Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Garland in Ukraine: “Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Friday, a Department of Justice official said. Garland visited Lviv, the largest city in the western part of the country, at the invitation of Ukraine’s prosecutor general to join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and international partners at the ‘United for Justice Conference,’ the DOJ official said.”
* At this G20 Summit event, Lavrov also said Russia is “trying to stop” the war in Ukraine, which was also insane: “Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a conference in India Thursday said that the war in Ukraine ‘was launched against us,’ prompting the crowd to erupt in laughter.”
* In East Palestine: “Norfolk Southern’s CEO did not attend an East Palestine, Ohio, town hall meeting where concerned residents detailed their health symptoms and grilled officials on why they have not been relocated away from the derailment site. Darrell Wilson, assistant vice president government relations of Norfolk Southern, joined several other federal and local officials for Thursday’s meeting.”
* White House diplomacy: “German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Western allies would support Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’ as he visited the White House on Friday for a private meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. The two leaders are huddling as the war enters a difficult next phase, with fresh concerns about softening political resolve behind maintaining billions of dollars in military assistance for Kyiv.”
* Walgreens’ wrong move: “Walgreens will not sell abortion pills in several states where abortion remains legal, the pharmacy giant announced Thursday. The move comes after Republican attorneys general in 20 states sent Walgreens a letter saying the company could face legal consequences if it sold abortion medication in those states.”
* Intel gathering: “Initial U.S. intelligence suggesting that China is considering supplying lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine was gleaned from Russian government officials, according to one current and one former U.S. official familiar with the intelligence. U.S. officials then spent weeks corroborating the information from other sources of intelligence, the current and former officials said, and with allies who also brought additional streams of information.”
* An overdue honor: “Nearly 60 years after he was recommended for the nation’s highest military award, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday for his bravery in the Vietnam War.”
Have a safe weekend.
