| Supreme Court lawyer and former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argues that President Donald Trump must be impeached in his new book Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump. The Senate trial started today. The book is available now. |
|
|
|
| | | MEDIA WINNER:
Sean Hannity This week was a good one for Fox News primetime. On Tuesday, as the Senate trial of President Donald Trump chugged forth, Tucker Carlson drew an insane 861,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic, coming first in the cable news ratings race.
Sean Hannity was back on top Wednesday, and continued his streak with huge numbers Thursday night as well.
The 9 p.m. Fox News host drew 751,000 viewers in the demo on Thursday night, with 4.3 million viewers overall. That's massive.
Typically, favorable news-cycles are a good indication of a cable host's ratings success. At the height of the Russia investigation, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow had strong numbers, and often pulled ahead of Hannity in the ratings race. Hannity firmly regained the top spot after the Mueller probe ended, and has held a commanding lead since.
That Hannity's ratings have been so big during the impeachment trial of Trump while Maddow's hover just below 2 million in total viewers -- is a sign that one audience is more galvanized than the other. 6.5.0 |
|
|
| | MEDIA LOSER:
Rush Limbaugh Rush Limbaugh wheeled out a particularly jaw-dropping defense of President Donald Trump on his show today.
Limbaugh, complaining about the attempts to impeach Trump, argued that Republicans did not dismiss President Barack Obama out of hand when he was elected in 2008.
"We didn’t try to kick Obama out of office, and we didn’t try to say that his election was illegitimate, and we didn’t start an eight-year process to disqualify him," Limbaugh said. "They’re doing everything they can to overturn the election results. They couldn’t care less. In fact, these are the people out there running around, trying to dismantle the Electoral College now."
It's not partisan to point out that many Republicans — including Limbaugh — treated Obama as an illegitimate president.
Donald Trump, the current president, launched his political career by falsely claiming that Obama was not born in the United States, and therefore not legitimate. It was a crackpot theory that Limbaugh enthusiastically endorsed.
6.5.0 |
|
|
|
| A Trial Without Witnesses Is...
Fine with Republicans. Most senators in the party voted Friday afternoon to reject a motion to call witnesses at the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
The vote: 49 YEA, 51 NAY.
Two key votes that Democrats needed to call witnesses had already announced their intentions to vote NO on further testimony this week.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced last night he would vote to reject witnesses. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) announced her intention to join him today, all but ensuring the end of President Trump's trial in a speedy acquittal.
Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) joined Democrats in calling for witnesses, but that wasn't enough to prolong the trial. At this rate, Trump is acquitted by the end of the weekend, ahead of his Super Bowl interview with Sean Hannity and State of the Union address on Tuesday. Talk about a soft landing.
John Bolton Would Still Like a Word
John Bolton will not be testifying against Trump in the impeachment trial. But explosive excerpts about the president from his upcoming book are still being leaked to the New York Times.
The former national security advisor, according to the Times, will claim he was ordered by Trump to “extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials,” months before the infamous Trump-Ukraine call, in an Oval Office meeting that allegedly included White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and impeachment defense team leader Pat Cipollone.
Giuliani has, however, denied he was present during such a meeting, calling it “absolutely, categorically untrue.”
Bolton is not the only former Trump official who seems to have issues with the president getting off in the impeachment trial.
John Kelly, Trump's former CHIEF OF STAFF, said Friday that without witnesses, the Senate impeachment looks like "half a trial."
Bolton's book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, is set to be released on March 17 -- unless the president's legal team manages to successfully shut it down.
Manhattan: Ghost Town
Wondering why Manhattan feels like a ghost town this week? It might be because many of your favorite news stars have jetted down to Miami (76° F) for this year's Super Bowl, which kicks off at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.
Fox is airing this year's game, which is why half the shows on Fox News have aired amidst palm trees today. Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum drew short straws, it seems, as they were stuck in D.C. for the impeachment trial. It did not go unnoticed by Mediaite, however, that Chris Wallace was in Miami. Interesting.
If you thought being stuck in D.C. or New York was bad, pour out some warm mulled wine for the reporters that have been dispatched to Iowa (31° F) to cover the upcoming caucuses. They count Chuck Todd, who will interview presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Lamar Alexander on a special edition of Meet the Press — live from Iowa.
Stay warm out there Chuck.
And Lastly, a SUPREME Flex
You know what's cooler than Odell Beckham Jr. wearing a Richard Mille watch during an NFL game?
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wearing a Patek Philippe during President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
Eagle-eyed watch fanatics spotted the timepiece -- which will set you back some $49,000 -- on Roberts' wrist during the proceedings this week.
Geoff Fox has more here... |
|
|
Must-Listen Clip of the Day |
|
| I'm... Michael Barbaro
Michael Barbaro’s New York Times podcast, The Daily, gives listeners a semi-in depth and occasionally behind-the-scenes look at the paper’s stories -- becoming a veritable behemoth in the process. Typically, the paper's reporting is celebrated.
But today’s episode was a little more critical. Barbaro had on his boss, executive editor Dean Baquet, and basically cross-examined him for the better part of an hour about the mistakes the Times made in its coverage of the 2016 election. It’s a tough interview — and makes for good listening.
Matt Kassel has more here... |
|
|
|
|
|
