While presiding over the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump, apparently Chief Justice John Roberts will not allow questions that are targeted to the origination of the House impeachment plot.  WATCH:

“Are you aware that House intelligence committee staffer Shawn Misko had a close relationship with Eric Ciaramella while at the National Security Council together; and are you aware -and how do you respond to- reports that Ciaramella and Misko may have worked together to plot impeaching the President before there were formal house impeachment proceedings?“

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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 nine at 1:00pm ET. Today is the second of two days of alternating questions from Senators 8 hours each party, totaling 16 hours.
Fox News Livestream Link – CSPAN Liveestream Link –

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley weighs in on the current Senate impeachment trial, and a possibility that some Democratic senators may vote to acquit.

In an effort to assist page load-time we are breaking up the discussion threads. This is the evening presentation following the dinner recess.
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 tonight on day eight at 7:20pm ET. This is the evening session during the first of two days of alternating questions from Senators.
Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – PBS Livestream Link

Lawyers representing Lt. General Michael Flynn have filed a motion to dismiss [pdf here] citing “government misconduct”.  Additionally Mr. Flynn has filed a declaration [pdf here] requesting to remove his prior guilty plea and take the case to trial.  Hours later the DOJ revised their sentencing memo, dropped their request for jail time and offered probation.
Within the motion to dismiss (full pdf embed below) Flynn’s legal team point out several issues with the prosecution of Mr. Flynn and highlight the recent findings, admissions and briefs amid the IG report, DOJ notifications to the FISA Court, and FISC orders therein.

NOTE: FBI Supervisory Special Agent Joseph Pientka III, the FBI agent with his finger in the majority of the corrupt FBI activity, has an ongoing protective court order upon his personage requiring the redaction and/or removal of his name from any government or case document.   No-one has publicly stated the reason for the protective order.
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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 eight at 1:00pm ET. Today is the beginning of two days of alternating questions from Senators 8 hours each party, totaling 16 hours.
Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – PBS Livestream Link

Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are on a fishing expedition to unearth the origination of conflicts within the IG report on FISA abuse. However, a word of caution, they could be on a snipe hunt and here’s why.
First, their letter. Grassley has a history within this story. Grassley has been lied to by the FBI about their use of dossier author Christopher Steele. Two years ago Grassley/Graham called out the FBI lies by sending the DOJ a criminal referral for Chris Steele.  Not surprisingly the referral went no-where and was summarily ignored by the DOJ.
Now, Grassley/Johnson want four IG footnotes declassified by Bill Barr.

(pdf link)

Grassley and Johnson are noting contradictions within the IG report.  If they are looking to reconcile contradictions, save yourself some research and read an article by Margot Cleveland SEE HERE which seems to be the north-star Chuck and Ron are following.
People are starting to question the assembly of the IG report because the underlying explanations by the FBI officials within it are fraught with a lack of candor.
Many of the officials who gave explanations to the inspector generals’ office are the same FBI officials who participated in the scheme to target Donald Trump, president-elect Trump, and President Trump.   As a consequence the FBI contradictions stem from sketchy FBI surveillance explanations that do not match the documented FBI activity.
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With Wednesday and Thursday scheduled for senators questions, the date for any other deliberative action would most likely be Friday.  During an interview with Martha MacCallum Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham predicts the potential for the conclusion to any further deliberative action and an acquittal vote on Friday.
On an optimistic note, Senator Graham does articulate a personal awareness of  the constitutional precedent that any further witness testimony in the Senate would create; and outlines his republican caucus colleagues also being aware of the issue.

Earlier today Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced an agreement with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the Senate questioning phase of the impeachment trial that begins tomorrow.

Senator Schumer and McConnell have agreed to alternating back-and-forth questions from Republicans and Democrats over the course of two days totaling a maximum of sixteen hours.   The alternative would have been 8 hours of questioning by Democrats followed by 8 hours of republican questions.  Obviously, and curiously, McConnell and Schumer see a benefit to alternating back-and-forth over the two days.
Additionally, according to several media reports, McConnell took a ‘whip of the Senate’ regarding witness testimony and does not currently have enough republican votes to block the pre-planned House Managers’ unconstitutional scheme to call witnesses.
The appropriate constitutional position for the Senate to take would be that the House investigates; the House calls witnesses within their investigation; the House assembles articles of impeachment; and the Senate is the trier of fact from those articles.
Ergo if a witness was not included in the article assembly, that would be a defect of the House articles; incurable in the Senate.  However, it appears there are enough republicans willing to establish a new extra-constitutional process whereby the House can assemble speculative supposition; avoid the executive branch using their lawful process to appeal to the judicial branch for opinion; and put the burden of witness testimony on the Senate.

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We might not align on all issues, but whooo doggies…. Rep. Elise Stefanik swings big timber and fights when needed during this impeachment fiasco.  If I had a $10 budget for lunch, I’d send it to her reelection campaign and wait to eat til dinner…. she’s worth it.
Most of the interview with Trump’s legislative defense team is in this video, but don’t miss the moments at 20:05 when Stefanik takes the mic.