Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest from California: “At least two people have been killed as fast-moving fires are engulfing the Los Angeles area, prompting mandatory evacuations of more than 80,000 people. The Palisades Fire has already burned through more than 11,800 acres and destroyed over 1,000 structures; the Eaton Fire has exploded to 10,600 acres; the Hurst Fire has affected 700 acres; and the Woodley Fire stands at 30 acres. All of the fires are listed as 0% contained by CalFire.”
* Team Trump turns to SCOTUS: “President-elect Donald Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his New York state hush money sentencing that’s scheduled for Friday. Prosecutors have until 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday to respond to the emergency filing, so we could learn after the state responds whether the high court will block Trump’s sentencing.”
* Speaking of Trump’s legal troubles: “Special counsel Jack Smith has turned over to Attorney General Merrick Garland the completed final report on his two investigations that resulted in felony charges against President-elect Donald Trump, part of which Garland intends to make public as long as a federal appeals court vacates an injunction put in place by a Trump-appointed judge, the Justice Department said in a filing Wednesday.”
* A genocide declaration: “The United States determined Tuesday that members of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and it imposed sanctions on the group’s leader over a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes. The moves deal a blow to the RSF’s attempts to burnish its image and assert legitimacy — including by installing a civilian government- as the paramilitary group seeks to expand its territory beyond the roughly half of the country it currently controls.”
* At the White House: “President Biden said in a new interview published on Wednesday that he was considering pre-emptive pardons for people President-elect Donald J. Trump considered his political enemies, but he added that he had not yet decided what to do.”
* Hmm: “The new chair of the Senate committee that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately endorse President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency after meeting with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wrote in a tepid social media post following the meeting that he had a ‘frank’ conversation with Kennedy and that the two spoke ‘at length’ about vaccines.” * In New York City: “Federal prosecutors alleged in a recent court filing that New York City Mayor Eric Adams engaged in illegal activity beyond the bribery case laid out in a September indictment. On Monday night, officials from the Department of Justice submitted a motion to the court that mentioned the additional evidence in the ‘ongoing investigation,’ but did not go into detail about what it showed. … Adams addressed the revelations at an unrelated press conference. ‘Even Ray Charles can see what is going on,’ he said. ‘I have an attorney, Alex Spiro, who is handling that. I’ve said over and over again: I’ve done nothing wrong.’” * At the Capitol: “Two blocks from the U.S. Capitol, as the sun set Tuesday, the public began lining up to say goodbye to Jimmy Carter one last time. They stood in the snow on a dark sidewalk that hadn’t been cleared, and waited. Some had voted for the former president. Some had come around late to supporting him. Some were born well after he left office. But on a frigid winter night, they came from near and far to stand in line with hundreds of others to honor ‘a public servant,’ ‘a humble man,’ ‘a leader.’” 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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