Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A major escalation: “The United States has seized an oil tanker Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, sharply escalating tensions with his counterpart, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump did not immediately offer further details surrounding the ship, including its owner or the nation where it is flagged.”
* A cautious, quarter-point cut: “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its influential interest rate for the third time this year, pointing to a job market that Chairman Jerome Powell said may be weaker than it appears.”
* Epstein files: “A federal judge in New York on Wednesday ordered the release of sealed grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case, citing a new law that compels the Justice Department to make public material related to investigations of the disgraced financier.”
* A closely watched case: “A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles on Wednesday and ordered control of the troops returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Trump administration has indicated it will appeal the latest decision, part of a slew of litigation over the deployments nationally.”
* As international tourism to the U.S. suffers, leave it to the Trump administration to find a bizarre new way to make matters much worse: “U.S. Customs and Border Protection could soon require certain international visitors to provide five years of their social media history to apply for entry into the U.S.”
* Good for Pritzker: “Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, signed into law on Tuesday a measure that restricts immigration enforcement outside state courthouses and that makes it easier to sue immigration agents if residents believe their rights have been violated.” * Hmm: “Stephen Miller, a top adviser to President Trump, sold shares worth $50,000 to $100,000 in the mining company MP Materials following a July announcement of a lucrative deal between the Las Vegas company and the Trump administration, government filings show.” * Mace’s public reputation takes yet another hit: “Rep. Nancy Mace escalated a situation with the staff at Charleston International Airport during an encounter in October, creating a ‘spectacle’ that left employees ‘visibly upset,’ according to a police report.” 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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