Below are the top political news stories of the day:
- Emerging from the shadows: the U.S. chief justice who will preside over Trump's trial - Reuters | U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts will be a central figure in the ongoing drama of the Donald Trump presidency in coming months.
- Here's what you need to know about the new law on robocalls | ABC News | Trump signed the anti-robocall act following its bipartisan support in Congress.
- Why It’s So Damn Hot in Australia - Real Clear Politics | Ocean circulation, years of drought, and climate change are fueling Australia's record heat and deadly fires.
- The Embassy Attack Revealed Trump’s Weakness | The Atlantic - By abandoning diplomacy, the president risks war, humiliation, or both—and has put himself at Iran’s mercy.
- The Phantom Momentum of Bernie Sanders - Real Clear Politics | A late-December flurry of articles on a revival of Bernie Sanders' prospects points to a cardinal rule of political journalism: The story must change...
- Fighting Iran's undivided and indivisible regime - Israel Hayom | The myth that has guided Western policymaking regarding the regime in Iran has been the existence of a power struggle between moderates and hardliners.
- Trump tweets that impeachment is a 'coup.' He's almost right - but not in the way he thinks. - NBC News | We either have three co-equal branches of government or we have something that looks more like a dictatorship and less like a democracy.
- Rudy Giuliani says he is willing to testify at Trump impeachment trial - Fox News | Giuliani says he was key player in Yovanovitch ouster, has proof of Democrats’ impeachment a ‘cover-up’
- Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana - ABC News | The sale of marijuana for recreational purposes is now legal in Illinois
- The Year the Islamic State Lost Its Last Strongholds - FP | Many of its militants are now in prison, but that doesn’t mean the battle is over. In 2020, conflict could rise anew.
- Pompeo postpones trip to Ukraine following attack on U.S. embassy in Baghdad - CBS News | The trip was delayed "due to the need for the secretary to be in Washington, D.C., to continue monitoring the ongoing situation in Iraq
- New laws on guns, privacy, electric cars go into effect across US - Fox News | As the new decade rolls in, so does a series of laws debuting across the country — on everything from data privacy to gun control to electric cars.
