Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Trump’s latest legal defeat: “A federal appeals court decided Wednesday that the Trump administration may not withhold federal funds from California’s immigrant-friendly ‘sanctuary’ cities and counties.”
* Speaking of courtrooms, the second day of Paul Manafort’s trial was pretty lively.
* Trade war: “President Trump has instructed his top trade representative to consider imposing a 25 percent tariff on $200 billion in Chinese imports, a stiffer penalty than previously proposed, senior administration officials said Wednesday.”
* Following up on a story we talked about yesterday: “A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday to stop the release of blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns, saying they could end up in the wrong hands.”
* Team Mueller outsources another case: “Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, has referred three investigations into possible illicit foreign lobbying by Washington insiders to federal prosecutors in New York who are already handling the case against President Trump’s former lawyer, according to multiple people familiar with the cases.”
* A diplomatic breakthrough in northeastern Africa: “Eritrea and Somalia plan to establish diplomatic relations, their presidents said on Monday, the latest sign of thawing relations across the Horn of Africa following Eritrea’s rapprochement with Ethiopia.” * Mark Warner is starting a worthwhile conversation: “The Senate’s best-known tech magnate and top Intelligence Committee Democrat has identified a set of 20 legislative proposals to combat the proliferation of disinformation campaigns on social media platforms, as the panel prepares to scrutinize the practices of such companies in hearings over the next several weeks.” * As political sex scandals go, this one’s a little different: Illinois state Rep. Nick Sauer (R) resigned today “after allegations surfaced that he posted his ex-girlfriend’s nude photos to a fake Instagram account to trick men into having sexually graphic conversations with him, according to several reports.” Yeah, I had to read that one twice, too. [Correction: I’d originally misidentified the resigning lawmaker. This text has been corrected.] 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
