Today’s edition of quick hits.
* This was inevitable, but also avoidable: “False reports about the jury instructions in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial have been spreading across right-wing media, leading to threats against the judge overseeing the case.”
* If this is correct, it’s a major development: “The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, two U.S. officials and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city.”
* SCOTUS ruling: “The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the National Rifle Association can pursue a claim that a New York state official’s efforts to encourage companies to end ties with the gun rights group constituted unlawful coercion.”
* In this latest case, the patient had upper respiratory symptoms: “Another human case of bird flu linked to sick dairy cows has been detected in Michigan, marking the third farmworker diagnosed with the illness in the United States since March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. None of the cases are connected.”
* Delay, delay, delay: “Judge Aileen Cannon is asking Special Counsel Jack Smith and Donald Trump to submit a supplemental briefing ahead of a June 21 argument over Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss the Mar a Lago indictment. The motion argues that Special Counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed and the federal government does not have authority to fund the Special Counsel’s investigation. The brief focuses on several arguments that have previously failed, namely concerning Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia.”
* Another Biden-era victory for the public: “The Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday that its experimental Direct File free tax-filing option for simplified tax returns would become a permanent option starting next year.”
See you tomorrow.