memeorandum: Dare we overturn the will of the voters by holding another election? (Alexandra Petri/Washington Post)

11:25 AM ET, February 1, 2020

Top Items:

A Dishonorable Senate — Republican legislators abdicated their duty by refusing to seek the truth. — The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.

Discussion: Balkinization, Washington Monthly, The Daily Signal, The Atlantic, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski …, Balloon Juice, HuffPost and BuzzFeed News

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: The two Senate trials — DRIVING THE DAY — IN CASE YOU'RE ON THE MARKET ... THE STATE DEPARTMENT is hiring for a “Senior Anticorruption Advisor” in Kyiv, Ukraine. The listing — BREAKING ... REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) raised a stunning $2.5 MILLION in the fourth quarter of 2019, a new filing showed.

Discussion: The Hill and New York Times

David R. Lurie / The Daily Beast:

Republicans Bless Trump's Crimes: He Did It, Get Over It — The senator says there's no need for witnesses since voters, not senators, should judge Trump—but the overwhelming majority of voters wanted senators to call witnesses. — BEAST INSIDE — In 1967, Lamar Alexander came …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian, Senator Rob Portman and FiveThirtyEight

Wall Street Journal:

How Republicans Scotched the Idea of Witnesses in Trump's Impeachment Trial — White House, Senate GOP leaders swung into a good-cop, bad-cop routine to keep lawmakers in the fold after Bolton book leak — WASHINGTON—At the White House on Sunday evening, as the phones started ringing nonstop …

Zachary B. Wolf / CNN:
Here's what we've learned from Trump's impeachment trial

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, BuzzFeed News, Washington Post and Reason

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The Senate impeachment trial was rigged!

Discussion: HuffPost and Althouse

Washington Post:
The cringing abdication of Senate Republicans

Discussion: CNN, Axios, New York Daily News, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, Contemptor, New York Times, POLITICUSUSA, Fortune, ABC News and HuffPost

Politico:
Why four key Republicans split — and the witness vote tanked

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post and The Week

Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
GOP senators seek to acquit Trump without condoning conduct

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Once Skeptical, Senate Republicans Are All In on Trump

Discussion: CNN

CNN:
White House officials not thrilled but resigned to new vote timeline in impeachment trial

Discussion: HuffPost and Mother Jones

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
‘A permanent asterisk’: Acquittal at hand, Democrats sow doubt about Trump trial

Discussion: The Hill

Washington Post:
‘The center of the orbit’: Endangered Republicans go all-in on Trump

Discussion: The Hill and Breitbart

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

Hillary Clinton Slams Bernie Sanders for Not Working to Unite Democrats in 2016 — In a podcast interview on Friday, Mrs. Clinton also described the caucuses in Iowa, where Mr. Sanders leads in some polls, as “undemocratic.” — DES MOINES — Hillary Clinton said on Friday in a podcast interview …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, Mediaite, The Hill and Michigan Advance

Apple Podcasts:
Apple Podcasts Preview

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, The Hill, Fox News and HuffPost

Brie Stimson / Fox News:
Rashida Tlaib boos Hillary Clinton at Bernie Sanders event in Iowa

Discussion: The Hill

Marc Caputo / Politico:

Major union flips support from Sanders to Biden — Joe Biden scored the endorsement Saturday of a major transit union that officially backed Bernie Sanders in 2016. — “Joe has been very supportive of the labor movement for the last 40 years. He stands for working families.

Ryan Lizza / Politico:

Bernie backers unleash their anger at a folk concert in Iowa — COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — On Friday afternoon, Pete Buttigieg, the frontrunner in Iowa in November and December, made his closing pitch here to about 100 voters. Buttigieg has sunk 6 points to third place over the course of January.

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Bret Stephens / New York Times:
Bernie's Angry Bros

Discussion: VICE

Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed News:

A Pro-Trump Blog Doxed A Chinese Scientist It Falsely Accused Of Creating The Coronavirus As A Bioweapon — A popular pro-Trump website has released the personal information of a scientist from Wuhan, China, falsely accusing them of creating the coronavirus as a bioweapon …

Discussion: The Post Millennial, Breitbart, The Verge, Instapundit and American Greatness, more at Mediagazer »

James B. Comey / Washington Post:

Trump won't be removed. But we'll be fine. — James B. Comey is a former director of the FBI and deputy attorney general. — When I was a little kid, the United States seemed to be coming apart. The president was murdered in public. The first lady had his blood on her pink suit.

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Impeachment Is Virtually Over. What Did it Change? — Lasting marks are set to include deeper polarization, an ever-more powerful executive and a Republican Party inextricably joined to the president — No experience as searing as a presidential impeachment trial—dramatic …

The Daily Beast:

U.S. Officials Warn of ‘Real Security Consequences’ if Trump's Acquitted — Crimes, conspiracies, and off-the-book ops—that's just a taste of what an impeachment acquittal could usher in, U.S. officials and Senate Democrats fear. — Late into Wednesday's session of the Senate impeachment trial …

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

FBI investigating border wall gun battle that left two wounded at California job site — A shootout at a border wall construction site near San Diego that wounded two Mexican security guards last summer is now under FBI investigation, according to private contractors and government documents obtained by The Washington Post.

David Siders / Politico:

DNC members discuss rules change to stop Sanders at convention — DES MOINES, Iowa — A small group of Democratic National Committee members has privately begun gauging support for a plan to potentially weaken Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign and head off a brokered convention.

Discussion: The Daily Wire, No More Mister Nice Blog, JONATHAN TURLEY, The Gateway Pundit, Common Dreams, New York Times, Slate, Twitchy and The Wrap

Vanessa Romo / NPR:

Former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, Key Figure In Impeachment Trial, Retires — The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who accused the Trump administration of a “smear” campaign against her, has retired from the foreign service, NPR has learned.

Discussion: New York Times, NBC News, The Week, Letters from an American, Impeachment dot fyi and UPI

Michele Kelemen / NPR:
Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch Has Retired From Foreign Service

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Mediaite and Axios

Washington Post:

New emails show how President Trump roiled NOAA during Hurricane Dorian — A trove of documents released on Friday evening provide the clearest glimpse yet into how President Trump's inaccurate statements, altered forecast map and tweets regarding Hurricane Dorian's forecast path rattled top officials along …

Katelyn Polantz / CNN:

OMB filing reveals Trump involved in discussions on Ukraine aid as early as June — See the moment Senate makes historic vote — Washington (CNN)The Department of Justice revealed in a court filing late Friday that it has two dozen emails related to the President Donald Trump's involvement …

Hannah Fingerhut / Associated Press:

Polling: Americans dissatisfied with the state of the union — WASHINGTON (AP) — The turbulence of impeachment, a contentious presidential campaign and a global virus health threat confront President Trump as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Jonathan Turley / The Hill:

How the House lost the witness battle along with impeachment — NBC host Chuck Todd recently asked guests if supporters of President Trump just want to be lied to. It is a question that many in the media would never ask about Democrats, even in the face of overtly false claims. This week is an example.

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:

Author Mary Higgins Clark, ‘Queen of Suspense,’ dead at 92 — NEW YORK (AP) — Mary Higgins Clark, the tireless and long-reigning “Queen of Suspense” whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world's most popular writers, died Friday at age 92.

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:

Dare we overturn the will of the voters by holding another election? — I have been quite full of consternation — everyone who has seen me has commented upon how consterned I looked — at these so-called impeachment so-called proceedings. How dare the Congress, a body full of partisans whose diets …