On 2024 trail, Nikki Haley says DeSantis 'Don't Say Gay' bill didn't go far enough: Live political updates

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is booked and busy.

Campaigning in New Hampshire, Haley said Thursday that Ron DeSantis' 'Don’t Say Gay' bill in Florida didn't go ''far enough''. She will continue to try and distinguish herself today from GOP rivals, and is holding two events to lay the groundwork for her campaign. She is the first Republican to formally challenge Donald Trump to be the GOP's 2024 nominee. Several others are speculated to join Haley soon.

Here's what else is happening in politics:

• No Pence classified docs found: The FBI completed a search Friday at an office linked to Mike Pence, yielding no additional classified records, a spokesperson for the former vice president said.

• GOP consultant sentenced for illegal Trump donation: A longtime Republican political consultant, Jesse Benton, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday after arranging for a Russian national to contribute illegally to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

• Georgia grand jury report: According to the released portions of report from the Georgia grand jury investigating Donald Trump, the jury didn't find evidence of fraud in the state's 2020 presidential election. However, it did recommend perjury charges for witnesses suspected of lying under oath.

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Rick Scott's new plan would keep Social Security, Medicare protected

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a favorite target of the White House, revised his controversial proposal to sunset all federal programs every five years with a note in bold Friday that reads it was “never intended” to apply to Social Security or Medicare.

Biden has tried to make Scott’s “Rescue America” plan the unofficial doctrine of the GOP, raising its sunset provision during his recent State of the Union address to argue some Republicans want to cut key entitlement programs. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has distanced himself from the proposal, calling it “not a Republican plan.”

“I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever,” Scott wrote in an op-ed with the Washington Examiner explaining the update. “To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president. And Sen. Mitch McConnell is also well aware of that.”

- Joey Garrison

Republican rancor: 'That’s not a Republican plan': McConnell distances GOP from Scott on Social Security, Medicare sunset plan

No additional classified records found in Pence office search

The FBI completed a search Friday at an office linked to Mike Pence, yielding no additional classified records, a spokesperson for the former vice president said.

The "unrestricted" search of Pence's Advancing American Freedom office lasted several hours and did result in the recovery of one binder containing three previously redacted documents, Devin O'Malley said.

"The vice president has consistently cooperated with appropriate authorities, has been fully transparent, and looks forward to the imminent conclusion of this matter," O'Malley said.

The law enforcement action, described as consensual and similar in scope to the recent searches of locations related to President Joe Biden, comes a week after authorities searched Pence's Indiana home where one document bearing classified markings was recovered.

- Kevin Johnson

Classified comparison: Classified documents seem to be everywhere. Whose home had more: Pence, Biden or Trump's?

Haley calls for federal mandate for businesses to verify workers

Presidential hopeful and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley attacked President Joe Biden over the southern border in a town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday. Haley also touched on immigration, calling for a national mandate for businesses to verify the eligibility of employees

Referring to her home state of South Carolina’s mandate that businesses verify that its employees are legally eligible to work, Haley told a full audience the mandate should be applied nationwide at a federal level. Haley signed the South Carolina mandate into law.

“We should not have businesses hiring illegals, period.” Haley said to cheers and applause from the crowd.

- Ken Tran

Texas campaign consultant gets 18 months for arranging Russian’s picture with Trump

A longtime Republican political consultant, Jesse Benton, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday for arranging for a Russian national to contribute illegally to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign – the second time he’s been convicted of campaign violations.

Benton, 45, of Woodlands, Texas, had charged Roman Vasilenko, a Russian national, $100,000 to have a picture taken with Trump on Sept. 22, 2016, at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia, according to court records.

Benton pocketed $75,000 and passed along a $25,000 contribution to Trump’s campaign committee, Trump Victory, and the Republican National Committee, which unwittingly reported that Benton made the contribution rather than Vasilenko, according to court records. Foreigners aren’t allowed to contribute to U.S. campaigns.

A jury convicted Benton in November of conspiracy with co-defendant Doug Wead, electoral contributions by foreign nationals, electoral contributions in the name of another person and causing false records.

- Bart Jansen

Rick Scott updates controversial sunset plan bashed by Biden, McConnell

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a favorite target of the White House, updated his controversial proposal to sunset all federal programs every five years with a boldened note Friday that reads it was “never intended” to apply to Social Security or Medicare.

Biden has tried to make Scott’s “Rescue America” plan the unofficial doctrine of the Republican Party, raising its sunset provision during his recent State of the Union address to argue some Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare. Senate Majority Mitch McConnell distanced himself from the proposal, calling it “not a Republican plan.”

“I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever,” Scott wrote in an op-ed with the Washington Examiner explaining the update. “To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president. And Sen. Mitch McConnell is also well aware of that.”

Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary, fired back, congratulating Scott on "joining the post-State of the Union red wave of Republicans acknowledging they have, in fact, been attempting to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block." Bates added: "But make no mistake, his true colors are undeniable and on the record."

- Joey Garrison

Kirby: No promises on identifying 3 UFOs

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby made no promises when asked in a press briefing Friday whether the public will eventually learn what the three unidentified objects shot down in recent weeks were.

It comes down to the government’s ability to recover the objects, Kirby said, which landed in “extreme” conditions from the Alaskan arctic to the Yukon wilderness to Lake Huron’s deep waters.

“It’s going to be very difficult to find them, let alone once you find that debris to be able to do the forensics to identify it,” Kirby said. “So I can't promise you that we'll know definitively one way or the other.”

Kirby also said that no entities have come forward to claim possible ownership over any of the three objects. But that doesn't mean the government is fully in the dark about what they are.

"I never said we had zero idea," Kirby said of identifying the three objects. "I said we don't know what they are."

- Ella Lee

Balloon the: Mysterious flying objects shot down over North America likely not spy balloons, Biden says

Santos: ‘I’ve operated honestly’

Embattled New York Rep. George Santos denied having any knowledge about the hundreds of thousands of dollars missing from his campaign filings in a sit-down interview Thursday with a local Fox 5 Long Island reporter.

“I don’t know about any missing money,” he said during the strictly enforced five-minute interview-- which ended with an audible timer.

The New York Times raised questions about $700,000 Santos used to self-fund his campaign when he had a reported 2020 income of $55,000. Santos said during the interview these funds came from his personal finances and business practices.

“I continue to not understand why there’s this enormous inquisition and inquiry into my business practices and the legitimacy of it,” he said. “I’ve operated honestly."

- Rachel Looker 

Santos defiant: Gun rights, TikTok, China: George Santos says 'I'm not leaving.' Here's what he's cosponsoring in Congress

U.S. Northern Command: Chinese spy balloon remnants recovered

The military has completed the recovery of a Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina, the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement.

The Navy found and retrieved the balloon’s remnants, and are handing over the debris to the FBI. Counterintelligence experts will examine what's left of the balloon at the FBI’s lab in Virginia.

-- Tom Vanden Brook

Arizona appeals court rejects Kari Lake's challenge of election loss

An Arizona appeals court has rejected Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's challenge of her November loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

It is the second court ruling that finds no evidence to support Lake's continued claims that she won. In fact, Hobbs defeated the former television news anchor by 17,117 votes, less than one percentage point.

"Lake’s arguments highlight Election Day difficulties, but her request for relief fails because the evidence presented to the superior court ultimately supports the court’s conclusion that voters were able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies setting aside the election results," the appellate opinion reads.

-- Stacey Barchenger, Arizona Republic

More: Don Lemon apologizes after saying Nikki Haley is not 'in her prime': Here's what happened

Fox hosts didn’t believe 2020 election fraud claims

Hosts at Fox News had serious concerns about allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election being made by guests who were allies of former President Donald Trump, according to court filings in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.

“Sidney Powell is lying,” about having evidence for election fraud, Tucker Carlson told a producer about the attorney on Nov. 16, 2020, according to an excerpt from an exhibit that remains under seal. Fellow host Laura Ingraham told Carlson that Powell is “a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy,” referring to former New York mayor and Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani. And Sean Hannity, meanwhile, said in a deposition “that whole narrative that Sidney was pushing, I did not believe it for one second.”

The internal communication was included in a redacted summary judgment brief filed Thursday by attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing both Fox News and parent company Fox Corporation for deliberately making and amplifying false claims about Dominion and the 2020 election.

A Fox spokesperson told USA TODAY Dominion mischaracterized the record and "cherry-picked" quotes from "key context." The case's core is press freedom and freedom of speech, despite the "noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners," the spokesperson said.

-- Associated Press, Ella Lee

Haley says DeSantis' 'Don’t Say Gay' bill didn't go 'far enough'

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki said Florida’s controversial education bill that restricted discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools didn’t go “far enough,” during a town hall event in Exeter, New Hampshire, on Thursday.

“Basically what it said was you shouldn’t be able to talk about gender before third grade,” said Haley, without mentioning Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the bill into law, by name. “I’m sorry, I don’t think that goes far enough.”

Haley’s comment on the bill could offer a preview of the potentially bitter Republican 2024 primary fight to come, as DeSantis is speculated to launch his own presidential bid in the near future.

– Ken Tran

Biden remains ‘healthy, vigorous 80-year-old,’ White House doctor says after physical

President Joe Biden remains a "healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency," the White House physician said Thursday after the president received his first physical in a year and a half.

One small lesion, however, was removed from the president's chest during the examination and will be sent for a traditional biopsy, Biden's physician, Kevin O'Connor, said in a letter that otherwise mostly reflected his last medical checkup from November 2021.

Biden's routine physical has taken on extra scrutiny as the octogenarian is widely expected to announce a reelection bid in the coming weeks or months. Already the oldest person to assume the presidency, Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term.

O’Connor observed that Biden’s gait remains stiff but has not worsened in the past year. He also occasional bouts of gastroesophageal reflux, which cause him to clear his throat often and may contribute to occasional cough and sinus congestion, the report said.

Biden weighs 178 pounds and had a blood pressure rate of 128/76 and pulse rate of 69, the physician’s report said. That's six pounds less than the 184 pounds he weighed in 2021.

– Joey Garrison and Michael Collins

More: Biden remains 'healthy, vigorous 80-year-old,' White House doctor says after physical exam

Sen. Fetterman checks into hospital for 'severe depression'

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., was checked into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for clinical depression, according to his office.

“While John has experience depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks,” Adam Jentleson, his chief of staff, said in a statement Thursday.

The Pennsylvania Democrat, who suffered a stroke during the 2022 campaign, was discharged from another hospital earlier this month after reportedly feeling lightheaded during a Democratic retreat.

Fetterman’s office said he did not suffer from another stroke.

– Phillip M. Bailey

More: Sen. John Fetterman checks into hospital for clinical depression, his office says

Supreme Court removes Title 42 immigration case from its calendar

The Supreme Court on Thursday removed from its calendar a major case involving a pandemic-era policy that allows for the rapid removal of migrants, known as Title 42.

The high court took the unusual step without explanation, though the Biden administration argued in a brief this month that the case might become moot given that it intends to cancel emergency declarations tied to COVID-19 the program relies on.

The justices had been set to hear arguments in the case March 1.

The administration intends to end the pandemic-era policy that allows for the rapid removal of migrants. And in November, a federal court required the administration to stop those removals. But a group of conservative state officials who say their states would be adversely affected want to step into the case and defend the use of Title 42.

– John Fritze 

More: Biden tells Supreme Court that states should stay out of legal fight over Title 42 policy

Biden says unidentified objects likely not related to China or foreign surveillance

President Joe Biden said the three unidentified objects shot down over North American airspace were likely not related to China’s balloon surveillance program, but likely tied to either “private companies, recreation or research institutions.”

“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from another country,” Biden said in remarks on the takedowns that occurred over the last weekend.

“The intelligence community's current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” said Biden.

– Ken Tran

Related: Mysterious flying objects shot down over North America likely not spy balloons, Biden says

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley takes on DeSantis' 'Don't Say Gay' bill: live updates