46,000 gallons of a 97,000-gallon winery tank spilled into Northern California's Russian River roughly 65 miles north of San Francisco this week, the Washington Post reports.
Catch up quick: The wine spill, which was 20% contained on Wednesday, might be the largest in the history of Healdsburg, located in California's Wine Country. Two vacuum trucks were enlisted to help clean up the wine — which was reportedly cabernet sauvignon from Rodney Strong Vineyards.
Context: Iran attacked a U.S. base in Iraq after an American drone killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Trump had originally said U.S. soldiers didn't suffer any injuries, but the Pentagon confirmed on Friday that 34 soldiers suffered from traumatic brain injuries.
The American Dream’s promise of a better life if you work hard enough is fracturing.
The big picture: Socioeconomic mobility in the U.S. is at its most sluggish in history. Not only are fewer Americans living better than their parents, but there’s also a growing number of people doing worse than their parents.
"Americans should understandthat there will be a significant, long-term economic cost to our polarized politics and dysfunctional government," Washington Post economics columnist Steve Pearlstein writes on the Sunday Business cover.
The backdrop: House impeachment managers are arguing that the constitutional powers of Congress to indict a president will never function if Trump isn't found guilty of obstruction, while Trump's defense team is arguing that impeaching Trump would revoke voters' ability to judge the president for his actions.
The latest Iowa poll averages from FiveThirtyEight put Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden neck and neck in Iowa at 20.2% and 20.1%, respectively with less than two weeks before the caucuses.
The state of play: Sanders and Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet are all tied up with the Senate impeachment trial — giving other candidates an opportunity to seize on their absences to gain ground in Iowa, which hosts the nation's first 2020 presidential nominating contest.
President Trump's legal team took their turn before the Senate on Saturday to rebut Democrats' lengthy arguments for removing Trump from office.
Why it matters: The two-hour session was a first look at Trump's defense. The Trump team methodically tried to poke holes in the House impeachment managers' case, rather than going after the Bidens, as they previously suggested they will.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a scathing statement on Saturday against NPR's Mary Louise Kelly following an interview, claiming, their talk "is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration," but not denying her account.
Context: Kelly interviewed Pompeo on Jan. 24 regarding U.S. policy in Iran and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Kelly claims Pompeo used multiple expletives in a private meeting that followed the interview.
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has conditionally approved Los Angeles County's new publicly-owned computerized voting system on Friday.
Why it matters: The Voting System for All People (VSAP) will be the first publicly owned and designed voting system in the U.S. However, many concerns and questions remain about the security of the election machines and other technical problems, AP notes. VSAP still requires some modifications to address these concerns.
House managers appealed directly to senators to weigh their actions against the precedent they'll set on Congress’ ability to serve as a check on the president, as they wrapped up their three-day impeachment presentation.
Why it matters: Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) used his last chance to address senators directly and expertly pursued every argument made by Republicans, undercutting what Trump has said publicly, and what he anticipates Trump’s defense team will attempt to make over the next few days.
Take a step back, and little has changed in the political landscape four months after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched the inquiry against President Trump.
By the numbers: Trump's national approval numbers, public support for his removal and Joe Biden's place as the Democratic primary front-runner have held steady. Meanwhile, the GOP and Trump campaign are raising money off of impeachment.
NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shouted at her and made her point to Ukraine on an unmarked map following an interview in which she asked him questions about the ouster of former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch Friday.
The big picture: Kelly confirmed to Axios that she was taken to Pompeo's private living room following the interview. There, she says he shouted and cursed at her and asked "do you think Americans care about Ukraine?", before asking aides to bring a world map for her to point to the country. The details were made public in a tweet from CNN's Daniel Dale.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the U.S.'s decision to refuse extradition in the case of Anne Sacoolas, a U.S. diplomat's wife who was charged last December in connection with the crash that killed teenager Harry Dunn in Britain last August.
The state of play: Sacoolas invoked diplomatic immunity under international law and returned to the U.S. after police reports claimed that her vehicle struck 19-year-old Dunn's motorcycle when she drove on the wrong side of the road.
The lawyer for Lev Parnas, a Rudy Giuliani associate, claims there is a recording of President Trump saying former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch should be fired, the Daily Beast reports.
The latest: Parnas said on Friday that he has turned the recording over to the House Intelligence Committee, per the New York Times — as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) led House Democrats in laying out the case for impeaching Trump before the Senate.
