Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Quite a story: “Sam Nunberg, a former Donald Trump campaign aide, plans to defy a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller requesting campaign documents related to the Russia investigation, saying Monday that it would be ‘really funny’ if he were arrested.”
* This will have a series of repercussions: “Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., citing poor health, announced Monday that he will resign April 1 from the Senate, leaving just 50 seats in the 100-seat chamber held by Republicans. Cochran, who is chairman of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee, has been ill since at least last year.”
* Until he changes his mind: “President Donald Trump had a message for Hill Republicans unhappy with his new trade policy: Get used to it.”
* A political resolution in Europe: “Germany’s Social Democrats voted in favor of forming another government with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, ending nearly six months of political limbo and setting Europe’s economic powerhouse on a path to the political stability it craves — at least for now.”
* Meanwhile, in Italy: “The leaders of two anti-establishment parties have each claimed they have the right to govern Italy, after voters in Europe’s fourth-largest economy did not return a majority to any single party.”
* It’s unclear whether this actually happened: “President Trump said Saturday that North Korea has recently sought talks with the United States and that he ‘won’t rule out direct talks with Kim Jong Un,’ the North Korean leader.”
* Quite a story: “Internal NYPD files show that hundreds of officers who committed the most serious offenses — from lying to grand juries to physically attacking innocent people — got to keep their jobs, their pensions, and their tremendous power over New Yorkers’ lives.” * The Administrative Procedure Act: “In recent weeks, federal judges have blocked the administration’s attempts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), postpone a rule giving low-income families broader access to housing in wealthier neighborhoods, and delay an environmental regulation requiring oil and gas companies to reduce methane leaks. All of these Trump policy changes have hit the same stumbling block.” * Everyone seems to know how to manipulate the president: “Supporters of the tariffs have begun broadcasting televised ads in recent days during programs that Mr. Trump has been known to watch. One such ad ran on Fox News minutes before the president’s Twitter post on Thursday morning.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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." Recommended
