memeorandum: How Republicans Scotched the Idea of Witnesses in Trump's Impeachment Trial (Wall Street Journal)

11:45 PM ET, January 31, 2020

Top Items:

Trump Told Bolton to Help His Ukraine Pressure Campaign, Book Says — The president asked his national security adviser last spring in front of other senior advisers to pave the way for a meeting between Rudolph Giuliani and Ukraine's new leader. — WASHINGTON — More than two months …

Jonathan D. Salant / New Jersey Online:

Trump's former chief of staff says Senate impeachment trial without witnesses is ‘a job only half done’ — WASHINGTON — A Senate vote to end President Donald Trump's impeachment proceedings without calling witnesses should be considered “half a trial,” the president's former chief of staff John Kelly said Friday.

Discussion: Breitbart, The National Interest, New York Times, Mediaite, CNN, The Week, The Hill, Axios, Raw Story and Politico

Washington Post:

The cringing abdication of Senate Republicans — REPUBLICAN SENATORS who voted Friday to suppress known but unexamined evidence of President Trump's wrongdoing at his Senate trial must have calculated that the wrath of a vindictive president is more dangerous than the sensible judgment …

Discussion: ABC News, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Beast, New York Times and FiveThirtyEight

Senator Marco Rubio:

My Statement On The President's Impeachment Trial — Voting to find the President guilty would not just be a condemnation of his action. If I vote guilty, I will be voting to remove a President from office for the first time in the 243-year history of our Republic.

Discussion: Slate, Vanity Fair, Common Dreams, Washington Post, Reason, New Republic, The Independent, CNN, Mediaite, Raw Story, National Review, The American Independent, The Hill and Daily Kos

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
What Democrats must do when impeachment is over

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Raw Story, The Mahablog and Washington Monthly

BuzzFeed News:
Republicans Now Say Trump Did What He Was Accused Of — They Just Don't Care

Discussion: Washington Post, HuffPost, Fox News and Breitbart

Leigh Ann Caldwell / NBC News:
McConnell, Schumer reach deal to wrap up trial on Wednesday

Discussion: The Hill

Washington Post:
Bolton faces potential legal battles in standoff with White House over his book

Discussion: Raw Story, ABC News and Vanity Fair

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 Gateway Pundit, Common Dreams and Twitchy

Politico:

DNC overhauls debate requirements, opening door for Bloomberg — The Democratic National Committee is drastically revising its criteria to participate in primary debates after New Hampshire, doubling the polling threshold and eliminating the individual donor requirement …

Washington Post:

‘The center of the orbit’: Endangered Republicans go all-in on Trump — Many of the most endangered Republicans have concluded that fully embracing President Trump is their only credible path to victory in November, rallying to his side in the final days of the Senate impeachment fight …

Discussion: The Hill and The Week

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
New DNC debate rules open door for Mike Bloomberg to make stage

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill and The Wrap

Will Weissert / Associated Press:
Candidates brace for frenzied weekend of Iowa campaigning

Discussion: Fox News, ABC News and Washington Post

New York Times:

Alexander Says Convicting Trump Would ‘Pour Gasoline on Cultural Fires’ — Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, explained why he would cast a pivotal vote against having witnesses at President Trump's impeachment trial, ensuring a quick acquittal.

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill, NPR, Balloon Juice and Senator Susan Collins

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 …

Politico:

Republicans defeat Democratic bids to hear witnesses in Trump trial — Senate votes to defeat Democratic bid to hear witnesses in Trump trial — The Senate on Friday narrowly rejected motions to call new witnesses in Donald Trump's impeachment trial, paving the way for a final vote to acquit …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Hill, Washington Post, NBC News, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, New York Post, Common Dreams, Breitbart, Slate, The Daily Beast, Townhall, BuzzFeed News, The Gateway Pundit, Disrn and Mother Jones

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

Matthew Choi / Politico:
Romney not welcome at CPAC after impeachment witness vote

Discussion: The Week

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

Discussion: HuffPost and Mother Jones

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

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, NBC News and Breitbart

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
The Senate Can Stop Pretending Now

Discussion: alicublog, Mother Jones and HuffPost

Andrew Duehren / Wall Street Journal:
Senators Reject Witnesses in Trump Impeachment Trial

Discussion: Townhall and IJR

Michele Kelemen / NPR:

Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch Has Retired From Foreign Service — Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine until last spring when she was ousted following a disinformation campaign by the president's private lawyer, is retiring — not resigning.

Discussion: CNN, Axios, The Hill and Mediaite

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 and UPI

Nihar Kabinittal / ABC News:
In Kyiv, Pompeo does not dispute allegations in Bolton's book

Discussion: Raw Story and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
Giuliani discussed interests of a former Ukrainian client during summer meeting with top Zelensky aide

Discussion: Raw Story

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: The Hill, VICE, Common Dreams, Financial Times and Real Clear Politics

Apple Podcasts:
Apple Podcasts Preview

Discussion: The Hill

Victoria Bekiempis / Vulture:

Weinstein Accuser Says He Has No Testicles — Jessica Mann testified in a Manhattan courtroom Friday that Harvey Weinstein engaged in forced oral sex and raped her in early 2013 and alleged that she was in a twisted relationship with him because of her sexual inexperience.

Discussion: Slate and Consequence of Sound

Page Six:
Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann tells court his genitalia looked ‘like a vagina’

Discussion: New York Times and The Daily Caller

Associated Press: Woman says Weinstein yelled, ‘You owe me!’ before raping her

Zolan Kanno-Youngs / New York Times:

Trump Administration Adds Six Countries to Travel Ban — President Trump added Africa's biggest country, Nigeria, as well as Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan and Tanzania, to his restricted travel list. — WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday added six countries to his list …

Discussion: The Week

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

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

New York Times:

Coronavirus Live Updates: Delta, United and American Airlines Suspend Flights to China — The suspensions came after the State Department issued a travel advisory on Thursday night telling Americans not to go to China. — RIGHT NOW The United States government has imposed a quarantine …

Discussion: Washington Post, CBS News, HuffPost, theepochtimes.com, NPR, The Verge, SFist, Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, PJ Media Home, Lawfare, GOV.UK, ABC News, ImmigrationProf Blog and The Daily Caller

Bloomberg:
For $193, a Flight to New York With a Six-Hour Stopover in Wuhan

Discussion: Common Dreams

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.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Pelosi Statement on Senate Vote to Block Witnesses and Documents — Washington, D.C. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi released this statement after Senate Republicans voted against calling witnesses and compelling documents in the impeachment proceedings: — “The Senate Republicans' vote …

Discussion: The Hill and The Gateway Pundit

Andrea Bernstein / The New York Review of Books:

Corruption with No Consequences, from Bridgegate to Impeachment — Two days before he was sworn in to preside over the US Senate impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump, the Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts conducted a hearing on a different case entirely …

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Joe Scarborough: Trump's So-Called Great Economy is WORSE than Jimmy Carter's ‘Year of Malaise’ — Joe Scarborough took a shot at what President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the “greatest economy ever, strongest economy ever” on Friday, making his case with a New York Times report …

Discussion: Breitbart