Happy “Feast of the Ass” day. Please celebrate responsibly, or whatever. It’s time to Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of an audio/visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show or The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.
► The House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday on the issue of sending articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate in advance of a Senate trial on President Trump’s misconduct. Senate Majority Leader “Moscow” Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, says he still opposes the idea of calling witnesses in a trial — yeah, read that sentence again — as word leaks that some Republican Senators might support such an idea. From The Hill newspaper:
McConnell on Tuesday knocked talk of calling additional impeachment witnesses, arguing that Democrats want the Senate to go “fishing” during the soon-to-start impeachment trial.
“If the existing case is strong, there’s no need for the judge and the jury to reopen the investigation. If the existing case is weak, House Democrats should not have impeached in the first place,” McConnell said from the Senate floor…
…A small number have suggested they are open to calling witnesses midtrial, but they’re getting public pushback from their conservative colleagues, who warn that if Republicans support calling former national security adviser John Boltonthey also have to support calling witnesses Trump might want such as Hunter Biden or the whistleblower at the center of the House impeachment inquiry.
Democrats are planning to force votes on calling four witnesses, including Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. They need four GOP senators to successfully call a witness.
CBS News reported late Monday that Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) might be among those Republican Senators who are supportive of calling witnesses in a Senate trial — though the odds are long that Gardner will do anything other than whatever McConnell tells him to do. A recent poll from Quinnipiac University found that 66% of Americans support the idea of witness testimony from former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Elsewhere, James Hohmann of The Washington Post ponders 10 questions now that the House is poised to send impeachment articles to the Senate.
► A Republican group called “The Lincoln Project” absolutely blasted Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) with a new advertisement on Monday. A subsequent “Truth Test” from 9News was equally brutal.
Says 9News anchor/reporter Kyle Clark: “Calling Senator Gardner a weak, impotent, small man? Let’s assume they’re speaking figuratively, and label that opinion.”
The first @9NEWS Truth Test of a 2020 ad against Gardner… is an ad from his fellow Republicans 😳
WATCH👇 #cosen #copolitics pic.twitter.com/0YTwpqacRo
— Alyssa Roberts (@alyssaaroberts) January 14, 2020
► Candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination (most of them, anyway) will debate once again tonight in Des Moines, Iowa — just three weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Public service announcement!
This Wednesday is the open enrollment deadline for Coloradans to enroll in individual health insurance plans. I encourage Coloradans to take advantage of the historic premium reductions thanks to reinsurance & enroll in a plan before Wednesday’s deadline.https://t.co/C5t1OS0oKz pic.twitter.com/3BcqvvV0nR
— Jared Polis (@GovofCO) January 13, 2020
► Colorado Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) is still running for President. On Monday, he announced a relatively high-profile endorsement.
► President Trump may yet make fools of Colorado’s Republican Congressional members. Well, “again.”
► New Republican State Rep. Richard Holtorf introduces himself to the masses as “that guy who dresses up like a Muslim.”
► Greg Sargent of The Washington Post looks at how Republican Senators are already preparing their Trump impeachment coverup defense:
Here’s the game: Republicans are making loud noises of disapproval about a current effort by Trump’s allies to get the trial dismissed before it starts, to lay the groundwork to spin an eventual witness-free trial as fair by reverse-comparison.
Republicans will then count on the media’s both-sidesing instincts to treat the story as a conventional Washington tit-for-tat, in which one side wants witnesses, and the other does not, without clearly conveying the core objective realities about the situation needed to appreciate the lopsided absurdity of the Trump/GOP position…
…The goal, again, is to spin a no-witnesses outcome as a fair one. This banks on both-sidesing media coverage playing along: Not hearing from witnesses with direct knowledge of Trump’s extortion scheme will get placed on a plane of equivalence with not hearing from the Bidens. Neither side got its way!
► Did Bernie Sanders tell Elizabeth Warren that he didn’t believe a woman could win the Presidency? Warren says it happened; Sanders is denying it.
► The United States Supreme Court rejected an attempt by the Colorado Attorney General to “close a loophole” in the law that allows businesses to avoid paying fines for infractions.
► Congressman Jason Crow (D-Aurora) will post another huge fundraising quarter for his re-election campaign. Crow raised $440k in Q4 2019, finishing the year with a whopping $1.4 million cash on hand.
► Colorado Public Radio has the latest on legislative efforts at repealing the death penalty.
► Can you be fired from your job for using marijuana in your time off? The Colorado legislature is working on a bill to prevent that from happening.
► The Colorado Sun examines legislative efforts to improve teacher compensation in Colorado.
► Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren says she would cancel student debt on “day one” of her Presidency.
► The U.S. Supreme Court may support the appeal of convictions in New Jersey’s “Bridgegate” scandal.
► Ladies and gentlemen, the actual White House Press Secretary…
Stephanie Grisham on Trump retweeting an image mocking how Muslims dress: “I think the president is making clear that Democrats are parroting Iranian talking points and almost taking the side of terrorists and those who were out to kill Americans.” 😳 pic.twitter.com/zCY6xUUj9p
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 13, 2020
► Marianne Williamson is no longer seeking the Democratic nomination for President. Neither is New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
► Abortion rights in Colorado are just one election away from being significantly altered.
► Check out the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast and get an early look at the upcoming legislative week with House Majority Leader Alec Garnett.
For more political learnings, check out The Get More Smarter Show or The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter.
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6 of 12 candidates on the stage tonight. Missing (but perhaps not missed)? Bennet, Bloomberg, Delaney, Gabbard, Patrick, and Yang.