Today’s edition of quick hits:
* I have a hunch we’ll have more on this on tonight’s show: “The Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee released a report Tuesday containing a summary of the evidence it has collected in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.”
* Trump’s trade war: “President Trump signaled on Tuesday that he was in no rush to end a long trade war with China, suggesting that he could wait until after the 2020 presidential election to strike a deal and sending stock prices tumbling.”
* On a related note: “President Donald Trump returned from the long Thanksgiving weekend ready to open up a new front in his trade war. On Monday, Trump announced on Twitter that the US would impose steel and aluminum tariffs on Brazil and Argentina in response to what the president described as the countries’ ‘massive devaluation of their currencies, which is not good for our farmers.’”
* A court case of interest: “House Democrats on Monday notched another legal victory in their pursuit of critical testimony tied to their impeachment efforts, though the ruling may be short-lived because the case is already on temporary hold while it works its way toward an appeal.”
* Guns in schools: “An armed 16-year-old Wisconsin high school student confronted a school resource officer Tuesday morning, leading to an officer-involved shooting…. The shooting comes one day after an incident at another Wisconsin high school about 80 miles south of Oshkosh.”
* Here’s hoping Putin doesn’t give Trump any ideas, Part I: “The Russian government now has the right to classify individual journalists, bloggers and even social media users as ‘foreign agents’ with a new law signed by President Vladimir Putin on Monday.”
* Here’s hoping Putin doesn’t give Trump any ideas, Part II: “Russian President Putin signs legislation requiring all smartphones, computers and smart TV sets sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software.” * Impeachment process: “House Democrats are debating whether to expand articles of impeachment to include charges beyond abuse of power in the Ukraine controversy, setting up a potential internal clash as the party races to impeach President Trump by Christmastime.” * Who’s helping Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis (R) overhaul the state’s courts with far-right judges? The Federalist Society, of course. 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
