While presiding over the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump, apparently Chief Justice John Roberts will not allow questions that are targeted to the origination of the House impeachment plot.  WATCH:

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Senator Rand Paul’s question was:

“Are you aware that House intelligence committee staffer Shawn Misko had a close relationship with Eric Ciaramella while at the National Security Council together; and are you aware -and how do you respond to- reports that Ciaramella and Misko may have worked together to plot impeaching the President before there were formal house impeachment proceedings?“

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There will be 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers (over 3 days); 24 hours of presentation by Defense team (over 3 days); 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments, equally divided; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses. If there are going to be witnesses, they will first be deposed prior to testimony. No witness testimony will be permitted without first being deposed.
The Senate Trial continues today on day nine at 1:00pm ET. Today is the second of two days of alternating questions from Senators 8 hours each party, totaling 16 hours.
Fox News Livestream Link – CSPAN Liveestream Link –

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The Bureau of Economic Analysis released their first estimate of Q4 GDP growth today.  The BEA first estimate is 2.1 percent growth for the fourth quarter and 2.3 percent growth for the year. [Data Here]   The U.S. economy is now approximately $21.7 trillion.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ‘big picture’ outlook for the U.S. economy.  Strong employment, strong wage growth, strong consumer spending, and now the USMCA passage delivering the backdrop for domestic capital investment.   Good interview:

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The headwinds by Boeing and the GM strike had some negative impact.  However, 2019 was dominated by Wall Street multinational investors taking the ‘wait-n-see’ position on the China/Asia -vs- USMCA trade dynamic (manufacturing investment) overall.
The USMCA passage gives certainty to North American manufacturing investment.  The China ‘phase-one’ agreement allows time for re-positioning, and/or time to extract profits from prior investment.  A corporate decision to manufacture in China is now based on an entirely different set of considerations than 24 months ago…. ‘phase-one’ buys time but doesn’t reduce the long-term risk.  North America is now the place for investment stability.
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Upon taking office one of the first initiatives from President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump was to organize a full government effort to tackle an extreme opioid crisis impacting many American communities.  In October 2017, President Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency.  Today the White House and CDC announce some incredible results as a result of the effort.  [CDC Data Here]
Fatal drug overdoses dropped in 2018 for the first time in 30 years; and as a result average life expectancy for Americans increased for the first time in four years.  Drug overdose deaths are still an urgent health emergency; and the entire program will remain a priority; however, the upward trend has been stopped and is starting to reverse.
Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway, ONDCP Director Jim Carroll, and Asst. Secretary of Public Health Admiral Brett Giroir hold a press conference to announce & discuss:

(Politico) […] New CDC data released Thursday provides hope that the major contributors to three years of stagnant or declining life expectancy may be relenting. (more)

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In response to potential health risks; and anticipating multiple agency aspects of the U.S. government would need a unified approach; President Trump has assembled a unified task force to coordinate all response efforts across the totality of government.

[White House] – President Donald J. Trump announced the formation of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force. Members of the Task Force have been meeting on a daily basis since Monday. At today’s meeting, which the President chaired, he charged the Task Force with leading the United States Government response to the novel 2019 coronavirus and with keeping him apprised of developments.
The Task Force is led by Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and is coordinated through the National Security Council. It is composed of subject matter experts from the White House and several United States Government agencies, and it includes some of the Nation’s foremost experts on infectious diseases.
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Missouri Senator Josh Hawley weighs in on the current Senate impeachment trial, and a possibility that some Democratic senators may vote to acquit.

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In an effort to assist page load-time we are breaking up the discussion threads. This is the evening presentation following the dinner recess.
There will be 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers (over 3 days); 24 hours of presentation by Defense team (over 3 days); 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments, equally divided; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses. If there are going to be witnesses, they will first be deposed prior to testimony. No witness testimony will be permitted without first being deposed.
The Senate Trial continues tonight on day eight at 7:20pm ET. This is the evening session during the first of two days of alternating questions from Senators.
Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – PBS Livestream Link

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Lawyers representing Lt. General Michael Flynn have filed a motion to dismiss [pdf here] citing “government misconduct”.  Additionally Mr. Flynn has filed a declaration [pdf here] requesting to remove his prior guilty plea and take the case to trial.  Hours later the DOJ revised their sentencing memo, dropped their request for jail time and offered probation.
Within the motion to dismiss (full pdf embed below) Flynn’s legal team point out several issues with the prosecution of Mr. Flynn and highlight the recent findings, admissions and briefs amid the IG report, DOJ notifications to the FISA Court, and FISC orders therein.

NOTE: FBI Supervisory Special Agent Joseph Pientka III, the FBI agent with his finger in the majority of the corrupt FBI activity, has an ongoing protective court order upon his personage requiring the redaction and/or removal of his name from any government or case document.   No-one has publicly stated the reason for the protective order.
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Earlier today President Trump signed the historic USMCA trade agreement, making good on his 2016 campaign promise to replace the NAFTA trade agreement with a more balanced and reciprocal trade deal for the American people.  USMCA replaces the NAFTA agreement that resulted in the loss of millions of American jobs impacting hundreds of manufacturing communities across our county.
Amid the key changes is a closing of a loophole allowing Mexico and Canada to assemble components imported from Asia. The new agreement bolsters American workers and American manufacturers with content rules requiring origination of material in North America. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. That’s beautiful music. Such talented musicians, and we appreciate it very much.
We have a tremendous — (applause) — we have a tremendous list of people here today. In fact, so long that if I announced every name, we’d be here for about three hours. (Laughter.) And we have to get back to business. Everybody does.
Please sit down. Please.
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Three days before the New York Times received a selectively leaked copy of a book manuscript written by John Bolton, Mr. Bolton’s lawyers were informed by the White House the manuscript could not be published.  [Source: John Roberts]

On January 23rd John Bolton was denied authorization to publish. On the evening of January 26th the New York Times wrote about a copy of the transcript.  It now appears Bolton’s team held a retaliatory motive and may have leaked the manuscript themselves.