Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Modly’s out: “Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has resigned, two defense officials said, a day after he ridiculed and then apologized to a captain he had ousted for raising concerns about a coronavirus outbreak on his aircraft carrier.”
* I’ll have more on this in the morning: “President Donald Trump has removed a top Pentagon official leading the committee tasked with overseeing implementation of the $2 trillion coronavirus law, putting his own pick in place.”
* Texas: “A federal appeals court Tuesday threw out a judge’s order blocking the state from banning abortions during the virus pandemic. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 that Texas acted properly in including abortion in the list of non-medically necessary procedures that would be delayed.”
* So many warnings: “In late January, President Trump’s economic adviser Peter Navarro warned his White House colleagues the novel coronavirus could take more than half a million American lives and cost close to $6 trillion, according to memos obtained by Axios.”
* Another senator facing scrutiny: “U.S. Sen. David Perdue’s financial portfolio saw heavy trading during the month of March, a period during which Congress passed three different spending bills to address the spread of COVID-19 and the markets took a turn for the worse.”
* Following up on Michael Atkinson’s ouster: “Senators are responding to President Donald Trump’s firing of the intelligence community’s top watchdog with a muddled message, with some calling for hearings and others saying lawmakers have far more important issues to tackle.” * Good news on the Kentucky senator’s condition: “Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday he has recovered from coronavirus, after testing positive last month.” * Quite a sight: “In a sign of the times, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) on Tuesday became the first member of the House to preside over the chamber wearing a face covering during the coronavirus crisis.” 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."
Latest Post
Recommended
