Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In New York: “Writer E. Jean Carroll took the witness stand for her lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, telling jurors: ‘I’m here because Trump raped me.’ When she stepped forward with her allegations in 2019, Trump ‘lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m trying to get my life back,’ Carroll said during her testimony as the civil trial opened in federal court in Lower Manhattan.”
* In Afghanistan: “The mastermind of the deadly August 2021 attack at Kabul International Airport, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghans seeking to flee the country, has been killed, according to three U.S. officials. The ISIS-K operative, whose name the officials would not provide, was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan earlier this month, the officials said.”
* This news coincides with Yoon Suk Yeol’s arrival in the U.S. for a six-day state visit: “The United States will deploy nuclear-armed submarines to South Korea for the first time in decades — part of a new agreement that will signal Washington’s commitment to defend Seoul against rising nuclear threats from North Korea, U.S. officials said.”
* The ninth statewide ban: “Washington State approved a package of gun control measures on Tuesday that includes a ban on the sale of military-style semiautomatic weapons, making it the ninth state to join efforts to prevent the distribution of AR-15s and other powerful rifles often used in mass shootings.”
* For Fox, last week’s Dominion settlement was the first of two defamation cases: “Fox News agreed Wednesday to hand over thousands of documents to voting machine company Smartmatic, which is suing the network for defamation in a case similar to Dominion Voting Machines’ just-settled lawsuit. Smartmatic says Fox bears financial responsibility for airing false allegations that the company rigged the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump.”
* It sounds like Capitol Police leaders won’t miss Tucker Carlson: “One day after former Fox News host Tucker Carlson lost his job at the network, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger got a chance to weigh in on Carlson’s use of the footage of the Jan. 6 attack, calling it ‘disrespectful.’”
* On a related note, some Pentagon leaders apparently aren’t disappointed to see Carlson go, either: “From maternity flight suits to diversity policies to Ukraine aid, the military was a favorite punching bag for Tucker Carlson. Now that he’s off the air, some Pentagon officials are quietly cheering his departure.”
* That said, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov apparently had a different perspective on the former Fox News host’s ouster.
* The video and images in this report are incredible: “As rail profits soar, blocked crossings force kids to crawl under trains to get to school.”
See you tomorrow.