The Senate is working quickly to advance a bill focused on military aid for Ukraine, Israel and other allies. The bipartisan move comes after Republicans blocked a $118 billion legislative package linking foreign assistance with border-policy changes—the product of months of negotiations. The narrower, $95.3 billion version of the same package excludes border-security provisions.
Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, said they thought that it would advance.
➤BIBI CLAIMS VICTORY COMING: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered contrasting reactions Wednesday to Hamas' counter after the latest proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, reflecting their divergent approaches. At a nationally televised news conference after the two met, Netanyahu emphasized Israel's battleground successes and said, "We are on the way to an absolute victory” over Hamas in a matter of months. “There is no other solution.”
He also said of the militant group's proposal: “Surrendering to Hamas’ delusional demands that we heard now not only won’t lead to freeing the captives, it will just invite another massacre.” In a separate news briefing as he concluded his fifth Middle East visit since October, Blinken said a deal could still be worked out. "While there are some clear non-starters in Hamas' response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached, and we will work at that relentlessly until we get there,'' he said.
➤MILITANT COMMANDER IS NEUTRALIZED: A U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killed a commander of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia blamed for a deadly strike at a U.S. base in Jordan last week, part of a sharpened effort by the Pentagon to deter attacks on its forces.
The commander, of the Iraqi militia group Kataib Hezbollah, was responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on American forces in the region, the Pentagon said. The U.S. strike in Iraq on Wednesday was part of a more aggressive tack against leaders of the Iran-aligned groups responsible for at least 168 attacks against American forces based in the region. Despite the U.S. campaign, Iranian-backed militias have continued targeting U.S. forces.
➤SURPREME COURT TO HEAR TRUMP APPEAL: The Supreme Court today will hear Donald Trump’s appeal of a Colorado ruling that kicked him off the ballot. The case centers on whether a candidate for president should be disqualified for engaging in insurrection against the U.S., under the 14th Amendment. The former president is challenging a decision to keep him off Colorado’s presidential primary ballot because of his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. A Washington advocacy group recruited four Republican and two independent Colorado voters to dispute Trump’s eligibility, citing a provision of the amendment enacted after the Civil War. If the U.S. Supreme Court rejects Trump’s appeal, he could be stripped from the ballot across the country—an unprecedented event. Trump said in an email to supporters, “This battle will decide whether America is still a Republic where voters get to choose the president or whether we have LOST the freest nation in history to tyranny.”
➤PUTIN, TUCKER INTERVIEW EXPECTED TO AIR TODAY: President Vladimir Putin granted an interview to U.S. television host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, his first to an American journalist since before Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had agreed to the Carlson interview because the approach of the former Fox News host differed from the "one-sided" reporting of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news outlets.
"These are all media outlets that take an exceptionally one-sided position. Of course, there is no desire to communicate with such media, and it hardly makes sense, and it is unlikely that it will be useful." Asked directly why Carlson had landed an interview with Putin, Peskov said the American journalist's approach was "in no way pro-Russian, it is not pro-Ukrainian - it is pro-American". The interview is likely to be aired on Thursday, Russia's TASS news agency said, citing reports by the Wall Street Journal.
➤MEDIA DEAL TO TRANSFORM STREAMING SPORTS: The as-yet-unnamed venture from Disney’s ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery will put all their respective content—from the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB to college basketball and football—in one streaming package. No price has been announced. The new service won’t have all the games fans want, though; for example, Amazon’s Thursday football games, CBS’s Sunday afternoon games, the Masters, the British Open, the Olympics and professional soccer aren’t included. This deal will reshape others between networks and leagues for years to come and could be a tipping point that dooms cable TV. Fox and WSJ parent News Corp share common ownership.
➤UPDATE 8:30AM: FIVE MARINES KILLED: The five Marines who vanished when their helicopter went down in the mountains outside San Diego Tuesday have been confirmed dead.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that I share the loss of five outstanding Marines from 3d Marine Aircraft Wing and the ‘Flying Tigers’ while conducting a training flight,” Maj. Gen. Michael J. Borgschulte, the commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, wrote in a statement.
“These pilots and crew members were serving a calling greater than self and were proud to do so. We will forever be grateful for their call to duty and selfless service,” he added.
Earlier Posting: THE SEARCH IS ON: Rescue crews are battling heavy snow Wednesday as they try to reach a Marine Corps helicopter carrying five troops that went down in the mountains near San Diego. The five Marines were aboard a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter that departed from Creech Air Force Base, northwest of Las Vegas, where they were doing a routine training flight, defense officials said.
They were returning home to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego when the aircraft was reported overdue. Teams in several states began a search and the aircraft was located by civil authorities in Pine Valley, California, about 45 miles east of San Diego, just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday. The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said in a statement it is managing search-and-rescue efforts and "using ground and aviation assets to locate the aircrew in coordination with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and multiple federal, state and local agencies."
