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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The judge in this case sounded skeptical of the DOJ’s position: “A Justice Department lawyer on Thursday defended the legality of Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as acting U.S. attorney to a skeptical federal judge who’s weighing whether to dismiss cases she brought against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.”
* The tensions between the White House and the faith community continue: “America’s Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday rebuked the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign in a rare and near-unanimous statement that framed the immigration crisis in starkly moral terms. The statement, passed at the bishops’ annual conference in Baltimore, did not call out President Trump by name, but the context was clear.”
* This hasn’t been broadly confirmed, but it’s a story worth watching closely: “Senior military officials on Wednesday presented President Trump with updated options for potential operations in Venezuela, including strikes on land, according to multiple sources familiar with the meetings at the White House.”
* In related news: “The most advanced U.S. aircraft carrier is expected to reach the waters off Venezuela in days, a flex of American military power not seen in Latin America for generations.”
* The latest on SNAP benefits: “With the longest U.S. government shutdown over, state officials said Thursday that they are working quickly to get full SNAP food benefits to millions of people who made do with little-to-no assistance for the past couple of weeks.”
* Best wishes for a speedy recovery: “Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was hospitalized Thursday after falling near his Pennsylvania home and sustaining ‘minor injuries’ to his face, the senator’s spokesperson said. Medical personnel determined that the incident, which included ‘feeling light-headed,’ involved a flare-up of a cardiac issue known as ventricular fibrillation, the spokesperson said in a statement on X.”
* A case worth keeping an eye on: “A group of 17 transgender members of the Air Force are suing the U.S. government over what they say is the military’s unlawful revocation of their early retirement pensions and benefits.”
* The Trump administration said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over a building in Chicago. There’s new reporting that suggests otherwise.
See you tomorrow.