memeorandum: Trump headed for fast acquittal (Alayna Treene/Axios)

10:25 AM ET, January 31, 2020

Top Items:

GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, key impeachment vote, to reveal decision on witnesses tonight — Alexander is one of a handful of Republican senators who may vote to hear from witnesses during the Senate impeachment trial. — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a key impeachment swing vote …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The American Independent and CNN

United States Senator Lamar Alexander:

Alexander Statement on Impeachment Witness Vote — “I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution's high bar …

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post, Law & Crime, The American Independent, IJR, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, Slate, Raw Story, NPR, The Week and BuzzFeed News

Senator Susan Collins:

Senator Collins' Statement on Vote on Witnesses and Documents — Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senator Susan Collins issued the following statement on the next stage of the impeachment trial process: — “We have heard the cases argued and the questions answered.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, PJ Media Home, Common Dreams, Axios, UPI, Redstate, HuffPost, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, FOX 61, ABC7, Daily Kos, Financial Times and Raw Story

Politico:

Biden argued against witnesses in 1999 impeachment trial memo — In January 1999, then-Sen. Joe Biden argued strongly against the need to depose additional witnesses or seek new evidence in a memo sent to fellow Democrats ahead of President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.

Discussion: NBC News, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Power Line, Outside the Beltway, IJR, Mediaite, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Redstate, The Daily Caller, PJ Media Home and The Hill

Alayna Treene / Axios:

Trump headed for fast acquittal — President Trump is poised to win his long-expected acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial as soon as tonight, after Sen. Lamar Alexander's dramatic 11th-hour announcement that he'll vote against calling new witnesses. — The state of play …

Discussion: Redstate, The Hill and Disrn

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Three ways the end of the impeachment trial could play out — Friday will be a make-or-break moment in President Trump's impeachment trial, as Republicans try to bring the proceedings to a close. — Senators will hold a crucial vote on whether or not to call new witnesses or compel documents as part of the Senate's proceeding.

Discussion: Politico, UPI, JONATHAN TURLEY, Washington Free Beacon and New York Times

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Alexander narrows the path to witnesses

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post and Raw Story

Washington Post:
Sen. Alexander calls Trump's actions ‘inappropriate’ but rejects witnesses in impeachment trial

Discussion: Political Wire and Balloon Juice

Joe DePaolo / Mediaite:
‘A Shameful Episode in Our History’: Carl Bernstein Scorches Senate for ‘Cover-up’ …

Discussion: HuffPost

Politico:
Republicans set to shut down Democrats' witness demands

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, NBC News, PBS NewsHour, The Gateway Pundit, HuffPost, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Lawyers, Guns & Money

CNN:
Lamar Alexander says he will announce decision on witnesses vote Thursday night

Discussion: The Week and UPI

John Delaney for President:

John Delaney Announces Decision to Withdraw From 2020 Race — DES MOINES, IA - Today, 2020 Presidential candidate John Delaney announces his decision to withdraw from the 2020 race. This decision is informed by internal analyses indicating John's support is not sufficient to meet …

Discussion: Townhall, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, DCist, PJ Media Home, BuzzFeed News, The Daily Caller, UPI, Mediaite, FOX 61, PBS NewsHour and CBS Baltimore

Amy Wang / Washington Post:

John Delaney says he's dropping out of presidential race — John Delaney, a businessman and former Maryland congressman who launched a bid for the presidency nearly three years ago, has dropped out of the race, saying in a statement that he doesn't want to take support away from other moderate candidates in Monday's Iowa caucuses.

Discussion: Axios and The Week

Tess Bonn / The Hill:
Bloomberg surges past Warren into third place in new national poll

Discussion: NBC News, Politico, Spectator USA, The Daily Caller and Townhall

CNN:
John Delaney drops out of Democratic presidential race

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

NBC News:
Trump slams Democrats in Iowa days before the caucuses

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and Breitbart

Politico:
Iowa Democrats fear losing first-in-the-nation status

Discussion: Vox, Associated Press, The Hill and Breitbart

Morgan Phillips / Fox News:
Trump, at Iowa rally, taunts Dems before caucuses: 'We're beating them all'

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, The Hill, The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Republican Cover-up Will Backfire. The House Can Keep Investigating Trump. — Toward the end, the impeachment trial's strategic purpose narrowed into an obsessive quest to produce evidence. Democrats have defined victory not as removal, but as winning a procedural vote to allow more testimony, especially by John Bolton.

George Conway / Washington Post:

Don't let the defense fool you. This impeachment is all about corruption. — George T. Conway III is a lawyer in New York and an adviser to the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC. — The president's lawyers this week floated their catch-all impeachment defense, one tailor-made for President Trump.

Discussion: Raw Story and The Week

Jamil Smith / Rolling Stone:
The God President — Impeachment is a tool of accountability …

Discussion: Washington Post

The Daily Beast:
Dems Fed Up With GOP's Refusal to Budge on Impeachment: 'It's More Than Frustrating—It's Pathetic'

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and Associated Press

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
Trump insists he isn't worried about impeachment: ‘This is a happy period’

Discussion: Breitbart

Phil Prazan / KXAN-TV:

In Austin, John Bolton voices support for officials called in impeachment hearing — AUSTIN (KXAN) — Speaking at a private event in Austin Thursday, Former National Security Advisor John Bolton defended government officials who testified in front of the U.S. House impeachment inquiry.

Discussion: CNN, Fox News, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Week and Mother Jones

Carrie Dann / NBC News:

Sanders, Biden are neck-and-neck in new NBC/WSJ national poll — The two Democratic presidential contenders are statistically tied but Sanders has an edge in loyalty of his supporters. — DES MOINES, Iowa — Just days before the first votes are counted in the Democratic primary …

Discussion: Financial Times, Mediaite, The Hill and Jacobin

Matthew Yglesias / Vox: Bernie Sanders leads Donald Trump in polls, even when you remind people he's a socialist

James Kirchick / Tablet Magazine: Weekend at Bernie's — “I am very proud to be Jewish …

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:

Trump's border wall, vulnerable to flash floods, needs large storm gates left open for months — NACO, Ariz. — President Trump's border wall likely will require the installation of hundreds of storm gates to prevent flash floods from undermining or knocking it over, gates that must be left open …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Slate, The Hill and Raw Story

Dara Lind / ProPublica: “Women to One Side, Men to the Other”: How the Border Patrol's New Powers and Old Carelessness Separated a Family

Jonah Goldberg / The Dispatch:

Dershowitz's Dangerous Game — His defense of Trump threatens the checks and balances at the heart of Congress's impeachment power. — I will not try to convince you how to vote in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. I won't even lecture you about the need for witnesses …

Adam J. White / The Bulwark:
High Crimes and Misdirection

Discussion: HuffPost

William M. Treanor / Washington Post: Trump's attorneys have butchered a crucial Founder's take on impeachment

Keith Hennessey:

On the impeachment of President Donald Trump — My layman's approach to the impeachment of President Trump is somewhat simplistic. — We American citizens have the right to choose our leaders by voting in elections. Exercising that right requires that our elections be fair, especially the one for president.

CBS News:

Most feel good about the economy but not the state of the country - CBS News poll — Ahead of President Trump's State of the Union address, more Americans feel positive about the state of the economy than they do about the state of the country overall. As Mr. Trump gets record high approval ratings …

Joseph Simonson / Washington Examiner:

Bernie Sanders praised George Wallace as ‘sensitive’ in 1972 — Seven years after Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to George Wallace as “perhaps the most dangerous racist in America today,” a young Bernie Sanders praised the segregationist Alabama governor.

Discussion: Washington Post and Balloon Juice

Leada Gore / al.com: Bernie Sanders praised Alabama segregationist governor George Wallace in 1972 article

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:

Trump: Coronavirus will have ‘a very good ending for us’ — President Donald Trump on Thursday sought to assure Americans about the spread of a new coronavirus, saying it would have “a very good ending for us ... that I can assure you,” hours after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global emergency.

Discussion: Politico, Balloon Juice, One America News Network and Raw Story

Phil Helsel / NBC News:
State Department warns against travel to China amid coronavirus outbreak

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Washington Post:

Senate investigators interview IRS whistleblower about alleged interference with Trump or Pence audit — Senate investigators have conducted an extensive interview of a whistleblower at the Internal Revenue Service who has alleged improper political interference in the audit of the president …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Betsy Swan / The Daily Beast:

Paul Manafort and Rudy's Indicted Associate Igor Fruman Go Way, Way Back — The relationship — stretching from New York to London to Kyiv — long predated Rudy Giuliani's attempts to discredit the evidence that played a key role in Manafort's downfall. — The web of connections between …

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Kos, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Yamiche Alcindor / PBS NewsHour: Second video demonstrates Lev Parnas' access to Trump

Associated Press:

AP Exclusive: Woman who says Trump raped her seeks his DNA — NEW YORK — Lawyers for a woman who accuses President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s are asking for a DNA sample, seeking to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she says she wore during the encounter.

Discussion: Vox, Daily Kos, Washington Post and UPI

P.J. Huffstutter / Reuters:

U.S. farm bankruptcies hit an eight-year high: court data — CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. farm bankruptcy rates jumped 20% in 2019 - to an eight-year high - as financial woes in the U.S. agricultural economy continued in spite of massive federal bail-out funding, according to federal court data.