about his stroke. nor about his cardiomyopathy and need for a pacemaker and he was refusing to debate his opponent in an effort to run out the clock by not agreeing to a debate until many pennsylvanians had already voted. i defended an nbc reporter who was criticized for reporting that fetterman had trouble understanding her small talk before the interview. i thought the coverage was being determined by empathy alone, not objectivity when the facts demanded both. now comes the news from the junior senator admitted himself to walter read on wednesday night for treatment of clinical depression. his office released a statement saying while john was experienced depression on and off throughout his life, it only became severe in rekren weeks, he s receiving treatment on a voluntary basis. we re told that john is getting the care he needs and will soon be back to himself. this is fetterman s second hospital in as many weeks. he was recently admitted to george washington university
is it time to pop that balloon? i m michael smerconish. it sparked kshs about national security regarding beijing. is it more a about symbolism? secretary of state antony blinken was due to travel to china this weekend. he postponed his trip calling the infiltration a, quote, irresponsible act that created conditions that undermine the purpose of the trip. the public first learned of the balloon s existence thursday while it was over montana, which is home to ballistic missile silos and bomber bases. china is saying it s all innocent. a spokesperson for the chinese foreign min city sits is a civilian air shift used for meteorological purposes affected by the westerlies and limited self-steering capability, it deviated from its course. the chinese side regrets the entry of the ship. but it was a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law. the balloon does not pose a military or political threat and a senior defense official said military officials a advise
disaster. cnn s frederik pleitgen is joining me live from ramstein air base. what do we know about the new aid package? reporter: the secretary of defense made those remarks just a couple minutes ago here and you re right, it certainly comes at a really decisive time as the war is dragging on in ukraine. on the one hand the fighting around the zaporizhzhia power plant, but then also you have the ukrainians making gains in south of the country and also in the northeast of the country as well. the secretary of defense says the u.s. wants to make absolutely clear that they remain strong in their commitments to ukraine and are going to give the ukrainians what they need to succeed. he was saying that the package from the presidential drawdown is $675 million and he listed some of the main items on that new drawdown. here is what he said. the latest package includes more gimmlecs, howitzers, artillery munitions, missiles, humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems, small a
response to the robb elementary mass shooting. and we re looking closer at the state of president biden s agenda amid more dismal polling with the midterms less than four months away. we ll discuss with senator lujan. we are going to begin with the major new developments in the investigation into the january 6 attack. nbc news has now confirmed the names of the two star witnesses who are expected to testify during thursday s primetime committee hearing according to a source familiar with the plans. they are sarah matthews and matthew pottinger who is a former member of the national security council. both worked in the trump white house and both resigned in the wake of the attack on the capitol. thursday will be the first time either will have spoken publicly to the committee. committee chairman bennie thompson is also revealing more of the panel s future plans which include likely releasing a scaled back report of its findings followed by a final report. each potentially in
polls. who will succeed joe biden? well, you know, there s no question in my mind that joe biden is doing exactly what needs to be done for this great country of ours. we all know that our democracy is teetering on edge. we need a joe biden to get us through this rough patch. i think he s doing great with that. we know that this forecast includes vice president harris. i support her. and i m just saying that if he chooses not to run again, first on my list after him would be kamala harris. democrats saying it s kamala s time to shine, never mind poor handling of the border. i think she doesn t get to show the personality enough, so people haven t had a chance to know her. most of the media is white and male, and their take on kamala becomes conventional wisdom. joy reid is right. here s the real kamala. i experienced great joy when i watched this brilliant, phenomenal black woman, jurist, be so smart, and just cut through the political gamesmanship that they were atte