The Weekly National News Roundup | Shlomo Rudman

Trump Acquitted – After five months of investigations and hearings, the Senate this week voted to clear President Trump of wrongdoing. The House of Representatives had impeached Trump over abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. But the Republican-controlled Senate opted not to call witnesses while conducting their trial, choosing instead to get the process over with as soon as possible. The mostly party-line vote to acquit President Trump was held on Wednesday afternoon, and just one Republican – Mitt Romney – voted with Democrats to have the president removed from office. On Thursday, President Trump held an event at the White House celebrating the news in which he called his adversaries “dirty cops” and apologized to his family for having to deal with the impeachment saga.

DNC Calls For Iowa Recount – Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called for a full recount of the Iowa caucuses results after widespread chaos gripped the counting process. The complete results only became publicly available three days after the caucuses, after technical difficulties with an app that was supposed to assist in the counting caused the process to fall apart. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg ultimately was shown to have received the most votes, followed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden.

Trump Deliver SOTU – In any other year, the State of the Union address would be the top story of the week. But this year impeachment took center stage to President Trump’s State of the Union speech, which he delivered on Tuesday. The speech was evocative of many of his campaign rallies, crediting himself for many accomplishments, including the booming economy and historically low unemployment rates. Trump also awarded talk radio host Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, during his address. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up a copy of the president’s speech at the conclusion of the address, causing a political firestorm.

US Kills AQ Leader – A strike by the US military resulted in the death of Qassim al-Rimi, the Al Qaeda leader in the Arabian Peninsula, who took credit for the shooting attack at a US base in Pensacola, Florida several weeks ago.

Coronavirus Update – The new illness that has sent fear rippling throughout the globe continues to spread, as tens of thousands of cases are now reported, although most of them are confined to China. A cruise ship that will be docking in New Jersey on Friday will be placed in quarantine due to some two dozen Chinese nationals onboard who will be checked for coronavirus before being allowed into public spaces.

 

This content, and any other content on TLS, may not be republished or reproduced without prior permission from TLS. Copying or reproducing our content is both against the law and against Halacha. To inquire about using our content, including videos or photos, email us at [email protected].

Stay up to date with our news alerts by following us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

**Click here to join over 20,000 receiving our Whatsapp Status updates!**

**Click here to join the official TLS WhatsApp Community!**

Got a news tip? Email us at [email protected], Text 415-857-2667, or WhatsApp 609-661-8668.