Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The national emergency declaration: “President Donald Trump on Friday announced a new series of measures to combat the coronavirus and treat those who are affected while pushing back on criticism that his administration was unprepared to confront the pandemic.”
* Wall Street: “The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled, soared, and then closed with a gain of 1,900 points after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday.”
* Testing: “President Donald Trump said Friday that he would ‘most likely’ get tested for coronavirus but denied it was because he interacted with a man who later tested positive.”
* On the Hill: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House will vote on a bill Friday to provide economic relief to communities affected by the coronavirus outbreak, but remained mum on whether the legislation was backed by the White House.”
* Meanwhile, in the Middle East: “The U.S. launched airstrikes on weapons storage facilities in Iraq in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed two U.S. service members and a British soldier, the Defense Department said Thursday.”
* Ric Grenell, hard at work: “The acting director of national intelligence imposed a hiring freeze and ordered a review of the agency’s personnel and mission, officials announced Thursday, an effort that some intelligence officers viewed as politically motivated.” * I don’t mean to kick a guy when he’s down, but c’mon: “Even as former Rep. Duncan Hunter insisted publicly that he never mishandled campaign donations — allegations he later admitted to in U.S. District Court — the Republican from Alpine was deliberately hiding his criminal behavior, federal prosecutors said in a filing Tuesday.” * Oh my: “The New York State attorney general has issued a cease-and-desist order to Alex Jones, the conservative radio host, alarmed by false claims on his website that his diet supplements and toothpaste could be used to fight the coronavirus.” 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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