Today’s edition of quick hits.
* I’ll have more on this in the morning: “John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Maryland. The 26-page indictment charges Bolton with 18 counts related to the retention and transmission of national defense information.”
* The first such effort, you’ll recall, was an embarrassing failure: “President Donald Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Thursday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, for a second round of in-person talks to end the war in Ukraine.”
* In Illinois: “Troubled by clashes between agents and the public, a judge on Thursday said federal immigration officers in the Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras, and she also summoned a senior official to court next week to discuss an enforcement operation that has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests.”
* Good for Penn: “The University of Pennsylvania on Thursday became the third school to reject President Trump’s proposal to give funding preferences to institutions that agree to concessions, such as capping international enrollment and freezing tuition, and taking steps to protect conservative viewpoints.”
* Encouraging news out of California: “Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that California will begin selling affordable insulin under its own label on Jan. 1, nearly three years after he first announced a partnership to sell state-branded generic drugs at lower prices.”
* This wasn’t the first time New Delhi contradicted the White House: “Indian officials said Thursday they were ‘not aware’ of any conversation between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, appearing to contradict a claim by the American president that he had just secured a pledge from his Indian counterpart to stop buying Russian oil.”
* A case worth watching: “Prosecutors in Florida brought witnesses before a grand jury in Tallahassee on Tuesday as part of an investigation into a charity tied to Casey DeSantis, the state’s first lady. The investigation is focused on the charity’s $10 million contribution last fall to political committees backing a campaign led by Gov. Ron DeSantis.”
* A welcome reversal: “Oklahoma’s new schools chief is walking back his predecessor’s plan to incorporate the Bible into the state’s educational curriculum.”
* The final piece of Jim Sanborn’s famous Kryptos puzzle, located in the CIA’s courtyard, went unsolved for decades. And then the sculptor received an interesting email.
See you tomorrow.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
