Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest on the Epstein files: “Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a tranche of new images from the Jeffrey Epstein estate Friday that included photographs of former President Bill Clinton, media impresario Steve Bannon, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and, most notably, President Donald Trump.”
* The National Trust for Historic Preservation heads to court: “A leading national historic preservation group is suing President Donald Trump and several other government officials, seeking to stop the construction of Trump’s planned White House ballroom.”
* At the U.N.: “The Trump administration sided with officials from Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran in a successful effort to block part of a United Nations report about the dire state of the planet because it called for phasing out fossil fuels, switching to clean energy and reducing plastics, according to two participants.”
* Among the White House’s many setbacks on Thursday: “The board of the Federal Reserve System said Thursday that it had reappointed all regional Fed bank presidents, just days after the Trump administration began suggesting that it wanted to make major changes to the reappointment process.”
* What a weird response: “The White House is making an unusual argument as it resists advocates’ push for sign language interpretation at press briefings conducted by President Donald Trump and press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Providing American sign language interpretation in press conferences ‘would severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public,’ Justice Department attorneys argued in a lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Deaf.” * Elon Musk isn’t having a great year: “Tesla’s U.S. sales dropped to a near four-year low in November, despite the automaker’s rollout of new, cheaper versions of its best-selling electric vehicles, estimates from Cox Automotive given exclusively to Reuters showed on Thursday.” * It sure is weird to have a federal government run by officials who are indistinguishable from internet trolls: “In the second Trump administration post of its kind, the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday portrayed Franklin, the anthropomorphic turtle character from a children’s book series, as a ‘deportation judge.’ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a similar image with Franklin late last month.” Have a safe weekend.
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."
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