Hassan Rouhani Cartoons

Trump Jr. to visit Tennessee to boost Hagerty US Senate bid

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Donald Trump Jr. is coming to Tennessee later this month to help raise money for Republican Bill Hagerty in his bid for an open U.S. Senate seat.

According to an invitation to the fundraiser, President Donald Trump’s oldest son and former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle will headline for Hagerty on Jan. 28 in Gallatin. The luncheon costs $1,000 a person. Attending the luncheon plus a photo reception runs $2,800 per person.

The appearance helps Hagerty keep highlighting the president’s endorsement of him in the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander.

The event also marks the first big headliner for Hagerty, a Nashville businessman who previously served as Trump’s ambassador to Japan and has rejoined the board of a private investment firm. Other notable names within Trump’s circle are likely to visit Tennessee for him in the months leading up to the August primary election.

Hagerty’s main GOP primary opponent is Nashville trauma surgeon Manny Sethi, who also has stressed his support for the president. Sethi has billed himself as a “conservative outsider.”

Republicans have held both of Tennessee’s U.S. Senate seats since 1994.

Nashville attorney and former Army helicopter pilot James Mackler is one of the top Democrats to enter the Senate race.

Iran announces arrests over downing of Ukrainian plane

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s judiciary said Tuesday that arrests have been made for the accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed all 176 people on board just after takeoff from Tehran last week.

The announcement came amid an upswell of anger and protests by Iranians in recent days over the downing of the jetliner last Wednesday and apparent attempts by senior officials in Iran to cover-up the cause of the crash.

Iran, which initially dismissed allegations that a missile had brought down the plane, acknowledged only on Saturday — three days after and in the face of mounting evidence — that its Revolutionary Guard had shot down the plane by mistake.

Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili was quoted by Iranian state media saying that “extensive investigations have taken place and some individuals are arrested.” He did not say how many individuals had been detained or name them.

Iran’s president on Tuesday also called for a special court to be set up to probe the incident.

“The judiciary should form a special court with a ranking judge and dozens of experts,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech televised in Iran. “This is not an ordinary case. The entire the world will be watching this court.”

Rouhani called the incident “a painful and unforgivable” mistake and promised that his administration would pursue the case “by all means.”

“The responsibility falls on more than just one person,” he said, adding that those found culpable “should be punished.”

“There are others, too, and I want that this issue is expressed honestly,” he said, without elaborating.

Rouhani called the government’s admission that Iranian forces shot down the plane the “first good step”.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians — including many Iranians with dual citizenship — and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. There were several children among the passengers, including an infant.

Iran shot down the plane when it was bracing for possible U.S. retaliation for a ballistic missile attack on two military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq. No one was hurt in that attack, which was carried out to avenge the stunning killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike in Baghdad.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guard’s aerospace division, said over the weekend his unit accepts full responsibility for the shootdown. He said when he learned about the downing of the plane, “I wished I was dead.”

The incident raised questions about why Iran did not shut down its international airport or airspace the day it was bracing for U.S. military retaliation.

The shootdown and the lack of transparency around it has reignited anger in Iran at the country’s leadership. Online videos appeared to show security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protests in the streets.

Also Tuesday, Iran’s judiciary said that 30 people had been detained in the protests, and that some were released, without elaborating further.

Iranian authorities briefly arrested British Ambassador Rob Macaire on Saturday evening. He’s said he went to a candlelight vigil to pay his respects for the victims of the Ukrainian plane shootdown and left as soon as the chanting began and it turned into a protest.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador on Sunday to protest what it said was his presence at an illegal protest. Britain, in turn, summoned Iran’s ambassador on Monday “to convey our strong objections” over the weekend arrest.

Burisma Holdings 'successfully' hacked by Russian military amid House-led impeachment hearings: US tech company

Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company at the center of a scandal that resulted in President Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives, was successfully hacked in November by Russian military agents, a U.S. cybersecurity company claimed Monday. 
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army (GRU) in early November 2019 launched an ongoing phishing campaign aimed at stealing the login credentials for employees of Burisma Holdings and its partners and subsidiaries, according to an eight-page report published by Area 1 Security, a Silicon Valley company that specializes in e-mail security.
“Area 1 Security has also further connected this GRU phishing campaign to another phishing campaign targeting a media organization founded by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky,” the report adds. It did not name the media organization.
Oren J. Falkowitz, chief executive officer of Area 1 Security, told Fox News that the discovery was made as part of his company's “normal business of stopping phishing.” He said the report was not paid for by an outside group.
“Cyber campaigns continue to be a geopolitical tool for waging war, influencing election, theft of intellectual property and financial assets, and espionage,” Falkowitz said in an email statement. “Yet time and again, we see that phishing campaigns like the GRU’s rely on human perception of authenticity, not on cutting-edge technology. Therefore, phishing campaigns are not insurmountable - and they can be stopped.”
The Associated Press reported that it was likely that the Bidens were also targeted by the Russian phishing campaign. But Falkowitz said his company could not back those claims and said the targets of the campaign were Burisma employees.
Hunter Biden resigned from Burisma Holdings when his father officially announced his candidacy for president in April 2019.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump in December for abusing the power of his office by enlisting the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden, a political rival, ahead of the 2020 election. A second charge accused Trump of obstructing a congressional investigation into the matter. The alleged phishing took place at a time the Democrat-led public impeachment hearings were widely covered in the news cycle.
Trump has insisted that he did nothing wrong.
Falkowitz said Area 1 Security “went through a rigorous effort to make disclosures that were appropriate.”
Fox News' Hollie McKay and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Barr says DOJ was consulted before Soleimani strike as Trump goes on defensive

Attorney General William Barr on Monday said President Trump had consulted the Department of Justice before ordering an airstrike that killed Iran’s top military general earlier this month.
The comments came after growing questions about what led to the Jan. 3 airstrike that took out Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force.
Democrats have criticized Trump’s decision to conduct an airstrike, claiming he did not properly notify Congress in advance and warning about the risk of escalating violence in the region.
Barr said that Soleimani was a “legitimate military target” and the strike was a “legitimate act of self-defense.”
“The Department of Justice was consulted and frankly I don’t think it was a close call,” the attorney general said. “I believe the president clearly had the authority to act as he did on numerous different bases.”
During an appearance on Fox News’ ‘The Ingraham Angle,’ Trump said the airstrike that killed Soleimani was a deterrence to an imminent threat from Iran that involved planned attacks on four U.S. embassies.
Asked specifically what was targeted, Trump responded: “We will tell you that probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad.”
But the scale of the supposed threat was called into question Sunday after Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he hadn’t seen hard evidence that four American embassies were under possible threat.
“I didn’t see one with regard to four embassies,” Esper told reporters. Asked whether he thought Trump had embellished the threat he said: “I don’t believe so.”
As the debate over the threat level continued Monday, Trump went on the defensive, blasting the “Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners” for trying to determine whether a future attack by Soleimani was “imminent,” and whether the Trump administration was in agreement over the airstrike.
“The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!” Trump tweeted.
Speaking to reporters outside Air Force One later Monday, Trump referred to Soleimani as the “number one terrorist in the world” and “a very bad person” who “killed lots of Americans, killed a lot of people.”
“When Democrats try to defend him, it’s a disgrace to our country. They can’t do that,” Trump said. “And let me tell you, it’s not working politically very well for them. We killed the number one terrorist in the world, Soleimani, and it should have been done 20 years ago.”
Separately, a senior State Department official told Fox News, “We still have concerns about Iranian proxy groups in the region... The United States has made clear that we plan on being disproportional in our response to Iranian aggression.  That hopefully... will result in the deterrence that we’re looking for.”
Fox News’ Rich Edson, Joshua Nelson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Crazy Nancy Pelosi Cartoons

Which one is Pelosi ? :-)

Here's what happens once the Senate gets the articles of impeachment

Just as soon as the House concluded votes on Friday and most lawmakers rushed to the airport, garage or Union Station, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signaled that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) should be ready in the coming days to summon to the floor the measure to appoint impeachment managers and send the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
Pelosi did not give a concrete day or time as to when this would happen. The Speaker says she will talk to Democrats at the weekly caucus meeting Tuesday “on how we proceed further.” The expectation on Capitol Hill is that the House will vote to send the articles of impeachment across the Capitol on Tuesday or Wednesday.
So, here’s what you need to know about what happens next:
Tuesday is a pivotal day. The House Democratic Caucus huddles in the morning. It’s possible the Speaker could announce her plan immediately after the caucus meeting and the debate/vote could happen that same day. It’s also possible the House may not tangle with the measure until later in the week. But Tuesday is the earliest anything will now come to the floor.
Here's what needs to happen mechanically – regardless of when Pelosi pulls the trigger.

The articles are usually tucked into cherry wood or cedar boxes and escorted across the Capitol with a procession led by House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving and Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger.

Pelosi decides when to put the measure on the floor. One story unto itself will be the announcement of the impeachment managers. Who are they? Where are they from? How many? Is it a large group or a finite group? Republicans tapped 13 white men as impeachment managers for President Clinton’s 1999 trial. Pelosi is likely to select a smaller and more diverse group to represent the House before the Senate.
The House then has a short ten-minute debate on sending the impeachment measure plus the managers to the Senate. This will require a simple majority vote. Once the House approves that measure, the articles are ready to be walked across the Capitol to the Senate.
This is where things get tricky:
Even if the House approves the articles, it’s unclear when exactly the articles of impeachment are actually packed up and physically walked from the House side of the Capitol, through Statuary Hall, through the Capitol Rotunda, by the “mini-Rotunda,” paraded through the Ohio Clock Corridor and deposited in the Senate. The articles are usually tucked into cherry wood or cedar boxes and escorted across the Capitol with a procession led by House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving and Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger. This process could happen within an hour or two of the House voting to send the articles to the Senate – or, potentially days, later. The “when” is a big question here.
Then, it’s the Senate’s turn to wrestle with impeachment.
The Senate adopted a set of 26 rules in 1986 to handle impeachments.
Senate Impeachment Rule I states that once the House votes to appoint managers “The Secretary of the Senate shall immediately inform the House of Representatives that the Senate is ready to receive the managers for the purpose of exhibiting such articles of impeachment.”
This means that the Senate must approve a resolution, indicating it is prepared to receive the House’s articles. The Senate can’t get the articles until it acts. The House cannot send the articles across the Capitol until the Senate says it’s ready.
The Senate then usually sets a time/date to receive the articles in that resolution.
Senate Impeachment Rule II says “When the managers of an impeachment shall be introduced at the bar of the Senate and shall signify that they are ready to exhibit articles of impeachment against any person, the Presiding Officer of the Senate shall direct the Sergeant at Arms to make proclamation, who shall, after making proclamation, repeat the following words, viz: ‘All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against_______ ______’; after which the articles shall be exhibited, and then the Presiding Officer of the Senate shall inform the managers that the Senate will take proper order on the subject of the impeachment, of which due notice shall be given to the House of Representatives.”
In other words, the Senate gets the articles. Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger announces the “exhibition of the articles.” The articles are read before the Senate and the impeachment managers are recognized.
At that point, the Senate trial is technically underway. This is the first step in the Senate trial.
But…..
Even at that stage, we may be at least a few days if not a week away from getting into the meat of the trial.
For instance, the Senate dealt with the “mechanics” of receiving the impeachment articles from the House on January 7 and 8, 1999. But then, the Senate took until January 14, 1999 to start the trial in earnest. In this case, the Senate may need time to prepare itself to put on the trial. The impeachment managers may need time to prepare the prosecution. The President must also decide on his defense team. That team must also be prepared to go.
In short, you just don’t get on the floor and wing it.
This is the second step in the trial. It’s where U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts swears-in senators as jurors.
That’s why even if the House sends the articles to the Senate Tuesday or Wednesday, it’s possible the Senate doesn’t even get to the first step in the process - and certainly the substance of the trial - for a few days. In fact, with the Martin Luther King holiday scheduled for Monday, January 20, it’s entirely possible nothing happens until January 21 or beyond.
Somewhere in this process, the Senate may conduct a debate and vote on how to handle the trial. This is the framework which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has spoken about. This would dictate how much time the Senate allocates for House managers to present their case, how much time the President’s team gets to defend him, how much time senators have to submit questions (usually in writing, through the Chief Justice) and, if and when there will be any witnesses. McConnell has advocated following the Clinton trial model. That provided for each side to have 24 total hours to make their cases. Senators had a total of 16 hours to pose questions and get responses. It’s also possible that the Senate could have votes on summoning/rejecting witnesses down the line.
The Senate voted 100-0 in 1999 to approve the Senate trial rules. This time, McConnell has suggested he may just try to lock-in the Clinton trial rules with a simple majority – which is the Leader’s right.
If the Senate fails to agree to any “special rules,” ala the Clinton model, then Senate Impeachment Rule III kicks in:
“Upon such articles being presented to the Senate, the Senate shall, at 1 o’clock after noon of the day (Sunday excepted) following such presentation, or sooner if ordered by the Senate, proceed to the consideration of such articles and shall continue in session from day to day (Sundays excepted) after the trial shall commence (unless otherwise ordered by the Senate) until final judgment shall be rendered, and so much longer as may, in its judgment, be needful. Before proceeding to the consideration of the articles of impeachment, the Presiding Officer shall administer the oath herein after provided to the Members of the Senate then present and to the other Members of the Senate as they shall appear, whose duty it shall be to take the same.”
In other words, the Senate meets six days a week at 1 pm ET for a trial. No ifs, ands or buts about it. This is sure to make the five Democratic senators running for President very unhappy, especially on the precipice of the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire primary. The reason for a 1 pm start time? The Senate can still conduct other business on legislation or nominations in the morning. Also, the Chief Justice needs to preside – but could have other duties across the street at the Supreme Court.
The Senate met for 22 total trial sessions (including two dates for the opening phases) between January 7, 1999 and February 12, 1999. Those meetings consumed 104 hours and 22 minutes. The Supreme Court met for oral arguments on two days the Senate conducted a trial. On those days, the Senate didn’t convene for the trial until the afternoon.\
In 1999, the Senate rejected an effort by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) to dismiss the charges. A motion to dismiss could be in order here, requiring a simple majority vote.
At the end of the trial, it takes 67 votes to convict and remove the President from office.

A couple of things to note:
Senate Impeachment Rule X states that “The person impeached shall then be called to appear and answer the articles of impeachment against him. If he appears, or any person for him, the appearance shall be recorded, stating particularly if by himself, or by agent or attorney, naming the person appearing and the capacity in which he appears. If he does not appear, either personally or by agent or attorney, the same shall be recorded.” So, it’s possible (possible) the President could be called to appear at the trial.

There are multiple schools of thought as to how long a trial may last. The conventional wisdom is that it’s wrapped up by the end of the month. But a bona fide trial – adhering to the Clinton model – could consume weeks and run deep into February, if not March. And regardless, how soon it wraps up is predicated on when the trial actually begins.

Trump administration makes new effort to 'reach out to the North Koreans,' report says

The Trump administration has “reached out to the North Koreans” to ask them to resume diplomacy since the two sides broke off talks last October, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien told Axios Sunday.
"We've reached out to the North Koreans and let them know that we would like to continue the negotiations in Stockholm that were last undertaken in early October,” he told the news service.
O’Brien expressed cautious optimism North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un hasn't yet delivered his promised "Christmas gift" — something many analysts expected would be a nuclear weapons test, Axios reported.
President Trump is hoping to build on inroads he’s made to restart the talks and reach an agreement with the North, the report said. Trump recently sent a birthday message to Kim, but the North Koreans have already said Trump's courtship will not change their policy.
To date, Trump's diplomacy has yielded little results besides giving Kim more time to expand his nuclear arsenal, according to analysts tracking North Korea's supply of nuclear warheads.

US President Donald Trump(L)speaks next to new national security advisor Robert O'Brien on September 18, 2019 at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP via Getty Images)

John Bolton, O'Brien's predecessor as national security adviser, recently told Axios the administration is bluffing about stopping North Korea's nuclear ambitions and should prepare to make a public admission its policy failed badly.

O'Brien said he remains hopeful about Kim's decision — so far — to refrain from launching a nuclear test during the Christmas and New Year timeframe.

Kim "promised to send a Christmas present. The president suggested he send him a vase. We didn't get a vase or any other sort of Christmas gift. That appears to be positive," O’Brien told Axios.
"All we know is we were told we were going to get a Christmas gift and the Christmas gift didn't come. And so I think that was an encouraging sign. But, again, that doesn't mean we won't see some sort of test in the future," O'Brien added.