Special counsel shows signs of ramping up Trump investigation

BY REBECCA BEITSCH AND BRETT SAMUELS

© Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images

The Justice Department probes into Donald Trump’s conduct appear to be ramping up, as special counsel Jack Smith approaches key allies of the former president with knowledge of his activities surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

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Republicans on Haley's 2024 bid: Don't rule her out

BY MAX GREENWOOD

Republicans are warning against counting Nikki Haley out in the 2024 presidential race after a better-than-expected campaign rollout this week that offered an early lens into how she plans to take on former President Donald Trump.

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Biden to mark one year of Russia-Ukraine war in Poland

BY ALEX GANGITANO

President Biden is set to mark the 1-year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine with a high-stakes trip to Poland as the war is widely expected to drag on.

Biden will be in the same place he was last year when he told the world from Warsaw that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot “remain in power” after visiting refugees near the front lines.

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Blinken claims China ‘strongly considering’ providing Russia with ‘lethal assistance’

BY JULIA SHAPERO

Secretary of State  Antony Blinken said China is “strongly considering” providing Russia with “lethal assistance” in its nearly year-long war with Ukraine.

Blinken, who met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the margins of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, said he warned Beijing against such a move.

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Blinken says spy balloon was ‘unacceptable’ in first meeting with Chinese official, but ‘no apology’ offered

BY JULIA SHAPERO

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart on Saturday that the presence of a Chinese spy balloon in U.S. airspace was “unacceptable” in their first meeting since the balloon inflamed U.S.-China tensions earlier this month.

Blinken, who met with Wang Yi on the margins of the Munich Security Conference, said the Chinese diplomat did not offer an apology for the balloon incident.

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Mystery still swirls around three objects US shot out of the sky

BY BRETT SAMUELS AND BRAD DRESS 

Two weeks after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon and one week after President Biden directed the military to shoot down three more unidentified objects, America is still gripped by questions over what the objects were and why they were flying at a height that posed a risk to air traffic.

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Harris travels home from Munich on support plane after Air Force Two breaks down

BY STEFF DANIELLE THOMAS

Vice President Kamala Harris had to switch planes on Saturday during her trip home from Europe after technical issues grounded Air Force Two.

Harris, who was speaking at the Munich Security Conference, boarded a C-17 support plane to head back to Washington.

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Four rail-borne risks moving through American communities

BY SAUL ELBEIN

Communities alongside rail lines had two more close calls this week as freight trains carrying hazardous materials derailed in Houston and Detroit.

For the communities where this week’s wrecks took place, the damage was less severe than symbolic: a reminder of the importance of rail-borne hazardous materials to every part of the economy just after the crash in East Palestine, Ohio.

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Five key questions about the dwindling Social Security trust fund

BY ARIS FOLLEY AND SYLVAN LANE 

Concerns are rising over the future of Social Security as lawmakers on both sides discuss potential changes to extend the lifetime of the program, which risks running a shortfall in funds sooner than one might expect.

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We analyzed crime data for all 50 states: What matters is how it’s used

BY MARSHALL CLEMENT

OPINION | Nationally, homicides spiked nearly 30 percent in 2020 and remained high in 2021. Many people don’t believe the justice system can fix the problem: Only 14 percent of the public reported having confidence in the criminal justice system in 2022. And the system is short-staffed — from policing to prisons, every part of the system is hamstrung, if not in crisis, due to vacancies and turnover.  

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Biden’s blindness toward China’s threat could not be clearer

BY JOHN BOLTON

OPINION | President Biden addressed the nation Thursday to discuss the Chinese high-altitude balloon recently flying over the United States and three other objects in North American airspace, all ultimately shot down by the U.S. Air Force. Biden’s apparent aim was to inform the public and justify his decisions regarding the presence of these vehicles in our skies.

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The New York Times: Haley walks treacherous road for GOP women

BY KATIE GLUECK AND LISA LERER

Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign is a major test of her party’s views on sexism and female leaders. Just don’t call it identity politics.

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The Associated Press: Jimmy Carter, 39th US president, enters hospice care at home

BY BILL BARROW

Former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 years old is the longest-lived American president, has entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, a statement from The Carter Center confirmed Saturday.

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The Washington Post: Biden’s ‘Buy America’ bid runs into the manufacturing woes it aims to fix 

BY DAVID J. LYNCH

The United States no longer makes many of the items needed to modernize roads, bridges and ports.

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Reuters: Blinken to talk earthquake aid, Nordic NATO bid in Turkey visit

BY HUMEYRA PAMUK

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive on Sunday in Turkey for an official visit and discuss how Washington can further assist Ankara as it grapples with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people.

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