Today’s edition of quick hits:
* EPA departure #1: “Albert ‘Kell’ Kelly, a top aide to Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt who was hired to revitalize the agency’s cleanup of toxic sites, resigned Tuesday amid scrutiny of his previous actions as the leader of a bank in Oklahoma and his lifetime ban from banking.”
* EPA departure #2: “The head of Pruitt’s personal security detail, Pasquale ‘Nino’ Perrotta, also announced his retirement from the agency.”
* A case to watch: “A coalition led by California sued the Trump administration over car emissions rules on Tuesday, escalating a revolt against a proposed rollback of fuel economy standards that threatens to split the country’s auto market.”
* Academia for sale: “Virginia’s largest public university granted the conservative Charles Koch Foundation a say in the hiring and firing of professors in exchange for millions of dollars in donations, according to newly released documents. The release of donor agreements between George Mason University and the foundation follows years of denials by university administrators that Koch foundation donations inhibit academic freedom.”
* The domestic threat: “Federal authorities say dozens of people associated with white-supremacist gangs in Texas have been arrested on charges of drug trafficking and also a kidnapping that included using a hatchet to chop off the victim’s finger. Authorities announced Monday that 57 people were charged in the conspiracies. Forty-two were arrested last week, nine were already in custody on unrelated charges and six others are being sought.”
* House GOP radicalism: “Conservative House allies of President Trump have drafted articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the ongoing special counsel probe, setting up a possible GOP showdown over the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.” * A notable response: “Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Tuesday that the Justice Department ‘is not going to be extorted’ as some House Republicans raise the prospect of seeking his impeachment.” * Our nation’s budget director: “When White House budget director Mick Mulvaney repaid personal loans to his state Senate campaign in September, he was digging himself out of a bit of a financial hole. Mulvaney had loaned his South Carolina campaign thousands of dollars to cover interest payments on other six-figure loans that he used to finance his state-level campaigns before being elected to Congress in 2010.” 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
