Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Difficult diplomacy: “After meetings with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner and European leaders in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters Monday that Kyiv had now been offered an equivalent of NATO’s Article 5 deterrence mechanism, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all. This guarantee would be legally binding, he said, voted on and approved by the U.S. Congress.”
* An expanding travel ban: “The Trump administration is expanding its travel ban to include five more countries. … On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the U.S. to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also fully restricted travel on people with Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents.”
* The latest from Rhode Island: “The gunman who killed two Brown University students and wounded nine others remained at large on Tuesday, three days after the attack, as the authorities combed through video footage of a possible suspect and released a blurry new photo, asking for tips from the public.”
* A prosecution worth watching: “Federal authorities said Monday that four people have been arrested for allegedly planning bomb attacks on New Year’s Eve in the Los Angeles area. … The suspects were charged with conspiracy and possession of a destructive device.”
* The response to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit: “The Trump administration said in a court filing Monday that the president’s White House ballroom construction project must continue for unexplained national security reasons and because a preservationists’ organization that wants it stopped has no standing to sue.” * Maybe those in positions of authority should take the climate crisis seriously: “The Arctic last season was the hottest it has been in the past 125 years. The extent of sea ice during its usual maximum in March was the lowest in 47 years of satellite recordkeeping. The North American tundra was more green with plant life than ever recorded. “ * All is not well at The Heritage Foundation: “Two prominent conservatives quit the board of the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday as the storied right-wing think tank fights over how to handle antisemitism on the right.” 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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