We are living in a measurably different political and media landscape than when the Senate acquitted President Bill Clinton of impeachment charges in 1999.
The big picture: These dynamics are setting the pace as President Trump’s legal team speeds through arguments to seek a fast acquittal.
Michael Bloomberg gave a speech in Florida Sunday on how his Jewish faith has shaped his 2020 bid.
What they're saying: Speaking at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center and Tauber Academy, Bloomberg harshly criticized President Trump over his leadership on the issue, stating: "Anti-Semitism is hardly the exclusive domain of one political party. It can be found on both the right and the left — on town squares and campus quads. But there is one fact that we cannot ignore: Presidential leadership matters."
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said Sunday on "Meet the Press" that President Trump was "taken to the carpet" by impeachment and that he believes the president will be "instructed by what has occurred."
Why it matters: Though he believes impeachment has taught Trump a lesson, Braun said he heard "nothing new" in the House impeachment manager's opening statements and believes the president's actions did not amount to an impeachable offense.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said on "Meet the Press" Sunday that she will support the Democratic nominee but that Sen. Bernie Sanders should not be "leading the ticket."
What they're saying: "I think Senator Sanders' idea of kicking 149 million Americans off their current health insurance in four years is wrong. That's why I don't think he should be leading the ticket. I think I should be leading the ticket because my ideas are much more in sync with bold ways of getting things done," Klobuchar argued.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" said Democrats surrendered to President Trump's stonewalling during the House impeachment inquiry.
Why it matters: Republicans and Trump's defense team have criticized House Democrats for not allowing the judicial branch to decide on congressional subpoenas.
Alan Dershowitz, a member of President Trump’s defense team, said on Fox News Sunday that the House impeachment managers failed to make a substantive case for removing the president from office.
Why it matters: Trump's team kept to a brief two hours on Saturday and stuck to conventional legal pushbacks.
Pope Francis on Sunday invited prayers and reflection on the Holocaust and called people to vow “never again," AP reports.
Why it matters: Tomorrow marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp where the Nazis murdered 1.1 million men, women and children, mostly Jews, according to the New York Times.
Ahead of the Iowa caucuseseight days from now, the NY Times says Sen. Bernie Sanders is "consolidating support from liberals and benefiting from divisions among more moderate" candidates, per the Times/Siena College poll.
Why it matters: Sanders gained 6 points since the last Times-Siena survey in late October and now has 25% of the vote in Iowa.
"Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace— who has covered the Iowa caucuses since 1980 — is back in Des Moines, and he talked to me ahead of a town hall he's moderating with Pete Buttigieg tonight at 7 pm ET.
The big picture: I asked Wallaceabout Buttigieg's secret sauce: "Buttigieg is young, smart as the dickens, and a fresh face on the national scene when folks are pretty tired of politics as usual. But are they willing to push the envelope this far — 38, medium-town mayor, openly gay?"
On opening day of the defense case, President Trump's legal team didn't try to burn down the house by going after the Bidens.
The state of play: The team put on a fairly conventional legal rebuttal — trying to poke holes in the House impeachment managers' case, and arguing that Democrats just don't have enough evidence of wrongdoing to throw Trump out of office — especially in a year when he's up for re-election.
Officials in both parties tell Axios that — barring surprise new information — President Trump is on a glide path to swift acquittal at his Senate impeachment trial, despite a blizzard of evidence bolstering Democrats' accusations.
Why it matters: Trump has a decent chance of avoiding witnesses and of losing zero Republican votes on conviction. When the news of Trump's Ukraine scandal broke, few thought every single Republican in the House and Senate would have his back. Bill Clinton pined for such unity.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday on "Meet the Press" that Republican senators are "deathly afraid of what witnesses will have to say" in President Trump's impeachment trial and have made it their goal to "deprive the public of a fair trial."
Why it matters: Democrats have made admitting additional witnesses — specifically former national security adviser John Bolton — the focus of their strategy to convince Republican senators to vote for Trump's removal.
The latest ABC News/Washington Post national poll produced by Langer Research Associates has Joe Biden maintaining his lead with Bernie Sanders claiming second.
Why it matters: Nine days before the Iowa caucuses, Elizabeth Warren’s support among polled Democrats has declined from 21% to 11% since an ABC News/WashPost poll in October.
The next Democratic debate scheduled for Feb. 7 will fall after the Iowa caucuses, four days before the New Hampshire primary, ABC News reports.
The latest: Andrew Yang on Jan. 26 became the seventh Democrat to qualify for the February debate after polling above 5% in UNH/CNN's New Hampshire survey, his fourth qualifying poll.
Interest in the Senate impeachment trial over its first three days was barely half as strong as the first three days of the House impeachment hearings, according to data from NewsWhip exclusively provided to Axios.
The big picture: That was by design. By blocking Democratic attempts to subpoena new documents, the Republican-controlled Senate made sure no dramatic new information would surface during the first few days of the trial — and made it easier for Americans to tune out.
The first "Saturday Night Live" of the new year took us straight to hell, as former "SNL" star Jon Lovitz returned to the show as Trump impeachment attorney Alan Dershowitz in the cold open.
The big picture: "SNL" reimagined the senate trial, where Beck Bennett took on the role of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who dismissed the proceedings as a "sham."
Lovitz's Dershowitz mentioned previous clients such as Jeffrey Epstein and OJ Simpson before he had a heart attack and found himself temporarily in hell, where he was embraced by a "big fan," the devil (Kate McKinnon), and met up with familiar faces including Epstein, played by guest host and Oscar nominee Adam Driver.
2020 candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar was endorsed for the Democratic presidential nomination by the New Hampshire Union Leader's editorial board on Saturday night.
A magnitude-5.0 earthquake struck the southern coast of Puerto Rico Saturday, per the U.S. Geological Survey.
The big picture: Gov. Wanda Vázquez declared a state of emergency on Jan. 7 after two earthquakes measuring magnitudes of 6.4 and 5.8 hit the U.S. territory. The island has been rocked by a series of tremors since.
The Des Moines Register's editorial board hailed Sen. Elizabeth Warren as "the best leader for these times" as it endorsed her for the Democratic presidential nomination on Saturday night.
Why it matters: It's another win for Warren who, along with 2020 rival Sen. Amy Klobuchar, was endorsed for president by the New York Times last Sunday. The endorsement comes just ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3.
