Today’s edition of quick hits.
* An important presidential meeting: “President Joe Biden met with the widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, and their daughter, Dasha, in California on Thursday, less than a week after her husband died in a Russian prison. … The meeting was not previously reported and didn’t appear on Biden’s official White House schedule.”
* In related news: “The Justice Department announced a series of arrests and indictments Thursday against Russian businessmen and their facilitators in five separate federal cases that span New York, Florida, Georgia and the District of Columbia. The action was timed to coincide with the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began Feb. 24, 2022.”
* Candid Biden: “Vladimir Putin is a ‘crazy SOB,’ President Joe Biden said Wednesday — a direct stab at the Russian leader that drew a furious reaction from the Kremlin.”
* Jan. 6 sentence: “A Minnesota man who repeatedly attacked police officers during the U.S. Capitol riot, wielded a police baton as a weapon and stole two riot shields was sentenced on Thursday to nearly three years in prison. Brian Mock, 44, helped remove two police barricades before he assaulted four officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege. He shoved one of the officers in the chest and knocked him onto the ground, where other rioters kicked and hit him.”
* The lower court’s ruling in this case was bizarre: “A federal appeals court panel on Thursday moved to stay a district judge’s order that cleared the release of an alleged leader of a white supremacist organization who had previously fled the U.S. to evade prosecution.”
* Sometimes, it seems the fight over marriage equality isn’t nearly as over as it should be: “Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill Wednesday allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.” * What a mess: “A judge on Thursday ruled that a Texas high school was not violating the state’s CROWN Act by punishing a Black teen over the length of his dreadlocks.” * Remember this one? “A federal judge is giving MyPillow founder and election denier Mike Lindell 30 days to pay a $5 million arbitration award for losing his ‘Prove Mike Wrong’ 2020 election challenge.” 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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