WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would send the articles of impeachment to the Senate "when I'm ready – and that will probably be soon." Pelosi's comments came after Democrats started pushing to end the holdout, believing that Mitch McConnell will never relent on the rules for the trial. Pelosi, however, reiterated her demand to McConnell that he first detail the rules for a Senate trial so she could choose a team of "impeachment managers," who will prosecute the House's abuse of power and obstruction of Congress case, saying "Is that too much to ask?" McConnell, meanwhile, has signed onto a resolution seeking to change the rules of the Senate to dismiss articles of impeachment if they are not transmitted within 25 days of their approval – in this case, Jan. 12. (New York Times / Politico / Axios / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)

• McConnell told Republican senators that he expects Pelosi to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate as soon as Friday, setting up an impeachment trial that begins early next week. (Politico)

• Trump met privately with McConnell at the White House to discuss the impeachment trial. McConnell's office has been in discussion with the White House for weeks regarding the trial, working together on various ideas and proposals for how the trial should be set up. "We want this to start as quickly as possible," said the White House legislative director. "We want the President to be acquitted as quickly as possible." (CNN)

• Trump said he doesn't plan to block John Bolton from testifying at a Senate impeachment trial, but that he would need to protect his executive privilege. "When we start allowing national security advisers to just go up and say whatever they want to say, we can't do that," Trump said. (Bloomberg)

2/ Two Senate Republicans called the Trump administration's classified briefing on the strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani "insulting and demeaning," and that Trump's national security team failed to justify claims of an "imminent" attack. Mike Lee called it "worst briefing I've had on a military issue" while Rand Paul said "There was no specific information given to us of a specific attack […] I didn't learn anything in the hearing that I hadn't seen in a newspaper already." During the briefing, which was led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and CIA Director Gina Haspel, lawmakers were urged not to question Trump's war powers and to stand down on attempting to provide a constitutional check to the executive branch. Trump, defending his national security team, told reporters at the White House that he's "never seen [Mike Lee]...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.