Prime - 2020
01.23.20 | 10:25 am
Where Things Stand: Davos Was The Only Thing Keeping Trump Quiet Prime Badge
This is your TPM mid morning briefing.

President Trump set a new personal record last night with the most posts to his Twitter feed in any single day. As we noted in our liveblog coverage, as of 8:30 p.m. ET, he’d tweeted or retweeted 140 posts about a litany of topics, from the impeachment trial, to immigration, to attacks on a favorite nemesis — Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). The majority of these tweets were posted during the span of time that he was en route back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Join
01.23.20 | 4:16 pm
A Key, Clarifying Point Prime Badge

Much of what we’re hearing in these impeachment arguments against the President really is repetitive. We’ve heard most of it in conversations going back months and in testimony from late last year. But there are key parts, especially in Chairman Schiff’s discussions, which are new or clarifying.

One of the key examples is the issue of the President departing from “US policy” or his prepared talking points in discussions with foreign leaders. This point often did get muddled in the hearings late last year – at least muddled enough to give some opening for tendentious arguments from the President’s defenders.

Join
01.23.20 | 5:55 pm
A Peek At The Impeachment Drama’s Supporting Cast Prime Badge

There’s been much attention to what the senators have been doing during the long days of the impeachment proceedings: How are they reacting? Are they paying attention? Are they staying in their seats? Are they sleeping? What are they drinking?

Join
01.23.20 | 6:28 pm
Expert On Call: Why Are Impeachment Managers Spending So Much Time Explaining Ukraine Politics? Prime Badge

House impeachment managers dedicated a great deal of time today to explaining the current and historic political climate in Ukraine. Its prompted questions: Is this an effective strategy for Democrats? Or are we getting too far into the weeds?

Join
01.24.20 | 10:42 am
Where Things Stand: Now On To Obstruction Prime Badge
This is your TPM mid-morning briefing.

House impeachment managers will spend their third day in the spotlight arguing that President Trump obstructed Congress by stonewalling congressional investigators’ requests for documents and witness testimony while the House was conducting its impeachment inquiry.

At the end of the day, the baton will be tossed to Trump’s legal team, who will begin their opening arguments on Saturday. The ever ratings-obsessed Trump is reportedly not happy that his lawyers’ first stab at his defense is taking place over the weekend, rather than during the week. Here’s more on that and other stories we’re following:

Join
01.24.20 | 1:09 pm
Keep An Eye On This Prime Badge

News is out this morning that there’s a tape recording of President Trump ordering the firing of Marie Yovanovitch. On its face this doesn’t tell us dramatically more than we already know. The April 2018 dinner in question, where Lev Parnas and his business partner Igor Fruman met the President, has been reported on extensively. Even the gist of the conversation has been reported.

Obviously the existence of a tape adds some punch and drama. But that’s not the real significance.

Join