Top Items:
Politico:
Dems unload ‘overwhelming’ impeachment case on the Senate — even as they press for more — And on the first day, Democrats unleashed the flood. — One by one, the seven House impeachment prosecutors seeking President Donald Trump's removal from office reconstructed a case against the president …
RELATED:
E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:
Why Democrats owe a debt to Mitch McConnell — Democrats owe a debt to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. — Yes, you read that right. — Recall that when Democrats were debating whether to impeach President Trump last year, those opposed to the move argued there was no chance …
Discussion:
Raw Story, CNN, NB Blog and Washington Monthly
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Adam Schiff's Moment — On Day 2 of the Senate impeachment trial, the House presents its case—and a senator has a cold glass of milk. — Leaving the Senate chamber on Wednesday afternoon for a short break, the Washington Post reporter Paul Kane called over to his colleague Dana Milbank, a Post columnist.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Hill and The Week
CNN:
Susan Collins sent note to dais before John Roberts admonished legal teams, source says — Chief justice admonishes discourse during impeachment trial — Washington (CNN)Sen. Susan Collins sent a written note early Wednesday morning during President Donald Trump's impeachment trial minutes …
Discussion:
Above the Law and FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
‘S.O.S.! PLEASE HELP ME!’ The world's greatest deliberative body falls to pettifoggery. — Senate chaplain Barry Black began Wednesday's session of President Trump's impeachment trial by praying for God to give senators “civility built upon integrity.” — It was too much to ask.
Discussion:
The Hill, Sputnik News and The Daily Caller
Politico:
Trump disrupts Republican trial strategy — Just five hours after Senate Republicans carefully assembled and passed an impeachment trial framework that could clear Donald Trump by next week, the president himself delivered an unwanted surprise to the GOP: The prospect of a longer trial with lots of witnesses.
Discussion:
The Hill, Associated Press and Breitbart
Politico:
Republicans livid over Nadler's ‘cover-up’ accusation — Senate Republicans are fuming after Rep. Jerry Nadler accused them on the Senate floor of engaging in a “cover up” to protect the president, seizing on his remarks Wednesday as a significant misstep that they say undercuts Democrats' impeachment case.
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Senate Republicans Will Pay a Price for Helping Trump Conceal Evidence
Senate Republicans Will Pay a Price for Helping Trump Conceal Evidence
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Fox News
Louise Boyle / Daily Mail:
Ghislaine Maxwell's personal emails were HACKED sparking fears that damaging information about high-profile individuals linked to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case, including Prince Andrew, could be leaked — Lawyers for the British socialite revealed the hack while discussing …
Discussion:
Fox News and Big League Politics
Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
S. Carolina elected official now backing Sanders over Biden — COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina elected official who endorsed Joe Biden last month is switching her allegiance to Bernie Sanders in the state's first-in-the-South presidential primary, saying she had viewed the former vice president …
Discussion:
Common Dreams
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New York Times:
Trump Opens Door to Cuts to Medicare and Other Entitlement Programs — The president signaled a willingness to scale back Medicare, a shift from his 2016 platform of protecting welfare programs. — WASHINGTON — President Trump suggested on Wednesday that he would be willing to consider cuts …
Discussion:
DCCC, Washington Post, Axios, The Week, Bern Notice, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Wall Street Journal, National Review and Mediaite
RELATED:
Daniel Dale / CNN:
Fact check: Trump lawyers make at least three false claims during impeachment arguments — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's legal team made at least three false claims during Senate impeachment proceedings on Tuesday, plus two more claims we'll call misleading.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Twitchy
RELATED:
Max Boot / Washington Post:
Trump's lawyers are playing a bad hand badly
Trump's lawyers are playing a bad hand badly
Discussion:
HuffPost, Raw Story, The Week, Digby's Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos
Coral Davenport / New York Times:
Trump Removes Pollution Controls on Streams and Wetlands — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday will finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies, handing a victory to farmers, fossil fuel producers and real estate developers …
Discussion:
Axios, HuffPost, The Week, Associated Press, Common Dreams, courthousenews.com, Raw Story and The Guardian
Sheera Frenkel / New York Times:
How Jeff Bezos' iPhone X Was Hacked — It most likely began with a tiny bit of code that implanted malware, which gave attackers access to Mr. Bezos' photos and texts. — SAN FRANCISCO — On the afternoon of May 1, 2018, Jeff Bezos received a message on WhatsApp from an account belonging …
Discussion:
The Federalist, Financial Times, The Verge, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and The New Daily, more at Mediagazer »
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian / Axios:
University of Minnesota student jailed in China over tweets — A University of Minnesota student has been arrested in China and sentenced to six months in prison for tweets he posted while in the United States, according to a Chinese court document viewed by Axios.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, New York Post and TheBlaze
Julia Marsh / New York Post:
Here's how Mike Bloomberg is luring 2020 campaign staffers with lavish perks — Billionaire presidential long shot Michael Bloomberg is trying to poach staff from other campaigns with outsized salaries and fancy perks like three catered meals a day, an iPhone 11 and a MacBook Pro, according to sources.
Alana Goodman / Washington Examiner:
Hunter Biden renting $12,000-per-month Hollywood home while defying child support suit — Hunter Biden is defying a court order to disclose his financial information as part of a child support fight while renting a $3.8 million designer home in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, for $12,000 per month.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit
Politico:
Matt Gaetz sees ‘brush back’ in being kept off Trump's impeachment team — Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of President Donald Trump's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, suspects a senior White House aide pushed to keep him off the president's impeachment defense team — weeks after the Florida Republican voted to rein in Trump's war powers.
Axios:
Facebook's big 2020 fear is a Democrat in the White House — One of Facebook's biggest headaches leading up to 2020 isn't election interference or fake news — it's worrying about what a Democrat in the White House could mean for the business. — Why it matters: The Obama administration's warm embrace …
Evan Sernoffsky / San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin ends cash bail for all criminal cases — Two weeks after Chesa Boudin took the oath of office as San Francisco's newest district attorney, the city's top prosecutor announced Wednesday that his office will no longer ask for cash bail as a condition for defendants' pretrial release.
Discussion:
The Hill
Pew Research Center:
By a Narrow Margin, Americans Say Senate Trial Should Result in Trump's Removal — Majority says Trump has definitely or probably done things that are illegal — How we did this — As the Senate impeachment trial gets underway, slightly more Americans say that Donald Trump should be removed …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Week, The Hill and Associated Press
David Edwards / Raw Story:
Lindsey Graham goes berserk at impeachment presser: 'I'm not covering up anything, I'm exposing your hatred!' — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Wednesday excoriated Democrats for continuing the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. — “If I was the president, I wouldn't cooperate …
Roger Parloff / Newsweek:
Reagan's solicitor general says ‘All honorable people’ have left Trump's Cabinet: ‘He is capable of doing serious damage’ — THE NEWSWEEK INTERVIEW — Charles Fried was a fervent, superior officer on the frontlines of the Reagan Revolution. As solicitor general of the United States from 1985 to 1989 …
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo
Wall Street Journal:
The ‘Corrupt Purposes’ Impeachment — Why the House logic is a danger to all future Presidents. — By The Editorial Board — As House managers make their impeachment case, many Americans will dismiss it all as a partisan effort that hasn't persuaded the country and will die in the Senate.
Christopher Bouzy / Lawfare:
Is There a Targeted Troll Campaign Against Lisa Page? A Bot Sentinel Investigation — “Homewrecker.” “Traitor.” “Tramp.” These are just some of the insults flung at Lisa Page—the former FBI lawyer whom President Trump has targeted for her text messages critical of him during the 2016 election …
Jessica Bennett / Page Six:
Why Robert Downey Jr. doesn't regret wearing blackface in ‘Tropic Thunder’ — Robert Downey Jr. famously wore blackface in the 2012 movie “Tropic Thunder,” where he played an Australian actor who darkens his skin in order to play a black soldier in a war film.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and IndieWire
Sean Wilentz / The Atlantic:
A Matter of Facts — With much fanfare, The New York Times Magazine devoted an entire issue in August to what it called the 1619 Project. The project's aim, the magazine announced, was to reinterpret the entirety of American history. “Our democracy's founding ideals,” its lead essay proclaimed, “were false when they were written.”
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Sophie Novack / The Texas Observer:
In Texas, Thousands of Kids Lose Medicaid Coverage Each Month — It's becoming a familiar scene across Texas: a parent brings her child to the doctor for a checkup. She signs in at the front desk. Only then does she learn that her child has been kicked off her health insurance …
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
The Apps on My Phone Are Stalking Me — I discovered that we're building a digital surveillance state much like the one in China. — There is much about the future that keeps me up at night — A.I. weaponry, undetectable viral deepfakes, indefatigable and infinitely wise robotic op-ed columnists …
Philip Bobbitt / Lawfare:
Alan Dershowitz's Strange Constitutional Arguments on Impoundment and Foreign Policy — On Jan. 17, the White House announced that Alan Dershowitz would be joining the president's defense team in his Senate impeachment trial. That same day, Dershowitz published a statement defending President …
Discussion:
Althouse, Spectator USA and Power Line
Wall Street Journal:
Veterans Differ With Trump Over Injuries From Iran Missile Attack — President says U.S. injuries in attack in Iraq weren't very serious; veterans say his comments were ignorant — WASHINGTON— President Trump said the head injuries suffered by American service members in an Iranian missile strike weren't …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Moderate Voice and Associated Press
John Ganz / The Outline:
Andrew Yang and the New American Tories — What links celebrity Yang supporters like Dave Chappelle, Rivers Cuomo, and Norm MacDonald? — Power — What links celebrity Yang supporters like Dave Chappelle, Rivers Cuomo, and Norm MacDonald? — A great groaning and rolling-of-eyes seized …
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
The Iconic Man With a Gun Is a White Man — Protesters in Virginia were re-enacting — and re-embracing — an exclusionary vision of American history. — RICHMOND, Va. — Around 22,000 people came here on Monday to protest potential new restrictions on guns under consideration by the new Democratic majority in the General Assembly.
Will Thorne / Variety:
TV Ratings: Trump Impeachment First Day Draws 11 Million Viewers — The opening day of President Trump's senate impeachment trial drew a substantial amount if viewers across the three cable news and major networks that broadcast the proceedings. — In total, around 11 million people tuned …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Fortune, NBC News and New York Post