Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Capitol Hill: “A vote to rap President Donald Trump for his tweets about four Democratic House members was trapped in partisan gridlock Tuesday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to the ‘president’s racist tweets.’”
* In related news: “Two days after President Donald Trump attacked four Democratic congresswomen, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that ‘the tone of all of this is not good for the country,’ but declined to call the president’s remarks racist.”
* Attorney General William Barr reportedly made the final decision on this: “A New York City police officer will not face federal charges in the death of Eric Garner, the unarmed black man heard in a video repeatedly saying ‘I can’t breathe’ after he was put in an apparent chokehold, according to a person familiar with the case.”
* Roger Stone: “A judge admonished Roger Stone on Tuesday for violating a gag order before imposing a court-mandated social media blackout on the political trickster and longtime friend of President Donald Trump…. ‘What am I supposed to do with you?’ she asked rhetorically.”
* Challenging Trump’s new asylum policy: “A coalition of immigrant advocacy groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the Trump administration in a federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the implementation of a new policy disqualifying most asylum seekers who pass through Mexico before reaching the United States.”
* Reparations bill: “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he supports legislation that would create a commission to study reparations for the descendants of enslaved black people in the United States.”
* Um, what? “Police in Italy recovered Nazi paraphernalia, guns, and a missile during a Monday operation that was part of a year-long investigation into ‘Italian fighters with extreme ideologies.’” * EPA: “The Environmental Protection Agency selected top science advisers by a secret process that ignored federal guidelines, tapping many members from industry rather than academia without documenting its justification, a government watchdog found.” * I found it bizarre he needed a phonetic spelling of the terrorist network’s name: “President Donald Trump on Monday falsely claimed that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has praised Al Qaeda. During his remarks he held notes that seemingly included the wrong spelling of the terror group’s name: ‘Alcaida.’” 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
