Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Under the circumstances, a call like this is tricky: “President Trump phoned his longtime confidant, Michael D. Cohen, to ‘check in’ on Friday as lawyers for the two men went to court to block the Justice Department from reading seized documents related to Mr. Cohen’s decade of work for Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with the call.”
* A thumb in Jeff Sessions’ eye: “President Trump has promised a top Senate Republican that he will support congressional efforts to protect states that have legalized marijuana — defusing a months-long standoff between Sen. Cory Gardner and the administration over Justice Department nominees.”
* In support of Trump’s confusion: “President Donald Trump issued a surprise executive order late on Thursday to request an audit of the U.S. Postal Service’s finances, adding some administrative force to his recent fiery and unfounded claims that the service was losing money by acting as ‘delivery boy’ for Amazon.”
* Tapes? “President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week.”
* On a related note: “Federal agents who raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room this week seized recordings, sources familiar with the raid tell ABC News.”
* The right call: “The Justice Department cannot require that local police departments help immigration agents in order to receive federal funding, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling is a significant victory for local governments that have opposed the Trump administration’s stance on immigration and vowed to stay out of enforcement efforts.” * This will not help Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ (R) standing with voters: “The hiring of a Washington-based lawyer to defend the governor’s office against the threat of impeachment is costing Missouri taxpayers $320 an hour, the Post-Dispatch has learned.” * Hmm: “The story of how The National Enquirer’s owner bought and spiked a story about an alleged Donald Trump ‘love child’ is now roiling the media world, as The Associated Press acknowledged having decided not to publish it last August, before turning around and doing so on Thursday morning. Other outlets now admit they, too, had worked on the story before backing off.” 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
