- Trump was impeached on Wednesday. During the debate, two Republicans compared impeachment to the crucifixion of Jesus, one Republican compared it to Pearl Harbor, and several compared it to the Salem Witch Trials. Louie Gohmert parroted a Russian conspiracy theory about Ukraine and lied about Ukraine invading Georgia. (Russia invaded Georgia.)
- The White House has been quietly fighting a new round of sanctions against Russia.
- The Department of Homeland Security called impeachment a sham. It is not normal for a federal agency to offer a political opinion in this manner.
- Bill Taylor, the chargé d’affaire to Ukraine, was told to resign ahead of Mike Pompeo’s Ukrainian visit. Taylor testified about Trump and Giuliani’s Ukrainian actions. Pompeo will not be visiting the US embassy which is highly unusual.
- White House officials have told the media that Trump got his idea of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election directly from Vladimir Putin. This is not the first time the president has deferred to Putin, repeating what the Russian president has told him as fact.
- In the spending bill signed today, the White House demanded removing language which would have required faster release of any future aid funding to Ukraine.
- Stephen Miller, recently exposed as feeding racist talking points to Breitbart, tried to implement a plan where ICE agents would infiltrate the refugee agency handling unaccompanied minors. The goal here was to deport family members who volunteered to care for the children. (This plan was not put into place.)
- The Epoch Times was caught by Facebook creating a large number of fake accounts to push pro-Trump and pro-Russia conspiracy theories. The accounts were AI generated but being operated out of Vietnam. Russia is likely involved. Their intelligence agencies are currently operating the same sort of social media infiltration as in 2016 and the US government has not made stopping it a priority… for some reason.
- The president publicly agreed with Vladimir Putin’s assessment of his impeachment.
- On the night of his impeachment Trump remarked that John Dingell might be in hell. Dingell served in the military during World War 2 and was the longest serving congressman in history, serving almost sixty years. His widow, Debbie Dingell, holds his seat in the House of Representatives. Trump didn’t think she was sufficiently grateful when he gave Dingell states’ honors – which he never did in the first place.
- Christianity Today, a conservative paper founded by Billy Graham, is supporting Trump’s removal. Trump responded by accusing them of being a left wing publication and saying no president has done more for religion than he has. When Trump was asked in 2015 if he has ever asked God for forgiveness, the answer was “no” as Trump is incapable of admitting a mistake.
