Monday morning news - February 8, 2021

Republicans, Democrats argue impeachment ahead of Trump Senate trial » Former President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial starts this week. 

Presentations begin tomorrow. But lawmakers made arguments on Sunday in the court of public opinion. 

Republican Senator Rand Paul says he sees a double standard. He told Fox News that if inflammatory rhetoric is grounds for impeachment… 

PAUL: I mean really we ought to impeach Chuck Schumer then. He went to the Supreme Court, stood in front of the Supreme Court and said specifically, hey Gorsuch, hey Kavanaugh, you’ve unleashed a whirlwind and you’re going to pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you continue with these awful decisions. 

But the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff said impeachment managers will speak not only to Trump’s public comments, but also to his efforts to reverse the election result.  

SCHIFF: His efforts to intervene with local elected officials, the secretary of state in Georgia, indeed the Justice Department to help him overturn the election results; many Americans, and indeed many senators, may not be familiar with all of those facts that led up to that incitement of that mob. 

A conviction of the former president is highly unlikely, as most Republicans oppose the trial and say it’s time to move forward. 

Rep. Cheney shrugs off censure vote » Meantime, one of the top Republicans on Capitol Hill is facing backlash over her decision to vote in favor of impeaching Trump. 

The Wyoming Republican Party voted Saturday to censure GOP House Conference Chair Liz Cheney. 

Darin Smith, who lost to Cheney in the House primary in 2016 argued that “All President Trump did was call for a peaceful assembly and protest for a fair and audited election.” He added that the party needs to put Cheney “on notice.”

Cheney responded on Sunday, shrugging off the vote. She has maintained that Trump was responsible for inciting the riot. 

CHENEY: Our most important duty is to the Constitution. And as I’ve explained and will continue to explain, the oath that I took to the Constitution compelled me to vote for impeachment, and it doesn’t bend to partisanship. 

Wyoming Republicans counter that a commitment to the Constitution should have demanded Trump receive a formal hearing and due process in the House. They argue that Cheney voted “yes” even though Trump did not receive that due process. 

Liz Cheney was one of 10 Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump for a second time. Last week, GOP lawmakers voted to retain her as party’s no.3 leader in the House. 

California to revise indoor church guidelines after ruling » California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office says the governor is working to revise guidelines for indoor church services after the Supreme Court lifted the state’s ban on indoor worship.

The ruling was the biggest legal victory against California’s COVID-19 health orders. The high court announced the rulings late Friday in two cases where churches argued the restrictions violated their religious liberty. 

Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Joseph Cordileone reacted to the decision on Sunday, telling Fox News… 

CORDILEONE: Naturally, I’m very pleased by this decision of the Supreme    Court. I’ve said from the very beginning of these lockdowns that we accept the authority of the government to tell us what we have to do to keep them safe when they worship, but the government has no authority to tell them they cannot worship or to issue restrictions so severe as to practically ban public worship. 

The justices said the state can still limit attendance to 25 percent of a building’s capacity and restrict singing indoors.

Longtime Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz dies at 100 » President Ronald Reagan’s longtime Secretary of State George P. Schultz has died. He was 100 years old. 

Schultz played a key role in efforts to wind down Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in the 1980s. 

Speaking at an event in 1993, Schultz recalled a meeting he brokered between President Reagan and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin.

SCHULTZ: Unexpectedly to him I said ‘how would you like to go meet the president?’ And being a quick and alert diplomat, he said ‘fine,’ so we just wheeled down the back elevator in a special car so we wouldn’t be noticed. 

Schultz, a lifelong Republican, also held several top posts in the Nixon administration. He then became the longest serving secretary of state since World War II, leading Reagan’s State Department for more than six years.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool, File) In this Jan. 15, 2021, file photo, Governor Gavin Newsom addresses a press conference held at the launch of a mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

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