Democrats aren't happy with what ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions' firing means for the Russia investigation. And thanks to Tuesday's House takeover, the party can actually do something about it.

President Trump barely waited until after the midterm elections to force Sessions out of office and make Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, his acting replacement on Wednesday. Reports also indicated that Whitaker would replace Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein atop Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the Trump campaign's possible involvement in Russia's 2016 election meddling. Considering that Whitaker is a very public opponent of the investigation, Democrats were immediately upset.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was the first to call on Whitaker to recuse himself from Mueller's probe, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and other Democrats close behind. But Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) took his condemnation beyond calls for recusal or demands for a bill to protect the investigation. Nadler, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee demanded an investigation into Sessions' firing to begin "immediately." And if that doesn't happen, Nadler ensured that a "Democratic Congress will make this a priority in January" — when Nadler will presumably lead the committee.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) made no mention of the Mueller investigation in a statement addressing Sessions' firing, and merely welcomed Whitaker to the post as "a fellow Iowan." Kathryn Krawczyk

At Wednesday night's debate in Las Vegas, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) hammered former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg so hard, he tried to erase his beating with a Four Pinocchio ad that carefully edits one of his better lines into a "moment." Among the hits Bloomberg appeared totally unprepared for in the debate was Warren pressing him to release from their nondisclosure agreements the unknown number of women (and men) with whom he has reached confidential settlements. In a CNN town hall Thursday night, Warren circled back with some pro bono legal work.

"I used to teach contract law, and I thought I would make this easy," Warren told Erin Burnett and her town hall audience. She held up a contract she had written. "All that Mayor Bloomberg has to do is download it — I'll text it — sign it, and then the women, or men, will be free to speak and tell their own stories," Warren said, reading some relevant parts of the contract.

Warren also tweeted out the agreement.

Warren didn't tag Bloomberg in her tweet, though maybe she really did text him the contract. Legal work doesn't come cheap, especially from Harvard professors, but it's unlikely Bloomberg will appreciate the gesture. After all, spending money isn't really something he seems to worry about. Peter Weber

President Trump is still smarting over remarks Brad Pitt made nearly two weeks ago when he received an Academy Award for his performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Trump held a rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday night, and spent a considerable amount of time complaining about this year's Oscars. "How bad were the Academy Awards?" he asked. He was mad that the widely praised South Korean film Parasite was named Best Picture, thinking the honor should have gone to an American movie like 1939's Gone With the Wind, and he shared his irritation with Pitt.

While accepting the Best Supporting Actor statue, Pitt said: "They told me I only have 45 seconds up here, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week. I'm thinking maybe Quentin [Tarantino] does a movie about it. In the end, the adults do the right thing." He was referring to the Republican-controlled Senate voting against letting Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, testify during Trump's impeachment trial.

Trump did not appreciate Pitt's comments, which were made as millions of people watched around the world. "I was never a big fan of his," Trump said. "He got up, said a little wise guy thing. He's a little wise guy." Catherine Garcia

Former CIA Director John Brennan is very disturbed by a new report from The New York Times, which says last week, members of the House Intelligence Committee were warned by an aide to Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire that Russia is actively meddling in the 2020 campaign in order to get President Trump re-elected.

"We are now in a full-blown national security crisis," Brennan said. "By trying to prevent the flow of intelligence to Congress, Trump is abetting a Russian covert operation to keep him in office for Moscow's interests, not America's." Brennan served as CIA director from 2013 to 2017.

The briefing was delivered by Shelby Pierson, one of Maguire's aides known for her blunt delivery, the Times reports. When Trump found out about the briefing, he was livid, and complained that the committee's chair, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), will "weaponize" the intelligence against him, a person with knowledge of the matter told the Times. On Wednesday, Trump announced Maguire is being replaced by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist. Catherine Garcia

President Trump has apparently pivoted to Oscars punditry.

At his rally Thursday night in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Trump went after the Academy Awards, especially the academy's awards for Parasite. The acclaimed South Korean thriller made history earlier this month by becoming the first foreign-language film to ever win Best Picture, a feat that Trump, evidently, found worthy of ridicule.

"And the winner is, a movie from South Korea," Trump mockingly said. "What the hell was that all about? We got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of it, they give them the best movie of the year. Was it good? I don't know."

Trump didn't have a recommendation for what should have won instead of Parasite, among the most celebrated films released last year. But he went on to ask if we can "get Gone With the Wind back, please," either as a they-don't-make-them-like-they-used-to style complaint or a suggestion that the award for the best film of 2019 should have gone to a plantation drama released eight decades ago.

The American distributor of Parasite, which is in Korean with subtitles, was quick to fire back on Twitter, kicking off the Trump-Neon feud just weird enough to make perfect sense for 2020.

After this Parasite jab, what other strange movie opinions might Trump have to offer next? Well, he did reportedly screen Joker at the White House last year, so look out: a scalding hot presidential take on the DC film may be just around the corner. Brendan Morrow

After his longtime friend and former adviser Roger Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison on Thursday, President Trump announced that he has "a very good chance of exoneration."

Stone was found guilty last year of lying to Congress and witness tampering, tied to his involvement with Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election. While attending an event in Las Vegas, Trump said he is "following this very closely, and I want to see it play out to its fullest, because Roger has a very good chance of exoneration, in my opinion."

Without sharing her name, Trump also said it is "my strong opinion that the forewoman for the jury is totally tainted." She was, he added, "an anti-Trump person, totally. I don't know if this is a fact, but she had a horrible social media account. She's, I guess from what I hear, a very strong woman, a very dominant person, so she can get people to do whatever she wants."

The forewoman disclosed during jury selection that in 2012, she ran for Congress as a Democrat. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the jury acted with "integrity" and Stone was not prosecuted "for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president." Catherine Garcia

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) let billionaire Sheldon Adelson know exactly how much he would pay under her proposed Ultra-Millionaire Tax by taking out a full-page ad in his newspaper and spelling it out for him.

The ad ran Thursday in Adelson's Las Vegas Review-Journal, just two days before the Nevada caucuses. Adelson, the CEO of Las Vegas Sands, is a major Republican donor and supporter of President Trump. The Nevada Independent's Jon Ralston tweeted a picture of the ad, which says Adelson has a net worth of $39.6 billion. During the first year of Warren's plan, he would pay $2,300,000,000, less than 6 percent of his wealth.

"Today, our economy is only working for a thinner and thinner slice at the top," the ad says. "That's why Elizabeth Warren has a plan for an Ultra-Millionaire Tax on the richest 75,000 Americans." As the ad is Nevada-specific, it says that the funds generated by this tax would make hundreds of thousands of Nevadans eligible to have their student debt canceled; make roughly 91,000 Nevada families eligible for free, quality child care; provide additional funding for public K-12 schools; and eliminate tuition and fees at Nevada's public universities, community colleges, and trade schools. Catherine Garcia