Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The Russia/Ukraine crisis: “The U.S. has intelligence about a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine using a fake video involving actors, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Thursday.”
* Jan. 6 fallout: “A former West Virginia lawmaker who stormed the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot has reached a plea deal. Derrick Evans filmed himself entering the Capitol just a few weeks after he was sworn in as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Evans was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, just one day after the Capitol attack, and resigned from state government days later.”
* New subpoena of note: “The Jan. 6 select committee has subpoenaed the phone records of Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, who both signed documents falsely claiming to be among their state’s presidential electors in 2020.”
* Media news out of Europe: “Germany’s media regulator announced Wednesday that it will ban the German-language TV channel of Russian state broadcaster RT, which was previously taken off air in December.”
* In related news: “Russia is to expel the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) in retaliation for a German ban on broadcasts by Russia’s RT.”
* USPS: “A senior House Democrat called on Wednesday for the resignation of Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, saying he flouted President Biden’s plan to electrify the federal fleet by placing a multibillion-dollar order for mostly gasoline-powered vehicles.” * What a bizarre story: “A South Texas butterfly center that has fought efforts to build barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border will close to the public for the immediate future due to unspecified threats, according to an announcement by the nonprofit organization.” * Regulations are good: “The fertilizer plant housing some 600 tons of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate did not have a sprinkler system or an alarm in the building where a massive fire started on Monday, officials with the Winston-Salem Fire Department said Wednesday. ‘They did not have alarms or sprinklers,’ said Angela Sowell, a deputy fire marshal. ‘They were not required to. The code depends on the year it was actually built.’” 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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