Representative Elise Stefanik is a member of President Trump’s defense team.  In this interview the issue of the deficient articles is raised surrounding witnesses.
House witnesses who gave testimony when the articles were framed could be considered appropriate, if needed, when debating those articles in the Senate.  However, witnesses not called by the House; and therefore not used in the assembly of the articles being debated in the Senate; are not valid for consideration.

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It is not the responsibility of the Senate, nor is it constitutionally valid, for the Senate to attempt to rehabilitate improperly constructed articles simply because the House refused to assemble with due diligence.  Any evidence, including witnesses, that falls outside the originating assembly of the two House articles should be considered null and void.
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Lee Zeldin, Mike Johnson, Mark Meadows and Elise Stefanik appear for a quick presser during the impeachment hearings.
Zeldin notes that Adam Schiff has claimed Ukraine interference in the 2016 U.S. election is “conspiracy theory“; then Zeldin cites specific examples of Ukraine activity the media are well aware of.  After calling out the media examples, Mr. Zeldin challenges them to debunk him….. the media are silent. WATCH:

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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 with the second session today at 7:15pm EST. McConnell announced the evening session will last until approximately 10:30pm.
PBS Livestream Link – Fox10 News Livestream Link – Fox Business – CSPAN Link

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An interesting ruling, brief and order from the FISA Court (Judge Boasberg) released today [pdf here] reflects an admission by the DOJ the 2nd and 3rd FISA renewal against U.S. person Carter Page were invalid.

The “DOJ assesses that with respect to the applications in [April and June 2017] “if not earlier, there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that [Carter]Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power.””

The original FISA application was October 21st, 2016.  The first FISA renewal was January 12, 2017 (84 days from origination).  The second renewal was April 7, 2017 (85 days from prior renewal).  The third renewal was on June 29th, 2017 (83 days from prior renewal).
The DOJ has now attested to the FISC the FISA application on April 7, 2017, and the FISA application of June 29th were invalid.  However, the DOJ has not taken a position on the validity of the original application, Oct 21, 2016, or the first renewal of January 12, 2017.
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As 21 different state attorneys general noted earlier today, there are several reasons why the impeachment effort is unconstitutional.  These are not process arguments; they are factual arguments central to the constitutional framework of our government.
The failure of a full House vote to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to pursue evidence -via enforceable subpoenas- was a defect by design of Nancy Pelosi’s decision to initiate an impeachment inquiry by her decree, not an authorizing vote.  White House lawyer Patrick Philbin explains the legal issue; this could be the lead argument in the defense case when it starts.  [Video prompted to 03:20]

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CTH noted this structural issue last August, and the issue remained throughout the heavily manipulated proceedings. None of the House requests for testimony or documents held any enforcement authority because the House did not follow the constitutional process.
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During a pause between meetings President Trump sat down for an interview with CNBC in Davos, Switzerland.  Joe Keren notes the talk of Davos is the strength of the U.S. economy and how the results of the America-First national economic policies of President Trump are stronger than all Davos attendees anticipated.
This wide-ranging interview may even be better than the Fox Business interview as it presents more depth of insight into the next steps for President Trump’s global trade reset.  Obviously Europe is not looking forward to negotiating new reciprocal trade agreements with the Trump administration.  WATCH:

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Unfortunately, one of the necessities of this ridiculous impeachment effort is to have fact-based advocates who can debunk impeachment lies before the narrative engineers (media) has a cycle to run with them.  That’s one of the reasons why Lee Zeldin, Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe and Mark Meadows are so important.
In this quick media briefing, the truth tellers quickly debunk the narrative (story) being spun within the upper chamber by Adam Schiff’s lying House Managers.  John Ratcliffe hones-in on the timeline and rattles-off the dates as an experienced litigator.  WATCH:

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It is not a process argument, but rather a matter of constitutional preservation.
Twenty-one State Attorneys’ General submit a brief to the Senate (full pdf below) in support of complete rejection for the House articles of impeachment.

…”If not expressly repudiated by the Senate, the theories animating both Articles will set a precedent that is entirely contrary to the Framers’ design and ruinous to the most important governmental structure protections contained in our Constitution: the separation of powers”…

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson along with twenty additional State AG’s, submit a 14-page briefing (download here) to the United States Senate warning of the danger of not rejecting a purely partisan political impeachment effort. The Attorneys’ General note the current impeachment proceedings are “fundamentally flawed as a matter of constitutional law.” Their concerns are echo points starting to be realized by Senators.
During a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, South Carolina AG Alan Wilson said the group was urging the Senate to “reject these articles” as a matter of constitutional law. WATCH:

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To assist in page-load-time we’re breaking up the Senate Impeachment 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 with the second session at 3:50pm EST, continuing with with opening arguments by House Impeachment Managers.
PBS Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link – Fox Business – CSPAN Link

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At the conclusion of two days of meetings and discussions, President Trump holds a press conference prior to departing the World Economic Forum.  Surprisingly President Trump invited Roberto Azevedo, Director General of the World Trade Organization, to give remarks.  [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please come on up, Roberto and Larry. Robert, Steve, come on up.
Good afternoon. We’ve had a tremendous two days here. We’ll be heading back right after this conference, and I’ve just concluded some additional meetings. We’ve had a lot of them. I think Davos has treated us really beautifully. It’s been a tremendous success. Everyone is talking about America’s unprecedented economic success. It’s really the talk of the town, so to speak.
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