Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Greg Craig: “Former White House counsel Greg Craig was indicted by a grand jury Thursday for allegedly making false statements to the Department of Justice about work performed for Ukraine in 2012.”
* Louisiana: “A suspect in custody in connection with fires at three historically black churches in Louisiana was identified Thursday morning as Holden Matthews, 21, the son of a local sheriff’s deputy, a source briefed on the investigation told NBC News.”
* Ignoring subpoenas can be risky: “The House Committee on Oversight and Reform threatened Thursday to hold a Justice Department official in contempt of Congress after the agency refused to comply with a subpoena seeking testimony and documents related to the 2020 census citizenship question.”
* I wonder whom he was referring to: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country needs to deliver a ‘telling blow’ to those imposing sanctions by ensuring its economy is more self-reliant, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday.”
* Oct. 31: “About 48 hours before Britain was scheduled to crash out of the European Union, its Brexit deadline was postponed until Halloween. The extension came after a high-stakes, six-hour summit in Brussels that ended early Thursday morning.”
* This seems unnecessary: “The White House on Thursday for the first time said it was requiring the Federal Reserve and other independent agencies to submit new guidelines for review, a controversial step that has long been a goal of conservative groups.”
* It appears he’ll need a good lawyer: “Michael Avenatti, former attorney for Stormy Daniels, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in California on 36 counts, including embezzling from a paraplegic, court documents released Thursday show.” * Did AMI not know what it was getting? “American Media Inc. said Wednesday that the National Enquirer is up for sale. The company, run by chief executive David Pecker, a friend of President Donald Trump, said in a statement that it had decided to change direction and the tabloid title no longer fit with its portfolio of assets.” * And speaking of the president’s favorite supermarket tabloid: “Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is scheduled to meet with federal prosecutors in New York as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The meeting signals that the US attorney’s office is escalating its inquiry connected to Bezos’s suggestion that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was behind a National Enquirer story that exposed his extramarital affair and his claim that the tabloid attempted to extort him.” 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
