- The latest on former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial (Deseret News) – After previously voting against the constitutionality of Trump’s second impeachment trial on Jan. 26, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy changed his mind Tuesday and joined five other Senate Republicans who’d previously supported the trial of the former president. The Republican senator said the House impeachment managers “had much stronger constitutional arguments” than Trump’s defense lawyers.
- Trump plans a reemergence and some retribution after impeachment (Politico) – The former president is confident both of his acquittal and that he’ll come out of the trial with an iron grip on the GOP.
- ‘He just rambled’: Republicans unimpressed by Trump’s impeachment lawyers (The Guardian) – The performance of Donald Trump’s legal team on the first day of his second impeachment trial has drawn sharp criticism from Republican senators and other onlookers, many of whom appeared unimpressed by the at times rambling and incoherent opening statements.
- Trump unhappy with his impeachment attorney’s performance, sources say (CNN) – Trump was almost screaming as Castor struggled to get at the heart of his defense team’s argument, which is supposed to be over the constitutionality of holding a trial for a president no longer in office.
- Opinion: Why Democrats must make the full case against Trump (Washington Post) – Citizens need testimony and documentation that painstakingly lays out the theory of the case. They need to see all of it.
- Sen. Ted Cruz: Should the Senate exercise jurisdiction over Trump’s impeachment trial? Why the answer matters (Fox News) – “I believe that the better constitutional argument is that a former president can be impeached and tried—that is, that the Senate has jurisdiction to hold a trial. However, nothing in the text of the Constitution requires the Senate to choose to exercise jurisdiction.
- Trump’s impeachment can answer a lot about the Capitol riot. But not who funded it. (NBC News) – Financial anonymity is now as American as apple pie — and illicit finance has raced to the U.S. over the past few decades.
- Manchin pens letter to Biden asking him to reverse termination of Keystone XL pipeline (Fox News) – Pipelines ‘support thousands of high-paying, American union jobs,’ the Democratic Senator wrote.
- Biden backs House Democrats’ proposed threshold for COVID-19 checks (The Hill) – The proposal is to begin phasing out the next round of direct coronavirus relief payments to Americans who make more than $75,000, a key sticking point among some in the party.
- Opinion: My fellow Republicans, convicting Trump is necessary to save America (Washington Post) – Rep. Adam Kinzinger writes that if the GOP doesn’t take a stand, the chaos of the past few months, and the past four years, could quickly return. The future of our party and our country depends on confronting what happened — so it doesn’t happen again.
- Trump lawyer presses for former President’s full-time Mar-a-Lago residency (CNN) – Trump bought the former estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1985 and turned it into a members-only club in 1993. To do so, he had to agree that he would not live at the club for more than 21 days a year. Now he wants to change that.
- Do you qualify for the $1,400 stimulus after the recent proposed change? (Deseret News) – The threshold for receiving a check would cut off for those earning $100,000 or more, and couples who earn more than $200,000.
