Trump impeachment acquittal on track ahead of Senate vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is on the verge of acquittal by the Senate, an end to only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history but coming at the start of a tumultuous campaign for the White House.

A majority of senators have now expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment. But there’s nowhere near the two-thirds support necessary in Republican-held Senate for the Constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanors to convict and remove the president from office.

The outcome expected Wednesday caps nearly five months of remarkable impeachment proceedings launched in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House, ending in Mitch McConnell’s Senate and reflective of the nation’s unrelenting partisan divide three years into the Trump presidency.

No president has ever been removed by the Senate, and Trump arrived at the Capitol for his State of the Union address on the eve of the vote eager to use the tally as vindication, a political anthem in his reelection bid. Allies chanted “four more years!”

The president did not mention impeachment, nor did he have to. The mood was tense in the House that impeached him. Pelosi tore up the speech when he was done.

The Wednesday afternoon vote is expected to be swift. With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, senators sworn to do “impartial justice” will stand at their desk for the roll call and state their votes — “guilty” or “not guilty.”

On the first article of impeachment, Trump is charged with abuse of power. On the second, obstruction of Congress.

Few senators are expected to stray from party camps, all but ensuring the highly partisan impeachment yields deeply partisan acquittal. Both Bill Clinton in the 1999 and Andrew Johnson in 1868 drew cross-party support when they were left in office after an impeachment trial. President Richard Nixon resigned rather than face revolt from his own party.

Ahead of voting, some of the most closely watched senators took to the Senate floor to tell their constituents, and the nation, what they had decided. The Senate chaplain has been opening the trial proceedings with daily prayers for the senators.

“This decision is not about whether you like or dislike this president,” began GOP Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine centrist, announcing her resolve to acquit on both charges.

GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said that while he doesn’t condone Trump’s actions, he was not prepared to remove him from the ballot nine months before the election. “Let the people decide,” he said.

Centrist Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has floated the idea of censuring Trump instead, a signal of a possible vote to acquit. Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor seeking reelection in strongly pro-Trump Alabama, told reporters he’s likely to announce his vote Wednesday morning.

Most Democrats, though, echoed the House managers’ warnings that Trump, if left unchecked, would continue to abuse the power of his office for personal political gain and try to “cheat” again ahead of the the 2020 election.

During the nearly three-week trial, House Democrats prosecuting the case argued that Trump abused power like no other president in history when he pressured Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.

They detailed an extraordinary shadow diplomacy run by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani that set off alarms at the highest levels of government. Trump, after asking Ukraine’s president for “a favor″ in a July 25 phone call, temporarily halted U.S. aid to the struggling ally battling hostile Russia at its border.

When the House probed Trump’s actions, he instructed White House aides to defy congressional subpoenas, leading to the obstruction charge.

Questions from the Ukraine matter continue to swirl. House Democrats may yet summon former national security adviser John Bolton to testify about revelations from his forthcoming book that offer a fresh account of Trump’s actions. Other eyewitnesses and documents are almost sure to surface.

In closing arguments for the trial the lead prosecutor, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., appealed to senators’ sense of decency, that “right matters” and “truth matters”′ and that Trump “is not who you are.″

“You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake our country,” Schiff intoned. “He will not change. And you know it.”

Pelosi was initially reluctant to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump when she took control of the House after the 2018 election, dismissively telling more liberal voices that “he’s not worth it.″

Trump and his GOP allies in Congress argue that Democrats have been trying to undercut him from the start. Trump calls both special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and the impeachment probe a “hoax” and says he did nothing wrong.

But a whistleblower complaint of his conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy set off alarms. When Trump told Pelosi in September that the call was perfect, she was stunned. “Perfectly wrong,” she said. Days later, the speaker announced the formal impeachment inquiry.

The result is a 28,000-page record from the House, based on testimony from 17 witnesses, including national security officials and ambassadors, in public and private depositions and House hearings.

The result was the quickest, most partisan impeachment in U.S. history, with no Republicans joining the House Democrats to vote for the charges. The Republican Senate kept up the pace with the fastest trial ever, and the first with no witnesses or deliberations.

Trump’s celebrity legal team with attorney Alan Dershowitz made the sweeping, if stunning, assertion that even if the president engaged in the quid pro quo as described, it is not impeachable, because politicians often view their own political interest with the national interest.

McConnell commands a 53-47 Republican majority and braced against dissent. Some GOP senators distanced themselves from Trump’s defense, and other Republicans brushed back calls from conservatives to disclose the name of the anonymous whistleblower. The Associated Press typically does not reveal the identity of whistleblowers.

Trump’s approval rating, which has generally languished in the mid- to low-40s, hit a new high of 49% in the latest Gallup polling, which was conducted as the Senate trial was drawing to a close. The poll found that 51% of the public views the Republican Party favorably, the first time the GOP’s number has exceeded 50% since 2005.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Laurie Kellman, Matthew Daly, Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.

Trump touts a comeback as Democrats hobbled by Iowa debacle

Four hours before President Trump’s State of the Union, Iowa Democrats finally managed to cough up partial results for the caucuses that have been the epicenter of a year-long battle.
They showed a big night for Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, but with an elephant-in-the-room caveat: only 62 percent of the votes had been counted. And the flurry of numbers was confusing because of the endlessly complicated rules, confounding even veteran analysts such as MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki.
It was against this chaotic backdrop that the president delivered his televised speech to Congress, touting a “great American comeback.” Oh, and today he gets acquitted by the Senate after an arduous impeachment trial that changed very few minds.
It’s been a very good stretch for Trump. He’s even gotten an impeachment bump, with a new Gallup poll putting his approval at 49 percent approval. That is astronomical for him, a result powered mainly by record-breaking support on the economy. The decision by Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats to press ahead with impeachment not only totally overshadowed the Iowa contest, it probably strengthened the loyalty of those who believe the president’s insistence that the whole thing was a hoax.
In that sense, rising approval for Trump mirrors what happened with Bill Clinton, who hit a high in popularity after the Senate acquitted him in 1999 on what was also largely a party-line impeachment.
Iowa is an unbelievable fiasco that hurts the party, probably spells the death knell for the ridiculously complicated caucuses, and robbed the winners of their moment in the TV spotlight. Buttigieg, an obscure small-town mayor a year ago--not to mention the first major White House contender who is gay--could have given an inspiring speech rather than prematurely predicting victory. Sanders, who lost Iowa last time by three-tenths of a percent, could have softened his image by reaching out to those who aren’t democratic socialists.
Instead, they were all campaigning in New Hampshire, with Iowa already in the rear-view mirror.
The only candidate who may have dodged a bullet is Joe Biden, whose anemic finish--fourth place in many of the partial tabulations--reflects his failure to generate much excitement. Trump may have been most worried about Biden’s candidacy--hence the Ukraine pressure campaign that led to impeachment--but that matchup may never happen.
Still, it’s ridiculous for the pundits to be burying Biden after partial results in one predominantly white state, with more diverse contests such as South Carolina coming up.
As for the president, who barred CNN from the traditional lunch with anchors on SOTU day, he may have wanted impeachment officially over before last night’s speech, but it hardly matters. Even with a few Republicans such as Lisa Murkowski (technically an independent) saying his actions were shameful, his Senate acquittal is just hours away, the inevitable outcome that drained the entire proceedings of much suspense.
With some Democrats, including AOC and Ayanna Pressley, boycotting the speech, Trump said “the future is blazing bright” and “the years of economic decay are over.” (For the record, Trump inherited a pretty strong economy from Barack Obama.)
In classic fashion for an election-year address, the president said he had transformed the country and that even better things lie ahead:
“Our country is the best it’s ever been...Our pride is restored...The unemployment rate is the lowest in over half a century...This is a blue-collar boom,” he said with a nod toward the Rust Belt workers he needs in November.
Some of Trump’s comments would obviously be challenged by Democrats, who mostly sat on their hands: “We are building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society.” But he was able to tout one bipartisan achievement, the new Canada-Mexico trade deal that replaced NAFTA.
In a not-very-subtle jab at Sanders, Trump said: “We will never let socialism destroy American health care.”
He called for rebuilding infrastructure, as he has in previous speeches without ever backing a specific bill. He promoted his Middle East peace plan, which has already been rejected by the Palestinians.
The president dwelled on illegal immigration and touched on religious liberty, gun rights and late-term abortion, but hot-button cultural issues were not the speech’s focus. One emotional high point was the shout-out to Rush Limbaugh, battling advanced lung cancer, as Melania Trump hung the presidential medal of freedom around the radio host's neck.
The president’s delivery was straightforward and rather low-key, at least by his standards. He made no reference to the fact that the House had impeached him in that very chamber. Nor did he issue the usual call for bipartisan cooperation.
The speech was, in short, a self-proclaimed victory lap for a president who beat impeachment. Whether he’ll be taking a victory lap in November depends on who among the Democrats rises from the Iowa debacle to take him on.

Trump takes on ‘radical left’ in defiant and dramatic State of the Union address; Pelosi rips up speech

President Trump delivers his third State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, praising the economic success of his administration, highlighting efforts to reform the criminal justice system, secure the nation's borders, improve Americans' health care and fight radical Islamic terrorism.

President Trump went on the offensive against socialism and left-wing policies during a defiant third State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday night -- drawing groans from Democrats in attendance and prompting a furious House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to rip up her copy of Trump's speech as soon as it concluded in a remarkable scene.
Asked about the moment by Fox News afterward, Pelosi said she had destroyed the speech “because it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.” She also said she was "trying to find one page with truth on it" but "couldn't."
The White House responded almost immediately by referencing several of the guests of honor whom Trump had introduced during the State of the Union address.
"Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member's reunion with his family," the White House said in a tweet. "That's her legacy."
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., told Fox News that Trump's speech was "rough" in parts. Responding to Pelosi ripping up the speech, he added, "None of that’s good."
And, speaking to Fox News' "Hannity," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called Pelosi's actions "disgraceful" and "disgusting," saying they made him "angry."
Some commentators accused Pelosi of hypocrisy, noting that back in 2009, she had called on a Republican congressman to apologize or face formal censure for shouting during President Obama's State of the Union address, "You lie!"
In an apparent attempt at reconciliation, Pelosi tweeted late Tuesday that Democrats "will never stop extending the hand of friendship to get the job done #ForThePeople." Pelosi also released a statement saying Trump did not issue a positive message on health care, and calling his speech a "manifesto of mistruths."
The flareup was a harsh reminder of the partisan discord pervading the halls of Congress, even as Trump in his speech all but ignored the historic impeachment drama that flanked this year's address -- a fight virtually certain to end with Trump's overwhelming acquittal on Wednesday. Trump opted in his remarks to publicly challenge Democrats on policy grounds while touting what he called the "blue-collar boom" in the country.
The tensions over impeachment appeared to surface early on, however, as Pelosi refused to introduce Trump by saying it was her "distinct honor" and "high privilege" to do so, as is tradition. Instead, she simply introduced him as the President of the United States.
Then, Trump seemingly snubbed a handshake offer from Pelosi, while Republican lawmakers chanted, "Four more years!" But, the president did not shake Vice President Mike Pence's hand, either, and it appeared he may simply not have noticed Pelosi reaching out her hand.
The night was full of other dramatic, made-for-TV moments: Trump introduced a warfighter back from his fourth Afghanistan deployment to his shocked wife (which was not included in prepared remarks of the speech delivered in advance to reporters); awarded radio host Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom on the spot; issued an academic scholarship to a needy family; and introduced a surviving member of the Tuskegee Airmen.
And he began to shape what could be part of his re-election campaign message.
"As we work to improve Americans' health care, there are those who want to take away your health care, take away your doctor, and abolish private insurance entirely," Trump said. "One hundred thirty-two lawmakers in this room have endorsed legislation to impose a socialist takeover of our healthcare system, wiping out the private health insurance plans of 180 million Americans. To those watching at home tonight, I want you to know: We will never let socialism destroy American health care."
He added: "Over 130 legislators in this chamber have endorsed legislation that would bankrupt our Nation by providing free taxpayer-funded healthcare to millions of illegal aliens, forcing taxpayers to subsidize free care for anyone in the world who unlawfully crosses our borders. These proposals would raid the Medicare benefits our seniors depend on, while acting as a powerful lure for illegal immigration."
Pelosi appeared to mouth "not true" as Trump said Democrats would pay illegal immigrants' health care -- although virtually all Democratic presidential contenders indicated they would support such a measure during a recent debate.
"This is what is happening in California and other States -- their systems are totally out of control, costing taxpayers vast and unaffordable amounts of money," Trump continued. "If forcing American taxpayers to provide unlimited free healthcare to illegal aliens sounds fair to you, then stand with the radical left.  But if you believe that we should defend American patients and American seniors, then stand with me and pass legislation to prohibit free Government healthcare for illegal aliens!"
The address comes one day before the Senate is slated to deliver its verdict in the impeachment trial that has divided the nation. Trump is widely expected to win acquittal. But he did not mention those proceedings directly in his speech.
Drawing some audible murmurs of disapproval from Democrats in the chamber, Trump repeatedly took aim at the Obama administration's economic and foreign policies.

"Socialism destroys nations.  But always remember, freedom unifies the soul."
— President Trump

"If we had not reversed the failed economic policies of the previous administration, the world would not now be witness to America's great economic success," Trump said. "Under the last administration, more than 10 million people were added to the food stamp rolls.  Under my administration, 7 million Americans have come off of food stamps, and 10 million people have been lifted off of welfare."
As he did during the 2019 State of the Union, Trump again directly condemned socialism -- and introduced a high-profile guest from embattled Venezuela.
"Joining us in the gallery is the true and legitimate President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó," Trump said. "Mr. President, please take this message back to your homeland.  All Americans are united with the Venezuelan people in their righteous struggle for freedom! Socialism destroys nations.  But always remember, freedom unifies the soul."
Drawing more audible complaints from Democrats, Trump further hammered "sanctuary city" policies that shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities.
"Tragically, there are many cities in America where radical politicians have chosen to provide sanctuary for these criminal illegal aliens," Trump said.  "In Sanctuary Cities, local officials order police to release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public, instead of handing them over to ICE to be safely removed. Just 29 days ago, a criminal alien freed by the Sanctuary City of New York was charged with the brutal rape and murder of a 92-year-old woman.  The killer had been previously arrested for assault, but under New York's sanctuary policies, he was set free. If the city had honored ICE's detainer request, his victim would be alive today. The State of California passed an outrageous law declaring their whole State to be a sanctuary for criminal illegal immigrants -- with catastrophic results."
Trump praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying the agency "has arrested over 5,000 wicked human traffickers -- and I have signed 9 pieces of legislation to stamp out the menace of human trafficking, domestically and around the globe."

'Blue-collar boom'

"The state of our union is stronger than ever before," Trump declared early on to applause, as most Democrats -- including those who have recently sought to have the president removed from office -- remained seated, stone-faced and apparently dejected.
"Since my election, the net worth of the bottom half of wage-earners has increased by 47 percent -- 3 times faster than the increase for the top 1 percent," Trump said. "After decades of flat and falling incomes, wages are rising fast -- and, wonderfully, they are rising fastest for low-income workers, who have seen a 16 percent pay-increase since my election.  This is a blue-collar boom."
As he often does during his campaign rallies, the president went line-by-line through unemployment statistics, drawing some applause from even Democrats in the chamber.
"The unemployment rates for African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Asian-Americans have reached the lowest levels in history," Trump said.  African-American youth unemployment has reached an all-time low. African-American poverty has declined to the lowest rate ever recorded. The unemployment rate for women reached the lowest level in almost 70 years -- and last year, women filled 72 percent of all new jobs added.
"The veterans' unemployment rate dropped to a record low," he continued. "The unemployment rate for disabled Americans has reached an all-time low.     Workers without a high school diploma have achieved the lowest unemployment rate recorded in United States history. A record number of young Americans are now employed."
The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Trump said, would only accelerate job growth.
"One of the single biggest promises I made to the American people was to replace the disastrous NAFTA trade deal," Trump said. "In fact, unfair trade is perhaps the single biggest reason that I decided to run for President.  Following NAFTA's adoption, our Nation lost one in four manufacturing jobs.  Many politicians came and went, pledging to change or replace NAFTA -- only to do absolutely nothing.  But unlike so many who came before me, I keep my promises.  Six days ago, I replaced NAFTA and signed the brand new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) into law."
The USMCA, Trump maintained, "will create nearly 100,000 new high-paying American auto jobs, and massively boost exports for our farmers, ranchers, and factory workers.  It will also bring trade with Mexico and Canada to a much higher degree, but also to a much greater level of fairness and reciprocity.  This is the first major trade deal in many years to earn the strong backing of America's labor unions."

Honored guests -- and a shocking reunion

Limbaugh, who announced on Monday he is battling advanced lung cancer, unexpectedly received the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the address, courtesy of First Lady Melania Trump.
"Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country," Trump said as Limbaugh rose. "Rush, in recognition of all that you have done for our Nation, the millions of people a day that you speak to and inspire, and all of the incredible work that you have done for charity, I am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I will now ask the First Lady of the United States to please stand and present you with the honor."
Separately, after touting his criminal-justice reform bill, Trump pushed Congress to build what he called an "an inclusive society" by "making sure that every young American gets a great education and the opportunity to achieve the American Dream." He turned his attention to one student in the chamber.
"To rescue these students, 18 States have created school choice in the form of Opportunity Scholarships," Trump said. "The programs are so popular, that tens of thousands of students remain on waiting lists.  One of those students is Janiyah Davis, a fourth grader from Philadelphia.  Janiyah's mom Stephanie is a single parent.  She would do anything to give her daughter a better future.  But last year, that future was put further out of reach when Pennsylvania's Governor vetoed legislation to expand school choice for 50,000 children.
"Janiyah and Stephanie are in the gallery this evening," Trump said.  "But there is more to their story.  Janiyah, I am pleased to inform you that your long wait is over.  I can proudly announce tonight that an Opportunity Scholarship has become available, it is going to you, and you will soon be heading to the school of your choice!  Now, I call on the Congress to give 1 million American children the same opportunity Janiyah has just received.  Pass the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act -- because no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing government school."
Pelosi stared ahead, apparently reading from a copy of Trump's speech as other lawmakers cheered.
"Opportunity Zones are helping Americans like Army Veteran Tony Rankins from Cincinnati, Ohio," Trump additionally remarked, bringing Sen. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., to her feet. Sinema, who notably did not wear white as some of her colleagues did as a show of feminine solidarity, was one of a handful of Democrats to stand and applaud during Trump's remarks at various points.
"After struggling with drug addiction, Tony lost his job, his house, and his family -- he was homeless.  But then Tony found a construction company that invests in Opportunity Zones.  He is now a top tradesman, drug-free, reunited with his family, and he is here tonight.  Tony:  Keep up the great work."
Later, Trump honored Charles McGee, one of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American pilots who fought in World War II.
"Charles McGee was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one century ago," Trump said. "Charles is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen -- the first black fighter pilots -- and he also happens to be Iain's great-grandfather.  After more than 130 combat missions in World War II, he came back to a country still struggling for Civil Rights and went on to serve America in Korea and Vietnam.  On December 7th, Charles celebrated his 100th birthday.  A few weeks ago, I signed a bill promoting Charles McGee to Brigadier General.  And earlier today, I pinned the stars on his shoulders in the Oval Office.  General McGee:  Our Nation salutes you."
The president also honored Kelli and Gage Hake, who lost their father, Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Hake, to a roadside bomb reportedly funded by Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general slain in a U.S. drone strike earlier this year. Soleimani had recently organized a proxy militia's assault on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
In perhaps the night's most unexpected moment -- which was not included in the prepared remarks provided in advance to reporters -- the president introduced a soldier who had just gotten back from his fourth deployment to Afghanistan.
“War places a heavy burden on our nation’s extraordinary military families, especially spouses like Amy Williams from Fort Bragg, N.C. and her two children, six-year-old Eliana and three-year-old Rowan,” Trump said.
“Amy works full time and volunteers countless hours helping other military families," the president continued. "For the past seven months, she has done it all while her husband Sgt. 1st Class Townsend Williams is in Afghanistan on his fourth deployment to the Middle East. Amy’s kids haven’t seen their father’s face in many months. Amy, your family’s sacrifice makes it possible for all of our families to live in safety and peace, and we want to thank you.
“Amy, there is one more thing,” Trump went on, as the chamber erupted. “Tonight we have a very special surprise. I am thrilled to inform you that your husband is back from deployment. He is here with us tonight and we couldn’t keep him waiting any longer.”
Sgt. Williams, a U.S. Army paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, entered the gallery to resounding cheers from both sides of the aisle.
Some prominent Democrats, including Reps. Maxine Waters and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were not in attendance for the speech or the drama that unfolded, saying they were doing so out of protest.
Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution dictates that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union.” George Washington delivered the first such speech to Congress.
But Thomas Jefferson halted the practice, instead submitting a missive to Congress. It would be more than a century until President Woodrow Wilson rekindled the process of giving a speech to Congress.
The designated survivor not in attendance at the Capitol was Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Fox News has learned.
Fox News' Chad Pergram, Jason Donner, Marisa Schultz, and Matt Leach contributed to this report.

Mark Meadows: Pelosi ripped up Trump's speech the way she's ripping apart America

House Freedom Caucus member Mark Meadows, R-N.C. reacted to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tearing up her copy of President Trump's State of the Union as the president concluded his remarks.
Meadows agreed with Sean Hannity, host of "Hannity," on Tuesday that Trump's speech was the most compelling case to Americans for the question, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"
"It's a significant accomplishment when you look at we can celebrate," he said.
"We saw Nancy Pelosi ripping up a speech just like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi and others have been trying to rip apart America for the last three years," he said. "But Jim [Jordan] is exactly right. The president showed us what we are about."
He called the speech the greatest State of the Union to be given in the House chamber.
Pelosi tore up the speech before leaving her seat, and later told reporters that the shredding was, "the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives."
The White House responded almost immediately by referencing several of the guests of honor whom Trump had introduced during the State of the Union address.
"Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member's reunion with his family," the White House said in a tweet. "That's her legacy."
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., told Fox News that Trump's speech was "rough" in parts. Responding to Pelosi ripping up the speech, he added, "None of that’s good."
Speaking to Fox News' "Hannity," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called Pelosi's actions "disgraceful" and "disgusting," saying they made him "angry."
Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.

Iowa Caucus Cartoons

Hong Kong reports virus death as workers strike at hospitals

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong hospitals cut services as medical workers were striking for a second day Tuesday to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely to ward off a virus that caused its first death in the semi-autonomous territory.

All but two of Hong Kong’s land and sea crossings with the mainland were closed at midnight after more than 2,000 hospital workers went on strike Monday. As many as 9,000 medical workers could join the bigger walkout Tuesday to demand closure of the border across which tens of thousands of people continue to travel daily.

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority said it was cutting back services because “a large number of staff members are absent from duty” and “emergency services in public hospitals have been affected.”

Hong Kong was hit hard by SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, in 2002-03, an illness from the same virus family as the current outbreak. Trust in Chinese authorities has plummeted following months of anti-government protests in the Asian financial hub.

Also Tuesday, the leader of the nearby gambling enclave of Macao asked the city’s casino bosses to suspend operations to prevent further infections after a worker at one of resorts tested positive for the virus. Macao has recorded 10 cases in all.

The mainland’s latest figures of 425 deaths and 20,438 confirmed infections of the new coronavirus were up from 361 deaths and 17,205 cases the previous day. Outside mainland China, at least 180 cases have been confirmed, including two fatalities, in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The patient who died in Hong Kong was a 39-year-old man who had traveled to Wuhan, the mainland city that has been the epicenter of the outbreak, before being hospitalized. The Hospital Authority said Tuesday he had existing health conditions but did not give details.

Most cases of the illness have been mild, but most who died have been older people with other ailments such as diabetes or heart disease.

China has struggled to maintain supplies of masks to filter out the virus, along with protective suits and other key articles, as it seeks to enforce temperature checks at homes, offices, shops and restaurants, require masks be worn in public and keep more than 50 million people from leaving home in Wuhan and neighboring cities.

To help meet demand, the European Union office in Beijing said member states have shipped 12 tons of protective equipment to China, with more on the way.

Late Monday, China’s President Xi Jinping presided over a special meeting of the top Communist Party body for the second time since the crisis started, saying “we have launched a people’s war of prevention of the epidemic.” Xi threatened punishments for those who neglect their duties will be punished, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Other countries are continuing evacuations and restricting the entry of Chinese or people who have recently traveled in the country. A plane carrying Malaysians from Wuhan arrived in Kuala Lumpur and the 133 people on board were to be screened and quarantined for 14 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus.

Taiwan on Monday flew home 247 of its citizens from Wuhan and had sent three passengers for treatment after they were found to have fever or sore throats. The other passengers are being quarantined at medical facilities for the next two weeks.

Germany’s Lufthansa became the latest international airline to suspend flights to China, and several countries are barring Chinese travelers or people who passed through China recently.

In Wuhan, patients were being transferred to a new 1,000-bed hospital that officials hope will improve isolation to stem the virus’s spread. It was built in just 10 days, its prefabricated wards equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and ventilation systems. A 1,500-bed hospital also specially built for patients infected with the new virus is due to open within days.

Elsewhere in Wuhan, authorities are converting a gymnasium, exhibition hall and cultural center into hospitals with a total of 3,400 beds to treat patients with mild symptoms of the virus. Television footage of those facilities showed beds placed in tight rows in large rooms without dividers or any barriers to keep patients isolated.

With no end to the outbreak in sight, authorities in Hubei and elsewhere extended the Lunar New Year holiday break, due to end this week, well into February to try to keep people at home and reduce the spread of the virus. All Hubei schools are postponing the start of the new semester until further notice, as a many in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere.

Chinese scientists said they have more evidence the virus originated in bats. In a study published in the journal Nature, Shi Zhen-Li and colleagues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology reported that genome sequences from seven patients were 96% identical to a bat coronavirus.

Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

On Tuesday, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a 42-year-old South Korean woman tested positive for the virus, days after she returned from a trip to Thailand with chills and other symptoms.

It is South Korea’s 16th case. Thailand has confirmed 19 cases, mostly Chinese tourists but also in a Thai taxi driver.

A passenger on a Japanese-operated cruise ship tested positive after leaving the vessel while it was in Hong Kong, and Japanese officials were conducting medical checks on the more than 3,000 people on board Tuesday.

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Associated Press writers Maria Cheng in London and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Dems lay a big caucus egg: No results from Iowa election

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic party officials in Iowa worked furiously Tuesday to deliver the delayed results of their first-in-the-nation caucus, as frustrated presidential candidates claimed momentum and plowed ahead in their quest for the White House.

Technology problems and reporting “inconsistencies” kept Iowa Democratic Party officials from releasing results from Monday’s caucus, the much-hyped kickoff to the 2020 primary. It was an embarrassing twist after months of promoting the contest as a chance for Democrats to find some clarity in a jumbled field with no clear front-runner.

Instead, caucus day ended with no winner, no official results and many fresh questions about whether Iowa can retain its coveted “first” status.

State party officials said final results would be released later Tuesday and offered assurances that the problem was not a result of a “hack or an intrusion.” Officials were conducting quality checks and verifying results, prioritizing the integrity of the results, the party said in a statement.

The statement came after tens of thousands of voters spent hours Monday night sorting through a field of nearly a dozen candidates who had spent much of the previous year fighting to win the opening contest of the 2020 campaign and, ultimately, the opportunity to take on President Donald Trump this fall.

The candidates didn’t wait for the party to resolve its issues before claiming, if not victory, progress and moving on to next-up New Hampshire.

“It looks like it’s going to be a long night, but we’re feeling good,” former Vice President Joe Biden said, suggesting the final results would “be close.”

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said he had “a good feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa” once results were posted. “Today marks the beginning of the end for Donald Trump,” he predicted.

“Listen, it’s too close to call,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. “The road won’t be easy. But we are built for the long haul.”

And Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was most certain.

“So we don’t know all the results, but we know by the time it’s all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation,” he said. “By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”

Democrats faced the possibility that whatever numbers they ultimately released would be questioned. And beyond 2020, critics began wondering aloud whether the Iowa caucuses, a complicated set of political meetings staged in a state that is whiter and older than the Democratic Party, are a tradition whose time had past.

The party has tried to accommodate critics, this year by promising to report three different data points about voters’ preferences, presumably improving transparency. But the new system created new headaches.

State party spokeswoman Mandy McClure said it had “found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results,” forcing officials to try to verify results with “underlying data” and the paper trail.

Some of the trouble stemmed from issues with a new mobile app developed to report results to the party. Caucus organizers reported problems downloading the app and other glitches.

Des Moines County Democratic Chair Tom Courtney said the new app created “a mess.” As a result, Courtney said precinct leaders were phoning in results to the state party headquarters, which was too busy to answer their calls in some cases.

Organizers were still looking for missing results several hours after voting concluded.

Shortly before 2 a.m., the state party was making plans to dispatch people to the homes of precinct captains who hadn’t reported their numbers. That’s according to a state party official in the room who was not authorized to share internal discussions publicly.

Earlier in the night, Iowa Democrats across the state cast their votes, balancing a strong preference for fundamental change with an overwhelming desire to defeat Trump. At least four high-profile candidates vied for the lead in a contest that offered the opening test of who and what the party stands for in the turbulent age of Trump.

It’s just the first in a primary season that will span all 50 states and several U.S. territories, ending at the party’s national convention in mid-July.

For Democrats, the moment was thick with promise for a party that has seized major gains in states since Trump won the White House in 2016. But instead of clear optimism, a growing cloud of uncertainty and intraparty resentment hung over the election as the prospect of an unclear result raised fears of a long and divisive primary fight in the months ahead.

One unsurprising development: Trump won the Republican caucus, a largely symbolic victory given that he faced no significant opposition.

The president’s campaign eagerly seized on the Democrats’ problems.

“Democrats are stewing in a caucus mess of their own creation with the sloppiest train wreck in history,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said. “It would be natural for people to doubt the fairness of the process. And these are the people who want to run our entire health care system?”

Pre-caucus polls suggested Sanders entered the night with a narrow lead, but any of the top four candidates — Sanders, Biden, Warren and Buttigieg — was positioned to score a victory. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who represents neighboring Minnesota, was also claiming momentum, while outsider candidates including entrepreneur Andrew Yang, billionaire activist Tom Steyer and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard could be factors.

“We know one thing: We are punching above our weight,” Klobuchar said late Monday, promising to keep fighting in New Hampshire.

New voters played a significant role in shaping Iowa’s election.

About one-quarter of all voters reported that they were caucusing for the first time, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of voters who said they planned to take part in Monday’s Democratic caucuses. The first-timers were slightly more likely to support Sanders, Warren or Buttigieg, compared with other candidates.

At the same time, VoteCast found that roughly two-thirds of caucusgoers said supporting a candidate who would fundamentally change how the system in Washington works was important to their vote. That compared to about a third of caucusgoers who said it was more important to support a candidate who would restore the political system to how it was before Trump’s election in 2016.

Not surprisingly, nearly every Iowa Democrat said the ability to beat Trump was an important quality for a presidential nominee. VoteCast found that measure outranked others as the most important quality for a nominee.

The 2020 fight has already played out over myriad distractions, particularly congressional Democrats’ push to impeach Trump, which has often overshadowed the primary and effectively pinned several leading candidates to Washington at the pinnacle of the early campaign season.

Meanwhile, ultrabillionaire Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, is running a parallel campaign that ignored Iowa as he prepares to pounce on any perceived weaknesses in the field come March.

The amalgam of oddities was building toward what could be a murky Iowa finale before the race pivoted quickly to New Hampshire, which votes next Tuesday.

For the first time, the Iowa Democratic Party planned to report three sets of results: a tally of caucus-goers’ initial candidate preference; vote totals from the “final alignment” after supporters of lower-ranking candidates were able to make a second choice; and the total number of State Delegate Equivalents each candidate receives.

There is no guarantee that all three will show the same winner when they’re ultimately released.

The Associated Press will declare a winner based on the number of state delegates each candidate wins, which has been the traditional standard.

Trump campaign manager blasts Democrats, calls Iowa caucuses a 'train wreck'

Brad Parscale, Donald Trump's campaign manager, issued a statement Monday on the Iowa caucuses that have suffered a series of largely unexplained delays and raised questions about the legitimacy of the contest.
"Democrats are stewing in a caucus mess of their own creation with the sloppiest train wreck in history. It would be natural for people to doubt the fairness of the process. And these are the people who want to run our entire health care system?" Parscale said.
In the statement, he also said the Republican caucuses had a "record turnout" for Trump.

Supporters for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., raise their hands to be counted during a Democratic party caucus at Hoover High School, Monday, Feb. 3, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

"Tonight President Trump posted a record performance in the well-run GOP Iowa caucuses with [a] record turnout for an incumbent,” he added.
His statement comes as people been reportedly waiting hours for the Iowa Democratic Party to share their results. Inconsistencies in reporting are allegedly causing the delay.
The Iowa Democratic Party said Monday night that results from the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus were indefinitely delayed due to “quality checks” and “inconsistencies” in some reporting, an embarrassing complication that added a new layer of doubt to an already uncertain presidential primary season.
The party said the problem was not a result of a “hack or an intrusion.”
Monday’s confusion allowed every candidate to claim momentum, though no results were announced by the state party as Monday night was about to turn to Tuesday.
“It looks like it’s going to be a long night, but we’re feeling good,” former Vice President Joe Biden said, suggesting the final results would “be close.” “We’re in this for the long haul.”
Fox News' Gregg Re and the Associated Press contributed to this report