Former President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, Alina Habba, has hit the campaign trail to attract Arab support in the key swing state of Michigan. 

Habba, who also is an attorney on Trump’s legal team, is a first generation American. Both of Habba’s parents are from Iraq. 

Habba has been crisscrossing Michigan since Thursday, participating in nearly a dozen events and engaging in meetings in Arab American communities — including with Indian Americans and Chaldean Americans. 

‘As someone who understands how tight-knit and faith-driven these communities are, I’m incredibly proud to be here with the Arab American communities in Michigan,’ Habba told Fox News Digital. ‘Many of us have roots in countries where we left behind persecution for the freedom that we now cherish.’ 

Habba told Fox News Digital it is ‘vital that we speak up to protect that freedom here in the United States.’ 

‘We cannot allow our country to go down the same dangerous path,’ Habba added. ‘Donald Trump is the only option to ensure our values and way of life are safeguarded.’ 

Metro Detroit has the world’s largest population of Iraqis outside of Iraq, with an estimated 187,000 people. 

On Friday, Habba toured the Chaldean Foundation and the community. Habba also spoke to children at a school in the community and spoke to local leaders. 

‘The Chaldean community is driven by its faith and close-knit family ties,’ Habba told Fox News Digital, adding that Trump’s policies are attractive to them, and ‘resonating with independents, moderates, and traditional Republicans, especially here in battleground states like Michigan.’

Also on Friday, Habba is participating in a ‘Trump 47 Agenda Policy Tour’ event with Vivek Ramaswamy, Rep. Tim Walberg, Tudor Dixon and others in Farmington Hills. 

‘The Trump 47 Policy Tour is working, and we’re seeing results in key areas like Oakland County,’ Habba said. ‘The Chaldean community, with its 10 Catholic churches in Metro-Detroit, is a strong, faith-based force, and we stand united behind President Trump.’ 

According to the latest Fox News Power Rankings, key swing states like North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada are listed as ‘toss-ups.’

Michigan, though, is listed as ‘lean Democrat.’ 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is facing his last critical leadership test of this year as congressional lawmakers grapple with a looming government shutdown deadline at the end of this month. 

The House Republican Conference is at odds over how to proceed with funding the government in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. A growing contingent of GOP lawmakers are resigned to a short-term spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR) until December to give negotiators more time to work out next year’s federal spending.

Conservatives on Johnson’s right flank, however, want him to keep fighting for a six-month CR attached to a bill that would require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process – which the Democrat-controlled White House and Senate have called a nonstarter.

Johnson was forced to delay a planned vote on that bill last week amid a wave of Republican defections from lawmakers who saw it as a ‘messaging’ tactic without a sufficient plan to get the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act enacted.

How he navigates the political quagmire could be pivotal for the Louisiana Republican in the House GOP’s December leadership decisions.

A majority of GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital saw little appetite for a coup – particularly so close to the election – but several did acknowledge that Johnson would face backlash if he fully acquiesced to Democrats on spending.

‘If there’s an omnibus, I think he’ll likely get challenged for speaker,’ one GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital, noting the challenge would be significant.

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, admitted there was room for blowback but did not see any imminent threat to Johnson.

‘If he really flubs this, and people feel like they were deceived – but I don’t see that he’s on that path now,’ Burlison said.

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., noted he was close to Johnson personally but said broadly, ‘I think if we get jammed with an omni it will be a significant factor in any kind of leadership elections across the board.’

He said it was ‘not really a topic of conversation at this point’ but added that it ‘could be part of the calculus’ for others.

Meanwhile, Reps. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Cory Mills, R-Fla., who have not shied away from criticizing the speaker, suggested it was inevitable that he would face some sort of rival.

‘I think in order for Mike Johnson to remain speaker, in my humble opinion, it’s going to require some Democrats to help him,’ Nehls told Fox News Digital, adding that House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, would be a ‘great’ candidate.

Jordan was one of several Republican leaders who ran for speaker after the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., over McCarthy’s own handling of government spending last fall. Jordan’s bid was derailed by opposition from moderates, however.

Mills, who came out against Johnson’s CR plan, said, ‘I think he’s gonna have a significant leadership challenge regardless.’

‘I don’t think this is going to be that pivotal moment where it’s a make or break, but what I will say is, is that the one guarantee that I continue to try and sound the alarm on or beat the drums on, is…we’re heading towards economic collapse,’ Mills said.

Meanwhile, another conservative lawmaker who spoke with Fox News Digital anonymously was emphatic that, unlike his predecessor, Johnson is safe from a political coup.

‘I think just what little conversations I’ve had with him last weekend, what little conversations I’ve had with him and staff, I think they are genuine in wanting to make sure we don’t end up with an omnibus,’ that conservative said.

In addition to pressure from within his own conference, Johnson is also having to navigate government funding talks while the Republicans’ 2024 nominee, former President Donald Trump, is actively calling for a partial shutdown if election security legislation cannot be passed.

Johnson, for his part, has told reporters that he is still sticking firmly to his course and would work through the weekend on the issue.

‘We’re going to continue to work on this. Whip is going to do the hard work to build consensus, we’re going to work through the weekend on that. And I want any member of Congress in either party to explain to the American people why we should not ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections,’ Johnson said earlier this week.

If Republicans lose the majority, Johnson will only need a majority vote of his conference to remain its leader. A Speaker of the House, however, needs a majority of the entire chamber – meaning the GOP would likely need to be in lock-step for him to win.

Just under 50 Ukrainian soldiers were released into their nation’s custody in a prisoner swap with Russia this week.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the latest swap on Friday, stating that 49 Ukrainians were brought home via the swap mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

‘Another return of our people — something we always wait for and work tirelessly to achieve,’ the Ukrainian president said.

Zelenskyy specifically thanked the Ukrainian military units responsible for the continued capture of Russian soldiers, stating that these victories are what allowed the nation to demand swaps.

‘All our warriors who capture Russian occupiers, and all our services that neutralize Russian saboteurs and collaborators, bring closer the liberation of our people,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘We must bring home every single one of our people, both military and civilian.’

Prisoners released this week included both military personnel and civilians. It was the second swap since Ukraine began taking territory in the Kursk region of Russia, where most of their own prisoners are captured.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia have acknowledged how many captured Russians were traded for the 49 Ukrainian prisoners.

The citizens’ release comes as Ukraine begs the United States for clearance to fire American missiles into Moscow.

President Biden is facing mounting pressure to lift the ban on Ukraine using U.S. weapons to strike deep inside Russia and appeared to admit on Tuesday that his administration is moving in that direction.

‘We’re working that out right now,’ he said when asked by reporters whether he would allow Ukraine to use the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, to target sites inside Russia. Support for lifting the ban has come from all sides.

A group of high-level House Republicans wrote to the president this week arguing that such restrictions ‘have hampered Ukraine’s ability to defeat Russia’s war of aggression and have given the Kremlin’s forces a sanctuary from which it can attack Ukraine with impunity.’

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

There is a new bipartisan effort in Congress to take on the growing threat of cyberattacks by China and other U.S. adversaries.

A bill led by Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, would impose new guardrails on the technology the U.S. government is able to purchase by forcing a federal agency or office to only purchase it from ‘original equipment manufacturers’ or ‘authorized resellers,’ according to the bill text obtained by Fox News Digital.

Fallon explained this would ensure U.S. technology is bought from ‘trusted sources’ rather than a third party that could potentially be sourcing that equipment from nations like China, Russia or Iran.

‘[O]ur adversaries have been targeting our hardware and software systems through selling the U.S. government counterfeit products through what are known as ‘gray market’ sellers,’ Fallon explained. ‘These products, although marketed as genuine hardware, allow our enemies to gain access to U.S. government systems, making it far easier to conduct subsequent cyberattacks.’

The Texas Republican warned the U.S. was being hit with ‘millions of attacks daily,’ and that the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI) technology was making cyberattacks easier to pull off.

The House bill, the Securing America’s Federal Equipment (SAFE) Supply Chains Act, is backed by a bipartisan companion bill in the Senate.

That push is being led by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Gary Peters, D-Mich.

A ‘gray market’ refers to an alternative channel for purchasing and selling genuine goods without the authorization of the manufacturer.

It has been a particularly prevalent issue in the high-tech sphere, and though the lack of transparency makes its full scope hard to quantify, the technology gray market is believed to have cost manufacturers billions of dollars in losses, according to AGMA Global.

China’s technology gray market is prevalent. A report from the Hong Kong-based Asia Times earlier this year said Chinese firms were getting around U.S. export controls to acquire high-end American AI chips for their own military and research uses.

Additionally, while the U.S. government does have existing bans on certain Beijing-backed companies, the new bill would prevent China from using middle men to obscure those and other illicit sources and flooding the U.S. market.

Fallon said the legislation would ‘prevent the federal government from even being at risk of being duped into procuring these harmful products.’

‘The world is at peak instability and danger. Simply put, we are at an inflection point, which means we must do everything in our power to protect our vulnerable systems from cyber-attacks and intrusion from our enemies,’ he said.

The Vice President Kamala Harris campaign says they hauled in $47 million from nearly 600,000 donors in the 24 hours after her debate with former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.

‘This historic, 24-hour haul reflects a strong and growing coalition of Americans united behind Vice President Harris’ candidacy that knows the stakes this November, and are doing their part to defeat Donald Trump this November,’ Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.

Tuesday’s showdown was the first time that Harris and Trump had met in person, and the encounter came two and a half months after President Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump in their late June debate in Atlanta.

Biden’s unsteady appearance and uneven and meandering answers fueled questions about whether the 81-year-old president was physically and mentally up for another four years in the White House and fueled calls from within his own party to end his re-election bid. Less than a month later, Biden suspended his 2024 campaign and backed his vice president to replace him atop the Democrats’ national ticket.

The latest Harris cash haul, which was first reported by the New York Times, is the latest sign of the vice president’s surge in fundraising since becoming her party’s standard-bearer.

At the time this report was published, the Trump campaign had yet to announce any fundraising figures post-debate.

The Harris campaign recently announced that they hauled in $361 million in August, nearly triple the $130 million raised by the Trump campaign.

When asked about the fundraising deficit, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley told Fox News Digital in the debate spin room that ‘the Democrats have a ton of money. The Democrats always have a ton of money.’

However, he emphasized that ‘we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through and we’re going to win on November 5.’

Trump, in a social media post on Thursday, ruled out having another debate with the vice president.

Harris, speaking about an hour later at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, said, ‘I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate. Because this election and what is at stake could not be more important.’

The Trump campaign is doubling down on former President Trump’s debate performance this week, calling it a clear victory against Vice President Kamala Harris, despite recent reports that Harris is gaining momentum in battlegrounds Georgia and North Carolina.

‘Their little reaction to the debate and performance is nothing but a sugar high, and it’s artificial, and it’s based entirely on the fact that she came out and she managed to deliver her memorized lines, and she put on a fine performance, which we anticipated she was going to do, because she’s able to go out and memorize things and go out and put on a performance,’ senior Trump campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday.

‘They placed so much emphasis on that debate, and so many millions of people tuned in to hear why she was running for president, because they had heard that she’d been in hiding most of the time, and they were expecting her to explain the rationale for what her record is and what her goals would be as president and what her plans would be. And they walked away not having heard or learned anything,’ he said.

The campaign’s assessment comes as Trump himself said Thursday he will not be doing any more debates.

While debate watchers initially gave the victory to Harris after Tuesday’s showdown, there are still six toss-up states on the map worth a combined 78 electoral votes. The election is still considered up for grabs for either candidate.

As of Thursday, Trump has lost his edge in Georgia and North Carolina in the latest Fox News Power Rankings, giving Harris a lead in the overall forecast for the first time. 

Over the last 12 months of the Fox News Poll, between 48%-50% of registered voters have said they supported Trump. While Biden polled as low as 45% earlier this year, Harris is now only one point behind Trump at 49% in the latest Fox national survey. 

Criminal indictments, a conviction, the primaries, a last-minute change in opponents and an assassination attempt did nothing to move the former president out of that three-point range.

But Murtaugh believes Trump had ‘a strong performance’ and that he refused to let Harris ‘escape her liberal record and her responsibility in the Biden-Harris administration.’ 

Murtaugh pointed to Harris’ flip-flop record in which she’s tried to distance herself from her former progressive record. 

‘And everyone knows what they are. It’s fracking, it’s the wall, it’s making illegal immigration or making illegally crossing the border not illegal. She reversed herself on outlawing health insurance that people get from their employer,’ Murtaugh said. ‘She reversed herself on gun confiscation. She’s reversed herself on a variety of tax cuts. You know, she’s actually even reversed herself on plastic straws.’

‘And she also needed to try to separate herself from the Biden-Harris administration,’ Murtaugh said. ‘And she absolutely did not do that. And so while the pundits might think, ‘Oh, wow, what a great performance she put on,’ because she went out and did her lines, in fact, the truth is, the grocery store will not let you buy food with style points.’

On top issues like the economy, Trump clearly has the upper hand, according to polls. In a CNN poll conducted after the debate, 55% of voters preferred Trump’s economic platform compared to Harris’, trailing behind at 35%. 

And while pundits and debate watchers called the victory for Harris, middle-of-the-road voters may not have been convinced, according to Reuters and the New York Times’ interviews with undecided voters.

‘She needed to connect with these people and convince them that she wasn’t hiding and that she is a serious candidate, and she failed. You don’t get another chance to make a first impression on those people,’ Murtaugh said. 

Fox News Digital’s Remy Numa contributed to this report. 

GOP Rep. Michelle Steel is rolling out a bill to block China and other American adversaries from accessing U.S. ports.

Steel, R-Calif., a member of the House Select Committee on Communist China, created the Secure Our Ports Act, which would prohibit companies owned fully, or in-part, by state-owned enterprises in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from operating or managing a U.S. port. 

Steel told Fox News Digital that adversaries accessing U.S. ports can harm U.S. supply chains because it would enable them to access shipping infrastructure. 

Steel said her bill ‘would shore up America’s economic and national security in the face of threats from Communist China and their like-minded allies.’ 

‘Congress must protect America’s supply chains by restricting enemy governments from having high-level access to our ports,’ Steel told Fox News Digital. ‘Nations which threaten the very existence of the United States should not have easy access to our port infrastructure, a key lifeline of America’s supply chains.’

Steel’s home region in Southern California is home to two of the largest ports in the country: the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. 

Steel’s office told Fox News Digital that multiple China-owned conglomerates have an active presence in American ports, including on the West Coast. This includes the Chinese-Owned Shipping Company (COSCO) on the West Coast and China Oil and Foodstuffs Corp. (COFCO) on the Mississippi River.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Stephanie Bice, Ken Calvert, Rick Crawford, Richard Hudson, Doug LaMalfa, Nicole Malliotakis, James Moylan, Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, John Rutherford and Randy Weber.

The bill comes after national security and defense officials last year began viewing giant cargo cranes at U.S. ports as potential Chinese spying tools. Officials have suggested that Chinese equipment and cranes at ports could be used for surveillance.

The Biden administration imposed sanctions Thursday against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and several of his associates for undermining the electoral process and violating the civil and human rights of its citizens.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the sanctions while speaking to reporters during a briefing Thursday.

‘President Biden’s approach to foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere has been based on his belief that democracy is fundamentally vital for sustained economic prosperity and security,’ she said. ‘Now, Venezuela is no exception, and the blatant electoral fraud following the July 28 presidential elections must continue to be condemned and those obstructing democracy held accountable.

‘And that is why, to that end, today we took two important actions to hold Nicolás Maduro and his cronies accountable for their blatant electoral fraud, obstruction of a competitive and inclusive election and violation of the civil and human rights of the people.’

Jean-Pierre said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen placed sanctions on 16 of Maduro’s affiliated officials along with visa restrictions on a number of his allied officials who ‘undermined’ the electoral process in Venezuela and ‘are responsible for acts of repression.’

The press secretary also said the U.S. has, to date, sanctioned over 140 current and former Venezuelan officials while also taking steps to impose visa restrictions on about 2,000 individuals.

Critics contend the real problem lies with allowing the Maduro regime continued access to lucrative oil contracts.

‘The current approach appears to be overly focused on a single tactic. What is the point of imposing sanctions if, at the same time, oil licenses continue to be renewed? Feeding kleptocracy $20B per year,’ Isaias Medina III, a former U.N. Security Council diplomat and Harvard Mason fellow, told Fox News Digital Thursday. 

‘Real pressure comes from taking decisive actions, such as issuing a red notice from Interpol, intercepting every drug shipment and blocking the coast to prevent the movement of oil. Instead of simply warning them, concrete steps should be taken to expose their involvement in drug trafficking, terrorism, corruption and human rights violations. This includes pushing for their removal from the United Nations due to their illegitimacy and compelling the international community to take a unified stance against them.’

Venezuela’s July 28 election saw Maduro claiming victory by more than 1 million votes. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, was seeking a third six-year term. Meanwhile, the main opposition coalition, Vente Venezuela, has accused him of trying to steal the vote. The Vente Venezuela campaign has released records showing opposition candidate Edmundo González winning by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The main leader of the opposition, González, and opposition leader María Corina Machado have gone into hiding since the vote.

The opposition suffered a further setback when Venezuela’s controversial Supreme Court reasserted Maduro as the winner of the disputed elections. Maduro’s hand-picked court declared the voting tallies showing any reports of his loss were fabricated.

The U.S., European Union (EU) and a slate of Latin American countries have categorically rejected the Venezuelan high court’s certification. Maduro and his government have refused to release official tally sheets from last month’s election.

Maduro’s claim of victory ignited protests across Venezuela, prompting his regime to engage in a wave of violent repression. Security forces have apprehended more than 2,000 demonstrators, many of whom were taken to torture camps.

Earlier this month, the U.S. seized a plane owned by Maduro in the Dominican Republic.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) flew Maduro’s personal plane back to the United States Monday morning, when it landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is now in U.S. custody, a U.S. official told Fox News following an initial report by CNN.

The plane, described by officials as Maduro’s version of ‘Air Force One,’ is used for Maduro’s state visits around the world and was seized in the Dominican Republic after it was purchased through a straw company in violation of sanctions laws and export controls, the official said. U.S. authorities cited a specific violation of U.S. Executive Order 13884, signed by former President Trump in 2019. 

The plane, valued at $13 million, is a Dassault Falcon 900-EX. The seizure was a result of a joint investigation between HSI and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In August 2019, Trump issued Executive Order 13884, which prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with persons who have acted or purported to act directly or indirectly for or on behalf of, the government of Venezuela, including as a member of the Maduro regime. To protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, the Department of Commerce has also imposed export controls for items intended, entirely or in part, for a Venezuelan military or military-intelligence end user, according to the Department of Justice.

Fox News’ Kyra Colah, Danielle Wallace and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe spoke with members of both the House and Senate in closed sessions Thursday to discuss the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Rowe briefed members in both chambers about the agency’s interim report examining the USSS’s security lapses that led to a gunman being able to scale a nearby building and open fire on Trump, just minutes into his rally. 

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the lead Democrat on the Trump Assassination Task Force told Fox News Digital that the briefing with Rowe was a ‘very lengthy and very candid discussion.’ 

‘They discussed the … failings that occurred that day and what’s been done to fix it, as well as some of the resourcing constraints the Secret Service has faced this election cycle,’ Crow said of Rowe’s briefing with lawmakers. ‘He made an outline of their internal report and briefed us on their internal mission evaluation, which is now complete.’

Fox News was previously informed that the overall mission assurance probe conducted by the Secret Service is nearly complete and will soon be made public. 

According to Crow, Rowe told lawmakers that he had looked ‘at everything from the site selection and the planning for security for that day; interaction between local law enforcement and campaign staff for the event; the communication, or lack of communication as the case might be in several instances between Secret Service and local law enforcement; the issue of perimeter security and lines of sight and then the clearing of lines of sight.’

Speaking about his own visit to the site of the July rally, Crow said ‘the perimeter itself was too small…and the fact that the shooter was on a roof of a building a little more than a hundred yards away from the platform where the former president was standing and that was outside the perimeter is problematic.’ 

The Task Force is slated to hold its first public hearing with a focus on local law enforcement later this month. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Thursday that lawmakers ‘will have a report very, very soon that I think will absolutely shock the American people about the lapses and lags in protection that was afforded that day and the breakdown in communication, failure and responsibility.’

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., told reporters, ‘The most important point that we want to make is this is bipartisan.’ 

‘We truly believe the American people need to know the full truth, and the only way they’re going to have confidence in it is if it’s in a completely nonpartisan way.’ 

Meanwhile, Several senior Secret Service officials who planned to retire soon have been encouraged to do so more urgently to escape the scrutiny from Congress over the next several months.

Fox News has been informed that several high-level Secret Service officials who have either direct or indirect connections to the Butler, Pennsylvania security situation are retiring. While the employees are eligible for retirement, they’ve been encouraged by senior leadership to do so more quickly to avoid lengthy congressional interviews and investigations.  

Separately, the FBI is conducting a separate investigation into the shooter, and that is still ongoing. 

President Biden is facing mounting pressure to lift the ban on Ukraine using U.S. weapons to strike deep inside Russia and appeared to admit on Tuesday that his administration is moving in that direction. 

‘We’re working that out right now,’ he said when asked by reporters whether he would allow Ukraine to use the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, to target sites inside Russia.

Support for lifting the ban has come from all sides.

A group of high-level House Republicans wrote to the president this week arguing that such restrictions ‘have hampered Ukraine’s ability to defeat Russia’s war of aggression and have given the Kremlin’s forces a sanctuary from which it can attack Ukraine with impunity.’

The House GOP letter was signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, House Intelligence Committee Chair Michael Turner, House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers and other committee leaders.

It critiques the Biden administration but contrasts statements from top Republicans like Donald Trump, who have suggested he could bring a diplomatic end to the war. 

On Wednesday, a group of liberal and progressive former high-level national security officials authored a letter calling on the U.S. and U.K. to allow unrestricted use of their weapons to strike Russian territory. 

A bipartisan group of House and Senate members sent another letter arguing that with the ban, Russia ‘is far too comfortable in its ability to focus on its offensive operations rather than defending itself.’

‘Easing the restrictions on Western weapons will not cause Moscow to escalate,’ they wrote. ‘We urge you to listen to your partners in Kyiv this week and allow Ukraine to strike all legitimate targets in Russia with the weapons the U.S. and U.K. have provided. Let Ukraine defend itself.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has implored U.S. officials to lift the ban they placed to avoid escalation of U.S. involvement in the war. Washington in recent months has partially done so, allowing Ukraine to use U.S. weapons for defensive strikes ‘within sovereign Ukraine territory.’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and were expected to gather information on how such long-range strikes would factor into Ukraine’s broader battlefield strategy. The U.K. is also considering whether to allow Ukraine to strike deeper inside Russia with its own long-range system, the Storm Shadow.

Asked about the ‘green light’ to target inside Russia on Thursday, Blinken did not indicate any change in policy but restated a desire to keep adapting to Russia’s aggression.

Blinken said he expects Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss the topic when they meet Friday in Washington.

Last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pushed back on the notion that lifting restrictions and allowing Ukraine to hit deeper into Russia would change the tides of the war. 

‘There’s no one capability that will, in and of itself, be decisive in this campaign.’

‘There are a lot of targets in Russia, a big country, obviously,’ Austin said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Friday. ‘And there’s a lot of capability that Ukraine has in terms of (unmanned aerial vehicles) and other things to address those targets.’

The debate about whether to remove the restrictions comes amid the worrying beginning of transfers of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.

Some worry the U.S. has a limited number of ATACMS to offer Ukraine without affecting U.S. readiness and that using the weapons to strike deep into Russia could deplete their supply for other parts of the military campaign, like inside Crimea. But advocates of lifting the ban argue Ukraine is already using ATACMS on territory that Russia sees as its own in Crimea.