Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A ceasefire extension: “Trump says the U.S. has been asked by Pakistani leaders ‘to hold’ planned attacks on critical infrastructure until Iranian leaders ‘can come up with a unified proposal,’ according to a statement posted to Truth Social. His ceasefire has been extended for a sixth time until, as Trump said in his post, ‘such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.’”
* The White House’s tough talk hasn’t exactly pushed Iranians to the table: “Vice President JD Vance’s diplomatic trip to Islamabad, where he was expected to press Iranian negotiators for a nuclear deal, has been put on hold after Tehran failed to respond to American negotiating positions, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation.”
* I look forward to hearing more about this: “The Justice Department on Monday night began withdrawing several subpoenas that had been issued just days prior in a criminal probe of former CIA Director John Brennan and a purported conspiracy by the Obama administration to embarrass President Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the matter.”
* An unusual public request from the ethics panel: “The House Ethics Committee is publicly requesting information from any victims of sexual misconduct by members of Congress and others aware of such incidents, an unusual move that comes during a spate of high-profile cases.”
Recommended
* Keep an eye on this one: “[A]fter a devastating Supreme Court ruling in February that found Trump lacked the legal authority to impose [his] tariffs, the administration is on the hook to pay it all back to American importers — plus interest. On Monday, the Trump administration officially debuted the tariff refund portal to make that happen.”
* This lawsuit seemed inevitable: “A former Capitol Police officer who helped fend off the Jan. 6, 2021 attack is suing a right-wing media outlet for accusing her of planting pipe bombs that became a key inflection point in that day’s chaos. Shauni Kerkhoff, 31, accused Blaze Media and two of its former reporters of relying on a faulty ‘gait analysis’ of surveillance footage to wrongly suggest she was the person who planted pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC the night before the Jan. 6 riot. The false accusations triggered conspiracy theories, threats and an FBI investigation.”
* A heartbreaking loss for the “Warner family: Virginia Sen. Mark Warner announced that his daughter, Madison Warner, has died at the age of 36 following ‘a decades-long battle’ with juvenile diabetes. … Warner and his wife, Lisa Collis, asked for privacy in the statement as they ‘navigate this profound loss.’ The couple has two surviving children, Gillian and Eliza.”
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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