Wednesday's Mini-Report, 3.29.17

Today's edition of quick hits:* Bridgegate: "Former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were sentenced to prison Wednesday for engineering lane closures at the George Washington Bridge as alleged retaliation against a Democratic mayor who didn't endorse the governor."* For now, a model of professionalism: "The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Wednesday the White House has not contacted them about the investigation into Russian meddling in last year's election and vowed to conduct an independent probe as their counterparts in the House come under increased scrutiny."* The ethics mess continues: "President Trump's company is actively seeking to open a second Washington hotel as part of a planned nationwide expansion, potentially creating another venue where he stands to benefit financially from customers doing business in the nation's capital."* What a terrible shame: "In one of the most consequential diplomatic events in Britain since World War II, Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday sent formal notice of the country's intention to withdraw from the European Union, starting a tortuous two-year divorce littered with pitfalls for both sides."* On a related note: "Scottish lawmakers voted 69-59 in favor of an independence referendum Tuesday, setting Edinburgh on a collision course with the UK government."* HHS Secretary Tom Price was asked today whether he's divested himself from all health care-related holdings. "The answer is yes," he responded. I wish I knew whether to believe that.* NATO: "With the support of the Trump administration, the Senate took a swipe at Russia on Tuesday by voting to let one of Europe's smallest countries into NATO. The Senate approved Montenegro's bid to become a full-fledged member of the security alliance by an overwhelming vote of 97 to 2."* White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer "offered sunny salutations and the first question of Wednesday's briefing to veteran correspondent April Ryan, an acknowledgement of sorts that yesterday's exchange, which some critics saw as sexist and patronizing, may have gone too far."* Remember Steve Stockman? "A former United States representative from Texas and one of his aides were indicted on Tuesday on charges that they stole hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for charity, some of which was used to illegally finance his campaigns."* Sequel: "On the same day Donald Trump signed an order rolling back Obama-era climate-change policies, the president was unveiled as the villain of Al Gore's new global-warming documentary. The former vice president and climate-change activist released new footage on Tuesday from the coming sequel to his Oscar-winning 2006 film on global warming."* At this point in his presidency, Barack Obama hadn't played a round of golf. Donald Trump has gone golfing 13 times. Maybe the latter shouldn't have run on an "I'll play less golf than Obama" platform.Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.