Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate Rick Gates both “entered not guilty pleas at their arraignment inside a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., on Monday afternoon.”
* A federal judge today “partially blocked the Trump Administration’s proposed transgender military ban, writing in a strongly worded opinion that the policy ‘does not appear to be supported by any facts.’”
* U.S. troops captured a suspect in the 2012 Benghazi attack: “The man, Mustafa al-Imam, was caught on Sunday in the area of Misurata, Libya, brought aboard an America warship and will be taken to the United States to face criminal charges.”
* Vice President Mike Pence visited North Dakota’s Minot Air Force Base, home to 26 B-52 bombers and 150 intercontinental ballistic missile sites, and told servicemen and women on Friday, “Now, more than ever, your commander in chief is depending on you to be ready.”
* Las Vegas: “As hundreds of survivors struggle to recover emotionally and physically from the Oct. 1 attack, they are beginning to come to terms with the financial toll of the violence perpetrated against them. Even those who are insured could face untold costs in a city they were only visiting.” * Scott Lloyd: “Since his appointment in March as director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services, Lloyd has prohibited undocumented minors in federal custody from obtaining abortions. He has instructed subordinates to prevent these minors from meeting with attorneys and from going to court to request permission to terminate their pregnancies. He has personally met with multiple minors to coerce them to carry their unwanted pregnancies to term.” * A civic duty: “Former President Barack Obama has been busy since he left the Oval Office, but that packed schedule doesn’t mean that he’s immune from doing his civic duty. According to Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, the former president has been called for jury duty, and he will serve next month.” 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
