Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The hush-money trial: “Jurors were dismissed for the day at 4:06 p.m. after several hours of deliberations. The judge asked the jury not to discuss the case with anyone else, and specifically not to give information in return for any benefit. He also asked them not to visit sites or read accounts of the case in newspapers, television, etc. … Jurors will resume deliberations tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.”
* In Gaza: “As Israeli forces pushed deeper into Rafah just days after an airstrike sparked a major fire that killed dozens of Palestinians, the White House said that its ally had not crossed the Biden administration’s ‘red line.’”
* Consumer confidence in the U.S. “rose in May after three straight months of declines, though Americans are still anxious about inflation and interest rates. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose in May to 102 from 97.5 in April. Analysts were expecting the index to decline again.”
* The latest Jan. 6 arrest: “A Jan. 6 participant whose dreaded blond locks and face tattoos made him a memorable face in the pro-Trump mob has been arrested in South Dakota, the FBI said, accusing him of shoving an officer during the Capitol melee after “ramming” a giant metal-framed ‘TRUMP’ sign into a line of police officers.”
* Fanone’s mother becomes the right’s latest target: “Michael Fanone, a former police officer who was nearly killed by a mob during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, spoke outside the courthouse during closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Tuesday, calling Trump ‘an authoritarian’ with ‘a violence fetish.’ Hours later, Fanone’s mother was ‘swatted’ at her home in Virginia.”
* Among her many problems, it sometimes seems as if Judge Aileen M. Cannon doesn’t know what’s going on: “One of Judge Cannon’s most enduring habits is her tendency to ask the same question several times. It is never quite clear if she does not understand the answers she is receiving or is trying to push back against them.”
* The result of Ellis’ guilty plea in Georgia: “Colorado legal officials on Tuesday approved an agreement with Jenna Ellis, a onetime attorney for former President Donald Trump, barring her from practicing law in the state for three years after she pleaded guilty to helping Trump try to overturn the 2020 election.”
* For those keeping an eye on Peter Strzok’s and Lisa Page’s case: “Two former FBI officials have reached a tentative settlement with the Justice Department to resolve claims that their privacy was violated when the department leaked to the news media text messages that they had sent one another that disparaged former President Donald Trump. The tentative deal was disclosed in a brief court filing Tuesday that did not reveal any of the terms.”
* A gut-wrenching report out of Mississippi: “Between vacation photos and cookout invitations posted on their private text thread, a group of Mississippi sheriff’s deputies who called themselves the Goon Squad traded pictures of rotting corpses and joked about rape and shocking people with Tasers. They did it all in front of their supervisor, who often joined in the banter.”
See you tomorrow.
