Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Diplomacy: “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States has been having direct talks with North Korea ‘at extremely high levels’ to try to arrange a summit between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.”
* Unexpected: “The Supreme Court said Tuesday that part of a federal law that makes it easier to deport immigrants who have been convicted of crimes is too vague to be enforced. The court’s 5-4 decision — an unusual alignment in which new Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the four liberal justices — concerns a catchall provision of immigration law that defines what makes a crime violent.”
* This apparently has to do with the governor’s charity: “Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Tuesday that his office has uncovered potential criminal wrongdoing by Gov. Eric Greitens, a fellow Republican, and has turned that evidence over to the St. Louis prosecutor.”
* Starbucks: “Amid outcry over the arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks, the coffee chain announced Tuesday it will close more than 8,000 U.S. stores for an afternoon next month to train workers in ‘racial-bias education.’”
* He’s fitting right in: “President Donald Trump’s new national economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, on Tuesday used Republicans’ go-to tactic for responding to the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the GOP tax cut law.”
* Donald Trump’s re-election campaign paid “$93,000 to a law firm earlier this year to fight back against Michael Wolff’s hotly debated White House tell-all book, ‘Fire and Fury.’ Harder LLP — founded by Charles Harder, who represented pro wrestler Hulk Hogan in his case against Gawker — received two payments for its efforts on Trump’s behalf.” * All LePage has to do is listen to Trump’s surgeon general: “Lawmakers in Maine seeking to broaden access to an opioid overdose-reversal drug are pushing back against the latest limits supported by Gov. Paul LePage, who has long argued greater availability could enable addicts.” * At an event in Miami yesterday, Trump introduced White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, who was greeted with hearty applause. “Whoa, John, that’s pretty good,” the president said of Bolton’s reception. “I didn’t expect that. I’m a little jealous…. You know that means the end of his job.” 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
