On Politics A.M.: Democrats Seek to Undercut Trump’s Defense

2020年1月24日星期五

On Politics A.M.: Democrats Seek to Undercut Trump’s Defense

January 24, 2020

Good Friday morning. Before we get to the news in Washington and politics, we have some news of our own.

Beginning Monday, we’re revamping the On Politics A.M. newsletter as the 2020 primary season gets underway to bring you the latest campaign analysis, insights and news from our political reporters and Times correspondents around the country.

Our goals are to take you inside the state of the race each morning and to illuminate the candidates, ideas, places and voters who will help shape and determine the elections in November. The writing, design and photography will give the newsletter a new feel, and it will keep evolving. As always, we will bring you links to the day’s top news stories in politics and Washington.

We hope you’ll enjoy it, and we’d love to hear your feedback.

Now, here are some of the stories making news today.

House Democrats sought on Thursday to pre-emptively dismantle President Trump’s core defenses in his impeachment trial, invoking the words of Mr. Trump’s allies and the president himself to argue that his pressure campaign on Ukraine warranted his removal.

Mr. Trump lashed out at Democrats on Thursday over their impeachment efforts on his first morning back in Washington since his trial in the Senate began hearing the arguments against him.
As he runs for president, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has repeatedly faced questions about the overseas business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden. He has mostly kept his cool — but not always.

A day after the president suggested to an interviewer at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that he was open to cutting entitlement programs in a second term, Democrats pounced and Mr. Trump insisted he would protect Social Security.
The president’s advisers have urged him not to pay attention to the low-polling Democratic candidate Michael R. Bloomberg. But when an ad from Mr. Bloomberg appeared on Fox News, Mr. Trump couldn’t resist lashing out.

Marianne Williamson, the self-help author and former Democratic presidential hopeful, endorsed Andrew Yang on Thursday. Well, kind of — in Iowa, at least. She also said Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders “would make spectacular presidents.”

A review of the reported assets of Tom Steyer, one of the Democratic presidential race’s two billionaires, calls into question his claims that he no longer has investments in oil, gas and coal.

A new global economic battle has emerged over tech. A growing movement of foreign governments is seeking to tax American tech giants that supply internet search, online shopping and social media to the countries’ citizens.

The State Department on Thursday gave visa officers more power to block pregnant women from visiting the United States and directed them to stop so-called birth tourism, or trips designed to obtain citizenship for their children.

Valerie Plame, the former C.I.A. agent who was outed under the Bush administration, is running for Congress in New Mexico. In her campaign, she’s fighting back against perceptions that she’s an outsider.

Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York.

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