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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Elizabeth Warren ended her presidential campaign and told supporters to choose righteous fights. Bernie Sanders held a large rally and welcomed Warren’s supporters.

Meanwhile, American families fear what the future holds for their elderly relatives in nursing homes as the coronavirus kills another person in Washington State. Donald Trump’s response is a disaster in the making.

And lastly, after two decades, Americans could be held accountable for war crimes in Afghanistan. The Hague has opened a major new investigation.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren announced the end of her presidential campaign yesterday. Thanking supporters, she urged them to QUOTE choose to fight only righteous fights ENDQUOTE.

In 2016, Warren chose not to make a presidential endorsement. Yesterday she sent no clear signals favoring Sanders or Biden. Last night on MSNBC, Warren told Rachel Maddow, QUOTE It’s just gonna be a little longer before we have a woman in the White House... It doesn’t mean it’s not gonna happen soon ENDQUOTE.

Bernie Sanders, at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, commended Warren for a strong, issues- oriented campaign and welcomed her supporters. He said, QUOTE I think they will find many of the issues Sen. Warren campaigned on are exactly the issues we are fighting for ENDQUOTE. Sanders called for equal pay for women and an end to starvation wages. He shushed his large crowd of supporters from booing Joe Biden, who he called a decent guy with a very different record than his own. For instance: Biden supported the Iraq war, disastrous trade deals, and cuts to Social Security.

Sanders’ campaign touted its overwhelming Latino support in California with new endorsements and ads featuring testimonials. In Arizona, Sanders spoke to the issue of Trump’s deportations in a way Biden cannot. Sanders said, QUOTE My father came to this

country without a nickel in his pocket. Couldn’t speak a word of English. I will not accept the continued demonization of immigrants in this country. ENDQUOTE.

Once upon a time, Republican Party operative Karl Rove touted the Latino vote as the future of American politics. Yesterday he was in the Wall Street Journal touting three-time presidential campaign loser Joe Biden as the future of the Democratic Party. Thanks, Karl. Also yesterday, Biden misrepresented his record on Social Security cuts, suggesting he’d never supported them. Maybe he forgot?

At his Phoenix rally, Sanders linked his Medicare for All proposal to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. He said the crisis makes the absurdity of our healthcare system more clear. As anxiety spreads along with the virus, the Trump administration continues to duck the most basic questions about its public health response.

It’s been clear for days that Trump has muzzled the Centers for Disease Control. Yesterday officials totally dissembled when confronted by reporters about the lack of testing in the US. South Korea has been ten thousand people per day, whereas mere hundreds had been tested over weeks in the US. Even taking measures on a far greater scale than the US, Korea has been unable to contain the spread of COVID-19 though human-to-human and surface contact.

Washington State, hardest hit in the country so far, reported its thirteenth fatality yesterday. Official there said they’d received only half of the emergency medical equipment they requested from Trump’s CDC. Families with elderly relatives infected with coronavirus in nursing homes expressed fears that their parents might die alone and under quarantine.

The US refused entry to a number of Canadian citizens who had visited China, where the new coronavirus originated. Both Mecca in Saudi Arabia and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem were closed on account of the virus. Los Angeles Marathon oragnizers said the event would go on, but that people should practice QUOTE social distancing ENDQUOTE to avoid unnecessary human contact. Back to Twitter, then!

The International Criminal Court yesterday ruled that its chief prosecutor could open an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan. The Donald Trump administration was reportedly furious over the news. That’s because, after nearly two decades of war and occupation, war criminals from the United States could be made to answer for their actions in Afghanistan.

The ruling was made on appeal in The Hague. It reversed the decision of a lower court in the international tribunal. The US Congress does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction in this matter, although a new president could change this as a matter of practice.

The ICC prosecutor’s office has said it can prove US forces QUOTE committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence ENDQUOTE in Afghanistan – and also at C.I.A. black sites later in Europe. The ICC investigation will also consider abuses by the US-backed Afghanistan government as well as the Taliban. Human rights organizations in Afghanistan and beyond hailed the ICC ruling over US objections.

The news about fresh war crimes investigations comes soon after Trump announced a new deal with the Taliban – an announcement soon followed by more fighting.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Turkey and Russia agreed to a cease fire in the Syrian city of Idlib. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian president Vladimir Putin hashed out terms in a six-hour session in Moscow, followed by a joint appearance. It is unclear how long the cease fire will hold. Separately, Turkey deployed one thousand special forces police officers to its border with Greece. Border guards in Greece have been attempting to force thousands of Syrian refugees back to Turkey after Erdogan sent them on to Europe. Not a great situation.

Federal prosecutors have charged former United Automobile Workers union president Gary Jones with embezzlement of union funds. More than dozen people have already pleaded guilty in the UAW-Fiat Chrysler corruption probe. The government isn’t ruling out taking over the union. Newly unsealed filings claim Jones spent $1 million of UAW money on meals, golf trips, cigars, and clothing. Must’ve been good cigars.

An immigration judge in Tennessee ordered the deportation of a 94-year-old German citizen who’d been living in the US since 1959. Former Nazi concentration camp guard Friedrich Karl Berger has received a German government pension all this time. In response to the ruling, he told a reporter, QUOTE this is ridiculous. I cannot believe it ENDQUOTE. A check in the mail every month for life and a ticket to Europe, what a punishment.

That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report!

#AMQuickie: March 6, 2020

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn