Several polls out this week show a majority of Americans would like to see Congress bring forward new witnesses to testify in President Trump's impeachment trial.
The state of play: Democrats could be a few Republican votes short to call new witnesses, Axios' Alayna Treene and Jonathan Swan previously reported.
The Trump administration on Friday issued a "notice of violation" to California, threatening to cut the state's federal health care funding if it continues to require that insurance plans cover abortion.
The big picture: The Department of Health and Human Services said the requirement violates a law that bans the federal government from giving funding to states or other entities that discriminate against health care providers that object to providing abortions.
The NFL's New Orleans Saints are fighting in court to block the public release of emails that allegedly show team executives assisting the Archdiocese of New Orleans with public relations work regarding its role in the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis, AP reports.
The state of play: The attorneys for a group of men suing the archdiocese for alleged abuse claim in a filing that 276 emails obtained via discovery show that executives for the team — owned by Gayle Benson, a devout Catholic — helped the New Orleans arm of the church with its "pattern and practice of concealing its crimes."
A book that was mostly written by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, and worked on by his widow Maya Rockeymoore Cummings after his death, is set to be released on June 30, AP reports.
The big picture: "We're Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy" offers perspective from Cummings' personal life, including 23 years in Congress. He was chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee, which was partly responsible for conducting impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
Quick take: The whole piece by author and consultant Andrew Winston is worth reading. But what caught my eye was the way he calls out multinationals that back strong U.S. policies in principle — but then fail to really push policymakers.
The EPA finalized rules on Thursday that remove Clean Water Act protections for many seasonal streams and wetlands — and one gauge of how consequential the changes are for major industries like agriculture and oil producers, who applauded the move, and green groups is to look at the final stages of the regulation's drafting.
Why it matters: Meetings with the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) give regulated industries, environmentalists and others a final chance to try and influence regulations.
President Trump expressed frustration on Twitter over the fact that his "lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V."
Why it matters: The White House originally pushed for opening arguments to last two days instead of three. Even if Trump's lawyers only use half of the time they're allotted, they'll likely split it up over at least two days — in part because of TV ratings, reports Axios' Alayna Treene. "No one wants to watch this on their Saturday."
Democrats may fall short of securing the minimum number of Republican senators needed to bring new witnesses into President Trump's impeachment trial, 10 senior staffers to key Senate Republicans tell Axios.
The big picture: As of Thursday night, the prevailing view emerging among Republican Senate aides was that Democrats — who need four GOP senators' votes and not to lose any from their own party — will struggle to get more than three.
President Trump's team is considering using just a portion of the 24 hours they're given for arguments in his impeachment trial.
Why it matters: A truncated defense would likely reflect a decision not to contest facts or defend Trump point by point, but rather to try to diminish the legitimacy of Democrats' overall case and end the trial as quickly as possible.
Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) ended Democrats' second day of opening arguments in President Trump's impeachment trial on Thursday with an impassioned speech arguing for Trump's conviction.
What he said: In a clip that's sure to be played on cable news all morning, Schiff closed by saying, "If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters, because right matters. And the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost."
Three Native American men are suing the Indian Health Service, saying it failed to protect them from sexual abuse by a pediatrician about 30 years ago, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Background: WSJ and PBS series "Frontline" revealed last year that IHS officials tried to silence whistleblowers and ignored complaints about the doctor's behavior. Congressional hearings and five federal investigations followed.
Israel's embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz have been invited to the White House next week for discussions on President Trump's long-promised Mideast peace plan, Israeli sources say.
Driving the news: Trump said on a flight to Florida Thursday that he's "probably" going to release his Mideast plan "a little bit prior" to the meeting on Jan. 28. The meeting is set for the same time as a planned vote in the Knesset over Netanyahu's bid for immunity from prosecution on corruption charges.
