Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Today’s school shooting: “Two teens at a Maryland high school were shot Tuesday after another student opened fire in the hallway just before the start of classes, authorities said. The shooter — identified as Austin Wyatt Rollins, 17 — was injured and taken to the hospital, where he died, St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron said at a news conference.”
* Cambridge Analytica: “Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm that has been the focus of a series of investigative reports by NBC News’ U.K. partner, ITN Channel 4 News, has been suspended, the company announced Tuesday.”
* In related news: “As Facebook grapples with a backlash over its role in spreading disinformation, an internal dispute over how to handle the threat and the public outcry is resulting in the departure of a senior executive.”
* I’ll have more on this tomorrow: “President Trump on Tuesday congratulated President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on his recent re-election victory, but failed to ask him about either the fairness of the Russian vote, which Mr. Putin won with a lopsided margin, or about allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.”
* In response to reports that former Solicitor General Ted Olson may be joining Trump’s legal defense team, Olson published a tweet this afternoon making clear that neither he nor his firm will be representing the president.
* It’s too late to take this back: “Joseph diGenova, the newest member of President Donald Trump’s legal team for the Russia investigation, wrote in a 1997 op-ed that the nation ‘could conceivably benefit from the indictment of a president’ because ‘it would teach the valuable civics lesson that no one is above the law.’” * This guy again: “As D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) tried Monday to apologize for a Facebook post in which he claimed that Jewish financiers control the climate, new footage released by the city showed it wasn’t the first time he had made such comments.” * File this away for future reference: “U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., says he has ‘no idea’ what he’ll do once he leaves Congress in January, but he does know one thing his future won’t include: Following the well-worn Washington path from lawmaker to hired-gun lobbyist.” 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
