Thursday morning news: July 6, 2023

Swedish PM at White House » President Biden welcomed the Swedish prime minister to the White House on Wednesday in a continued show of support for the Nordic nation’s entry into NATO.

BIDEN: The United State fully, fully, fully supports Sweden’s membership in NATO. And the bottom line is simple: Sweden is going to make our alliance stronger.

The Oval Office meeting comes ahead of a NATO summit next week.

All NATO members have to agree for a new member to join and at the moment, Turkey and Hungary are holdouts.

Turkey still accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups that it says pose a security threat.

Sweden’s neighbor Finland applied for membership at the same time and has been admitted.

White House cocaine » Meantime, experts have confirmed that a suspicious package found in the White House on Sunday was filled with cocaine.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: It is under investigation by the Secret Service. This is in their purview. And we have confidence that the Secret Service will get to the bottom of this.

Authorities found the package in the West Wing in a place staff and guests use to store cell phones.

The president was at Camp David with his family at the time.

Israel » Karine Jean-Pierre also fielded questions about the recent violence in and around the West Bank. She told reporters:

PIERRE: We support certainly Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups. It is imperative to take all possible steps to protect civilians from harm.

Israeli troops have withdrawn from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank after an intense raid to take out members of Iran-backed terror groups.

At least a dozen Palestinians died.

Israeli forces say since last year, militants living in Jenin carried out at least 50 violent attacks on Israel.

Pentagon » The Pentagon has announced plans to tighten up its protections of classified information after a recent leak of sensitive documents. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the Defense Department to beef up security around rooms that house classified information.

The Pentagon says the changes are meant to allow leaders to keep a closer eye on what workers are doing while also maintaining the flexibility for sharing information across departments.

The changes follow the arrest last month of an Air National Guardsman for leaking U.S. intelligence secrets online.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher

Gov. injunction on social media contact » A federal judge is reining in the Biden administration’s ability to pressure social media companies to censor certain posts.

The court order stems from a lawsuit accusing the government of leaning on social media platforms to block certain posts, including those raising questions about COVID-19 vaccines.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry brought that lawsuit.

Landry: The amount of information and discovery that we were able to obtain through this particular case should concern all Americans irrespective of their political ideology, their party affiliation.

The Court ruled that the government violated users’ right to free speech.

The judgment restricts more than a dozen federal offices and White House officials from communicating with social media outlets about moderating content.

Philly shooter » The suspect in a deadly mass shooting in Philadelphia faced a judge on Wednesday.

Forty-year-old Kimbrady Carriker is charged with five counts of murder and other charges.

Prosecutor Robert Wainwright praised the police response to the shooting.

WAINWRIGHT: The police work on this case was just absolutely incredible from the very beginning. The fact that they cornered this individual before he could take more lives is absolutely remarkable and showed incredible bravery by the police officers.

Wainwright is accused of shooting people at random in a Philadelphia neighborhood on Monday.

According to prosecutors, the suspect’s roommate said Wainwright acted agitated and wore a tactical vest around his house in the days before the shooting.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: The Supreme Court weighs in on religious liberty in the public square. Plus, a seventy-five year-old friendship.

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