national security interests and threats as best we can. thanks, admiral. real quick, is there a timeline for recovery of this object? you d have to talk to the pentagon, i don t know. guys, again, this just happened in the last hour and a half and they re still assessing where this thing landed and the degree to which they can get to it. on the poland visit, i know in the statement that you put out, it says that the president is going to meet with leaders of the eastern flank countries. are any other european leaders, nato leaders expected to join the president on this trip? we re still putting the agenda together. the predominant reason is to talk to those nations who are literally on the eastern flank of the nato alliance. but i can t rule in or rule out there may be additional attendees that the president may have. thanks very much. back to lula, is there going to be any commitment to the amazon fund by the united states during this visit? let s have the visi
ukraine. the lead with jake tapper starts right now. welcome to the lead, i m jake tapper. we start with breaking news, the united states military has taken down another high-altitude object flying over the united states this afternoon. the white house announced the object was shot down at 1:45 p.m. eastern time at the direction of president biden. u.s. officials say it was flying off alaska s northern coast at an altitude of 40,000 feet and was approximately the size of a small car. as of now, the administration is not offering many more details than that. we re calling this an object because that s the best description we have right now. we do not know who owns it, whether it s it s state owned or corporate owned or privately owned. we just don t know. the context, of course, is crucial. last saturday, less than a week ago, the u.s. military shot down what the biden administration says was a chinese surveillance balloon. they did this off the coast of the united
oh, no. also ahead, the latest from the war in ukraine where both sides are preparing for the next major battle among fears of a false-flag attack that could end up flooding 80 towns. plus, hospitals across the country have reported a surge in cases of a virus that s making infants severely ill. it s not covid, but covid has a big role in why the kids are getting so sick. we ll explain that just ahead. willie, our top story this morning. we begin in washington where moments ago former trump adviser steve bannon arrived in a d.c. courthouse to hear his sentencing for contempt of congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the house select committee investigating january 6th. the justice department has asked the judge to sentence him to six months in prison and to fine him $200,000. bannon s lawyers argue he should get only probation. they also have asked bannon be allowed to remain free until his lawyers are able to appeal the sentence. nbc news justice an
miles per hour, gusting up around 60 miles per hour. with this storm, you have tropical storm watches in effect for jamaica and hurricane watches for cayman islands. that s because looking at the frarsz we anticipate that this storm will become a category 1 storm maybe even as high as a category 2 storm as it s crossing over the cayman islands. it is then expected to intensify further as it makes its way up towards cuba and crosses into the eastern portion of the gulf of mexico. at that point, perhaps, it could get into that major hurricane strength. here s the thing, though. a lot of that has to do with sea surface temperatures that are in the mid and upper 80s for the area in which it s expected to travel through. that sea surface temperature is a big fuel for these storms. it s not just at the surface but going down tens of feet, talking about the ocean heat content, even down there that water is warm, and that s what these storms need to strengthen and intensify as they c
russian men being wrenched away to fight. terrified. loved ones being sent to kill or be killed in ukraine. i m pamela brown in washington. you are live in the cnn newsroom. well, what had been a sleepy atlantic hurricane season is now roaring to life and millions of americans are right in the path. this is tropical storm ian churning across the warm energizing waters of the caribbean. it s expected to strengthen to a hurricane before slamming into florida next week and if forecast models are accurate, it will be the first major hurricane to hit the state in four years. floridians are heeding the warnings and talking up on water, fuel and supplies and this afternoon florida s governor expanded a state of emergency to blanket the entire state. he says conditions are, quote, projected to constitute a major disaster. just minutes ago the national hurricane center issued its latest update. let s go straight to the cnn weather center where we are tracking it. what have we le