Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The diplomatic process isn’t exactly going smoothly: “Iran ‘has not yet decided whether it will participate in the new round of peace negotiations with the United States scheduled for later this week,’ Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on state television today.”
* On a related note: “Crude oil futures for June delivery surged past the $100-per-barrel threshold after Vice President JD Vance’s expected travel to Pakistan for a second round of peace talks was canceled yesterday, thrusting the future of the fragile negotiations into uncertainty.”
* When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hides facts because they’re deemed politically inconvenient, that deserves to be seen as a scandal: “A report showing the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccine that was previously delayed by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been blocked from being published in the agency’s flagship scientific journal, according to three people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The report showed that the vaccine reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half this past winter.”
* The right call: “A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a series of decisions that wind and solar developers say have throttled hundreds of renewable energy projects across the country.”
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* It’s tough to imagine how long it will take for the United States to rebuild trust after Trump leaves: “After halting a U.S. resettlement program for Afghans who helped the American war effort, President Trump is in talks to send as many as 1,100 of them to the Democratic Republic of Congo, an aid worker briefed on the plan said Tuesday. The group includes interpreters for the U.S. military, former members of the Afghan Special Operations forces and family members of American service members. More than 400 children are among them.”
* This indictment is awfully tough to defend: “The Trump Justice Department on Tuesday announced an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleging federal violations of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel appeared a news conference to announce the charges, which they said that a grand jury in Alabama had voted to approve.”
* I’d forgotten about this one: “FBI Director Kash Patel just lost one defamation case right after he filed another one. The case he lost was against ex-MSNBC analyst and columnist Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI.”
* The Georgia Democrat was perhaps best known for being the first Black lawmaker to chair the House Agriculture Committee: “Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., has died, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries confirmed to MS NOW on Wednesday. He was 80.”
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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