MNI POLITICAL RISK ANALYSIS - US Daily Brief 14-02-23

Executive Summary:

• Tensions are increasing between Capitol Hill and the White House as the government falls short, in the eyes of lawmakers, of adequately answering questions on four objects shot down over US airspace.
• The State Department refuses to confirm or deny reports that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on the margins of the Munich Security Conference.
• Top Democrats on Congressional banking committees express confidence that the debt ceiling showdown will be resolved. Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH): “No, I’m not as worried as one might think. I think, in the final analysis, we raise the debt limit.”
• A Georgia judge has ordered the partial release of a grand jury report on allegations that former President Donald Trump pressured Georgia state officials to change the 2020 presidential election results.
• Nikki Haley has confirmed her (widely anticipated) bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
• President Biden will name Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard at his top economic advisor as soon as today.
• The Department of Energy is preparing to tap up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a Congressionally mandated sale of around 26 million barrels of crude oil.
• Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and her Japanese and South Korea counterparts commend the strength of the trilateral relationship - a central plank of the Biden Administration's Indo-Pacific strategy.
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley are in Brussels for a NATO defence ministerial and another meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group.
• Poll of the Day: Republican voters are divided both on who they believe leads the Republican Party and who they believe should lead the Republican Party.

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