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 President Trump’s defense team put Hunter Biden and former President Barack Obama on trial on Monday during the impeachment case in the Senate, questioning why Democrats weren’t outraged about Mr. Biden’s $3 million sweetheart deal with a Ukrainian gas company or Mr. Obama’s “caving” to Russia on missile defense. Brushing past Democrats‘ renewed calls for former White House National Security Adviser John R. Bolton to testify, the president’s attorneys essentially put Hunter Biden in the witness chair to show that Mr. Trump had plenty of reasons to urge Ukraine’s president to open a corruption probe of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his son. DOJ Refutes Bolton's Barr Claim: 'Grossly' Inaccurate The Department of Justice said an alleged claim by former national security adviser John Bolton that Attorney General William Barr was concerned about "personal favors" President Donald Trump did for certain world leaders "grossly mischaracterizes" the situation. Kerri Kupec, the DOJ's director of communications and public affairs, posted an official statement late Monday night that refuted what Bolton reportedly wrote in a manuscript for his book. The New York Times spoke with several people who have seen the draft and reported that Barr told Bolton last year he was worried about what Trump was doing for the leaders of Turkey and China. "While the Department of Justice has not reviewed Mr. Bolton's transcript, The New York Times' account of this conversation grossly mischaracterizes what Attorney General Barr and Mr. Bolton discussed," the statement reads.
China silent amid growing doubts over coronavirus origins  China’s government stood silent Monday in the face of growing scientific reports that the source of the deadly Wuhan virus outbreak did not originate solely from a seafood market in the city. President Xi Jinping faced mounting criticism on Chinese social media sites for failing to travel to the affected city in Hubei province. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang instead arrived in Wuhan on Monday and is heading efforts to confront the epidemic. Wuhan’s mayor and the Communist Party secretary for the city of 11 million offered to resign amid criticism of their regional government’s mishandling of the deadly outbreak. CDC tells travelers to avoid China in expanded travel warning as coronavirus spreads
China-U.S. Air Traffic Is In Free-Fall Supreme Court gives Trump go-ahead to deny immigrants who use welfare  The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration can move ahead with its “public charge” regulation that could block immigrants who wind up on the public dole from earning a pathway to citizenship. It marks another significant victory for President Trump, giving him a tentative go-ahead on one of his key policies aimed at putting Americans’ needs first in the immigration system. The 5-4 decision stays a lower court injunction, allowing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to move ahead with examining would-be immigrants’ history of access to public programs such as food stamps, many forms of Medicaid, public housing assistance, welfare cash payments and Supplemental Security Income benefits. Sanders allies in new uproar over DNC convention appointments Some Democratic National Committee (DNC) members and supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are venting frustration at DNC Chairman Tom Perez over his initial appointments to the committees that will oversee the rules and party platform at the nominating convention in Milwaukee later this year. Sanders’s allies are incensed by two names in particular: former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who will co-chair the rules committee, and Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chairman John Podesta, who will have a seat on that committee. The Sanders campaign unsuccessfully sought to have Frank removed from the rules committee in 2016, describing him as an “aggressive attack surrogate for the Clinton campaign.” And Podesta, a longtime Washington political consultant and Clinton confidant, is viewed with contempt by some on the left. 'Oh my God, Sanders can win'...
Celebs fuel final Iowa sprint... POLL: NH BERNS! CA TOO! Now favorite for betting odds... Uproar over DNC convention appointments... Bloomberg surpasses Buttigieg in poll... Rise sets off alarms on left... Hillary Feels 'Urge' to Run... Pentagon Expands Hypersonic Missiles Program The Pentagon plans a "very aggressive" expansion of its hypersonic weapons efforts this year, with at least four initial flight tests of prototypes for glide bombs that can fly five times the speed of sound and maneuver en route, officials said. A new Hypersonics Transition Office that Congress funded this year will also bankroll a university consortium to conduct advanced research into the weapons and develop a workforce for the new technology, the officials said. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday that the next Pentagon budget proposal will increase funding beyond the $5 billion provided in this year's five-year budget plan for the technology that he called a key part of the "great-power competition" with China. Kobe Chopper Had Fog OK but Was Too Low to Monitor The pilot of Kobe Bryant's ill-fated helicopter was flying too low to be monitored in fog, audio records of conversations with air traffic controllers show. The fog, and how the pilot and air traffic controllers reacted to it, came under scrutiny on Monday, as fans, friends and family of the NBA superstar confronted the reality that the charismatic 41-year-old and his 13-year-old daughter were among the nine people on board who died. The Sikorsky S-76 chopper slammed into a steep hillside outside the town of Calabasas, California, about 40 miles (65 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, igniting a brush fire and spreading debris over a quarter-acre (1,000 square meters) of grassy terrain. Bryant, who won five NBA championships in his 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, was known since his playing days to travel frequently by helicopter to avoid the Los Angeles area's glacial traffic. Think Bolton is bad? Beware of Graham and Pompeo Former Trump National Security Adviser John R. Bolton is stabbing the president and the presidency itself in the back by publishing a tell-all book before the November elections. As much for personal and ideological revenge as for making piles of money, Mr. Bolton chose to relay what he claims President Trump said in what Mr. Trump meant to be completely private conversations with his national security adviser. A president who can’t trust his national security adviser is vulnerable to deception. A national security adviser who can’t be trusted is a threat to the republic. Mr. Bolton’s deed brings no dignity to himself or to the republic. U.S. election campaigns resemble endless wars I love Ireland for its natural beauty, its people, its food (some of it), its music, its writers and especially its elections, which are shorter, less costly and designed to engage citizens and boost voter turnout. On Jan. 14, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called a general election for Feb. 8. That means a campaign of slightly more than three weeks. In the process, the Irish Parliament was dissolved. What a delightful thought. If only the U.S. Congress could be at least occasionally dissolved. It could use some dissolving, or at least disinfecting, after the toxic impeachment and trial of President Trump. Unlike Irish politics, U.S. election campaigns increasingly resemble endless wars. Like those wars, campaigns cost too much and never seem to resolve the conflict.
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