ArchiveJanuary 2020

Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team, and many of his staunchest allies, have repeatedly argued that he was not really trying to pressure to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden for the purpose of damaging his presidential election chances — it’s just that Trump is really concerned about corruption. But on Monday evening, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) seemed to suggest that in fact the entire...

On Monday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a pair of voter suppression efforts backed by Arizona Republicans, the Associated Press reported. Judge William A. Fletcher, who wrote for the court’s majority, found that a 2016 law limiting who can collect and return early ballots, as well as methods the state uses to discard ballots cast in the wrong precinct, are unconstitutional...

A member of Donald Trump’s official impeachment team warned Monday that Republican senators who vote against Trump at the impeachment trial will pay a serious political price. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), a close Trump ally, told CBS News, “I mean listen, I don’t want to speak for my Senate colleagues. But there are always political repercussions for every vote you take.”...

Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) penned an op-ed published Monday in the Arizona Republic saying her recent attack on a reporter was part of her responsibility to “represent the people of my state and tell them the truth.” McSally has been fielding criticism after calling CNN reporter Manu Raju a “liberal hack” and refusing to answer his question of whether the Senate should...

Jane Raskin, one of the lawyers defending Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial, invoked the 9/11 attacks on Monday as part of an attempt to excuse Rudy Giuliani’s actions in Ukraine on Trump’s behalf. Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, is a central figure in the Ukraine scandal that eventually led to Trump’s impeachment. Giuliani visited Ukraine as part of the...

A Virginia lawmaker on Friday tried to remove a line from a resolution that acknowledged the harm that “structural racism” still does to maternal health, claiming the language was outdated and hurtful. The comments were first reported by the progressive site Blue Virginia. The provision in question was part of HJ 111, a resolution to designate July as “Maternal Health Awareness...

Former national security adviser John Bolton reportedly alleges in a forthcoming book that Donald Trump conditioned military aid to Ukraine on whether the country’s leadership would investigate his political rivals — meaning a firsthand witness says Trump did exactly what he’s accused of in the articles of impeachment. Yet one by one, Republican senators are emerging to say that...

As the Senate is engaged in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, a Fox News poll published Sunday showed widespread disapproval of Trump. The poll shows 50% of Americans want the Senate to remove Trump from office. This follows a poll published Dec. 15 by Fox, which also showed 50% of Americans want the Senate to vote to convict Trump and remove him from office. The Fox News poll is in line...

Trump falsely claimed on Monday morning that the “Democrat controlled House never even asked” former national security adviser John Bolton to testify during its earlier impeachment inquiry, ignoring the chamber’s earlier request to Bolton to appear before lawmakers. “The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate...

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers released a plan last week to help farmers facing hardship from Donald Trump’s trade war with China. Evers specifically pledged to help three key constituencies in the state: farmers, the agricultural industry, and rural communities. In 2019, Wisconsin lost a record number of dairies, as 818 shut their doors for the last time. Dairies first saw trouble in 2018 when...