Today’s edition of quick hits.
* How far will this go? “Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said they would not show up for their closed-door depositions this week as part of a House committee’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”
* A peaceful solution is not close: “President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he’s cutting off the prospect of talks with Iranian officials amid a protest crackdown, telling Iranian citizens ‘help is on its way.’”
* The latest inflation data: “Inflation ended the year on a subdued note, as the 2025 tariff barrage largely finished working its way through to sticker prices. Consumer prices were 2.7 percent higher than a year earlier, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Tuesday, or 2.6 percent when stripping out volatile food and energy prices.”
* In case the allegations of war crimes weren’t already strong, consider the latest reporting: “The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September, according to officials briefed on the matter. The aircraft also carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings, they said.”
* A case worth watching: “The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul filed a lawsuit Monday to block the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the wake of the killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer last week.”
* On a related note, Donald Trump published an item to his social media platform on Tuesday morning that concluded, in a message directed at Minnesotans, “THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”
* A burgeoning scandal: “The secretary of labor’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were placed on administrative leave on Monday, as the Labor Department’s watchdog begins investigating allegations of professional misconduct involving the secretary, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The move to place the two officials on leave followed a report by The New York Post on Friday that said a formal complaint had been filed against Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer with the department’s inspector general’s office, accusing her of abusing her office and of having an affair with a subordinate.”
* Higher prices inevitably lead to fewer purchases: “Fewer Americans are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year, new federal data shows, as expiring subsidies and other factors push health expenses too high for many to manage.”
* McKeon’s decision ends an expulsion effort: “State Sen. Dan McKeon tearfully announced his resignation from the Nebraska Legislature on Tuesday ahead of scheduled debate to expel him from the body after accusations that he made a sexually charged comment to a legislative staffer and touched her inappropriately during a session-end party last year.”
* Mark Zuckerberg finds a new way to make the White House happy: “Donald Trump was glad to hear the news that one of his former advisers, Dina Powell McCormick, was named as Meta’s president and vice chair on Monday.”
See you tomorrow.
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