Sworn In: On the day that President Trump’s  impeachment trial formally began, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that Trump’s withholding of military aid from Ukraine broke the law that limits a president’s power to block spending of money allocated by Congress.

  And that’s the heart of the impeachment issue. “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the accountability office wrote.

  With that news breaking, Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in yesterday to preside over President Trump’s trial and the senators took an oath to administer “impartial justice.”

  Acting as one of the impeachment managers, essentially a prosecutor, California Rep. Adam Schiff read from the articles of impeachment that, “President Trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”

  Trump’s reaction was to post on Twitter, “I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!”, revealing once again that he doesn’t know what’s going on or how anything works.

  Trump was actually impeached a month ago on accusations that he orchestrated a scheme to hold nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine until they promised to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden. His phone call with the president of Ukraine was just a part of it. Trump’s actual trial technically began yesterday, only the third trial of a president in US history.

  And just to make the news day busier, Ukraine announced an investigation into efforts made by Trump associates to track and follow former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch while she was still on the job. She was the target of a successful campaign to get her fired because she was standing in the way of Trump’s plan.

  Despite new evidence that’s come out in the last few days, White House Press secretary Stephanie Grisham told Fox News, “We’re not too concerned about it.” She said, “Once again, we know that everything in the Senate is going to be fair.”

That’s because they’ve been promised an acquittal.

China Syndrome: President Trump crowed on Twitter that the trade deal signed with China on Wednesday is “One of the greatest trade deals ever made!” One could expect nothing less from a Trump self-assessment. He said, “250 Billion Dollars will be coming back to our Country, and we are now in a great position for a Phase Two start. There has never been anything like this in U.S. history!” 

  In the nuts and bolts of the deal, China committed to buy an additional $200 billion worth of American goods and services by 2021 and to stop requiring that US companies doing business in China must turn over their technology to the Chinese. They also agreed to relax rules that had acted as a barrier for the import of American meat, poultry, pet food, seafood, animal feed, baby formula, dairy, and biotech. 

  The technology clause is a big win for the US. The Chinese are expert technology thieves. But China agreed to buy stuff for only two years and there’s no commitment to what happens next. 

  China’s vice premier, Liu He, who signed the deal with Trump, said Chinese businesses will buy American goods and services “based on the market demand in China,” suggesting that nothing is ironclad. Of most concern is that the deal appears to have reduced the sale of US farm goods to China from a certainty to a variable.

The Gunbeat: Three suspected neo-Nazis have been arrested in advance of a gun rights rally to be held at the Virginia Capitol in Richmond. Authorities say they built their own assault rifle and had 1,500 rounds of ammunition.

  Fearing violence, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency in preparation for the rally, banning firearms and other weapons on the Capitol grounds.  Northam told reporters, “We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies that there are groups with malicious plans for the rally that is planned for Monday.” 

The Bulletin Board: Eighty percent of black Americans believe President Trump is racist, according to a new Washington Post/Ipsos poll. — After initially saying no one was hurt in the Iranian missile attacks on US bases in Iraq, the Pentagon now says 11 members of the military were treated for concussion. — The Justice Department is investigating whether former FBI Director James Comey was involved in a years-old leak of classified information. Comey has been a target of President Trump, who fired him. — The number of births in China fell to a 60-year low last year, sounding the alarm for a future economic and demographic crisis as the population ages. Wang Feng, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, told The NY Times, “It’s a society where nobody wants to get married and people can’t afford to have children,” 

No Crying in Baseball: The NY Mets have fired their new manager Carlos Beltran as another hat falls in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. Beltran, who hadn’t even worked one game with the Mets, was a player with the Astros in 2017 when they ran a pitching sign-stealing operation and won the World Series.

  Beltran is the third manager to be fired. Major League Baseball is trying to clean up its act. Now if they could only stop the players from spitting tobacco juice in the dugouts.

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