High Crimes: Former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is expected to testify today in Congress about the smear campaign led by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani that led to her removal. Yovanovitch has previously said she was seen as a barrier to President Trump’s campaign to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

  After 30 years in the foreign service, Yovanovitch was abruptly told get on the next plane home from Ukraine.

  In her opening statement during previous closed-door testimony, Yovanovitch said, “Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the president, I was nevertheless incredulous that the US government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.” She was the first official to defy President Trump’s order to not cooperate with the investigation.

  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has added the word “bribery” to her description of what President Trump did in his dealings with Ukraine over military aid and investigation of his political rivals.

  Referring to the Constitutional listing of bribery as an impeachable offense, Pelosi told reporters, “The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery uncovered in the inquiry, and that the president abused his power and violated his oath by threatening to withhold military aid and a White House meeting in exchange for an investigation into his political rival — a clear attempt by the president to give himself an advantage in the 2020 election.” 

  As public hearings continue, Pelosi said there’s been no decision on whether to actually impeach Trump, but it’s clear that Democrats are considering what to put in the bill.  

On Appeal: In a battle over the constitutional separation of powers, President Trump asked the Supreme Court to stop a New York prosecutor’s investigation of his personal finances, seeking a landmark decision that would protect him from criminal investigation or prosecution while he’s in office.

  Fighting a subpoena for his taxes by the Manhattan district attorney, Trump and his lawyers have argued that he is immune while in office. It is Justice Department policy not to prosecute a President, but it is not written in the Constitution nor does it cover state prosecutions.

  “For the first time in our nation’s history, a state or local prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation of the President of the United States and subjected him to coercive criminal process,” wrote Jay Alan Sekulow, the president’s lawyer.

  He said, “Politically motivated subpoenas like this one are a perfect illustration of why a sitting president should be categorically immune from state criminal process.”

The American Disease: A 16-year-old high school student in Santa Clarita, California killed two fellow students and wounded three. 

  The dead are a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, the authorities said. The shooter was armed with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol that he drew from a backpack and first fired in the quadrangle of Saugus High School. The shooting, which is reported to have lasted only 16 seconds, was the 44^thschool shooting this year.

The Immersion of Venice: The Italian government has declared a state of emergency in Venice, where waters have risen to flood level for the second time in a week and heavy rain is expected.

  The underground crypt at St. Mark’s Basilica is among the landmarks under water. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called the flood a “blow to the heart of our country.”  He said, “It hurts to see the city so damaged, its artistic heritage compromised, its commercial activities on its knees.” 

The Bulletin Board: Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced that he is joining the race for the Democratic nomination for president. — Kentucky’s Republican Gov. Matt Bevin finally conceded that he lost the Nov. 5^th election by 5,000 votes. — Billionaire presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is expected to spend $100 million on an advertising campaign targeting President Trump.

Speaking of Sports: Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett faces a major suspension this morning after last night’s game with the Pittsburgh Steelers ended in a brawl with just eight seconds on the clock. Garrett pulled the helmet off Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and then hit him in the head with it. It was pretty ugly.

Indiana, Gary: The judges in Indiana have been suspended after an incident in which they spent an evening drinking, attempted to visit a strip club, and ended up in a brawl in the Parking lot of a White Castle in which two of the jurists were shot.

  Back in May, the confrontation began after 3 am, when one of the judges, Sabrina Bell, raised a middle finger at two men yelling from a passing SUV. The two guys stopped, got out, and in the midst of a scrum one of them shot two the two male judges, both of whom survived.

  Judges Andrew Adams, Bradley Jacobs, and Bell all were suspended by the state supreme court that ruled they “engaged in judicial misconduct by appearing in public in an intoxicated state and behaving in an injudicious manner and by becoming involved in a verbal altercation.” 

  Not to mention, would you want to face a judge who eats at White Castle?

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