Half of Israelis: Trump plan intended to help Netanyahu win

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Half-of-Israelis-Trump-plan-intended-to-help-Netanyahu-win-616299

  US President Donald Trump introduced his "Deal of the Century" plan last week in order to interfere in the March 2 Israeli election and help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerge victorious, about half the respondents said in a new poll of the Israel Democracy Institute published on Monday.

Justice Department acknowledges 24 emails showing details of Trump’s thinking on Ukraine aid hold

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-01/justice-dept-acknowledges-24-emails-showing-trumps-thinking-on-ukraine-aid-hold

 

The Trump administration says in a court filing that two dozen emails revealing details of President Trump’s decision-making regarding withholding military assistance to Ukraine, which goes to the heart of his impeachment, are protected from a lawsuit under “presidential privilege.”

 

Half of U.S. Voters Support Removing Trump From Office, New Poll Finds

 https://www.newsweek.com/poll-impeachment-trump-removal-senate-morning-consult-politico-1485249

A new poll from Morning Consult and Politico, conducted January 29-30, found that, while a substantial portion of the nation supports conviction and removal, just 43 percent of voters want the Senate to acquit. Eight percent of respondents had no opinion.

Fox News judge: Senators who vote to suppress "the truth" are not "faithful to the Constitution"

https://www.salon.com/2020/01/31/fox-news-judge-senators-who-vote-to-suppress-the-truth-are-not-faithful-to-the-constitution/

 Judge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News contributor and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, wrote an editorial Thursday, which asked Republican senators who refuse to call witnesses for Trump's impeachment trial the following: "How can the Senate be faithful to the Constitution if it suppresses the truth?"

After reviewing the history of the separation of powers established in the U.S. Constitution, Napolitano wrote that "in the case of impeachment of the president, the Constitution gives 'sole power' to the House of Representatives. In the case of an impeachment trial, the Constitution gives exclusivity to the Senate. There is no place for presidential resistance or judicial interference, so long as the House and Senate arguably follow the Constitution."

 

New Ad From Conservative Group Criticizes Sen. Martha McSally | Morning Joe | MSNBC

jews who died in plague of darkness refused to believe that redemption had arrived so soon

אמת ליעקב שמות פרק י פסוק כב
פירש"י וז"ל: ולמה הביא עליהם חשך שהיו בישראל באותו הדור רשעים ולא היו רוצים לצאת ומתו בשלשת ימי אפלה וכו'. הנה אף שבאמת כל בני הדור ההוא לא היו נחשבים כצדיקים, שהרי מצינו שטענו מלאכי השרת הללו עובדי עבודה זרה והללו עבודה זרה, הרי שהמלאכים לא היו יכולים לראות שום הבדל בין ישראל למצרים, וא"כ מדוע מתו דוקא רשעים אלו ולא כל הרשעים. ונראה משום שאלו היו רוצים לעכב בידיהם של האחרים מלצאת, דהם סברו שמכיון שקבלה בידם שישתעבדו ד' מאות שנה א"כ עדיין לא הגיע זמן הקץ, ופחדו שאם יצאו קודם הזמן אז יארע להם כמו שיארע לבני אפרים שיצאו קודם הזמן, ולא האמינו לדברי משה והזקנים שחישב ה' את הקץ בזכות האבות, ולכן המיתן הקדוש ברוך הוא. אבל הכלל כולו, אף שבעיני המלאכים היו בגדר עובדי עבודה זרה, אבל רק הקדוש ברוך הוא יש לו את הראייה למרחוק להבין שאומה זו שעכשיו הם עובדי עבודה זרה יהיו בעוד שבעה שבועות מוכנים לעמוד בהר סיני ולומר "נעשה ונשמע", ופנימיות כזו גם המלאכים אין מרגישים בה, עד שהוצרך הקדוש ברוך הוא להוכיח את זה למדת הדין על ידי מה שהראה להם ארונו של יוסף [בראשית רבה פרשה פ"ז אות ח'], והיינו שהוכיח להם שאומה זו תוך תוכם ממקור אחר נחצב, וביארתי זה היטב להלן בדברינו ריש פרשת בשלח [י"ג פי"ט], עיין שם.
ונצייר נא לעצמנו מה היתה הרגשתם של בני ישראל במשך ימי מכת חושך, שהרי רואים הם שישראל לוקין יותר מן המצרים, שבמשך ג' ימים מתו יותר מב' מליונים גברים לבד מטף וזקנים ונשים, והלא לא ידעו טעם מכה זו, ובודאי שהיו ישראל תמהין ואומרין מה זה עשה ד' לנו. וזוהי נחמתנו במצב זה2 שאנו מתרעמין כביכול על הנהגת השי"ת בנוגע לכלל ישראל, אבל לפ"ז משמע שאנו קרובין לגאולה..

Laurence Tribe: Dershowitz Defense Of Trump ‘Extreme’ And ‘Dangerous’ | The Last Word | MSNBC

Sen. Lamar Alexander Makes 'Preposterous' Statement About Impeachment | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Chris Cuomo: You should be mad as hell

Trump's Impeachment Trial Could Be in Its Final Hours After Key Republican Falls in Line to Block Witnesses - a Pyrrhic victory!

https://time.com/5775031/trumps-impeachment-trial-could-be-in-its-final-hours-after-key-republican-falls-in-line-to-block-witnesses/

President Donald Trump could be headed for a speedy acquittal in his Senate impeachment trial after Republicans secured assurances from a key lawmaker late Thursday night that he would not break with the party to request additional evidence and testimony.

A Pyrrhic victory (/ˈpɪrɪk/ (listen) PIRR-ik) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.

How Trump has destroyed the Republican party

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/us/politics/trump-impeachment-republicans.ht

Just under four years after he began his takeover of a party to which he had little connection, Mr. Trump enters 2020 burdened with the ignominy of being the first sitting president to seek re-election after being impeached.

But he does so wearing a political coat of armor built on total loyalty from G.O.P. activists and their representatives in Congress. If he does not enjoy the broad admiration Republicans afforded Ronald Reagan, he is more feared by his party’s lawmakers than any occupant of the Oval Office since at least Lyndon Johnson.

“Trump is emotionally, intellectually and psychologically unfit for office, and I’m sure a lot of Republicans feel the same way,” Mr. Trott said. “But if they say that, the social media barrage will be overwhelming.” He added that he would be open to the presidential candidacy of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.

If the Senate Doesn't Hold Trump Accountable, the Damage Will Go Far Beyond This Presidency

https://time.com/5773796/donald-trump-impeachment-accountability/

 From the beginning, candidate Trump got away with behavior that was unimaginable for others. He got a pass for making fun of a reporter with a disability. He got away with calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. He was excused for attacking a Gold Star family because they were Muslim. His supporters even found a way to defend him when a videotape where he boasted about sexual assaults became public. But this conduct happened within the realm of politics­—it was up to voters to decide whether to countenance Trump’s behavior. They chose, at that point, to accept it.

Should the President emerge from impeachment, secure in the belief he has unlimited Article II powers of the presidency, we are headed for an unfortunate lesson about the absence of executive-branch accountability. What will Trump feel emboldened to do after an impeachment acquittal? What won’t he do to win the next election? Without accountability there is no reason to believe this President or future ones will conform their behavior to the restraints imposed by the Constitution. And this moment, where the Senate has the chance the Founding Fathers provides them with in the Constitution to restore the balance of power, will be lost.

Erekat: The plan of the Netanyahu and the settlers

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/275330

 Senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official Saeb Erekat on Wednesday blasted US President Donald Trump's “Deal of the Century”, calling it "a plan of Netanyahu and the council of the settlers."

Speaking in an interview with Oded Ben Ami on Channel 12 News, Erekat claimed, "What you heard last night from Trump is what I heard from Netanyahu and his negotiating team in 2011-2012.”

 

Will He or Won't He? John Bolton's Potential Testimony Hangs Over First Day of Questions in Trump's Impeachment Trial

https://time.com/5774160/bolton-testimony-trump-impeachment-trial/

Democrats drove at that point in their very first question, putting the focus squarely on Trump’s former National Security Advisor. “John R. Bolton’s forthcoming book states that the President wanted to continue withholding $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until Ukraine announced investigations into his top political rival and the debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election,” read the question by Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and posed to the House managers. “Is there any way for the Senate to render a fully informed verdict in this case without hearing the testimony of Bolton, Mulvaney and the other key eyewitnesses or without seeing the relevant documentary evidence?”