1 Senators' Questions In Trump Impeachment Trial Will Resume Today
Senators' questions in President Trump's impeachment trial resume today. During the first-of-two days of questioning, Trump lawyers argued that House Democrats want to overturn the results of the 2016 election and had at least one interesting theory about why the President can’t be impeached for his conduct, but more on that in a minute. The House managers did plenty of pushing back. Here’s a rundown of the day’s highlights: Congressman Adam Schiff said Trump tried to cheat to help him win re-election. The California Democrat defended the House impeachment and called Trump a threat to the integrity of U.S. elections and national security. He said a president cannot "solicit foreign interference" to aid his re-election. White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued that Democrats did not meet the constitutional standard for the impeachment of a president. Cipollone also warned that the impeachment trial could "drag on for months" if the Senate starts calling witnesses, saying the Senate could become "paralyzed." Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow noted that 17 witnesses testified in House impeachment hearings and said Democrats now want "more and compared the proceedings in the Senate to that of the Democrats acting “like this is some municipal traffic court proceeding.” Meanwhile, Dems are pushing hard for testimony from former National Security Adviser John Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. If that happens, Sekulow said his side will demand a list of witnesses too. That would include former VP Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Schiff argued that Republicans are the ones potentially pushing the length of the trial by threatening to call numerous witnesses who are not relevant to the case against the President. Florida Democrat Val Demings called Sekulow’s threats a diversion. She also referred to it as "smoke-and-mirrors."
2 Coronavirus Deaths Rise To Over 170
The number of deaths from the coronavirus is passing 170. At last check, nearly eight-thousand people in China have been infected with the respiratory illness - and 130 have recovered. As we’ve been telling you, the hardest hit area is the Wuhan area, but there is a smattering of cases in other parts of China and the world. Several cities around China have been quarantined in hopes of stifling the outbreak. To that end, China's richest man is donating more than 14-million-dollars to help find a vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus. Jack Ma founded the e-commerce company Alibaba, and his foundation is giving eleven-million to two Chinese government research organizations. The rest of the funds will be designated for prevention and treatment. He’s not alone, a number of Chinese tech companies are donating money to fight the spread of the deadly virus. Speaking of tech, Tesla is putting the brakes on production of its new factory in Shanghai because of the coronavirus outbreak. The luxury high-performance carmaker has announced that the Chinese government is forcing the shutdown of the factory where production of the Model 3 was to have started February 1st. At this point, the company expects a delay of up to a week and a half before Model 3 production ramps up.
3 Trump’s New Trade Deal Has Been Signed
President Trump says the NAFTA nightmare is over. This, as he signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement into law yesterday. The agreement must still be ratified by Canada, but Trump is championing the agreement as a new era in trade. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, will replace NAFTA, signed back in the 1990s. Replacing NAFTA was a big part of Trump's 2016 campaign for the White House. Around 400 guests were in attendance, but not the Democrats who helped get the agreement bipartisan congressional support. Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were none too thrilled about the snub, pointing out the work of Democrats. She said what the President is signing is a lot better because Democrats added protections for labor and the environment. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal says the original draft would never have been passed without the changes.