In the Public Interest: Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz made the novel argument yesterday that if President Trump believed his re-election this year is in the public interest, then his pressure campaign on Ukraine is not an impeachable offense.

  “Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest,” Dershowitz said. “And mostly you’re right. Your election is in the public interest.” He went on, “And if a president did something that he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”

  Dershowitz made his remarks during the question and answer period of President Trump’s impeachment trial that continues today. 

  Trump is accused of withholding military aid from Ukraine until Ukraine’s president agreed to investigate Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival.

  Quoting what may or may not have been an imaginary president, Dershowitz said, “‘I want to be elected. I think I’m a great president. I think I’m the greatest president there ever was and if I’m not elected, the national interest will suffer greatly.’” He concluded, “That cannot be an impeachable offense

  Of course, the counter argument is that it’s exactly why a president should be impeached.

  Impeachment manager Adam Schiff countered that, “All quid pros are not the same. Some are legitimate and some are corrupt, and you don’t need to be a mind reader to figure out which is which.”

  Lingering over the trial is the question of witnesses and whether the Republicans have the votes to block any from appearing. They say they’re close.

  Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said that if witnesses are called the trial might drag out for weeks, even months, preventing the Senate from doing its business. He’s basically saying the Senate shouldn’t push for the truth because it will take too long.  

Publish and Perish: The White House and National Security Council sent a letter to former National Security Adviser John Bolton saying  his soon-to-be-published-book contains national security information and cannot be published as written. A letter from the NSC says some of the information is classified at the “top secret” level, meaning it “reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security.”

  Bolton says in the book that President Trump directly told him that aid to Ukraine was being withheld to force Ukraine to announce an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden. What do we think are the odds that the chapter dealing with that is one of the items considered “top secret” ?

  Bolton is a hard line right winger, somewhat of a war monger in foreign relations. But Trump hired him. Following his usual pattern with former employees, the President has denounced Bolton — never liked him, didn’t trust him, did him a favor giving him the job. Trump tweeted about Bolton that; “For a guy who couldn’t get approved for the Ambassador to the U.N. years ago, couldn’t get approved for anything since, ‘begged’ me for a non Senate approved job, which I gave him despite many saying ‘Don’t do it, sir,’ takes the job, mistakenly says “Libyan Model” on T.V., and.. ….many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?”

  Somehow we missed world wars III, IV, and V. 

Outbreak: Six thousand passengers have been locked down on a cruise ship in Italy because two people are suspected of having the coronavirus. China reported 1,500 new cases today, bringing the number to 7,700. At least 170 people have died. 

Final Brexit: Nearly four years after British voters decided to withdraw their country from the European Union, England is leaving the EU at midnight tonight. The representatives of 27 EU countries gave their final stamp of approval today.

  The city of Brussels plans to light up Grand Place, the ornate square in the heart of the capital, putting on a light show with colors of the British flag to honor the departing nation.

Grounded: In a hit on China, the Interior Department grounded its fleet of more than 800 drones, citing potential cybersecurity risks and the need to support US drone manufacturing. The Interior Department uses drones for surveying federal lands, conducting research, and for law enforcement. 

  The fear is that Chinese-made drones could be tapped for information. The Chinese drone giant DJI issued a statement saying it is “extremely disappointed” by the Interior Department’s move. The company said, “We are opposed to the politically-motivated country of origin restrictions masquerading as cybersecurity concerns.” 

The Bulletin Board: President Trump yesterday signed the USMCA, the replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement. — Boeing lost $636 million as a result of the grounding of the 737 Max, lost sales, and non-delivery penalties. It’s the company’s first annual loss since 1997. — Two former aspiring actresses testified yesterday that when they were invited to what they thought would be business meetings with movie producer Harvey Weinstein, he sexually assaulted them. Dawn Dunning said in Weinstein’s rape trial that he told her at the time, “This is how the industry works. ” — ABC News Correspondent Matt Gutman, 42, has been suspended for incorrectly reporting during the early rush of news that all four of Kobe Bryant’s daughters were killed with him in a helicopter crash. He has publicly apologized for his mistake.

Just Super: The Super Bowl is only days away. The networks are doing their annual stories about security operations in Florida and the Super Bowl commercials. A new twist is a quarantine station for the coronavirus. Let’s quarantine the commercials instead.

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