Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A scary thought: “President Donald Trump’s calls for the United States to ‘take over’ and ‘develop’ the Gaza Strip have handed jihadist terrorist groups a rallying cry to recruit and inspire attacks against Americans at home and abroad, security experts and former intelligence officials say.”
* Not a great start: “Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday rejected the idea of holding talks with the Trump administration, saying that experience had shown it was ‘not rational, intelligent, or honorable’ to do so.”
* At the FBI: “A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to keep confidential a list of F.B.I. agents and employees who worked on investigations into rioters from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.”
* The ongoing USAID tragedy: “The U.S. Agency of International Development is expected to be reduced to about 290 workers from the more than 5,000 foreign service officers, civil servants and personal service contractors it currently employs, according to two sources familiar with the plans. Most of the approximately 3,000 institutional support contractors have already been fired or furloughed. The status of the approximately 5,000 foreign service nationals serving around the world is not yet clear.”
* On a related note, this was a genuinely depressing sight: “Letter by letter, crews removed the signage displaying ‘U.S. Agency for International Development’ from the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington where the agency’s headquarters once was. The seal was also covered.”
* I wish this were more surprising: “At least three people in three states have been arrested recently on charges that they had impersonated immigration agents or police officers to threaten others amid mounting efforts by the Trump administration to increase deportations.” * A crisis at a prominent international nonprofit: “Catholic Relief Services is bracing for massive cuts — as much as 50% this year — because of draconian reductions in U.S. foreign assistance ordered by the Trump administration, according to an internal email from the chief executive of the international relief organization.” * We live in a ridiculous timeline: “The White House has directed the General Services Administration to terminate ‘every single media contract’ expensed by the agency, according to an email obtained by Axios.” 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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