
“Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
EODGRU 2 is a critical part of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Force that clears explosive hazards to provide access to denied areas; secures the undersea domain for freedom of movement; builds and fosters relationships with trusted partners, and protects the homeland.
At the direction of the President of the United States and with the full support of the Government of Canada, U.S. fighter aircraft under U.S. Northern Command authority engaged and brought down a high altitude surveillance balloon within sovereign U.S. airspace and over U.S. territorial waters Feb. 4, 2023.
Active duty, Reserve, National Guard, and civilian personnel planned and executed the operation, and partners from the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration, and Federal Bureau of Investigation ensured public safety throughout the operation and recovery efforts.”
