3 Things To Know Today

1 D Day: Public Impeachment Hearings Begin

If you want to avoid it, stay offline and turn off your TV, because starting this morning at 10am ET, the impeachment inquiry against President Trump will officially go public. State Department officials William Taylor and George Kent will be the first witnesses taking center stage today. Behind closed doors, both told lawmakers about their concerns with the Trump administration pressuring Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden. On Friday, Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine is set to speak. So far, the whistleblower is not scheduled to testify.How will all this work? House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and the ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, will each make an opening statement, then there will statements from the two witnesses. Schiff and Nunes will both have 45-minutes to question the witnesses...followed by each committee member (13 Dems, 9 GOP) having five-minutes to ask questions. Today's hearing is expected to last at least six-hours. These impeachment hearings are the first held in more than 20 years – and if the House does vote to impeach, Trump would face the choice of fighting for his office in the Senate or resign. Both President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Clinton in 1999 fought in the House and ultimately survived a Senate trial. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached. There is no indication that the President will participate in any way. ONE MORE THING! Whereas the House requires a simple majority vote – something they clearly have with the Democrats – it takes a supermajority to officially remove a President from office. That means 67 senators would have to agree that Trump should be impeached – and 20 Republicans would have to turn on him along the way. BY THE NUMBERS: For Johnson, the entire process lasted 94 days, for Nixon…184 days (and he cut bait as soon as the House voted to impeach him) Clinton’s impeachment lasted 127 days.

2 Supreme Court Considers Arguments About DACA, Dreamers

Supreme Court justice are hearing oral arguments about the DACA program and the fate of Dreamers – and early indications are that our nation’s highest court may side with President Trump as far as ending the program. Speaking outside of the high court, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the Trump administration committed an "unlawful action." New York Attorney General Letitia James said terminating DACA would provide "great distress" to recipients, adding that immigrants are "here to stay." So-called ‘Dreamers’ are immigrants brought to the U.S. country illegally as children, but allowed to stay under the Obama-era policy. Still, all might not be lost...Mr. Trump tweeted overnight that a high court ruling in his favor could lead to a bipartisan deal to allow Dreamers to remain in the U.S. Earlier in the day, he also argued that many of the people in DACA are "far from angels," saying some are "very tough, hardened criminals."

3 Gun Manufacturer Can Be Sued Over Sandy Hook Shooting

It doesn’t mean they’ll lose, but the Supreme Court has ruled that Remington Arms can be sued over the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting massacre in Connecticut. The plaintiffs charge that the company marketed an assault weapon so that it contributed to the incident. Watcher say the decision suggests the court is not yet willing to weigh in on 2005’s Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields firearm and ammunition manufacturers and sellers from liability when their products are used in crimes. “This simply means that the case can proceed under Connecticut state law,” says gun policy expert Robert Spitzer. “It doesn’t mean that the plaintiffs will prevail.”


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