Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.

The Trump administration says a U.S. military laser shot down what it said was a drug cartel drone near El Paso on the U.S.-Mexico border.

However, it now appears the target may have actually been a party balloon. NPR's Greg Mirey has the details.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the military and the Federal Aviation Administration, quote,

acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.

The threat has been neutralized.

The FAA also announced the highly unusual step of closing El Paso's airspace for 10 days,

then lifted the ban several hours later.

However, a U.S. official familiar with the matter, but not authorized to speak publicly,

gave NPR's Tom Bowman a different account. The source said the Pentagon recently authorized

customs and border protection to use the high-energy laser. The agency then shot down a suspected drone,

but it now appears the object was a Mylar party balloon that posed no threat. Greg Myrie, MPR News, Washington.

Attorney General Pam Bondi sparred with Democrats on Capitol Hill today as they pressed her on

the release of files related

to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the Justice Department's targeting of President

Trump's perceived enemies. NPR's Ryan Lucas explains.

Democrats grew very frustrated at times. Here's one exchange between Bondi and the panel's

top Democrat, Maryland's Jamie Raskin.

You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch.

Not on our time.

No way. And I told you about that, Attorney General, before you started. You don't tell me anything. Yeah, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate. He was a law. You're not even a lawyer. Raskin was a constitutional law professor. Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson described Bondi's testimony as a sort of Jekyll and Hyde act.

He said she was nice to Republicans. a constitutional law professor. Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson described Bondi's testimony as a sort of Jekyll and Hyde Act.

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