Today’s edition of quick hits:
* DOJ: “The Trump administration’s release of notes documenting President Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has raised questions about Trump’s relationship with his attorney general and whether he views William Barr as someone whose job includes advocating for him on personal matters.”
* Maguire later denied this: “The acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign over concerns that the White House might attempt to force him to stonewall Congress when he testifies Thursday about an explosive whistleblower complaint about the president, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.”
* Fine tuned machine: “In the hours after the release Wednesday of the rough transcript of President Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House circulated an email with proposed talking points for Trump’s defenders. Unfortunately for the White House, the email was mistakenly sent to not only Republicans but also Democratic lawmakers and their staff.”
* Israel’s government: “Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday tapped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party to form a new government after receiving the final results of last week’s deadlocked election.”
* A case we’ve been keeping an eye on: “A judge has stayed an order for President Trump to testify in a legal dispute brought by protesters who say Trump’s security guards assaulted them during his campaign.”
* Oh, Illinois: “FBI agents carried materials in bankers’ boxes and grocery bags out of the Illinois Capitol building on Tuesday, and multiple media outlets reported that and other raids were linked to a Democratic state senator.”
* Bijan Rafiekian’s name will probably be familiar to those who watch the show regularly: “A federal court in Virginia acquitted a former business associated of Michael Flynn on Tuesday, throwing out his July conviction by a jury on two counts of violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act during his work on behalf of Turkey.” * An outrageous story: “In late 2017, the New York Times received an urgent warning from a U.S. official. Egyptian authorities were looking to arrest Declan Walsh, the newspaper’s reporter in Cairo, according to its publisher. It’s not unusual for a large media organization to get tipped off about threats to its journalists overseas, particularly those reporting on authoritarian governments. But what was striking is what the official said next: The Trump administration had tried to keep the warning about Walsh from ever reaching the Times.” * I think we know where this is headed: “A Republican-led Senate committee has voted along party lines to approve President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved lawyer Eugene Scalia’s nomination, 12-11, clearing the way for the full Senate to vote.” See you tomorrow.
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
