Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Capitol Hill: “The House approved a resolution Tuesday to authorize the House Judiciary Committee and other panels to go to court to enforce their subpoenas of the Trump administration.”
* North Korea: “Kim Jong Nam, the slain half brother of North Korea’s leader, was a Central Intelligence Agency source who met on several occasions with agency operatives, a person knowledgeable about the matter said.”
* Worth watching: “President Donald Trump appears to be having second thoughts about his choice of Patrick Shanahan as his next secretary of defense and asked several confidants in France last week about alternative candidates, according to four people familiar with the conversations.”
* The Justice Department yesterday “offered new insight into what it called a ‘broad’ and ‘multifaceted’ review of the origins of the Russia investigation, and sought to assure lawmakers that the probe ordered by President Donald Trump would work to protect sensitive intelligence at the heart of it.”
* I wonder what he’ll say: “President Donald Trump’s eldest son will meet with the Senate intelligence committee Wednesday behind closed doors, according to two people familiar with the meeting.”
* Missouri: “A St. Louis judge issued another order Monday to keep Missouri’s only abortion clinic operating while a fight over the facility’s license plays out in court.” * A notable poll: “It has been two months since the Trump administration put the president’s ban on transgender people in the military into effect, and it has been two years since Trump first announced the ban in tweets that surprised even military leaders. But Trump isn’t convincing even his own supporters of the need for the ban.” * Something to clip and save for future reference: “‘It’s that bad’: A timeline of NRA’s recent inner turmoil.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
