The Weekly List

This was one of the most frightening weeks, as  Trump seized on his impeachment acquittal to retaliate against his  perceived enemies. Within 48 hours, Trump’s Department of Homeland  Security suspended the Global Entry program for New York residents,  Trump’s Treasury Department turned over confidential records on Hunter  Biden to Senate Republicans opening investigations...

This week, despite explosive new allegations  implicating Trump in leaked portions of the manuscript for John Bolton’s  upcoming book, the Senate voted 51–49 on Friday not to call witnesses,  all but ensuring Trump will be acquitted in the impeachment trial. This  marks the first time in U.S. history that an impeachment trial will  occur with no witnesses. Both House Speak...

This week the Senate impeachment trial of Donald  J. Trump began, even as evidence continued to trickle out. House  Democrat impeachment managers made their case for the two articles over  three days, laying out their argument with an intricate presentation and  appealing to Republicans’ better angels to put partisanship aside for  the sake of preserving our fragile democr...

This week the articles of impeachment were  transmitted to the Senate, and the impeachment trial formally began.  Senators were sworn in, but it was unclear if they planned to follow the  oath they swore to deliver impartial justice. This week the House released hundreds of pages  of documents provided by Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani.  Parnas made stunning dis...

This week as the country was on the brink of war  with Iran, we stood alone, with the Trump regime having neglected to  consult with our allies in Europe or the region. Reporting indicated the  decision to strike that precipitated the latest crisis was made by  Trump and Trump alone, amid his shrinking circle of less experienced but  more compliant national security expert...

Throughout my time keeping the list, I have been  concerned that since Trump would do anything to stay in power, when he  felt he was losing his grip, we risked him taking extraordinary actions.  This week, Trump assassinated Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani — a  decision he made while vacationing in Mar-a-Lago, and unilaterally,  without seeking approval or consulting w...

This was the quietest week in months as Congress left Washington for a  two-week holiday break. After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to  transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate, Trump spent the week  stewing and repeatedly attacking her on Twitter and in his limited  public appearances. Sen. Lisa Murkowski became the first Republican  Senator to speak out agains...

In this historic week, Trump became the third  president in U.S. history to be impeached. Unlike his recent  predecessors who faced the process, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton,  Trump showed no remorse; rather as the vote was occurring, Trump blasted  impeachment and his political opponents in a two-hour meandering speech  at a campaign rally in Michigan. Even by his standards, his rhetoric  was m...

This week, the House Judiciary Committee debated  and voted to approve two articles of impeachment against Donald J.  Trump, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. After two fiery  days of debate, the panel took a somber vote Friday, marking the fourth  time in U.S. history the Judiciary passed articles of impeachment.  Remarkably, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell ap...

This week, Trump traveled to London for the NATO  summit as impeachment hearings got underway in the House Judiciary  Committee, and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee issued a  scathing 300-page report. While Trump sought to display strength abroad,  and used the summit as an excuse not to participate in impeachment  hearings, a video at a Buckingham Palace rec...

This week, more conspiracy theories were  debunked, as a draft of the Department of Justice Inspector General  report found the FBI did not try to place spies in Trump’s 2016  campaign, nor did Obama wiretap him. Trump allies continued to push the  conspiracy that Ukraine, not Russia, may have interfered in 2016,  despite it being thoroughly and widely disproved. Trump sou...

This was a remarkable week in impeachment  hearings as nine witnesses testified. By week’s end, it was clear that  there was a coordinated effort that included multiple senior Trump  officials “in the loop” seeking investigations from Ukraine in exchange  for aid and a White House visit — an effort that went against U.S.  national security interests. Trump and his allies’...

This week public impeachment hearings started,  with three career diplomats testifying before the House Intelligence  Committee. Senate Republicans were notably quiet in their defense of  Trump, while Republican House members focused mostly on the process,  especially for the third witness, Maria Yovanovitch, who proved  unassailable. William Taylor testified about a previ...

This week, House Democrats released transcripts  of eight depositions, and announced a schedule for public hearings next  week. As support for impeachment plateaued, Democrats tentatively  planned to fast-track hearings, with a vote on articles of impeachment  before the holiday break. Republicans meanwhile, careened from varying  defenses of Trump, from it was not a bad q...

This week, further testimony in the impeachment  probe brought the fifth and sixth public confirmation of a quid pro quo  between Trump and Ukraine, including so far William Taylor, Gordon  Sondland, Sen. Ron Johnson, Mick Mulvaney, Alexander Vindman and Tim  Morrison. By week’s end, Senate Republicans discussed shifting their  defense of Trump to acknowledging his quid pr...

This week marked a major shift in the world  order, as Trump finalized the evacuation of troops on Turkey-Syria  border, and the void of leadership was instantaneously filled by Russia.  Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Turkish President Recep Tayyip  Erdogan in Sochi, before hosting 40 African nations there, at what was  dubbed the first Russia-Africa summit. As Ho...

This week they just said it out loud: Trump’s  acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney scolded reporters, saying Ukraine  was a quid pro quo, and “Get over it!” This was yet another in a series  of unending trial balloons to gauge just how far Trump could push  boundaries, and what he could normalize on his path to deconstructing  our democracy. At the same news conference, Mu...

In addition to the number of not normal items  surging since the start of the impeachment inquiry, Trump’s Twitter  activity has proliferated — in one 25 minute span on Friday alone, he sent 33 tweets !  In past weekly lists, we have covered that the potency of his tweets  have had decreased, both in impact and visibility, as his time in office  wears on. Also, notably, th...

With impeachment looming, Trump started this  week by attacking the credibility of House Intelligence Committee Chair  Adam Schiff and the whistleblower, both of whom he also endangered with  his rhetoric. Midweek, Trump shifted strategy, openly soliciting foreign  help from China and Ukraine in the 2020 election on national  television, speaking to reporters on the South...

This week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a  formal impeachment inquiry of Trump. I’ve always had the sense that when  we were finally on the road to the end of the Trump regime, the weekly  list would ramp up big time. Week 150 has 225 not normal items, 10% more  than any other week — a sign of the bedlam we will face as the truth  slowly drips out, and Trump uses ev...

As Congress returned to session, House Democrats  had conflicting messages on impeachment. The Trump regime’s Justice  Department seized on the divergence, saying lawmakers were not entitled  to see the full Mueller report or grand jury information — the rationale  used for seeking the documents. The emboldened regime also said it  would pursue criminal charges against Tru...

This week is not the longest list with Congress  out on summer break for the sixth and final week, but it is perhaps the  most alarming in terms of the irreverent authoritarian actions by Trump,  who continues to push boundaries having suffered no consequences for  anything yet. Examples of his power base expanding were reported,  including the Pentagon refusing to coopera...

This week Trump’s strange behavior towards  Russia drew renewed concern as he advocated for adding Russia back at  the Group of Seven summit in France, then held up military aid to  Ukraine. A vacated seat unfilled by Trump at the Federal Elections  Commission left the election watchdog group without a quorum ahead of  the 2020 election, while voting irregularities were reported this week  in Miss...

This week, renewed questions surfaced about  Trump’s mental health, as he referred to himself as the “King of  Israel,” the “chosen one,” and “hereby ordered” U.S. companies to change  their dealings with China. Trump created another unprovoked  international crisis with long-time ally Denmark, cancelling a trip he  invited himself on, last minute, over the country’s unwil...

This week Trump’s beloved economy faltered under  pressure from his trade war with China, a ballooning U.S. budget  deficit, and other global factors. An anxious Trump, realizing a strong  economy is essential to his re-election, lashed out at the Federal  Reserve, while confiding in allies his plan to blame any downturn on Fed  Chair Jerome Powell. Meanwhile his shrinking...