WTF Just Happened Today

Friday, February 12, 2021

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1/ North Korea challenges Trump by firing a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan. The missile launch came as Trump hosts Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on an official visit. The missile was a medium- or intermediate-range system and “did not pose a threat to North America.” South Korea condemned the missile launching, saying that it violated a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from developing or testing ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technologies. (New York Times)

• Trump: “America stands behind Japan” after North Korea missile test. (Politico)
• Few good options in Trump arsenal to counter defiant North Korea. Possible responses include additional sanctions to beefed-up missile defense. (Reuters)

2/ Senior White House policy adviser Stephen Miller doubled down on President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, including the president’s reported claim that thousands of voters were bused into New Hampshire to illegally cast ballots in the presidential election. (ABC News)

• Miller says White House will fight for travel ban. The White House is pursuing several options to reinstate Trump’s travel ban, fighting back against “judicial usurpation of power.” He said legal options to restore the ban — “the very apex of presidential authority” — include an emergency hearing with the full 9th Circuit. (Washington Post)
• Miller is a “true believer” behind core Trump policies. Miller has been at the epicenter of some of the administration’s most provocative moves, from pushing hard for the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico to threatening decades-long trade deals at the heart of Republican economic orthodoxy, to rolling out Trump’s travel ban. (New York Times)

3/ New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie criticized Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying he needs to clear up questions about whether he discussed sanctions in his pre-inauguration conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. (CNN)

• Pelosi: Flynn should be suspended and for his intelligence clearance to be revoked until U.S. officials fully review his contacts with Russia’s ambassador. (The Hill)
• Does the White House stand by Michael Flynn? No comment. “That’s a question for the president.” (Washington Post)

4/ Trump friend says Priebus is “in way over his head”. One of Trump’s longtime friends publicly argued that Trump should replace his White House chief of staff after talking privately with the president. (Washingto...

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