Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Trump on the stand: “Former President Donald Trump took the witness stand in a federal courthouse in New York City Thursday, where he testified for just under five minutes after clashing with the judge in the damages trial for E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him.”
* A diplomatic effort worth watching: “CIA Director Bill Burns will meet with Israel’s Mossad director, David Barnea, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani this weekend in Europe to try to further negotiations to secure the release of hostages being held in Gaza.”
* Only the 10th veto of Biden’s term: “President Biden on Wednesday vetoed a Republican-led effort that could have thwarted the administration’s plans to invest $7.5 billion to build electric vehicle charging stations across the country. In issuing the veto, Mr. Biden argued that the congressional resolution would have hurt domestic manufacturing as well as the clean energy transition.”
* Rand Paul was the only member who opposed this: “A U.S. Senate committee approved legislation on Wednesday that would help set the stage for the United States to confiscate Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine for rebuilding after the destruction of the nearly two-year-long war. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 20 to 1 in favor of the unprecedented ‘Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act.’”
* It had an amazing run that exceeded all expectations: “NASA’s little Mars helicopter has flown its last flight. The space agency announced Thursday that the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) chopper named Ingenuity can no longer fly because of rotor blade damage. While it remains upright and in contact with flight controllers, its $85 million mission is officially over, officials said.”
* All is not well in Oklahoma: “On Tuesday, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, Ryan Walters, announced he was appointing right-wing social media influencer Chaya Raichik — best known for her controversial Libs of TikTok social media accounts — to an advisory role on the state’s Library Media Advisory Committee. That will allow her to help determine which books are appropriate for Oklahoma school libraries.”
* All is not well on the platform formerly known as Twitter, either: “Since taking control of the site, [Elon] Musk has dismantled the platform’s system for flagging false election content, arguing it amounted to election interference. Now, his early election-year attacks on a tried-and-true voting method are raising alarms among civil rights lawyers, election administrators and Democrats.”
* I had no idea this had gotten so out of hand: “The recruitment is so competitive that signing bonuses for Supreme Court law clerks have reached a new high — $500,000, according to a spokeswoman for law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Such a sum far exceeds the salaries paid to the justices — the clerks’ former bosses — who are paid slightly less than $300,000 a year.”
* My condolences to the senator and his family: “Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-Wyo.) wife, Bobbi, has died from brain cancer, his office announced Thursday. … Barrasso’s office confirmed Bobbi died at home in Casper, Wyo. on Wednesday night after a two-year battle with a Glioblastoma brain tumor. She was 70 years old.”
See you tomorrow.
