Although they still talk about it on-camera as an inquiry, some top House Democrats see the actual impeachment of President Trump as increasingly inevitable.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), reflecting the views of several members we talked to, said he thinks impeachment will happen by the end of 2019: "My hope is it is expeditious. I don't want the clock to run out."
Officials are trying to carry out President Trump's months-old directive demanding that sponsors of immigrants pay the government for the costs when those immigrants used certain public benefits. But to tabulate that, they have to go through a cave in Missouri.
The bottom line: The majority of those immigration files — including sponsors' information — are located on physical sheets of paper often stored in a large, underground facility in Kansas City's limestone caves, multiple current and former government officials tell Axios.
There were 18.4 million reports of child pornography on the internet last year, which included 45 million images and videos of child sexual abuse, according to an investigation by the New York Times.
Why it matters: Despite tech companies', law enforcement agencies' and legislators' best efforts to prevent the spread of child pornography, the number of reports has exploded over the last 3 decades as technology makes abusive images more accessible and easier to spread.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin: "I'm saying to the president and I'm saying to you, 'You've come into my wheelhouse now. I have 25 years of experience in intelligence.'"
Why it matters: That quote captures the speaker's mood and posture after a week in which her quiet patience on impeachment looked vindicated.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is dominating the Democratic field in South Carolina but is neck and neck with Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in Nevada, according to 2 new CNN polls.
Why it matters: South Carolina and Nevada are key early states, with primaries scheduled for late February after Iowa and New Hampshire. Biden's strong standing in South Carolina is largely the result of support from black voters, 45% of whom back the former vice president. The Nevada poll shows a tighter race with the 2 progressive senators chasing at Biden's heels.
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller claimed on "Fox News Sunday" that the whistleblower who filed a complaint about President Trump's interactions with Ukraine is a "deep state operative" who does not deserve to be honored for forwarding a "partisan hit job."
President Trump's effortto paint Joe Biden as corrupt — debunked by fact-checkers — fits a pattern of Trump's attacks on enemies: Raise deeply serious questions, regardless of what the facts say; hammer on those questions; never, ever seek finality.
Why it matters: Trump tries to plant seeds of suspicion and doubt, even if he doesn't actually prove a case. He incubates the attacks in perpetuity, rather than seeking an actual resolution. But in Biden's case, they've backfired in a way Trump couldn't have imagined.
Pope Francis in a sermon at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday criticized countries that produce and sell weapons for wars beyond their borders and then refuse to admit refugees fleeing those same conflicts, according to Reuters.
Why it matters: The Argentine pope, whose parents were Italian immigrants, has used his pontificate to defend migrants and scorn strict immigration policies enacted by President Trump and populist anti-immigrant politicians in Europe, per Reuters.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addressed at the Texas Tribune Festival the inquiry into President Trump's impeachment by saying "it doesn’t matter" if Democrats lose the House in 2020.
[W]e cannot have a president of the United States undermining his oath of office, his loyalty to his oath of office, undermining our national security, and undermining the integrity of our elections."
President Trumpis increasingly likely to be impeached by the full House late this year or very early in 2020, on the eve of the first voting in presidential primaries and the official start of his reelection campaign.
Why it matters: This outcome, which seems more certain with each passing hour, means the presidential, Senate and House races will be consumed by impeachment.
Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Wientraub took to Twitter on Friday night to share a memo about prohibited electoral activity by foreign nationals that she says a Republican commissioner blocked from being published in a public weekly digest.
Why it matters: Weintraub's decision to share the memo about foreign involvement in U.S. elections comes as a whistleblower alleges President Trump tried to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate his 2020 rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. The complaint was referred by the director of national intelligence for investigation as a possible campaign finance violation, but was dismissed by the Justice Department. Its claims about Trump and Ukraine are now at the heart of an impeachment inquiry.
Trump adviser and Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman is disputing President Trump's claim, made during a private fundraiser, that they spoke about the Biden family, reports Bloomberg.
Why it matters: Trump's claims "could attract interest in light of the impeachment inquiry underway by House Democrats" — especially since it focuses on a conversation between Trump and Ukraine about investigating the Biden family, writes the Washington Post. Schwarzman has remained quiet about his conversations with Trump over the years.
Red state Democrats running for governor in the south may soon have to answer to the inevitable impeachment inquiry led by their own party in the House, AP reports.
Why it matters: Impeachment could easily nationalize campaigns in Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana for Republicans, as red state Democrats try to stay under the radar, selling themselves to voters not by their party affiliation but on Trump-free issues.
Although three U.S. presidents have faced impeachment, none have been removed from office. Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were both impeached, but the Senate declined to remove them from office, and Richard Nixon stepped down before the House could vote.
How it works: Below is a graphic that explains the typical procedures for impeachment and removal from office.
"Listen, I want to see what the process produces. And quite frankly, if there's something that rises to that level, then guess what, that's not something that we can have by a Democrat or a Republican."
The White House didn't just hide the Trump-Ukraine phone call, CNN reported last night — it also locked down transcripts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Saudi royal family, including crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Why it matters: This aligns with the whistleblower complaint, which noted that White House officials said there was a pattern of hiding personally sensitive phone calls on systems designed to protect national security secrets.
