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Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• The U.S. and U.K. on Thursday announced new sanctions against four Houthi leaders, all accused of assisting or sponsoring acts of terror, as part of the countries’ ongoing efforts to end the Iranian-backed group’s attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. “The Houthis’ persistent terrorist attacks on merchant vessels and their civilian crews lawfully transiting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden threaten to disrupt international supply chains and the freedom of navigation, which is critical to global security, stability, and prosperity,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson in a statement released yesterday. Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said in a televised address Thursday that the Yemeni group remained undeterred, and would continue its campaign of targeting commercial ships traversing the waterway.
• The U.S. Department of Commerce published on Thursday its “advance” estimate of fourth quarter GDP growth, placing annual growth at 3.3 percent for the period from October to December 2023. The figure represents a decline from 4.9 percent annual growth in the third quarter, but still exceeded economist expectations and demonstrated the economy’s resilience in the face of the Federal Reserve maintaining higher interest rates to combat inflation. A second estimate based on more complete data will be published on February 28, 2024.
• Former President Donald Trump took the stand to testify in his own defense in a civil case on Thursday, denying all charges in the ongoing defamation case brought against him by author E. Jean Carroll in New York. Trump answered five questions as part of his short testimony, and most of his replies were cut off after a definitive answer was given. 
• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House official, was sentenced on Thursday to four months in prison for criminal contempt of Congress after being convicted in September on counts related to his refusal to cooperate with the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. “You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution,” said U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, pushing back on claims by Navarro that the case against him was politically motivated. “These are circumstances of your own making.” Navarro’s legal team has indicated that they will appeal the conviction and sentence.

What’s Blocking Immigration Reform?

When a bill in Congress starts collecting multi-variable metaphors that include the term “train wreck,” it’s probably a sign that negotiations aren’t going well.

“This supplemental bill is a kamikaze plane in a box canyon with no exit headed for a train wreck,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said this week of the Senate’s ongoing negotiations over perhaps the most vexing issue in American politics: immigration reform. 

Months of negotiations between Senate Republicans and Democrats over a border security package tied to Ukraine aid may be on the verge of breaking down. Though lawmakers seemed to be nearing a resolution in recent days, opposition from former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee who’s running on a more aggressive border security position than the current deal seems likely to produce, has led some Republicans to get cold feet. Democrats and Trump-critical Republicans have also suggested that, beyond opposing the actual provisions in the bill, the former president would prefer to use continued chaos at the border as an election-year cudgel against President Joe Biden, removing his congressional allies’ incentive to improve the deteriorating situation before …

As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. Our full 1,564-word story on the state of immigration reform efforts is available in the members-only version of TMD.

Worth Your Time

• The Boston Herald editorial board published a tribute to Navy SEAL Christopher Chambers, a Westfield, Massachusetts, native and one of the two sailors who went missing and were later presumed dead following a mission to intercept illicit weapons shipments in the Red Sea earlier this month. “In a world where the worst is too often on display, it’s easy to forget that the best among us carry on without fanfare. They don’t spew hatred through bullhorns, they don’t block traffic and buildings in a bid for attention, they don’t deface posters of kidnapped children or burn flags,” the editors wrote. “They aren’t zealous ‘rebels’ espousing the cause du jour from the comfort of a dorm. These are not social justice warriors, they’re real warriors, stepping up to serve and protect.” Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram fell overboard that day at sea, and Chambers dove after him, hoping to rescue his teammate. Neither returned. “Members of our military like Chambers and Ingram are not a sought-after political demographic. No one is rushing to lighten their fiscal load in return for votes. Yet they enlist, re-up and report for duty in hotspots the rest of us only see on the news. And sometimes, far too often to bear, their lives are lost in the line of duty. The nation is lesser for it.”

Presented Without Comment

1 p.m. ET: David M. Drucker reports for The Dispatch that the RNC is “moving to declare Trump its presumptive nominee.”

6:15 p.m. ET: Trump responds via Truth Social:

While I greatly appreciate the Republican National Committee (RNC) wanting to make me their PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE, and while they have far more votes than necessary to do it, I feel, for the sake of PARTY UNITY, that they should NOT go forward with this plan, but that I should do it the “Old Fashioned” way, and finish the process off AT THE BALLOT BOX. Thank you to the RNC for the Respect and Devotion you have shown me! TRUMP2024

Also Presented Without Comment

The Hill: Half of Biden Voters Say Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza

Toeing the Company Line

• In the newsletters: Nick wondered (🔒) if Sen. Mitch McConnell’s latest moves on immigration represent a surrender to Trump—or something more calculated.
• On the site: Charlotte looks into the challenges facing Israel’s reservists and their families, and John McCormack reports from South Carolina on what’s next for Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign.