Trump's lawyers, Senate GOP allies work privately to ensure Bolton does not testify publicly  —  President Trump's legal defense team and Senate GOP allies are quietly gaming out contingency plans should Democrats win enough votes to force witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial …

Biden, Sanders, Social Security and Smears  —  Lying about a rival is bad, even if you don't like his past positions.  —  While the news media has been focused on the “spat” between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, something much more serious has been taking place between the Sanders campaign and Joe Biden.

The worst thing about Trump's answer to the impeachment articles  —  President Trump has filed his answer to the articles of impeachment against him.  In legal parlance, an “answer” is a document filed at the beginning of a proceeding, typically a civil case, in which the defending side gives …

Trump's Impeachment Brief Is a Howl of Rage  —  Over the weekend, as the Senate prepared for the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the newly appointed House impeachment managers and the president's newly appointed legal team both filed their initial legal briefs.  —  At least, one of them was a legal brief.

CNN poll: 51% say Senate should remove Trump from office  —  Schumer: We will force votes on witnesses and documents  —  (CNN)About half of Americans say the Senate should vote to convict President Donald Trump and remove him from office in the upcoming impeachment trial (51%) …

Devin Nunes' Ukraine lies are a betrayal.  Voters in his district deserve better  —  Kiev, Ukraine, is nearly 6,200 miles from Tulare, Calif. That's a long way from home for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, who now faces explosive allegations that he and his staff contacted shadowy Ukrainian figures …

Virginia's capital braces for gun-rights rally  —  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gun-rights activists — some making deliberate displays of their military-style rifles — began to descend on Virginia's capital city Monday to protest plans by the state's Democratic leadership to pass gun-control legislation.

“It's Like a Foreign Language”: Donald Trump's Encounter With the Constitution Did Not Go Well  —  While being filmed for a documentary, the president stumbled through his chosen passage, taking his frustration out on everyone around him, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig write in A Very Stable Genius.

Denver Post Columnist Fired After Arguing There Are Two Sexes  —  A Denver Post columnist says he was fired after disputing the idea that there are more than two sexes.  —  Jon Caldara, president of the libertarian Independence Institute, announced that he has been fired from the Post …

Don Jr. Admits Meeting Lev Parnas: ‘I Thought He Was Israeli’  —  'IT'S FUNNY'  —  Presidential son Donald Trump Jr. admitted on Sunday to meeting indicted Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, claiming he and his father merely took fundraiser photos with the businessman whose involvement …

Witness ‘reciprocity’ isn't a thing.  So no, there can't be a Biden for every Bolton.  —  Only testimony that bolsters or casts doubt on facts necessary to deciding on the articles of impeachment is relevant at trial  —  The Senate must answer just two questions at President Trump's impeachment trial.

Conservative States Seek Billions to Brace for Disaster.  (Just Don't Call It Climate Change.)  —  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is about to distribute billions of dollars to coastal states mainly in the South to help steel them against natural disasters worsened by climate change.

Art preservationists want Frick Collection to buy Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse as part of museum expansion plan  —  Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan perv palace could soon be an art museum.  —  The convicted sex offender's posh Upper East Side mansion — a house of horrors where he allegedly abused dozens …

January Poll Results  —  Focus on Rural America Co-Founders former Iowa Lt. Gov Patty Judge and Jeff Link released the results of their latest poll on a conference call with reporters Monday morning.  —  This is the 6th quarterly poll from Focus on Rural America which began tracking presidential preferences …

The Fox-Trump monopoly, in one graph  —  Mediaite in 2017 accorded the idiotic morning show “Fox & Friends” the top slot in its ranking of the most influential figures in U.S. media.  “The President of the United States regularly starts his day watching Fox & Friends and then tweets …

In 9/11 proceedings, once-forbidden topic is front and center: Torture  —  For the first time, the military commission that is preparing to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks, will focus almost exclusively on a subject that for years wasn't allowed to be mentioned in the courtroom: torture.