Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Keep a close eye on this one: “President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed the idea of allowing Bahamians fleeing the destruction of Hurricane Dorian into the United States on humanitarian grounds, hours after his acting Customs and Border Protection chief said it was worth considering.”
* NOAA: “The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s acting chief scientist said that he would investigate why the agency backed President Donald Trump’s claims about Hurricane Dorian hitting Alabama over its own forecasters.”
* In related news: “Also on Monday, the director of the National Weather Service broke with NOAA leadership over its handling of Trump’s Dorian tweets and statements.”
* Whether this will remain his position, no one knows: “President Trump declared that peace talks with the Taliban were ‘dead, as far as I’m concerned,’ saying he called off a meeting at Camp David after the militant group in Afghanistan killed 12 people, including one American soldier.”
* This is bound to be interesting: “House Democrats announced Monday that they will investigate the role of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, in what they characterized as efforts to influence the government of Ukraine to help the Trump re-election campaign.”
* In related news: “The Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee are urging the White House to release security assistance funds for Ukraine meant to deter Russia.” * I was wholly unaware of the old policies: “Several more of the country’s most ubiquitous retail chains said this week that they will ask customers to refrain from openly carrying guns in their stores. The requests, days after Walmart announced a similar policy, marked a notable shift in the debate about the presence of guns in everyday life in the United States.” * Graham’s office later said the senator did not know who Wilders was: “Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) appeared in a photo with Geert Wilders, a controversial Dutch parliamentary leader with anti-Islam and anti-immigrant views, while both attended a European security conference in Italy.” See you tomorrow.
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
