Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Iran’s plot: “The Department of Justice on Friday charged an Iranian man in a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate then-candidate Donald Trump and two others in a plot to kill an American journalist critical of Tehran. Iran’s government directed these actors to ‘target our citizens, including President-elect Trump, on U.S. soil and abroad,’ Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a news release.”
* In the Gulf: “Rafael was moving west across the Gulf of Mexico on Friday morning as the first major hurricane in the Gulf in November for almost 40 years, bringing the threat of life-threatening conditions to the southern United States coastline. Forecasters said the storm could cause dangerous surf and riptides across the whole Gulf region in the coming days, after causing havoc in Cuba where millions are still without power.”
* Indefensible: “Roving gangs on scooters attacked and beat Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, overnight in an outburst of what authorities called antisemitic violence.”
* In Moscow: “Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory in his first public comment on the U.S. vote. … Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the Kremlin is not ruling out the possibility of contact between Putin and Trump before the inauguration, given that Trump ‘said he would call Putin before the inauguration.’”
* The latest Jan. 6 prison sentence: “A Jan. 6 rioter who was the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories suggesting he was a plant who worked with law enforcement was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday, among the longest prison sentences given in connection with the U.S. Capitol attack.”
* Trump names his fourth chief of staff, and things didn’t go especially well with the first three: “President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named co-campaign chair Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, one of the most important nonelected posts in Washington. She will be the first woman in that role.” * I’ll just go ahead and answer your question now and note that this ruling was issued by a Trump-appointed judge in Texas: “A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down a new Biden administration program that sought to provide a path to U.S. citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants married to American citizens.” * An important investigation: “A wave of racist text messages summoning Black people to report for slavery showed up on phones across the United States, prompting the scrutiny of the F.B.I. The N.A.A.C.P. said that messages were received in nine states, and attorneys general in at least four other states reported the same.” Have a safe weekend.
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."
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