Friday morning news: January 26, 2024

Ukraine aid/border talks » The White House is again stressing an urgent need for aid to Ukraine. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One:

KIRBY: Ukraine is heading into a critical few months here as winter is full on, and as spring approaches, the Russians have shown no intent to [slack] off from the drone and missile attacks. So it’s an important time.

Lawmakers are still wrangling behind closed doors over a bill that would fund more aid for Ukraine, among other things while also addressing the U.S. border security.

But a growing number of GOP lawmakers say those talks are teetering on a knife’s edge. The number two Republican in the Senate, John Thune said Thursday, “Something’s got to give here,” adding “We’re at a critical moment.”

NYC tent camp » Meantime, the impact of the border crisis is still being felt nearly 2,000 miles away in New York City.

MIGRANT: [Speaking Spanish]

One migrant heard there standing outside of a growing homeless tent camp blanketed with snow next to an overflowing city shelter. When asked how he was doing, he said, “a little cold.”

The city and state of New York have long provided a legal right to shelter, but the city says its resources have been stretched beyond the breaking point.

David Giffen is director of the Coalition for the Homeless.

GIFFEN: It’s insanity for the U.S. government to welcome people from other countries into the United States and say ‘Come in, but by the way, you can’t work.’ What are they supposed to do? People have to eat. People have to survive.

Many Democratic mayors say the answer is to provide work permits to nearly all migrants.

But Republicans say the answer is to not release thousands of migrants from the border inside the country each week before they’ve completed a legal process to enter.

William Burns/Gaza talks » CIA Director William Burns is now in Europe hoping to help negotiate another cease-fire in Gaza. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Burns is meeting with his Israeli counterpart and officials from Egypt and Qatar in a renewed push to secure the release of Hamas hostages and pause the fighting in Gaza.

Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages unless Israel effectively surrenders, ending all military operations, leaving Gaza, and releasing Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.

But negotiators are still holding out hope of freeing more hostages as part of another limited humanitarian cease-fire.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Navarro sentencing » Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro is appealing his conviction after a judge sentenced him Thursday to four months in prison.

A jury in September found Navarro guilty on two criminal counts of contempt of Congress after he refused to testify before the House January 6 committee.

He argued that he could not testify because President Trump invoked executive privilege.

Navarro’s attorney John Rowley told reporters:

ROWLEY: We've always understood that this case was going to have to be resolved at the D.C. circuit. We've already noted our appeal.

Navarro was also ordered to pay a nearly $10,000 dollar fine.

Biden infrastructure Wisconsin/economics report/Housing » President Biden paid a visit to the key campaign battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday. He returned to a deteriorating bridge in the port city of Superior to say his administration is following through on an earlier promise.

BIDEN: $1 billion dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure law will be used to build this new bridge — a new bridge with a modern design, wider shoulders, smoother on and off ramps.

He visited the bridge two years ago when he promoted the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Biden on Thursday announced a total of $5 billion dollars for new infrastructure projects nationwide.

The president also touted new numbers that show better-than-expected growth in the economy. It grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the final quarter of last year, according to an initial government estimate.

U.S. delegation in Taiwan » American support for Taiwan is 100 percent bipartisan.

That was the message that a group of House lawmakers delivered in person Thursday in Taipei.

Democratic Congressman Ami Bera of California:

BERA: A core principle and a core value of ours is that the future of Taiwan is up to the people of Taiwan.

And Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida applauded efforts by the Taiwanese government to bolster its military defenses against Chinese aggression.

Diaz-Balart: I am a firm believer in you know what Ronald Reagan used to say ‘peace through strength’. Nobody wants confrontations. But it’s important that Taiwan do its part to let the communist party in China know that it will not roll over.

Beijing, which claims Taiwan is Chinese property denounced the visit.

Alabama execution » The Alabama Department of Corrections made history last night carrying out the first execution by nitrogen gas in the U.S.

The state used the new method to carry out the death sentence of Kenneth Eugene Smith, convicted in 1996 for a murder-for-hire plot.

Anesthesiologist Dr. Joel Zivot:

Zivot: When he's breathing nitrogen gas, assuming that there's no leak, assuming that it all is conducted properly, there's a pretty good chance that he'll have a seizure. So if he has a seizure, then he'll stop breathing.

Advocates of the method say it is the most humane option. But critics argued there was no way to know that. They called it a violation of the Constitution’s 8th Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined requests to stop the execution.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, Listener feedback for January.

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