Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The defense rests: “Lawyers for Donald Trump rested their case Tuesday without calling him to testify in the first criminal trial of a former president — and after a defense witness got into a heated back and forth with one of the prosecutors.”
* In Tehran: “The sudden death of a leader will shake any country, but the crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi comes at a particularly precarious moment for Iran and the Middle East as a whole. The Islamic Republic is a regional giant that can ill afford a wobble at the top.”
* An important missed opportunity: “The Biden administration was poised to send about a dozen detainees at Guantánamo Bay to Oman for resettlement last year, but it abruptly halted the secret operation amid questions from Congress about security in the Middle East after Hamas attacked Israel, according to administration officials. None of the prisoners have ever been charged with crimes, and all of them had been cleared for transfer by national security review panels.”
* In Niger: “U.S. troops ordered out of Niger by the West African country’s ruling junta will complete their withdrawal by the middle of September, the Pentagon and Nigerien defense officials said Sunday. The timeline was the product of four days of talks between the countries’ defense officials in the capital city of Niamey, according to a joint statement.”
* Following through on the PACT Act: “President Joe Biden, aiming to highlight his legislative accomplishments this election year, traveled to New Hampshire on Tuesday to discuss how he’s helped military veterans get benefits as a result of burn pit or other toxic exposure during their service.”
* This doesn’t sound good: “Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of former President Donald Trump’s social networking site Truth Social, lost more than $300 million last quarter, according to its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.” * The ongoing investigation in New York City: “An aide to Mayor Eric Adams who served as his longtime liaison to the Turkish community has turned against him and is cooperating with the corruption investigation into Mr. Adams and his 2021 campaign, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.” * This is the weirdest European story I’ve read in a while: “Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, the obscure aristocrat who wanted to become German chancellor, and eight men and women who planned to bring him into power by violently overthrowing the government, went on trial on Tuesday in Frankfurt. Nearly a year and a half after a spectacular nationwide raid involving 3,000 police officers at 150 locations that the authorities say foiled a bizarre, far-right plan to seize power, the prince and the plotters will start facing justice. It is expected to be one of the most complex court cases since West Germany tried Auschwitz concentration camp commanders in the 1960s.” 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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