Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Ukraine: “A wave of Russian missile strikes hit critical infrastructure across Ukraine on Monday, leaving most of the capital without water, after Moscow blamed Kyiv for an attack on its Black Sea fleet and said it had pulled out of a crucial deal to allow grain shipments.”
* The future of a critically important grain agreement: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of creating ‘conditions of artificial famine’ and suggested it should be expelled from the G-20 group of nations on Saturday after Moscow withdrew from a crucial grain export deal.”
* Federal charges: “The Justice Department on Monday filed two charges in federal court against the suspect in Friday’s brutal attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Prosecutors charged the suspected assailant, David DePape, 42, with attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to retaliate against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member.”
* SCOTUS: “Conservative Supreme Court justices on Monday indicated they are willing to end the explicit consideration of race in college admissions as they weighed cases challenging affirmative action policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University.”
* Important guilty plea: “An accused key co-conspirator who longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio allegedly said proposed storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has pleaded guilty in a deal with U.S. prosecutors, Tarrio’s lawyers revealed Friday.”
* Good start, Elon: “Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, tweeted and deleted an unfounded anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory Sunday morning about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband from a website that has a history of publishing false information.”
* On a related note: “An emboldened cast of anonymous trolls spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours after billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over the social network, raising fears that his pledge of unrestricted free speech could fuel a new wave of online hate.”
* Eastman emails: “Congressional investigators have obtained eight disputed emails that attorney John Eastman — a key architect of Donald Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election — had asked a federal appeals court to shield from lawmakers.” * In related news: “In a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol described the actions of Kelli Ward, the head of Arizona’s Republican Party, in the weeks leading to the riot as tantamount to a seizing of government power. ‘Dr. Ward aided a coup attempt,’ the Friday filing reads.” * Of course he did: “Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked the Supreme Court to block a congressional committee from accessing his tax records as a long-running legal battle reaches its final stage.” * Another former Steve Bannon associate: “A Colorado businessman was convicted Friday of charges that he and others siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from an online fundraiser to build a wall along the U.S. southern border despite a promise to donors that every cent would go toward building the wall.” See you tomorrow.
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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