The drama surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's effective exit from the royal family just keeps getting juicer.

Harry and Meghan announced in a stunning statement Wednesday they "intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family" and will "work to become financially independent" while they "balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America." That was already shocking, but it was followed by an even more stunning development: a Buckingham Palace response saying discussions with Harry and Meghan are actually "at an early stage" and that these are "complicated issues."

That seemed to suggest the rest of the royal family was blindsided by the announcement, and BBC reported that "no other royal — including the queen or Prince William — was consulted." But if that wasn't enough drama for you, CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton is now reporting the queen actually was consulted about the statement, and she specifically asked Harry not to issue it. Harry, CNN reports, "went ahead with it anyway."

Needless to say, anyone who thought future seasons of The Crown just stumbled upon a goldmine of material yesterday hadn't seen anything yet. Brendan Morrow

The fact checkers came out quickly in response to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone on Tuesday.

In his opening remarks at President Trump's Senate impeachment trial, Cipollone argued that Trump faced unprecedented violations of due process while the House was conducting its impeachment inquiry last year. He said House Democrats were running the investigation from a "basement" and accused House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) of blocking his Republicans colleagues from entering the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility.

As it turns out, GOP lawmakers on the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees were indeed welcome to join those proceedings, and while many of them chose not to attend, several participated. Tim O'Donnell

President Trump is heavy on the plans and light on the specifics.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Trump confirmed he was considering adding more countries to his travel ban, said he would impose tariffs on European automobiles, and added he was working on a middle-class tax cut. Not that he said which ones, when that would happen, or just what the cut entailed, respectively.

Reports first indicated the Trump administration was planning an addition to its travel ban earlier this month. Trump told the Journal his administration does have plans to add more countries to the list later this month, but wouldn't say more. He also said his administration is "looking at many different things" when it comes to his longstanding — and now faded — push to oust Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Trump went on to say he's still working on a trade agreement with the EU, saying "I'm going to put tariffs on them if they don't make a deal that's a fair deal." He was asked when that would happen but didn't answer, just saying "they know what the deadline is." And as for policies back in the U.S., Trump said "we're talking a fairly substantial… middle-class tax cut" that'll be revealed in 90 days. The plan's implementation dependent on him being reelected, Republicans holding the Senate, and the GOP taking back the House — the third bit being very unlikely in a presidential election year.

Read the whole interview at The Wall Street Journal. Kathryn Krawczyk

The Wuhan virus, which broke out in China last month and has so far infected more than 300 people and killed six, has reportedly reached U.S. shores, a federal source told CNN.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce Tuesday that a person in Washington state has been infected, making the U.S. the sixth country to experience the outbreak of the respiratory illness, along with China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and South Korea. The patient was hospitalized with pneumonia last week after having traveled to eponymous Wuhan, China, where the outbreak appears to have originated at a seafood and poultry market, The New York Times reports.

A lot remains unknown about the virus, although the latest development strengthens the hunch that it spreads from person to person. One of the most pressing questions, Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told the Times, is how frequent that human-to-human transmission is. Read more at The New York Times and CNN. Tim O'Donnell

Ozzy Osbourne has revealed he's battling Parkinson's disease, opening up about his diagnosis in an emotional new interview.

The rock star spoke in an interview with Good Morning America that aired Tuesday, saying he was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson's disease after a fall last year.

"It's been terribly challenging for us all," Osbourne said, though his wife, Sharon Osbourne, described the diagnosis as "not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination."

Osbourne previously postponed his planned 2019 tour dates, citing his health. "Words cannot express how frustrated, angry and depressed I am not to be able to tour right now," he said at the time. He reiterated to GMA that he "can't wait" to get back on the road again. "That's what's killing me," he said. "I need it, you know."

Now that he's revealed his diagnosis, Osbourne told GMA "I feel better," adding he hopes his fans "hang on and they're there for me because I need them." Osbourne, who's set to release a new album Ordinary Man next month, also promised, "I ain't going to go anywhere yet." Brendan Morrow

The just-starting Senate impeachment trial of President Trump has resurfaced reminders of what isn't allowed in the room where it happens: talking, electronics, questions from the press, among other things. And while it's true that coffee and other non-water drinks are always barred from the Senate floor, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has just generously reminded us that another liquid will be available for slurping come trial time.

Yes, because one senator desperately needed a dose of dairy back in 1966, milk is allowed on the floor along with water. No senators have broken out the dairy this impeachment around, but keep an eye on Vermont Sens. Bernie Sanders (I) and Patrick Leahy (D), who've been spotted sipping milk together on special occasions for decades. Kathryn Krawczyk

Gallup revealed Tuesday that President Trump's approval rating during his third year in office set the record for the biggest partisan gap since the pollster began its records.

Republicans and Democrats are dramatically split — 89 percent of Republicans think Trump is doing a good job, compared to just 7 percent of Democrats. That 82-point difference is the largest ever, beating out the 79-point margin following Trump's second year in office. But what about the third subset, those pesky independents?

Trump's numbers don't crater among independents like they do with Democrats, and have improved over the last year — his 38 percent approval rating among non-affiliated respondents is higher than his 35 percent average rating to date, but they're still historically low. In the post-World War II era every other president has reached the 40 percent threshold among independents, with the lowest mark going to Jimmy Carter's 42 percent.

Overall, Trump checked in with a 42 percent approval rating during year no. 3, an uptick from his first and second years. It's not far behind the numbers averaged by former presidents like Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan at this point in their tenures, but it's still one of the lowest three-year averages during a first term since World War II. Only Carter's 37.4 percent trails. The poll was conducted over the phone from a random sample of 4,560 adults living in the U.S. by Gallup between Oct. 14, 2019 and Jan. 16, 2020. The margin of error is 2 percentage points. Read more at Gallup.