Donald Trump looks all but certain to be acquitted by the Senate – perhaps as imminently as Friday evening – after a key Republican senator, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, backed away from supporting Democratic calls to extend the impeachment process by calling new witnesses.
Commenting on the performance of the GOP throughout the trial, Democratic 2020 front-runner Joe Biden told ABC News: “I find this defence astounding. ‘Yeah, he did it, but it doesn’t matter.’ I mean, George Washington is rolling over in his grave.”
The president was meanwhile on jubilant form at his latest Keep America Great rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday night, mocking his potential 2020 challengers and bizarrely warning his rural audience that the opposition “want to kill our cows” and that their farms would “go to hell” unless he is re-elected in November.
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Donald Trump, on online child exploitation: "The internet has caused a lot of good things to happen and a lot of bad things to happen, and this is the worst of the bad things."
The executive order would "target human trafficking and online child exploitation all across our country," he says.
He introduced trafficking survivor Bella Hounakey, who is joining the US Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. She told survivors: “You’re not alone, you’re not alone, you’re not alone.”
Also worth noting:
Trump appears at White House event on human trafficking
Donald Trump is delivering remarks during a White House summit on human trafficking, after which he'll be signing an executive order to "to combat human trafficking and online child exploitation," according to the White House.
He's joined by Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump.
He joked about his impeachment trial, saying a lot of Senators wanted to be at the event but he told them to "stay where you are and do your job."
'Rand Paul named the whistleblower and revealed the hypocrisy at the heart of the Republican Party'
For Indy Voices, Noah Berlatsky offers this scathing assessment of the Kentucky senator whose question to the upper chamber was cast aside unread by chief justice John Roberts yesterday, apparently after he named the CIA whistleblower who exposed the Ukraine scandal, risking compromising their safety for the sake of partisan showboating.
Mitt Romney says he will vote for witnesses
The Utah senator and 2012 presidential candidate has confirmed his intentions to vote to hear from new witnesses at the trial later today via a spokesperson. That's two - along with Susan Collins - so here's looking at you, Lisa Murkowski.
Will anyone join them?
Chuck Schumer: 'This country is headed towards the greatest coverup since Watergate'
The Senate minority leader is being even more forthright than Joe Biden as Democratic frustration with their opposition threatens to boil over.
Sir Kim Darroch: Trump will put US first in trade negotiations with Boris Johnson
On Brexit Day, the ousted US ambassador to Britain Sir Kim Darroch warns that Trump will put the interests of American farmers and pharmaceutical companies ahead of any future trade deal with the UK.
Here's Andrew Woodcock on a timely warning for the prime minister.
Monica Lewinsky derides Republicans over trial hypocrisy
The former White House intern offers this bitterly sarcastic take on the GOP's cynicism over impeachment witnesses, especially galling for her personally as Ken Starr is on Team Trump this time around.
Lamar Alexander: Trump guilty of 'error or judgement' but does not deserve impeachment
The retiring Tenessee senator who appears to have driven the final nail into the coffin of Democratic hopes to see Trump removed from office has been elaborating on his statement of last night in conversation with reporters in DC.
"I concluded after nine long days, and hearing 200 video clips of witnesses from the House, I didn't need any more evidence, because I thought it was proof the President did what he was charged with doing, but it didn't rise to the level of an impeachable offense. I didn't need any more evidence to make my decision," he said.
"I thought about it, but I wanted to wait until the very last minute because around here you never know what might happen. You might get a surprise during the question and answer period."
(Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty)
"Impeachable conduct is a very high bar," he continued. "It's treason, bribery, it's high crimes and misdemeanors. And to me, an error in judgement, an inappropriate and improper telephone call or action doesn't add up to treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors.
Alexander said he thinks it was "inappropriate and wrong for the president to do what he did - and I think it was proved. The question is whether you apply capital punishment to every offense. And I think in this case, I think the answer is no, let the people make that decision... and especially since the election begins Monday."
President firefights disastrous border wall story
Yesterday we learned that a section of Trump's US-Mexico border wall had blown over in El Centro, California, after being blasted by desert winds, making a nonsense of his hyberbolic claims about its sturdiness.
The president sought to counter the resulting mockery on Twitter yesterday by posting a series of images of construction underway. The wall was of course a signature campaign promise in 2016 and his failure to raise it in time won't look good to supporters promised an immigration crackdown last time out.
Here's Andy Gregory on the original incident.
Joe Biden: 'George Washington is rolling over in his grave'
The Democratic front-runner gave an exclusive interview to George Stephanopoulos on ABC this morning and did not mince his words on the Republicans.
He also defended himself over claims of a contradiction between his current line of attack and his attitude during the Bill Clinton impeachment of 1999 and pledged to back whichever Democrat's win their party's nomination to take on Trump.
Trump repurposes trial clip to claim rift between Democratic impeachment managers
The president's first tweet of the day is this childish attempt to play his opposition off against each other.
He's now launching into one of his tiresome retweet dumps.
The New York Daily News meanwhile has this stellar front page this morning summing it up the current state of play.
Nancy Pelosi calls for Trump's legal team to be disbarred
As Trump's legal team look to have prevailed in the Senate, it's worth revisiting Nancy Pelosi's remarks to journalists yesterday at her weekly press conference.
While she expressed pride in the performance of her own impeachment managers, the speaker said of the president: "He will not be acquitted. You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial. You don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and all of that. Does the president know right from wrong? I don't think so.”
On his lawyers specifically - Dershowitz, Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow, Ken Starr, Robert Ray, Pat Philbin and Pam Bondi - Pelosi said ought to be disbarred for their disingenuous arguments: "I don't know how they can retain their lawyer status, in the comments that they're making. I don't think they made the case. I think they disgraced themselves terribly in terms of their violation of what our Constitution is about and what a president's behavior should be."
“Imagine that you would say - ever, of any president, no matter who he or she is or whatever party - if the president thinks that his or her presidency... is good for the country, then any action is justified - including encouraging a foreign government to have an impact on our elections," she continued.
“[That] is exactly what our Founders were opposed to - and they feared. I don't think they made the case. I think they disgraced themselves terribly in terms of their violation of what our Constitution is about and what a president's behavior should be.”
John Delaney dropping out of 2020 race
The Maryland congressman has become the latest name to drop out of the Democratic 2020 race, saying "God has a different purpose for me" and not even waiting for Monday's Iowa caucus.
Ah well, we'll always have this photo.
Trump to create human trafficking post as key groups avoid White House summit
The president is due to address the subject of human trafficking at the White House later before jetting to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend and is expected to announce the expansion of a key domestic policy office by appointing an individual to focus exclusively on the issue.
A candidate has yet to be identified for the new post on the Domestic Policy Council, according to a White House official, who told the AP that Trump wants to fill the slot quickly with someone detailed from another government agency. Trump has sought to elevate human trafficking since taking office by speaking publicly about the issue and inviting reporters into his White House meetings with victims and anti-trafficking advocates.
A partner in the effort is Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser. During a visit to Atlanta, Georgia, this month, she compared trafficking to "modern-day slavery" and said the White House is committed to ending it.
Ivanka Trump is also scheduled to speak at Friday's summit. She said on Thursday in a statement that the coming executive order will provide additional resources to combat human trafficking: "From funding for prevention education programs, to enhanced intelligence-level coordination, to fighting child pornography, to a new full-time position within his White House's Domestic Policy Council, the president is using all tools at his disposal to ensure that the end of modern-day slavery becomes a reality."
Under the executive order, the State Department will reportedly be tasked with creating a website to serve as a clearinghouse where law enforcement officials, victims, advocates and others can get information on government-wide efforts to combat human trafficking.
Federal departments and agencies will also be asked to propose legislative and executive actions to help law enforcement officials track the sharing - in real time - of child sexual abuse material on the internet.
The Justice and Homeland Security departments will also be directed to work with the Education Department to fund prevention education programmes for the nation's schools.
Some groups criticised the summit. Other groups that have been invited said they will not attend.
Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, said in a statement that the Trump administration has pursued policies that endanger trafficking victims by chipping away at their legal protections. Schwartz cited an increase in the denial rate for special visas that allow trafficking victims to legalize their status, access services and seek punishment for their abusers.
God put Trump in White House, says US ambassador to Israel
David Friedman managed to be even more effusive than Benjamin Netanyahu in expressing his gratitude to Trump over his proposed plan to bring peace to the Middle East - angrily rejected by the Palestinian leadership earlier this week.
Alex Woodward has more on his comments to the Christian Broadcast Network.
Trump rape accuser asks for DNA sample from president in bid to prove allegation
Lawyers acting for E Jean Carroll - who has accused the president of raping her in the 1990s - are requesting a DNA sample to determine if his genetic material is on a dress she wore during the encounter.
The advice columnist’s lawyers served notice to a Trump attorney on Thursday asking for the president to submit a sample for “analysis and comparison against unidentified male DNA present on the dress.” They ask that a sample of saliva be submitted on 2 March in Washington, DC.
Carroll filed a defamation suit against Trump in November 2019 after the president denied her allegation saying that she was "totally lying", that he did not know her and that she was not his type.
Oliver O'Connell has this report.
President attempts to reassure Americans on coronavirus as epidemic declared global emergency
Trump was not entirely convincing on the subject of the deadly flu yesterday, attempting to reassure crowds in both Warren, Michigan, and later in Iowa that everything was under control.
"We're working very strongly with China on the coronavirus. That's a new thing that a lot of people are talking about. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as some people think it could be, but we're working very closely with them and with a lot of other people, in a lot of other countries," Trump said at a Dana Incorporated manufacturing plant in Michigan on Thursday afternoon.
"We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment - five and those people are all recuperating successfully. "
It was all worryingly light on specifics but he has set up a task force to tackle it and his thoughts were at least noticeably more humane than those of his commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, whose economic assessment of the crisis when interviewed on Fox Business yesterday was jaw-dropping.
There was also this tweet from the Situation Room of the White House, which is a great deal more presidential than most of his output (very much the point of the exercise).
Here's Vincent Wood with the latest from the World Health Organisation after the first case was discovered in Britain, fittingly, on Brexit morning.
Mazie Hirono: 'It's a really sad day when you can only find three courageous Republicans'
A little more reaction to the Lamar Alexander bombshell, with Hawaii Democratic senator Mazie Hirono putting the boot in in her customary style.
Former White House ethics chief Richard W Painter had an even more devastating assessment of the development.
Alan Dershowitz distances himself from own argument
The president's celebrity defence attorney - who has previously represented OJ Simpson, Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein - was on Chris Cuomo's show last night and distanced himself from his most derided argument on the Senate floor on Wednesday that anything a sitting present does as part of a bid to get re-elected is kosher and not impeachable.
Dershowitz reacted impatiently to the CNN host's questioning and insisting the point had been wilfully misinterpreted and "taken out of context".
Graig Graziosi has this on Adam Schiff's comments on Dershowitz during yesterday's session in the Senate.
“It’s astonishing on the floor of this body someone would make that argument. It didn’t begin that way in the beginning of the president’s defence. What we have seen over the last couple of days is a descent into constitutional madness because that way madness lies,” he said.
Lindsey Graham was ‘in the loop’, says Lev Parnas
While the Republicans continue to turn their noses up at the idea of hearing from fresh witnesses, new evidence and the rule of law, Giuliani associate Lev Parnas is still out there begging for a chance to testify.
He was on Anderson Cooper's show last night and dragged a certain senator from South Carolina into the mud...
Here's Clark Mindock with a reminder of his suprise appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
