Wednesday morning’s brief airspace closure over the Western Texas border city of El Paso stemmed from disagreements between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests, multiple sources close to the matter told CBS News. 

The Pentagon had undertaken extensive planning on the use of military technology near Fort Bliss, to practice taking down drones, with two sources identifying the particular technology used Wednesday as a high-energy laser.

Meetings were scheduled over safety impacts, but Pentagon officials wanted to test the technology sooner, stating that U.S. Code 130i requirements governing the protection of certain facilities from unmanned aircraft had been met.

However, on Tuesday night, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford decided to close the airspace - without alerting the White House, Pentagon or Homeland Security. Bedford told officials the airspace restrictions would be in place to ensure safety until issues had been resolved with the War Department.

Earlier this week, the same high-energy laser technology was utilized near the Southern Border to shoot down what appeared to be foreign drones. However, the flying material turned out to be party balloons, with one ballon being shot down, sources told CBS News.

The Pentagon has told a second aircraft carrier strike group, likely the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) - who is currently completing her Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) and could expedite it if needed - to prepare to deploy to the Middle East as the military prepares for a potential attack on Iran, according to three U.S. officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.

Today’s five-hour hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee by Attorney General Pam Bondi devolved several times into shouting matches between the Attorney General and Democrats representatives, as both Democrat and Republican lawmakers grilled Bondi on her Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein Files.

Multiple times during the hearing, Bondi would refuse to answer questions and instead begin expressing about random “talking points” of the Trump Administration that have nothing to do with the case surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, such as antisemitism and the economy, with Bondi at one point even accusing Jewish lawmaker Becca Balint of not supporting Israel.

Statement from President Donald J. Trump following his meeting today at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Trump stating that he insisted negotiations continue with Iran.

Attorney General Pam Bondi begins listing off economic accomplishments of the Trump Administration while being questioned by lawmakers about the Epstein Files during today’s hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee: “The Dow is over 50,000 dollars! I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records! Americans 401ks and retirement savings are booming that's what we should be talking about.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi loses her cool and insults Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, as he questions her about the files during today’s hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee.

Massie: “Who's responsible? Are you able to track who in your organization made this massive failure and released the victims' names? Are you able to track who it was that obscured Les Wexner's name as a co-conspirator in an FBI document? Do you have that kind of accountability?”

Bondi: “I believe Wexner's name was listed more than 4,000 times about…”

Massie: “Yeah, I already told you that. This is where he's listed as a co-conspirator.”

Bondi: “Can I finish my answer? Come on. Let me finish my answer. We corrected that within forty minutes. He was already - you're acting like everybody's trying to cover up Wexner's name. He was listed…”

Massie: “Reclaiming my time.”

Bondi: “I'm going to answer this question.”

Massie: “Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chairman.”

Bondi: “This isn't how this works.”

Massie: “Can I have my time back? Mr. Chairman… All right, I'm reclaiming my time.”

Bondi: “Can I give my answer?”

Massie: “So I'm going to put the language of the bill up on the screen.”

Bondi: “Chairman, may I give my answer on that? It's a political joke, and I need to give my answer on that.”

Chairman: “We'll let the Attorney General respond, and then the gentleman can move to his next question.”

Bondi: “Within forty minutes, you asked me a question. Within forty minutes, Wexner's name was added back in.”

Massie: “Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed.”

Bondi: “There was one redaction out of over 4,700.”

Massie: “Where he was listed as a co-conspirator!”

Bondi: “And we invited you in - this guy has Trump Derangement Syndrome. You're a failed politician. You need to get on with things that matter.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi refuses to look at survivors of Jeffrey Epstein who stand with their hands raised during today’s hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee.

Speaking to reporters after today’s hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee by Attorney General Pam Bondi regarding the Epstein Files, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said: “I provided the evidence today that shows that his statements were false under oath. Kash Patel's statements were false. They are in possession, they were in possession, and they're still in possession of evidence that other men participated in the sex trafficking… She didn't answer anything. She came here just ready to talk about the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq, which seems kind of crazy to me.”

According to Fox News, the high-energy counter-drone laser was in the possession of the the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs & Border Protection (CBP) when it was used to mistakenly shoot down a birthday balloon near El Paso, Texas earlier this week, resulting in this morning’s Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an agreement for the Pentagon to loan the directed energy counter-drone technology to Homeland Security, however, this does not appear to have been clearly communicated to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), sources have told Fox News.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright meeting today with the Acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez in the capital Caracas.

During today’s hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared to have several pages with the Epstein Files search history of a number of Democrat lawmakers on the committee, suggesting that the Justice Department is regularly tracking what documents and files in the Epstein Library are searched for by members of Congress, according to CBS News.

Two KC-135 “Stratotanker” Aerial-Refueling Tankers with the U.S. Air Force have departed Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and are heading southwest, preparing to refuel two B-52H “Stratofortress” Long-Range Strategic Bombers that left Andersen Air Force Base in Guam tonight for a “show of force” directed at China near Taiwan. This is the second such mission by the B-52s forward deployed to Guam since the beginning of February.

Two Sailors suffered minor injuries Wednesday when the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS Truxtun (DDG-103), and the Supply-class fast combat support ship, USNS Supply (T-AOE-6), collided while transferring fuel during a replenishment-at-sea in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).