Feinstein won't seek reelection; Haley announces White House run: recap

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the longest serving woman senator, has announced she won't seek reelection in 2024, opening up a competitive and expensive seat in deep blue California.

The former San Francisco mayor who turns 90 in June has served since 1992. Her decision not to seek reelection Tuesday comes amid questions from colleagues about her ability to serve and as a younger generation – including Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff — have already announced their candidacies for the seat.

“Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives. Each of us was sent here to solve problems. That’s what I’ve done for the last 30 years, and that’s what I plan to do for the next two years," she said in her announcement. "My thanks to the people of California for allowing me to serve them.”

Senators are slated to receive a classified briefing Tuesday on the three unidentified flying objects shot down by the U.S. military in recent days.

Also, Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley launched the presidential bid she has teased for weeks, tweeting out a video Tuesday saying that, yes, she is indeed running for president.

Here's what else is happening in politics:

• President Joe Biden renewed his call to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines after a shooting Monday on the campus of at Michigan State University killed three and injured five others.

• Flying objects could be research, commercial activity: The U.S. intelligence community is considering as a “leading explanation” that three unidentified flying objects shot down from North American airspace were balloons used by research or commercial entities, White House spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.

• Mike Pence to challenge subpoena: The former vice president is planning to challenge a subpoena from a Justice Department special counsel investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

• Parkland shooting: Tuesday marks five years since a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people. On the eve of the anniversary, a gunman opened fire at Michigan State University, killing three people and wounding five more, before fatally shooting himself.

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What we know: Questions mount after flying objects shot down

Sen. Casey undergoes prostate cancer surgery

Sen. Bob CaseyD-Penn., underwent successful prostate cancer surgery Tuesday afternoon, a little over a month since he first revealed the diagnosis.

“His doctor reports that, as expected, the procedure went well and he confirmed that the senator should not require further treatment,” Mairéad Lynn, Casey’s spokesperson said in a statement.

Casey, serving his third term, is up for re-election in 2024.

– Ledyard King

Feinstein will not run again in 2024

Democrat Dianne Feinstein, California’s longest serving senator, is forgoing reelection.

“I announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024, but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends,” Feinstein said in a statement Tuesday.

The decision shakes up the 2024 Senate map as multiple Democrats — including Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff — have either announced or are reportedly considering their bids to succeed the longtime senator, who had been dogged by questions about her ability to serve.

– Phillip M. Bailey

Biden renews calls to ban assault weapons after Michigan State shooting

President Joe Biden renewed his call to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines after a shooting Monday on the campus of at Michigan State University killed three and injured five others.

“I’m going to say something that’s always controversial,” Biden said Tuesday in remarks addressing the National Association of Counties in Washington. "There is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets.”

Biden’s push to reenact a ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004, is unlikely to pass a Republican-led House and even faces an uphill climb in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

- Joey Garrison

More: 'Americans deserve to be safe': House passes gun ban that has little chance in Senate

Court to reconsider case on Conn. school policy allowing trans athletes to participate in sports

A federal appeals court agreed to reconsider a lawsuit that challenged a Connecticut policy that allowed transgender student athletes to compete in high school sports on late Monday.

In December, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision that backed the policy, but the case, Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools, will now be presented before the full court.

“We’re pleased the 2nd Circuit has decided to rehear this important case, and we urge the court to protect women’s athletic opportunities,” said Christiana Kiefer, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group representing the plaintiffs and who are also at the forefront of nationwide efforts to ban transgender athletes from high school sports, in a statement.

John Holt, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, who have implemented the policy, declined to comment

- Ken Tran

Trump ordered to pay $110K for contempt in fraud probe: NY appellate court

A New York appellate court on Tuesday upheld a contempt order against former President Donald Trump for failing to provide documents as part of a fraud investigation into the family’s business dealings.

The contempt order, handed down in April, directs Trump to pay a fine of $110,000 to the state’s attorney general’s office. New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement that the court’s ruling affirmed that Trump is “not above the law.”

“For years, he tried to stall and thwart our lawful investigation into his financial dealings, but today’s decision sends a clear message that there are consequences for abusing the legal system,” James said. “We will not be bullied or dissuaded from pursuing justice.”

The New York civil fraud probe revolves around whether the Trump Organization deliberately misstated the valuations of its real estate holdings in official documents for unlawful gain. A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.

- Ella Lee

Trump penalty: Donald Trump ordered to pay $110,000 for contempt in New York AG civil fraud investigation

Biden: MSU shooting one more argument for 'commonsense' gun legislation

President Joe Biden expressed grief over the shooting at Michigan State University Monday evening, saying the tragedy was further motivation for Congress to pass limits on guns.

In a statement the White House released Tuesday, Biden called for measures requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, closing background check loopholes, requiring safe storage of guns, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers "who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets."

The statement also acknowledged that Tuesday marks the five-year anniversary of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida which killed seventeen people and injured seventeen others. “As I said in my State of the Union address last week, Congress must do something and enact commonsense gun law reforms” it reads.

There have been over sixty mass shootings in 2023, totaling out to more than one mass shooting per day.-

- Anna Kaufman

Biden milestone: 100 federal judges confirmed by Senate

President Joe Biden hit a milestone Tuesday that could have implications for the remainder of his term: The Senate confirmed his 100th federal judge.

Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, received praise from the right for quickly moving nominees – reshaping some federal courts in a more conservative direction. But Biden narrowly surpassed Trump's total by the end of his second year, 96 confirmations compared to Trump's 83.

The Senate voted 54-45 Tuesday to confirm Gina Méndez-Miró to be a district court judge in Puerto Rico.

"President Biden has one of the most important judicial legacies of any modern president,” said Christopher Kang, chief counsel at the progressive group Demand Justice. “He has begun to restore balance to the courts with 100 judges already confirmed, and while doing so he has written a whole new playbook for what types of lawyers Democrats consider when selecting federal judges.”

– John Fritze

'Sleazy but not criminal': Some George Santos fabrications likely protected by the First Amendment

Trump-allied super PAC: Nikki Haley ‘just another career politician’

A spokesperson for Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC aligned with former President Donald Trump, called 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley “just another career politician” in a statement following Haley’s candidacy announcement.

“She started out as a Never Trumper before resigning to serve in the Trump admin. She then resigned early to go rake in money on corporate boards. Now, she’s telling us she represents a 'new generation,'” Taylor Budowich, head of MAGA Inc., said in a statement. “Sure just looks like more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself."

MAGA Inc. was created in September and started 2023 with more than $54 million to spend, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Super PACs can raise unlimited money and spend it freely but are barred from coordinating directly with campaigns.

Haley is the only big name Republican to announce a bid to run against the former president in 2024 so far.

– Ella Lee, Associated Press

Who is Nikki Haley?: Former S.C. GOP governor announces run for president in 2024

Nikole Hannah-Jones: 1619 Project a ‘political prop’ in Nikki Haley presidential candidacy announcement

Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the 1619 Project, criticized 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley for using the project as a “political prop” in the video Haley shared Tuesday to announce her candidacy.

“Uses #1619Project as political prop in a video that opens with growing up where railroad tracks (not white people) divided the town by race. Talking about being the child of immigrants without acknowledging that the rights she had in SC were won by Black resistance,” Hannah-Jones wrote in a tweet. “Just peak.”

The 1619 Project, produced by The New York Times, examines America’s history through the lens of slavery beginning in 1619, which is when the African slave trade began.

– Ella Lee

Haley running for president: Nikki Haley announces 2024 presidential bid in first major GOP challenge to Donald Trump

White House: Unidentified flying objects could turn out to be harmless research, commercial balloons

The U.S. intelligence community is considering as a “leading explanation” that three unidentified flying objects shot down from North American airspace were balloons used by research or commercial entities, White House spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.

“Given what we've been able to ascertain thus far, the intelligence community is considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose,” Kirby said.

Kirby said the U.S. hasn’t seen any indication that points directly to the objects being part of China’s spy balloon program, even though they were shot down about a week after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon in the Atlantic Ocean. He said the Pentagon has ruled out the possibility that the objects were from the U.S. government.

Complicating the search for more details, the U.S. has not yet retrieved debris from the objects shot down over Alaska, the Yukon Territory and Lake Huron because each is in remote areas with difficult conditions and two are in bodies of water.

– Joey Garrison

How many spy balloons have been spotted?: Questions mount after flying objects shot down

George Santos doubles down: ‘I’m not leaving’

Embattled freshman Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., made clear on Tuesday he won’t heed calls to resign from his House seat amid a flurry of scandals.

“Let me be very clear, I’m not leaving, I’m not hiding and I am NOT backing down,” he said in a tweet Tuesday. “I will continue to work for #NY03 and no amount of Twitter trolling will stop me.”

Calls for Santos to step down have come from all sides, from Democrats to his GOP colleagues to his own constituents.

– Ella Lee

Santos cosponsoring bills. Which ones?: Gun rights, TikTok ban and China: George Santos is cosponsoring these bills in Congress

Michigan lawmakers mourn, call for action after Michigan State University shooting

Michigan lawmakers took to social media Tuesday to mourn and make calls for action after a mass shooting at Michigan State University that left three students dead and five critically injured.

“It’s hard to describe the agony we’re feeling in East Lansing tonight,” said Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who represents the congressional district that contains the university.

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib called for the implementation of universal background checks, red flag laws and an assault weapon ban in the state and nationwide, while Republican Rep. Lisa McClain offered prayers for the MSU community that experienced “an act of senseless and horrific violence.”

And Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow thanked first responders who “rushed to the scene” and “put their own lives on the line to keep people safe.”

– Ella Lee

Shooting at Michigan State: Three dead, five wounded in shooting at Michigan State University, suspect found dead

Former VP Mike Pence expected to challenge DOJ special counsel subpoena

Former Vice President Mike Pence is planning to challenge a subpoena from a Justice Department special counsel investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Pence's legal team is expected to argue that the former vice president's dual role as president of the Senate and member of the legislative branch at the time would protect him from the special counsel summons.

The Pence subpoena marks the most aggressive known step taken by special counsel Jack Smith since his appointment in November to oversee both the election interference inquiry and a separate examination of former President Trump's handling of classified documents.

- David Jackson, Kevin Johnson

Read the full story: Former Vice President Mike Pence expected to challenge DOJ special counsel subpoena

Adam Frisch, Colorado Dem who almost unseated Rep. Lauren Boebert, to run again

Colorado Democrat Adam Frisch, who was just a few hundred votes short of ousting Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in the 2022 midterm elections, will run again in 2024, he announced Tuesday.

“We lost by a mere 546 votes in '22 — the closest race in the country — and know we can make that up in '24,” Frisch said in a tweet.

Boebert was heavily favored to win reelection in her Republican-leaning district in 2022, but what was once believed to be a long shot bid for Frisch became among the most closely watched races in the nation.

-Ella Lee

Could Adam Frisch have defeated Boebert?: Lauren Boebert won. But did Democrats miss a chance to flip her Colorado district?

DNC: Nikki Haley embraced ‘most extreme elements’ of Trump agenda

Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley embraced the “most extreme elements of the MAGA agenda” while serving in former President Donald Trump’s administration, the Democratic National Committee alleged in a statement responding to her presidential candidacy announcement.

“(Haley) couldn’t even identify a single policy difference between herself and Trump,” the committee said.

Haley, who also served as governor of South Carolina, announced her intention to run for president in 2024 on Twitter Tuesday and will make her formal announcement speech Wednesday in Charleston, S.C.

-Ella Lee

Who is Nikki Haley?: Former S.C. GOP governor announces run for president in 2024

Biden names Fed’s Lael Brainard as top economic adviser

Lael Brainard, vice chair of the Federal Reserve, has been tapped to serve as President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser.

Brainard’s appointment comes as the Biden administration prepares for a potentially fraught battle with House Republicans over the nation’s debt ceiling and amid ongoing efforts to curb inflation. She will replace Brian Deese, who is expected to step down next month.

An announcement promoting Brainard to director of the National Economic Council cameTuesday.

– Ella Lee

Who is Nikki Haley? Former S.C. governor announces run for president

Just in case anyone had any doubt, Nikki Haley tweeted out a video Tuesday saying that, yes, she is indeed running for president.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador, sketches out her biography and attacks President Joe Biden and the Democrats - but says nothing about Donald Trump.

At the end of the video, Haley does say that she doesn’t like bullies and won’t be afraid to fight back - perhaps a warning to the volatile Trump.

In sending a potential message to Trump, Haley also referenced that she may be the only woman in the Republican field: “You should know this about me, I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.”

Haley makes her formal announcement speech Wednesday in Charleston, S.C.

– David Jackson, Mabinty Quarshie

'It's always on my mind': Five years after Parkland massacre

David Hogg fine-tunes his kick-flip between classes at Harvard and his work building consensus around gun violence prevention. Cameron Kasky immerses himself in comedy and writing in Los Angeles, frustrated with a broken American political system. Sari Kaufman flies to protests of the gun industry across the country while managing her political science coursework at Yale.

Nearly five years since a gunman killed 17 of their classmates and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day, three survivors at the forefront of the March For Our Lives movement in 2018 spoke with USA TODAY about their lives now – and what they want Americans to know as the nation reflects on the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

"I'm still feeling the impacts of the shooting every day," Kaufman said.

– Grace Hauck

White House rules out aliens, still can't say who's behind unidentified objects

The White House said Monday there are “no indications of aliens or extraterrestrial activity” from a series of unidentified objects the U.S. shot down from North American airspace.

"I don't think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these crafts. Period," White House spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing.

Kirby said the U.S. hasn’t determined the origins of the objects that were shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron one week after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon in the Atlantic Ocean. The Pentagon has also not identified the purpose of the objects, which Kirby said appeared to be moving by prevailing winds, not self-propulsion, about 40,000 feet high or lower.

Complicating the search for more details, the U.S. has not made it to the debris sites of the objects, which fell in remote areas and, in two cases, frozen waters. Kirby said the U.S. has spotted “no active tracks” of additional high-altitude objects Monday.

– Joey Garrison

More: White House rules out aliens, but still can't say who is behind unidentified flying objects

Portions of Trump grand jury report to be released Thursday

A Georgia judge Monday ordered a partial public release of a grand jury's investigative report on former President Donald Trump's attempts to interfere in the 2020 election.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said three portions of the panel's report will be released Thursday, including a section expressing concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath.

McBurney also said the grand jury's conclusions would be made public, in a ruling that represented a partial concession to District Attorney Fani Willis who argued last month that full disclosure of the panel's findings would damage an ongoing investigation.

“In this case, the state understands... the world’s interest, but we have to be mindful of protecting future defendants' rights," Willis told McBurney during a January hearing in Atlanta.

– Kevin Johnson

Trump Georgia investigation: Judge orders partial release of Trump grand jury report Thursday

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Feinstein won't run; Haley announcement: recap