john: thank you so much. arelis: thank you for watching. please said to washington post.com to see our upcoming programs. thank you for joining washington post live. >> this morning, a confirmation hearing for gigi sohn. she was nominated last year but did not receive a vote. you can watch her before the commerce committee at 11:00. president biden will talk about the economy at the national association of counties legislative conference. watch live coverage starting at 1:00 p.m.. you can watch live coverage here on c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org.

all this week beginning at 7:00 p.m.. c-span is featuring reruns of q&a. tonight, alan maimon talks about his book spotlighting a small town and appalachia. he discusses the impact of the closing of co-mines, the opioid epidemic and flooding have had on the community. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcast on our free c-span now at. pp. what we do know is there were three different objects shot

down over the weekend, friday, saturday and sunday by the u.s. military. what we know is not much beyond that other than where they were shot down. on friday over alaska, saturday up in canada, and sunday over lake huron. officials are not really ready to classify or describe what these objects were. the are calling them aerial objects. the reasons they were shot down is because they were in civilian airspace around 20,000 to 40,000 feet. b, they decided they were unsure of the surveillance capabilities these objects might have. president biden went ahead and made the decision to shoot them down. we still don't know where they came from, what their purpose was. there is much to be learned in the days ahead as teams work to

recover the debris. host: the first was described as a chinese spy balloon. these last three objects a little different. are we certain they are from china or is that the expectation? guest: we are unsure where they came from. officials have been careful not to assign china responsibility for these but it is possible that may end up being the case. john kirby, they white house spokesperson was talking about how the reality is there is nothing nefarious about these objects, acknowledging research institutions send out weather balloons and other objects for whatever reason. it is possible it may not be nefarious. given the chinese spy balloon that was shut down 10 days ago -- shot down 10 days ago people are on high alert.

host: john kirby in the briefing room yesterday. he said the white house has been as transparent as we can. i wonder how that went over in the room with reporters and with members on capitol hill who have been calling for answers and transparency. guest: on the one hand from the press corps's perspective there is appreciation john kirby could speak to these issues and was sent there to answer questions about this. on the other hand, there's a lot of information folks just don't know about this. there is limited info he can share. i think there is even more skepticism on capitol hill where lawmakers are confounded about how this is happening, these objects are in our airspace, why they are being shot down all of a sudden, why there is talk of

if it has happened before. there's a growing course from republicans in particular about whether president biden needs to speak to the nation to talk about why this is happening and whether there is any security threat. i think we will see that continue to fester in the next couple of days. calls for answers. there's an expectation the white house will brief lawmakers in the coming days. until we know more about where they came from and what they were doing there will be a frustration on capitol hill. host: do you get the sense president biden is closer to going and front of cameras about these objects? guest: i have been talking to folks at the white house and i think there is a sense perhaps at some point this week we would hear from the president on this issue. i think they want to be careful

before we know too much about these objects. not have him speak just to have him speak. there's the possibility as we learn more and these outings are recovered there's a chance we could hear from the president at some point to address the public about these issues. host: what details about the classified briefing senators are taking part in this morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern before the senate comes in at 11:00 a.m.? guest: the administration is trying to be transparent, as john kirby said, give us much information as they can. they have talked about they have not been able to recover the debris from the objects shot down over the weekend because of the weather. up in alaska the ground is frozen. in the case of lake huron, it was down over water.

-- downed overwater. water. it's an olive branch to show they want to be transparent and keep lawmakers in the loop as they learn about these objects. host: thank you for keeping us in the loop. brett samuels with the hill newspaper, white house reporter. we always appreciate your time. guest: appreciate it. host: that is the shot of the sun rising over capitol hill. the house in at 10:00 a.m. for a brief pro forma session. the senate at 11:00 a.m. eastern. we are asking about the biden administration response to these aerial objects. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

these objects, the chinese spy balloon migrating to the opinion pages of the national papers. two examples from the washington times. steve yates, his peace with adam savitz. permanent threats are permanent with the chinese spy balloon's. they have only just begun. this from the lead editorial in the washington post. the right response does not include panic but it is time to get answers and a plan for how to handle these incidents. a picture of john kirby accompanying the lead editorial. a

>> thank you for the call. we will stay in the garden state good morning. >> good morning. this is the second day you have had this topic. the second day. we don't know more than what you learned on the first day. i don't understand why you are

obsessed with this topic other than to bash joe biden. i think the guy from bridgewater even though here's -- he's a republican i agree with what he's talking about. on c-span, there are a lot more topics to be concerned about right now. let's talk about what happened at michigan state another mass shooting. we are also here on valentine's day the anniversary of parkland. in florida. you are talking about whether the biden administration is doing a good job on shoot down of the balloon. there're so many more important topics. when are you going to start talking about jim jordan? what's going on in georgia and the indictments possibly against

the former guy? >> the white house put out the national security spokesman yesterday in the white house briefing room to do an entire briefing with reporters about this. a lot of members of congress in the building behind us are asking questions about this. >> this is the second day. >> are more questions being asked. >> as the bridgewater guy said, this is a topic that doesn't have to be talked about every single day when we really don't have all the information yet. >> we will see what other information comes today after the briefing with the united states senate at 10:00 a.m.. that is happening in about two hours 45 minutes. we will see what comes of it. the story you mentioned from last not, this is the detroit news three killed five wounded at the shooting.

the story from the detroit news that three people were killed and several others wounded. it found that late on a night from -- the suspect died of a gunshot wound. this truly has been a nightmare that we are living through. said the deputy chief of the police department. we have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. as the police continue their investigation, we will keep you updated. that was at michigan state university last night. >> good morning, thank you for taking my call. i kind