Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Keep a close eye on this one: “Elmer Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers, has been indicted and arrested over his organization’s alleged involvement in planning the Jan. 6 attack…. Rhodes and the 10 other individuals were charged with “seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes” related to the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, said the DOJ.”
* His pessimism was notable: “President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed uncertainty over whether his party would be able to pass voting rights legislation through Congress after he emerged from a closed-door luncheon with Senate Democrats.”
* Important subpoenas: “The House committee investigating Jan. 6 subpoenaed Reddit, Twitter and the parent companies of Google and Facebook on Thursday after their “inadequate responses” to requests for information about what the companies did and didn’t do in the lead-up to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.”
* Worthwhile deployments: “The federal government is sending military medical teams to six states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan and New Mexico — to help hospitals overburdened by COVID-19, President Joe Biden announced Thursday.”
* An ongoing crisis: “Russian officials signaled that they could abandon diplomatic efforts to resolve the security crisis surrounding Ukraine, bringing a whirlwind week of European diplomacy to an ominous end and deflating hopes that negotiators could forge a path toward easing tensions in Eastern Europe.” * Would House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defy a subpoena from his own chamber? “In a contentious news conference, McCarthy repeatedly evaded questions about whether he would defy a subpoena from the committee, and he accused the investigation of being ‘pure politics.’” * USPS: “The new chair of the U.S. Postal Board of Governors endorsed the leadership of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and called on lawmakers to approve a sweeping financial reform measure. The board on Wednesday unanimously elected Roman Martinez, a retired investment banker as chair after President Joe Biden declined to renominate Ron Bloom to a new term on the board.” 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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