Throughout my time keeping the list, I have been  concerned that since Trump would do anything to stay in power, when he  felt he was losing his grip, we risked him taking extraordinary actions.  This week, Trump assassinated Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani — a  decision he made while vacationing in Mar-a-Lago, and unilaterally,  without seeking approval or consulting with Congressional leaders.

As a backdrop, this week additional reporting  and documents released under Freedom of Information Act requests painted  a far more dire picture for Trump heading into a Senate impeachment  trial. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to hold the articles of  impeachment, the mood seemed to shift with Senate Majority Leader Mitch  McConnell trying to defend his statements about pre-judging the matter  and his actions of moving in lock-step with the White House.

This week the country was again rocked by an  anti-Semitic attack, amid a massive increase of hate crimes in U.S.  major cities. Trump remained passive on the rise of hatred of all kinds,  which continued to escalate to record levels in 2019.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-164/

This was the quietest week in months as Congress left Washington for a  two-week holiday break. After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to  transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate, Trump spent the week  stewing and repeatedly attacking her on Twitter and in his limited  public appearances. Sen. Lisa Murkowski became the first Republican  Senator to speak out against Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s handling  of the impeachment trial, saying she was “disturbed” by his “total  coordination” with the White House.

Trump spent the week at Mar-a-Lago, removed from  White House staffers and consumed with airing his personal grievances  and amplifying far-right conspiracy theorists. He and his allies  attacked Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for cutting out his cameo  appearance in a Christmas showing of “Home Alone 2.” Trump also spent  much of his days quoting hosts and guests on Fox News, and retweeting  allies and conspiracy theorists.

This week the media did a bit of reckoning on its coverage of Trump, after Rolling Stone published an interview of “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, in which he  admitted he has been “naive” in his coverage and complicit in the  spread of disinformation. Evangelical leaders continued their online  battle over whether Trump’s moral unfitness was grounds for his removal.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-163/

This week, the House Judiciary Committee debated  and voted to approve two articles of impeachment against Donald J.  Trump, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. After two fiery  days of debate, the panel took a somber vote Friday, marking the fourth  time in U.S. history the Judiciary passed articles of impeachment.  Remarkably, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on Fox News the night  prior, saying he was in “total coordination” with the White House, and  there was “zero chance” Trump would be removed from office.

On the same day Democratic House leadership  announced the House would move forward on impeachment, Trump hosted  Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office, closed to  U.S. press. Notably, the day prior, Ukrainian President Volodymyr  Zelensky, who has yet to be invited to the White House, met with Russian  President Vladimir Putin in Paris, without Trump issuing any sort of  statement or tweet in support of Ukraine.

This week the Justice Department Inspector  General report was released, and although IG Mike Horowitz found no  political bias and said the FBI was justified in opening its  investigation, Trump and Attorney General William Barr both publicly  disparaged the report. Former AG Eric Holder called on Barr to step  down.

With impeachment in full gear, Trump, who fears  the stain on his legacy, while portraying strength, has taken to binge  tweeting — on one day alone tweeting or retweeting 123 times. The full  House will vote on impeachment next Wednesday, and as the week came to a  close, only one moderate House Democrat had defected.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-161/

This week, Trump traveled to London for the NATO  summit as impeachment hearings got underway in the House Judiciary  Committee, and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee issued a  scathing 300-page report. While Trump sought to display strength abroad,  and used the summit as an excuse not to participate in impeachment  hearings, a video at a Buckingham Palace reception surfaced Tuesday  night showing world leaders openly mocking and laughing at him. He  abruptly left early Wednesday, seething and returning in disgrace as the  constitutional scholars testified in House impeachment hearings.  Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman said, “the reason the  Constitution provided for impeachment was to anticipate a situation like  the one that is before you today.”

On Thursday, shortly after Trump tweeted “if you  are going to impeach me, do it now, fast,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  announced in somber tones and invoking the Founders and Constitution,  that the House would begin drafting articles of impeachment. Meanwhile,  Rudy Giuliani traveled back to Budapest and Kyiv, seeking dirt on the  Bidens, meeting with Ukrainian officials, including one with ties to  Russia.

This week Trump continued his feud with the  so-called deep state, now growing to include the military — while his  remaining conspiracy theories were set to be debunked in a report by the  Justice Department Inspector General, in consultation with Attorney  General William Barr’s handpicked prosecutor, John Durham.

This week, more conspiracy theories were  debunked, as a draft of the Department of Justice Inspector General  report found the FBI did not try to place spies in Trump’s 2016  campaign, nor did Obama wiretap him. Trump allies continued to push the  conspiracy that Ukraine, not Russia, may have interfered in 2016,  despite it being thoroughly and widely disproved.

Trump sought to portray strength — firing the  Navy Secretary and tweeting an image of his face super-imposed on the  body of Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky.” He told supporters in Florida how  hard he was working for them — as opposed to Democrats’ focus on  impeachment — then clandestinely flew to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving to  visit U.S. troops under false pretenses.

The House Judiciary Committee announced the  start of impeachment hearings next week, as Trump and his team weighed  whether to participate. The committee did not rule out an article  related to the Mueller probe. Reporting revealed the September 9 call  between Trump and Gordon Sondland — central in Trump’s defense of his  actions towards Ukraine — may not have happened, and Rudy Giuliani faces  a broad probe of possible criminal activity.

The full list is here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-159/

This was a remarkable week in impeachment  hearings as nine witnesses testified. By week’s end, it was clear that  there was a coordinated effort that included multiple senior Trump  officials “in the loop” seeking investigations from Ukraine in exchange  for aid and a White House visit — an effort that went against U.S.  national security interests. Trump and his allies’ defense, claiming  Ukrainian corruption and 2016 interference, was also debunked, leaving  by week end their only defense to be lack of a firsthand witness to  Trump directing the activities. The impeachment hearings were stunning  as, with each passing day, it became all the more clear how irreverently  and irresponsibly Trump has acted, yet how unwilling the Republican  Party was to stand up to him and hold him accountable.

Another conspiracy theory was also debunked as a  draft of the Department of Justice Inspector General found there was no  political bias by senior FBI officials against Trump in getting the  wiretap of Carter Page. Trump took an unusual trip to Walter Reed  Medical Center early in the week that led to speculation of a health  issue, and spent the rest of the week ranting and bullying about  impeachment, mostly on Twitter and Fox News, and largely avoiding the  press. Trump and his allies continued to attack and discredit  impeachment witnesses publicly, and blocked testimony from senior  officials and subpoenaed documents from the State Department. Trump  continued his battle with the U.S. military, flexing his commander in  chief might to overturn their rules.

As the week came to end, and Congress left for  Thanksgiving break, it was unclear where the impeachment investigation  would head next. The House Intelligence Committee started writing its  report, but did not rule out further hearings, and the Judiciary  Committee also considered follow up on information gleaned from the  Roger Stone trial related to Trump’s written testimony in the Mueller  probe.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-158/

This week public impeachment hearings started,  with three career diplomats testifying before the House Intelligence  Committee. Senate Republicans were notably quiet in their defense of  Trump, while Republican House members focused mostly on the process,  especially for the third witness, Maria Yovanovitch, who proved  unassailable. William Taylor testified about a previously unknown phone  call on July 26 overheard by his staffer David Holmes, in which Trump  asked about “the investigation,” and Sondland assured him Ukraine would  comply. Closed door hearings continued as well, as more career officials  came forward to testify.

This week, Trump faced threats on other fronts,  as longtime ally Roger Stone was found guilty on all charges of lying to  Congress, tampering with witnesses, and concealing evidence in an  effort prosecutors said was to shield Trump. Stone’s conviction was the  sixth of a senior Trump official arising from the Mueller probe. This  week Trump lawyers appealed two cases to the Supreme Court, both of  which would require him to turn over eight years of his tax returns.

The world order continued to shift, as Trump  hosted and praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White  House, weeks after Turkish-forces invaded Northern Syria, and notably in  contrast to having not yet hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr  Zelensky. French President Emmanuel Macron announced France would host a  Ukraine summit on December 9, inviting leaders of Ukraine, Russia, and  Germany, while pledging unwavering support to Zelensky.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-157/

This week, House Democrats released transcripts  of eight depositions, and announced a schedule for public hearings next  week. As support for impeachment plateaued, Democrats tentatively  planned to fast-track hearings, with a vote on articles of impeachment  before the holiday break. Republicans meanwhile, careened from varying  defenses of Trump, from it was not a bad quid pro quo, to he is not  competent enough to carry out quid pro quo, to targeting witnesses and  the whistleblower, to considering sacrificing a fall guy in Trump’s  stead.

The Mueller probe was again back in the news, as  the Justice Department released FBI 302 summary reports of interviews,  and the trial of Roger Stone got underway. Documents revealed the source  of the conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the  2016 election was actually Konstantin Kilimnik, an employee of Paul  Manafort who the FBI determined has ties to Russian intelligence. Stone  and Trump’s possible involvement in seeking emails stolen by Russia from  WikiLeaks was also back in the spotlight.

Election night provided victories for Democrats,  taking control of the Virginia legislature for the first time in 26  years, winning the governorship of red state Kentucky, and historic  victories in the suburbs of Philadelphia. As we head toward the 2020  election, U.S. intelligence again warned of election interference  underway, something that Trump, and Republicans who continue to block  legislation to protect voting, oddly seem to welcome.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-156/

This week, further testimony in the impeachment  probe brought the fifth and sixth public confirmation of a quid pro quo  between Trump and Ukraine, including so far William Taylor, Gordon  Sondland, Sen. Ron Johnson, Mick Mulvaney, Alexander Vindman and Tim  Morrison. By week’s end, Senate Republicans discussed shifting their  defense of Trump to acknowledging his quid pro quo, but saying it was  not illegal — differing from House Republicans who continued to deny it,  and Trump who maintained he had a “perfect” call and tested out new  explanations for what occurred. Allegations of a possible White House  cover up of Trump’s July 25 call also surfaced in this week’s testimony.

The House of Representatives took its first  full, public vote on impeachment, passing a resolution to proceed with  public hearings, and setting out ground rules to proceed. In the  meantime, aspects of the Mueller probe came back into the spotlight as  ongoing court cases played out, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would  not rule out including new information in the impeachment inquiry.

Trump tried to pivot and focus attention on a  successful raid that killed the head of ISIS, seeking to turn it into a  Hollywood story to distract attention and legitimize his haphazard  foreign policy. This week hundreds of U.S. troops abandoned Kurdish  allies in Syria, while hundreds of others moved back to Syria to protect  oilfields not owned by the U.S. Trump attended his first Major League  Baseball game for the World Series, and was treated to boos when he was  announced, and chants of “Lock him up!” an inning later.

Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-155/