this situation. we re awaiting that. we ll hear the president s plan, we re told, of action. china today claims that balloon is just a civilian air ship used for research and that it got blown off course. all the way to montana? it just so happens that it was very close to a sensitive site in that state. 1 of 3 in the nation with nuclear weapon silos. it also houses ballistic missiles. montana in red on the map for a reason this hour. deafening reaction so far, bipartisan lawmakers biden allowing on-demand access to our u.s. airspace is dangerous. it is not okay. some republicans, including 2024 hopeful nikki haley, calling on president biden to shoot it down. congressman andy biggs calling biden a affectless commander in chief. secretary of state antony blink en was scheduled to travel to beijing but now the trip is postponed indefinitely. senator tom cotton says biden must answer as to why he hasn t secured u.s. airspace. the president walking away from questions moments ag
hovering over the northern u.s. plus, do you know what negative 60 degrees feels like? well, tens of millions from the northern plains to new england are under alerts for what could be some of the coldest windchills in a generation. and an nbc news exclusive, new reporting on why more than half a million migrants living in the u.s. are in legal limbo. migrants telling us quote, i couldn t believe what i was seeing. fresh outcry over another police killing. a double amputee missing both his legs trying to run from police. in just minutes, president biden expected to address those huge numbers in the latest jobs report released just this morning. what those numbers mean for our economy. we begin this hour with the pentagon on alert. nbc news was first to report that the u.s. is monitoring a suspected chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern u.s. a witness in billings, montana, captured this footage on wednesday the same day the pentagon sa
tensions with china. nbc news was first to report the suspected chinese surveillance balloon hovering over the northern united states around montana for the past few days. china is now responding claiming it is a civilian airship used for weather research that was blown off course. but how credible is that claim? minutes ago we learned secretary of state antony blinken is postponing his trip to china for what was supposed to be a highly anticipated meeting with china s leader next week. the pentagon is set to hold a briefing in the next hour. we know the department of defense is tracking the balloon closely, even at one point discussing shooting it down. we even have air traffic audio from wednesday about a, quote, special mission. we just got alerted from salt lake tmu we re on a ground stop right now until further notice for a special mission going on over the livingston area. we don t know exactly when we can have our next departure. it is landing with a thud on capito
chinese surveillance balloon that flew over montana. it comes as secretary antony blinken makes his first trip to beijing. plus, a new estimate on the number of russian soldiers who have died in ukraine. it could show how desperate vladimir putin has become in this nearly year-long war. meteorologists are predicting the worst wind chills in decades in the northeast this weekend. look at that. it could get as low as negative 50 in some parts. negative 50? the times said yesterday that the top of mount washington, negative 100, willie. now, you and i, of course, have done that in some of our you know, willie and i, sometimes we ve done the antarctica thing. we do that extreme, like, mountain climbing stuff. i forget what you call it. little rough for you. minus 100, willie. yeah, well, when we summited norway excuse me summited everest, it got close to that cold. thank god there were the sherpas who helped us get up there. it gets breezy up there, too. it
thinks things will shake out. we start with a dramatic move that could have huge implications for the fraught relationship between the u.s. and china. the biden administration pulling the plug on secretary of state blinken s planned chip to china, just hours after the pentagon revealed it had detected a chinese surveillance balloon over montana. so right now the video, this video was taken in billings, montana, on thursday, although it s not clear if this is the balloon in question. obviously there s the balloon. that was secretary blinken who was supposed to leave tomorrow. that s now on hold. the u.s. has decided to monitor the balloon instead of shooting it down, even though it s apparently still gathering intelligence as we speak. a decision not sitting well some republicans. this is the fist time in my lifetime i ve ever seen anything like this, and it s very disturbing to know that it s still up there in the air near our military installations. the time is now, let