Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A stream-of-consciousness rant in court: “Former President Donald Trump told the judge presiding over his New York civil fraud trial that he is an ‘innocent man’ and that the lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James is ‘a fraud on me.’”
* In related news: “Police on Long Island responded Thursday morning to a bomb threat at the home of Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud case, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News.”
* Seems like the obvious next move: “The Defense Department’s inspector general has launched a formal investigation into Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to notify the White House and Congress of his emergency hospitalization. The inspector general will ‘assess whether the DoD’s policies and procedures are sufficient’ to ensure proper communication when senior leadership is unavailable for medical or other reasons.”
* Inflation data: “The annual inflation rate edged higher in December following two months of declines. However, that reversal likely isn’t cause for concern — and may be somewhat misleading, economists said.”
* All is not well among House Republicans: “Hard-right House Republicans on Thursday met with Speaker Mike Johnson and pressured him to renege on the spending deal he cut with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., just days ago. Some conservatives left the meeting proclaiming that they were successful. But Johnson, R-La., told reporters shortly thereafter that he had made no commitments to back out of the deal.”
* An important network: “The Biden administration is awarding $623 million in grants to help build an electric vehicle charging network across the nation. Grants being announced Thursday will fund 47 EV charging stations and related projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico, including 7,500 EV charging ports, officials said.” * An interesting bill: “Two House Democrats introduced legislation Wednesday that would change a Trump-era law saddling some scam victims with large tax bills on money stolen from them. The bill would reinstate a tax deduction for personal casualty losses that was removed by congressional Republicans in 2017. The deduction covered sudden or unexpected events such as floods, fires, earthquakes — and thefts.” * Maybe he should listen: “Tech billionaire Elon Musk drew a swift rebuke from two of the nation’s best known civil rights organizations Wednesday, after he criticized efforts by United Airlines and Boeing to hire nonwhite pilots and factory workers.” 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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