Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Difficult diplomacy: “Senior U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to meet in Istanbul on Friday for talks aimed at de-escalating the crisis between their countries, according to three current regional officials and a former one who were familiar with the planning.”
* A case worth watching: “Fulton County officials said Monday they are filing a federal lawsuit challenging the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election records in Georgia.”
* The crusade against the Clintons is ongoing: “Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee, on Monday rejected an offer from Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, just days ahead of an expected House vote on holding them in criminal contempt of Congress.”
* ProPublica pulls back the curtain: “The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.”
* From late last week: “A federal judge ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father from a detention facility in Texas, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took them into custody in Minneapolis last week.”
* An even more secretive SCOTUS: “In November of 2024, two weeks after voters returned President Donald Trump to office, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. summoned employees of the U.S. Supreme Court for an unusual announcement. Facing them in a grand conference room beneath ornate chandeliers, he requested they each sign a nondisclosure agreement promising to keep the court’s inner workings secret.”
* Speaking of institutional secrecy: “A federal judge on Friday ruled the Energy Department violated the law when Secretary Chris Wright handpicked five researchers who reject the scientific consensus on climate change to work in secret on a sweeping government report on global warming.”
* It’s hard to believe the case has even advanced to this stage: “The US Supreme Court will hear arguments April 1 in a case testing President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to redefine birthright citizenship under the US Constitution.” * An absurd effort meets its just demise: “A federal judge dismissed a misconduct complaint filed by the Department of Justice against Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Boasberg oversaw a case related to the Alien Enemies Act last year.” * It’s surprisingly easy to close an arts center when no one wants to perform there: “President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to close the Kennedy Center for roughly two years for the facility to undergo construction. The proposal comes amid a series of cancellations and internal upheaval since he took over the arts institution and presidential memorial nearly a year ago and remade it in his name and image.” 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."
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