Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The votes on Democratic amendments in the impeachment trial are underway: “The Senate voted on party lines to kill the first Schumer amendment, which would have subpoenaed the White House for documents related to Ukraine.”
* Given how Trump responded to Ebola in 2014, I shudder to think what he’ll do with this: “Federal health officials confirmed Tuesday that a case of the new coronavirus has been diagnosed in Washington state, just north of Seattle.”
* He seems to enjoy threatening traditional U.S. allies: “President Trump said Tuesday that he is serious about imposing tariffs on European automobiles if he can’t strike a trade agreement with the European Union. ‘They know that I’m going to put tariffs on them if they don’t make a deal that’s a fair deal,’ Mr. Trump said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.”
* An important church-state case: “The Supreme Court takes up the sensitive issue of religion in public life Wednesday, considering whether states violate the Constitution if they prevent religious groups from receiving some state benefits.”
* Hmm: “Documents apparently generated by Cambridge Analytica suggest that the political consulting firm had a contractual relationship with Kenneth Braithwaite in the year before he was nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Norway in 2017. Braithwaite, who President Trump has said will be his nominee for Secretary of the Navy, made no mention of an agreement in his required government disclosure form, and says he never entered one.”
* A good look at presidential corruption: “In three years in the White House, Donald Trump has accomplished something no president before him has done: fusing his private business interests with America’s highest public office.”
* Guantanamo: “James Mitchell will be the first witness to describe the torture of detainees in the secret prisons — some at his own hands — in the trial of the men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks.” * The American College of Physicians: “With health care an election-year priority, a major doctors’ organization on Monday called for sweeping government action to guarantee coverage for all, reduce costs and improve the basic well-being of Americans.” * Putting aside concerns about Glenn Greenwald’s work, this appears to be an autocratic government trying to intimidate and shut down a journalist, and it’s inexcusable: “Federal prosecutors in Brazil on Tuesday charged the American journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes for his role in bringing to light cellphone messages that have embarrassed prosecutors and tarnished the image of an anti-corruption task force.” 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." Recommended
