Crying Wolf on Impeachment “The impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump is coming down to one big question: Will Democrats, by crying wolf, drown out the more legitimate Republican cry of foul? ‘Foul’ has served as the GOP’s most powerful and honest argument from the first days of these impeachment maneuverings,” Kimberly Strassel writes in The Wall Street Journal. “Democrats broke every standard of due process, transparency and fairness in their House investigation, making a mockery of their constitutional duty.” “They hid the identity of the original accuser, denying Republicans and the country the ability to judge his motives.”   “They held secret depositions, barring more than three-quarters of House members, as well as the press and the American public.”   “They called 18 witnesses, but blocked the president from calling any in his defense.”   “The White House legal team was excluded from the proceedings—prohibited from cross-examining witnesses, denied the ability to introduce any evidence that spoke to the central question of the president’s focus on Ukrainian corruption.” The kicker: In the end, “Democrats approved two articles of impeachment that failed to identify a crime.” Click here to read more.

“President Donald Trump will propose a $42 million budget increase in February to expand support for victims of human trafficking and to boost investigations and prosecutions.” The funding is part of a push by Ivanka Trump to bring more attention to the illegal trade, Michael Wilner reports for McClatchy DC.

“After joining the administration, one of the first assignments I was given by President Trump was to develop a plan to resolve the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. I am pleased to say that, after three years of work, we have made a breakthrough,” Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner writes for CNN.

“Democrats have accused President Donald Trump of using the government to go after his political opponents, yet they are doing the very same thing right now on the floor of the U.S. Senate. They have wrongly weaponized the U.S. Constitution in order to go after their political opponent, President Trump. Does their hypocrisy have no shame?” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) write for Fox News.