10 things you need to know today: December 16, 2019

(Image credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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1. House enters key week for impeachment inquiry, with vote looming
2. Polls: Americans evenly divided over impeachment
3. Senate Democrats want Bolton, Mulvaney to testify
4. Comey admits 'real sloppiness' in FBI warrant application
5. Lam meets with Xi as Hong Kong protests continue
6. Lighthizer says U.S.-China trade deal 'totally done'
7. Boris Johnson welcomes Conservative lawmakers, promising to deliver Brexit
8. DNC balks at easing debate qualification rules
9. Hallmark reverses decision to pull ad featuring kissing brides
10. Jumanji: The Next Level takes top spot at weekend box office

published 16 December 2019

1. House enters key week for impeachment inquiry, with vote looming

The House Judiciary Committee released its impeachment report on Monday as the full House prepares to consider the panel's two articles of impeachment against President Trump. The Democratic-controlled House plans to vote Wednesday on the articles, which accuse Trump of abusing his power and obstructing Congress. Democrats say Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate one of his main Democratic rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, by withholding a White House meeting and congressionally approved military aid. "President Trump has realized the Framers' worst nightmare. He has abused his power in soliciting and pressuring a vulnerable foreign nation to corrupt the next United States Presidential election," the committee wrote. Trump tweeted that the impeachment process is a "hoax" and part of an ongoing "Witch Hunt" against him.

With the House headed for a historic impeachment vote, Americans remain deeply divided on whether the House should impeach President Trump, and whether the Senate should remove him from office, according to two new polls. A CBS News poll found that 46 percent of Americans surveyed believed Trump deserved to be impeached for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democrats, up from 43 percent in November. Forty-two percent said if Trump is impeached, he should be removed from office. The same percentage said the Senate should not convict Trump, or not hold a trial at all. A USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll released Sunday found that 51 percent opposed a Senate conviction of Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, while 45 percent were for it.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter on Sunday evening to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), letting him know that should there be an impeachment trial for President Trump, Democratic lawmakers want to hear testimony from four current and former members of the administration. The House will likely vote to impeach Trump this week, and Schumer has proposed the trial process start on Jan. 6, with the trial beginning on Jan. 9. Senate Democrats want to hear from acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, Mulvaney aide Robert Blair, and Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey. Schumer and McConnell have yet to sit down to discuss the trial and how it will run.

Former FBI Director James Comey on Sunday acknowledged "real sloppiness" in the way the bureau obtained warrants to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page in 2016 at the beginning of the Russia election-meddling investigation. Comey said he had always believed the FBI's procedures for applying for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were solid, but that the Justice Department's inspector general's new report found that while the FBI properly opened the inquiry, it made significant errors in how it handled the surveillance applications. "I was overconfident in the procedures that the FBI and (Department of) Justice have built over 20 years," Comey said on Fox News Sunday. "I thought they were robust enough."

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday as pro-democracy protests continued in her Chinese-ruled but semi-autonomous city. Ahead of the meeting, Lam downplayed the question of whether Beijing would call for a shakeup of Hong Kong's leadership. She said the top priority was restoring order and ending rising violence. On Sunday, masked protesters marched through several Hong Kong shopping centers chanting "Fight for freedom" and other slogans. Riot police dispersed crowds at one mall using pepper spray. Witnesses said officers at another mall fired a tear gas canister and detained several people after shops were damaged. Also on Sunday, more than 1,000 people participated in a pro-government rally.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Sunday that the first phase of the U.S.-China trade deal the two sides announced Friday is now "totally done." Under the agreement, he said, the U.S. will "double exports" to China over the next two years. The gains stemmed partly from China's agreement to buy billions of dollars' worth of American agricultural products. In exchange, President Trump promised to drop plans to impose a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports on Sunday. The world's two biggest economies plan to formally sign the agreement in January.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday welcomed 109 newly elected Conservative members of Parliament following his party's landslide win in last week's election. Johnson promised to deliver on his pledge to speed up the U.K.'s exit from the European Union after months of delays. Johnson said he would run a "people's government" that would "repay the public's trust by getting Brexit done." He also vowed to use his solid new majority to approve increased spending for health care, education, and law enforcement. Johnson reportedly aims to present his Brexit bill to Parliament before Christmas so that Britain can leave the EU by Jan. 31, ending three years of debate over Brexit.

The Democratic National Committee reportedly is rejecting calls to ease the requirements for qualifying for the next presidential debates. Nine Democratic presidential candidates, including the seven candidates who have earned spots on the stage, signed a letter to the DNC urging the party to lower the thresholds for poll numbers and fundraising. Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, who have failed to qualify for the January and February debates, also signed the letter. The candidates said the debates should be open to anyone meeting either the polling or fundraising minimums, rather than both, because the current rules are having the "unintended consequence" of excluding candidates who "helped make this year's primary field historically diverse." The DNC said the process has been "fair and transparent."

The Hallmark Channel announced Sunday it was reversing a decision to pull a same-sex marriage commercial that sparked outrage from a conservative group. The One Million Moms organization complained to the network about a commercial for Zola, a wedding planning site, that featured two brides kissing at the altar. Hallmark agreed to stop airing the ads, but on Sunday, Hallmark Cards CEO Mike Perry released a statement saying the "Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we've seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused. Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision. We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused." The decision to stop airing the commercials triggered a social media backlash and calls to boycott Hallmark.

Jumanji: The Next Level dominated the domestic box office with $60.1 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada, knocking Frozen 2 out of the top spot it held for three weeks. Jumanji, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, posted the best three-day run for a December comedy ever for its production company, Sony. The film is a sequel of 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which grossed just under $1 billion worldwide. Jumanji: The Next Level also made $52.5 million overseas. Frozen 2 dropped to second place with $19.2 million for the weekend. The Disney Animation film has now crossed the $1 billion mark globally, following in the footsteps of the first Frozen film. It is Walt Disney Studio's sixth billion-dollar release of the year.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.