A 2018 memo by now-Attorney General William Barr contradicts President Trump's legal argument that abuse of power is not alone an impeachable offense.
What we know: Barr issued the memo for the Justice Department and Trump's legal team while still in private practice. The 19-page document was written as Robert Mueller conducted his special investigation into whether Trump illegally interfered in the Russia probe.
Both parties were caught stretching the Senate impeachment trial rules on Tuesday, keeping Apple Watches strapped to their wrists and ignoring a ban on electronic devices in the chamber, CQ Roll Call reports.
Why it matters: The no-phones rule in the decorum guidelines is meant to cut off access to the outside world. The latest versions of Apple Watches have cellular capabilities, meaning lawmakers and their staffers can text, call and surf the web even if their other devices are left outside the room.
White House counsel and lead Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone falsely claimed during the Senate trial Tuesday that Republicans were barred from attending the House impeachment inquiry's closed-door hearings.
Reality check: Republicans who are members of the three committees conducting the impeachment inquiry — the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees — were invited to and did attend impeachment hearings, which took in place in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).
What's new: The House record will be admitted as evidence, but each side retains the ability to raise motions regarding what can be added or struck as evidence, a McConnell spokesperson told Axios. House Democratic managers and Trump's defense team will be given up to 24 hours over three days to present their cases, instead of the two days in McConnell's original draft.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone, one of President Trump's chief defenders during his impeachment trial, alleged Tuesday during the debate over the trial's rules that Democrats want to "steal" the 2020 presidential election via the impeachment process.
"It's buried in the small print of their ridiculous articles of impeachment. They want to remove President Trump from the ballot. They won't tell you that. They don't have the guts to say it directly, but that's exactly what they're here to do."
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), acting as Democrats' chief impeachment manager in the Senate trial against President Trump, argued Tuesday that additional documents and evidence must be allowed in the proceeding.
"The truth will come out. The question is, 'Will it come out in time?' And what answer shall we give if we did not pursue the truth now and let it remain hidden until it was too late to consider on the profound issue of the president's guilt or innocence?"
House impeachment managers filed Tuesday a response to the White House's 110-page "trial memorandum," arguing that the brief is "heavy on rhetoric and procedural grievances" but lacks a "legitimate defense of his misconduct."
Why it matters: This is the last brief that either side will file before the start of the impeachment trial, which kicks off with a debate on procedures and scope at 1pm Tuesday.
The Trump administration is expected to roll out an immigration rule that would target pregnant women in an attempt to cut down on “birth tourism” this week. Dan and Axios reporter Stef Kight discuss how a rule like this might be implemented and the legal challenges ahead.
2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren pledged Tuesday to start an independent Justice Department task force if elected to investigate possible corruption by members of the Trump administration "to restore public confidence in government and deter future wrongdoing."
The big picture: While presidents historically have avoided large-scale investigations of their predecessors, Warren's message tracks with her anti-corruption stance — as she has previously pledged to institute a huge set of reforms to increase government transparency and peel back power from lobbyists.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed in a statement Tuesday that the rules Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has proposed for President Trump's impeachment trial diverge from the Clinton precedent and show he has "chosen a cover-up" over a fair trial.
Context: McConnell made public an organizing resolution Monday laying out the terms for the trial, which include 24 hours over two days for each side to present their cases. It would block evidence discovered in the House impeachment investigation from being presented without a separate vote, and it would delay a vote on whether to subpoena witnesses and documents until later in the trial.
Hillary Clinton makes her feelings clear about Sen. Bernie Sanders in a new documentary about her career, saying that "nobody likes him" and "nobody wants to work with him," per The Hollywood Reporter.
Driving the news: In an interview with the outlet about Hulu's forthcoming "Hillary," the former secretary of state didn't let up about her 2016 primary opponent, refusing to commit to endorse and campaign for the Vermont senator should he win the Democratic nomination this cycle.
Trees, plastics and favorable tax policy are at the core of House Republicans’ new push on climate change — an effort to reassure voters they care about the problem after a decade of dismissing it.
Why it matters: The policies reveal how Republicans hope to counter Democrats’ Green New Deal and show the political saliency of this topic that in the past has been on the electoral back burner.
Most people don't have nearly as much choice over their health insurance plans as Republicans and moderate Democrats sometimes suggest.
Between the lines: People who get their insurance from their employer — the majority of people with private insurance — are often given few plans to choose from, if they're given any choice at all.
Democratic presidential candidates set aside their differences ahead of next month's Iowa caucus to march arm-in-arm in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday.
The big picture: Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren clashed at last week's Democratic debate in Iowa. But in South Carolina, they linked arms and joined other candidates in singing "We Shall Overcome," the New York Times reports. In Washington, D.C., members of King's family and President Trump were among those commemorating the civil rights icon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at his memorial.
Alan Dershowitz, a member of President Trump's impeachment trial legal defense team, told CNN Monday he has a "more sophisticated basis" for his argument on what constitutes an impeachable offense than during the Clinton impeachment.
Why it matters: In 1998, he told CNN crime wasn't a factor in impeachment "if you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty."
Sen. Bernie Sanders apologized on CBS News Monday evening for a Guardian op-ed written by a campaign surrogate that claims his Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden has a "big corruption problem."
Driving the news: In the op-ed, published earlier Monday, law professor Zephyr Teachout, claims Biden "has perfected the art of taking big contributions, then representing his corporate donors at the cost of middle- and working-class Americans." In his CBS interview, Sanders said it's "absolutely not my view that Joe is corrupt in any way" and he's "sorry that that op-ed appeared."
Details: Reps. Doug Collins, Mike Johnson, Jim Jordan, Debbie Lesko, Mark Meadows, John Ratcliffe, Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin will serve on the team "working to combat this hyper-partisan and baseless impeachment," the statement reads. It did not detail what their roles would be.
