There will be 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers (over 3 days); 24 hours of presentation by Defense team (over 3 days); 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments, equally divided; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses. If there are going to be witnesses, they will first be deposed prior to testimony. No witness testimony will be permitted without first being deposed.
The Senate Trial continues today on day seven at 1:00pm ET. Today is the third and final day of the Trump defense presentation. The next phase is two days of Senate questioning.
Fox News Livestream – NBC News Livestream – PBS Livestream Link

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Today the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to continue enforcement of the “public charge” rule on immigration. The SCOTUS decision allows the government to enforce a provision of federal immigration law banning non-citizens from receiving a green card if the government believes the applicant is likely to become a “public charge” – or reliant on government assistance.

The ruling blocks a nation-wide injunction put into place by a single activist judge.

WASHINGTON – […] The Monday order followed a 5-4 split vote that divided the court’s conservatives and liberals.

At issue is the administration’s rule issued in August that would restrict immigrants entering the United States if the government believes they will rely on public assistance, such as housing or health care benefits. Lower federal courts had blocked the policy from being implemented while the issue is being litigated.

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Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, an RSBN twitter video from New Jersey tonight shows thousands of Trump supporters, glorious Deplorables, lined-up and camping out overnight in Wildwood – a full day ahead of the Tuesday rally at the Wildwoods Convention Center.
According to recent reporting there has been over 150,000 RSVP’s for the rally tomorrow.  Incredible.  Way to go New Jersey!  Talk about setting the bar high.  First, here’s a video ground report from 1:00pm today:

This is a short film I made of the Trump Campaign rally in Wildwood, NJ. People started arriving in line for the rally at 6pm Sunday the 26th. I filmed this video around 1pm on Monday the 27th and they still had to wait until 3pm on Tuesday the 28th before they could start letting them into the Wildwood convention center. That’s dedication.
Welcome to Wildwood, NJ. Mr. President!

And look at how big that crowd has grown tonight.  Here’s the video from tonight:
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There were two background press interviews between the media and President Trump’s legal team that were withheld from public release until today.
You can read INTERVIEW ONE – and – INTERVIEW TWO here.

During one question and answer period on Saturday, following the first round of defense points, the key framework of unconstitutional impeachment was raised:

[…] TRANSCRIPT – Question from Jeff Mason with Reuters: Can you walk us through the discrepancy between your side and the House impeachment managers with regard to the President — you guys alleging that the President was shut out from representation during the hearings? They preemptively said that that was false.

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In an effort to improve page load-time we are breaking up the trial discussion threads.
There will be 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers (over 3 days); 24 hours of presentation by Defense team (over 3 days); 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments, equally divided; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses. If there are going to be witnesses, they will first be deposed prior to testimony. No witness testimony will be permitted without first being deposed.
The Senate Trial continues today on day six at 6:45pm ET with the evening session of the second day for the President Trump defense.
Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – Alternate GST Livestream Link

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Earlier today President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a bilateral discussion.  Prior to their meeting the leaders held a press availability in the oval office, outlining plans for a mid-east peace agreement.[Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s an honor to have Prime Minister Netanyahu, a great friend of mine and a great friend of our country. We’ve had a tremendous almost three-year relationship. I’ve known you many years before that, but this was three years of primetime, and we’ve done a lot for Israel. And the relationship, I think, has never been better.
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Speaking from the colonnade in front of the oval office, President Trump and Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu answer media questions.  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – Q Mr. President, what’s your response to the Bolton manuscript? And does this increase the chances he could be called to testify?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I haven’t seen a manuscript, but I can tell you: Nothing was ever said to John Bolton. But I have not seen a manuscript. I guess he’s writing a book. I have not seen it.

Q Well, you know what the allegation is.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll talk inside.

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There will be 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers (over 3 days); 24 hours of presentation by Defense team (over 3 days); 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments, equally divided; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses. If there are going to be witnesses, they will first be deposed prior to testimony. No witness testimony will be permitted without first being deposed.
The Senate Trial continues today on day six at 1:00pm ET. Today is the second day of the Trump defense and will continue with approximately 8 hours of presentation.
Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – Alternate GST Livestream Link

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The “House Bolton Maneuver” was a pre-planned operation to use a timed NSC ‘resistance’ leak to frame a new demand for testimony in the Senate. From the beginning the House intentionally constructed an impeachment process to avoid the judicial branch because the construction of the articles was dependent on an unconstitutional creation: impeachment by decree of the Speaker.
As a result of their approach, the House fully intended to usurp their lack of judicial subpoena authority by placing political pressure on the Senate to call the trial witnesses they knew were unattainable due to separation of powers within the constitutional process.  By design the House plan puts the burden of compulsory witness testimony upon the Senate because the House refused to create their own authority with a vote to initiate the impeachment process.
The House effort was, and is, an end-run around the constitutional outline for impeachment.  This was not a flaw; it was a feature of the House creation.

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The timing, purpose and narrative engineering here are transparent in the extreme.
Tonight the New York Times (Schmidt and Haberman) write an article claiming to have exclusively gained portions of a transcript of a John Bolton book manuscript that was given to the White House National Security Council for pre-publication review.

Of course The Times attempts to frame the narrative around the need for John Bolton to testify in the Senate Impeachment Trial… all too transparent in motive. Timed to work around the House fraud; impeachment article construction without Judicial review for subpoenas; and timed to bolster House managers’ unconstitutional demand for Bolton as a Senate witness.  ADD: POTUS Responds:

However, setting aside the nothing-burger details of the book as leaked, the leak itself might now reconcile an earlier event.
Remember the issue a little more than a week ago when the National Security Council senior director for European and Russian affairs, Andrew Peek, was escorted from the White House grounds and is said to be under a security-related investigation?
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