(WASHINGTON) — The FBI’s evidence response team has retrieved only a small amount of the Chinese spy balloon shot down Saturday — and doesn’t yet have enough evidence to conclude what China’s intent was.
Only an “extremely limited” amount of the Chinese spy balloon was recovered and brought to the FBI’s evidence collection lab at Quantico, Virginia, senior FBI officials familiar with the operation said in a conference call with reporters.
“Much of the evidence remains underwater,” an FBI official said, noting that the evidence brought to the FBI lab was “only present at the surface.”
One official told ABC News’ Luis Martinez on Tuesday that the payload portion of the balloon that was carrying the sensor/photography equipment is not intact and that only a portion of it has been located on the ocean floor.
Only a very small portion of this payload was recovered from the surface water. The official on Tuesday noted that this description of the payload does not include the solar panels.
“We have literally not seen the payload which is where we would expect to see the lion’s share of the electronics,” an FBI official said.
The FBI’s counterintelligence authority looking at threats to the United States is the reason why they are examining the balloon.
Once all of the evidence is recovered, they will decontaminate the balloon for anything it might have on it or in it such as water from the ocean.
One issue hampering dive teams from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard is the large debris area and the weather — which officials said could impact evidence collection in the coming days.
The FB has hazardous materials specialist looking at the balloon and said of the materials they do have in their possession at this time there is no “energetic” or “offensive material” inside of the balloon.
“It is very early for us to assess what the intent was and how the device was operating,” one official said.
On Feb. 5, officials collected the first bits of the balloon and then on February 6th teams from the FBI lab began to analyze them.
The FBI said a “variety” of personnel are involved in looking at the balloon — such as technicians, electronic engineers, digital media recovery specialists, and specially trained agents.
(WASHINGTON) — The Republican-led House Oversight Committee and the legal team representing President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, have exchanged their first direct communications in the opening salvo of what is expected to be a heated back-and-forth over congressional oversight of the president and his family.
Rep. James Comer, the panel’s chairman, confirmed in a tweet that the committee had sent letters requesting “documents, records, and communications” from Hunter Biden as well as from Eric Schwerin, his former business partner, and from James Biden, the president’s brother.
“The American people deserve transparency and accountability about the Biden family’s influence peddling,” Comer said. President Biden has said that he and his son never discussed Hunter’s foreign business dealings.
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, fired back at Comer’s request early Thursday. In a letter sent to Comer, he argued that the committee “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose and oversight basis for requesting such records from Mr. Biden, who is a private citizen.”
“Peddling your own inaccurate and baseless conclusions under the guise of a real investigation, turns the Committee into ‘Wonderland,’ and you into the Queen of Hearts shouting, ‘sentence first, verdict afterwards,'” Lowell wrote.
Lowell, who claimed Comer has already “shamelessly maligned” his client, also offered to meet with the committee “to see whether Mr. Biden has information that may inform some legitimate legislative purpose and be helpful to the Committee.”
The Republican-led oversight panel has made its investigation of the Biden family a centerpiece of its responsibilities in the new Congress. Thursday’s back-and-forth came a day after former Twitter executives testified before the committee that the social media company made a mistake in blocking users from sharing a controversial 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The president’s son also remains the subject of a long-running federal probe into whether he paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars of income, including money he made from multiple overseas business ventures.
The younger Biden has repeatedly said he is cooperating with investigators and remains “100% certain” that he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
On Wednesday, President Biden dismissed the Oversight Committee’s probe in an interview with PBS NewsHour.
“[The] public’s not going to pay attention to that,” he said. “If the only thing they can do is make up things about my family, it’s not going to go very far.”
(WASHINGTON) — A State Department official said Thursday that the U.S. is looking into taking action against China for the surveillance balloons sent into American skies.
The official said Washington is considering “taking action against PRC (People’s Republic of China) entities linked to the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) that supported the balloon’s incursion into U.S. airspace” as well as “broader efforts to expose and address the PRC’s larger surveillance activities that pose a threat to our national security, and to our allies and partners.”
The official reiterated the administration’s argument that shooting down the balloon spotted over the U.S. last week “sent a clear message to China.”
Beijing was caught red-handed, the official said, and now is flailing as it tries try to string together excuses.
“From the PRC’s messaging and public comments, it’s clear that they have been scrambling to explain why they violated U.S. sovereignty and still have no plausible explanation – and have found themselves on their heels,” the official said. “As we saw with the second balloon over Central and South America that they just acknowledged, they also have no explanation for why they violated the airspace of Central and South American countries. The PRC’s program will only continue to be exposed, making it harder for the PRC to use this program.”
The comments come as all members of Congress were getting classified briefings on the balloon and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was set to testify on U.S.-China relations before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday revealed that the U.S. assesses the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down over the weekend was part of an expansive surveillance program aimed at gathering intelligence from targets around the globe.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday will tout the work his administration is doing to bolster Medicare and Social Security, while warning that Republican members of Congress will “continue to push plans that would undermine these programs,” according to the White House.
Biden will travel to Tampa, Florida, on Thursday morning and deliver remarks at the University of Tampa in the afternoon. He will discuss his plan to fortify Social Security and Medicare as well as lower healthcare costs. The president will also “contrast his commitment to protecting and strengthening Medicare and Social Security and lowering prescription drug prices, with Congressional Republicans’ plans to cut these programs,” the White House said.
The White House listed examples of some GOP members of Congress who Biden has said are threatening to make changes or cuts to the federal health insurance and entitlement programs, including Sens. Rick Scott, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson. All three senators were called out by the president during his visit to Wisconsin on Wednesday.
During his second State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, Biden warned that “some Republicans” want to target programs such as Medicare and Social Security, which millions of Americans rely on. The remark prompted audible boos from several Republicans, with populist firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene even heard calling the president a “liar.” But Biden quickly turned the tables.
“So, folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right? They’re not to be touched?” he shot back. “All right. All right. We got unanimity.”
It’s an issue that Democrats and Republicans have been sparring over for months. Congressional Republicans have demanded spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling and avoiding default, but they have not laid out exactly what cuts it wants.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. John Fetterman, D.-Pa., was taken to a Washington hospital on Wednesday “for observation” after feeling lightheaded at a Democratic retreat, his staff said.
“He left and called his staff, who picked him up and drove him to The George Washington University Hospital,” Communications Director Joe Calvello said in a statement released on Wednesday evening.
Fetterman, who was elected in November after a widely watched race against TV personality and celebrity surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, had a stroke during his campaign due to a heart condition, his campaign said at the time.
Doctors on Wednesday ran initial tests, but didn’t see signs of a stroke, Calvello said. More tests were underway and Fetterman was staying in the hospital overnight “for observation,” he said.
“He is in good spirits and talking with his staff and family,” Calvello said. “We will provide more information when we have it.”
James A. Jones Jr./The Bradenton Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(OCALA, Fla.) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday responded to former President Donald Trump’s latest insult after Trump reshared a social media post insinuating that DeSantis behaved inappropriately around students when he worked as a private school teacher.
The post includes a photo taken from a story reported in 2021 by Hill Reporter, a blog run by a Democratic super PAC. The blog claimed the image shows DeSantis at a party with a group of teenagers in 2002.
The New York Times reported in November that DeSantis sometimes “hung out at parties with seniors” while he was a 23-year-old teaching in Georgia.
On Truth Social on Tuesday the original poster called the image “pretty gross.” Trump shared the original photo and comment and added, “No way?”
At a press conference in Ocala, Florida, on Wednesday, DeSantis dismissed the attack when asked about it.
“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden; that’s how I spend my time,” DeSantis said. “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”
Trump’s jab at DeSantis occurred on the same day the governor hosted a panel on defamation, where he indicated that the Florida legislature should make it easier to sue media outlets for defamation.
When asked during his press conference how the proposed legislation might address Trump’s attack, DeSantis responded by saying he’s in a different situation as governor.
“It’s different for me because I can fight back and people just know I face defamatory stuff every single day I’ve been governor, that’s just the nature of it,” he said. “But I have a platform to fight back, and a lot of these other people that are [smaller], they don’t necessarily have a platform to fight back.”
Trump, who is running for the White House for a third time, has become increasingly critical of DeSantis, who is seen as a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate as well — with polling regularly asking who would win in a hypothetical primary matchup.
In November, shortly after DeSantis won reelection by nearly 20 points, Trump said in a statement that he was an “average” governor who benefited from “great Public Relations.”
DeSantis had been ignoring such comments, including the November criticism, though he has also become more vocal in responding.
Last month, DeSantis seemingly swiped at Trump for criticizing his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, invoking how, unlike the former president, he won a second term.
“You take a crisis situation like COVID — you know, the good thing about it is when you’re an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions, you got to steer that ship,” DeSantis said during a press conference on education after being asked about Trump’s comments. “And the good thing is is that the people are able to render a judgment on that, whether they reelect you or not.”
“I’m happy to say, you know, in my case, not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — The day after any State of the Union address there’s always buzz over the notable moments — and this year’s affair had plenty to spare.
Political divisiveness was the order of the day as millions of Americans saw enthusiastic Democrats quick to give President Joe Biden standing ovations, while Republicans seemed to shake their heads, heckle and jeer just as much.
But there were also displays of unity.
Here are some moments you might have missed:
Biden extends olive branch to Speaker McCarthy
As he began his remarks, Biden acknowledged the big changes that came with the 118th Congress, reaching out to shake the hand of new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you,” Biden said.
That olive branch may help temper their expected tough negotiations over raising the debt ceiling and cutting federal spending.
“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together and find consensus in this Congress as well,” Biden said.
Harsh words but then a show of unity on Social Security
The most talked-about tense moment in the House chamber came when the president insisted “some” in the GOP wanted to cut Medicare and Social Security, although he noted he wasn’t saying the “majority” of Republicans wanted to do so.
“Some Republicans — some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset. I’m not saying it’s the majority. If Congress doesn’t keep the programs where they are they go well, the Republicans say I’m not saying there’s a majority of you. I don’t even think it’s even significant.”
Republicans jumped to their feet — several shouting “NO NO NO!” and Georgia firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene among those shouting, “Liar!”
McCarthy has insisted Social Security is not “on the table” in the debt ceiling standoff. But others, like GOP Sens. Rick Scott and Mike Lee — shown shaking his head during Biden’s comment — have openly suggested changing Medicare and Social Security, including privatizing it or raising the retirement age.
The angry mood changed quickly when the president used it as a political opportunity to put Republicans on the record. Most of the chamber stood when he said Medicare and Social Security should be off the table.
“Let’s all agree – and we apparently are – let’s stand up for seniors…apparently, it’s not going to be a problem.”
“Next month when I offer my fiscal plan, I ask my Republican friends to lay down their plan as well. I really mean it. Let’s sit down together and discuss our mutual plans together. Let’s do that.”
GOP jeering at the mention of border security and fentanyl
In another rancorous moment, Biden mentioned a guest in the first lady’s box: a man whose 20 year-old daughter died of a fentanyl overdose, before noting that fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year and calling for a campaign to stop the sale and trafficking of the drug.
The mention prompted backlash from Republicans, who shouted “It’s your fault!”
Later, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was see shaking her head when Biden renewed his call for a ban on assault weapons.
‘See you at the groundbreaking’
Biden took a subtle swipe at the Republicans who voted against the November passage of a sweeping bipartisan infrastructure package, noting that they could also be beneficiaries of the funding of more than 20,000 projects that have already begun across the nation.
“I still get asked to fund the projects in those districts, but don’t worry,” he said. “I promised I’d be a president for all Americans. We’ll fund these projects. And I’ll see you at the groundbreaking.”
Newly independent Sinema sits with Romney and Manchin
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — the Arizona lawmaker freshly registered as an independent after leaving the Democratic Party — listened to Biden’s speech while seated among Republican colleagues, including Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Todd Young, R-Ind.; and Steve Daines, R-Mont.
Also in the group — Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin.
Biden got on Facetime with member’s children
As President Biden made his way out of the chamber, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat, went up to Biden to have him video call with his infant son, Hodge.
Gomez later shared a screenshot from the Facetime on Twitter, writing: “FaceTimed with @POTUS. Goodnight! #HeyHodge #SOTU”
Biden also seemed to jump on a FaceTime with the family of New York Democratic Rep. Grace Meng, who posted the interaction to Twitter.
“Me: “Boys, pls pick up phone I’m gonna try to FaceTime you with the President. And please dress appropriately.”
Boys: “Do I have to change out of my pajamas?”
–ABC News’ Ben Gittleson, John Parkinson, Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott, Molly Nagle and Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and embattled Republican Rep. George Santos got into a verbal altercation at the State of the Union address Tuesday night as the New Yorker’s presence in Congress continues to rankle some of his GOP colleagues.
The incident began after Romney came across Santos while walking down the aisle of the House chamber, engaging in what appeared to be a testy exchange.
“You should be embarrassed … you shouldn’t be here,” Romney appeared to say to Santos, who was sitting off the center aisle of the chamber.
Santos could then be seen repeatedly saying “what an a——” to his seat mate, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in apparent reference to Romney.
Romney’s criticism comes as Santos has faced mounting controversy and scrutiny over a string of falsehoods and embellishments about his background as well as multiple investigations. He denies wrongdoing.
The falsehoods and exaggerations Santos has told include where he went to college, his religion, his business experience and more.
Sources previously told ABC News that federal prosecutors were looking at Santos’ financial filings, which show he became wealthy between 2020 and 2022. Complaints have been made against him to the House Ethics Committee and New York prosecutors have said they are also examining him. He told The New York Post in December that he wasn’t a “criminal” and would “be effective” in Congress.
Several other New York Republican House members have called for Santos’ resignation, and he recused himself from the two committees he was named to, though he’s said he won’t step down until he is voted out of office — or reelected.
Talking to reporters after the State of the Union address finished Tuesday, Romney explained to reporters that “I didn’t expect that he would be standing there trying to shake hands with every senator and the president of the United States.”
Given the cloud of ethical concerns, Romney said, “I think he should be sitting on the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and the people coming into the room.”
Santos “shouldn’t be in Congress,” Romney added. “If he had any shame at all, he wouldn’t be there.”
In response to the spat, Santos tweeted that Romney would “NEVER” be president, a seeming reference to Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign.
Their back-and-forth was not the only time tensions flared on Tuesday, as President Joe Biden’s address was punctuated by heckles from Republicans.
Biden drew jeers when he accused conservatives of seeking to cut funds for Social Security and Medicare, an apparent referencing Sen. Rick Scott’s, R-Fla., plan to sunset all federal funding after five years and make money for the program repeatedly subject to renewal.
However, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has said such cuts are “off the table” in the future, and Biden’s remarks were met with boos and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., calling him a “liar.”
One Republican also shouted “it’s your fault” when Biden lamented the spread of fentanyl, seemingly referencing drugs crossing the southern border.
ABC News’ Justin Fishel, Benjamin Siegel and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Texas is suing the Biden administration and asking a judge to block a rule requiring pharmacies to fill prescriptions for abortion pills.
The Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance in mid-July — just three-and-a-half weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — to 60,000 retail pharmacies across the country.
Under the guidance, the federal agency reminded them that if they refused to supply abortion-inducing prescriptions, they could be violating federal law.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the HHS by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Western District of Texas Midland Division.
In the lawsuit, Paxton claims the Supreme’s Court decision over the summer shows that states can implement their own laws when it comes to governing abortion and that the federal government does not have any right to intervene.
Pharmacies that dispense abortion pills in states where abortion is severely restricted could be violating state law, Paxton claims.
“The Biden Administration knows that it has no legal authority to institute this radical abortion agenda, so now it’s trying to intimidate every pharmacy in America by threatening to withhold federal funds,” Paxton said in a statement. “It’s not going to work.”
The statement continued,” Texas and several other states across the country have dutifully passed laws to protect the unborn, and we are not going to back down just because unelected bureaucrats in Washington want to create illegal, extremist federal policies.”
HHS did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed Americans to order mifepristone, an abortion drug, through mail-order pharmacies or at retail chains such as CVS or Walgreens provided it’s under a certified prescriber or a certified pharmacy.
Both chains said they were asking for FDA certification to be able mail abortion pills.
However, a group of 20 state attorneys general — led by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey — wrote a letter to CVS and Walgreens warning that dispensing abortion pills by mail could be illegal.
“Federal law expressly prohibits using the mail to send or receive any drug that will ‘be used or applied for producing abortion’,” Bailey wrote. “The text could not be clearer: ‘every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion…shall not be conveyed in the mails.’ And anyone who ‘knowingly takes any such thing from the mails for the purpose of circulating’ is guilty of a federal crime.”
The Texas lawsuit comes just days before a ruling is expected to come from a federal judge in the Lone Star State on abortion medication.
A lawsuit was filed in November by a conservative legal group asking that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone be revoked and that the drug be pulled from the market, claiming that the drug harms patients.
If the Texas judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, there would be a nationwide injunction on mifepristone, affecting even states where the procedure is legal.
(DEFOREST, Wis.) — Embracing good reviews of his State of the Union performance Tuesday night, President Joe Biden on Wednesday revisited some of his key themes, making his case to “finish the job” on the road in Wisconsin, a 2024 election battleground state.
While Republican leaders on Wednesday defended their members heckling him Tuesday night, arguing he was lying when he said “some Republicans” want to cut Social Security and Medicare, Biden brought receipts out to prove his point.
“We had a spirited debate last night with my Republican friends,” Biden said at a union training center in DeForest. “Our Republican friends, they seemed shocked when I raised the plans of some of the members of their caucus to cut Social Security — and Marjorie Taylor Greene and others stood up and said, ‘Liar, liar.'”
Biden said Tuesday night that he was “politely not naming them,” but on Wednesday, he showed the crowd proposals and repeated comments from Republican Sens. Rick Scott, Ron Johnson and Mike Lee — calling them out by name.
“I remind you that Rick Scott from Florida, the guy who ran the U.S. Senate campaign, has a plan — I got his brochure right here,” Biden said, holding up Scott’s brochure. “Here’s what he says in his plan … He says ‘All federal legislation sunsets every five years. If a law is worth keeping Congress can pass it again.'”
“And by the way, you have senator named Ron Johnson … Ron Johnson on Social Security and Medicare, quote, ‘We should transfer everything. So, we have to consider everything every year,'” Biden continued. “Come on, man.”
Biden also raised a video from 2010, circulating on social media, in which he said Lee floats cuts to the programs. The White House also tweeted a link to a Newsweek article earlier in the day highlighting the video of Lee.
“They played last night, something I didn’t even know existed,” Biden said. “A video of him saying, ‘I’m here right now to tell you one thing you’ve probably never heard from a politician: It’ll be my objective to phase out Social Security. Pull up by its roots. Get rid of it… Then he adds — I’m quoting this now, ‘Medicare and Medicaid are the same sort. They need to be pulled up.'”
“Sounds pretty clear to me. How about you?” Biden told the audience. “But they sure didn’t like me calling ’em on it.”
“Look, a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me just say this …. My veto pen [will] make it a nightmare,” he told the union crowd.
Biden ultimately spun the contentious moment in the House chamber as “good news.”
“I found it interesting that when I called them out on it last night, it sounded like they agreed to take these cuts off the table,” Biden said with confidence. “I sure hope that’s true. I’ll believe it when I see it and their budget’s laid down with the cuts they’re proposing, but it looks like we negotiated a deal last night on the floor of the House of Representatives.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy again on Wednesday hotly insisted he’s told Biden Social Security and Medicare are “off the table” in negotiating the standoff over raising the debt ceiling, despite the GOP demanding spending cuts. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has previously said Scott’s proposal is not part of the GOP’s agenda, calling it a “non-starter.”
Scott defended his proposal Wednesday, tweeting Biden was “twisting his words.”
Many of the themes of Biden’s speech Wednesday, as he appears to lay the groundwork for a reelection campaign, echoed those in his State of the Union address, including saying he wants to keep working across the aisle on bipartisan legislation.
“If we could work together last Congress, there’s no reason we can’t get things done as well this Congress, and I mean that,” Biden said.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
