Today’s Headlines and Commentary

The Senate impeachment trial will reconvene today at 1 p.m. Republican leaders believe they are close to securing the votes necessary to block any witnesses from appearing in the trial, according to CNN.

Alan Dershowitz, one of the attorneys representing Donald Trump, argued Wednesday that presidents could do almost anything so long as they believe their re-election is in the public interest, reports The Washington Post.

John Bolton’s lawyer released a letter that he sent to the White House indicating that he does not believe any information in Bolton’s book manuscript chapter on Ukraine should be considered classified. An earlier letter from the White House, which said the manuscript appeared to contain “significant amounts of classified information,” became public on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

On Wednesday, Israel postponed a move to annex large parts of the West Bank. This comes a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that the Cabinet would vote Sunday on extending Israeli sovereignty to dozens of Jewish settlements, reports the Associated Press.

President Donald Trump will seek $20 billion in funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency that maintains U.S. nuclear weapons, according to Defense News.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Randy Milch and Sam Bieler analyzed a quiet revolution in the Federal Trade Commission’s data security orders.

Margaret Taylor shared the seventh episode of The Report: Impeachment podcast, which condensed the seventh day of the impeachment trial into 48 minutes.

Hannah Kris posted the livestream of the eighth day of the impeachment trial.

Robert Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared the most recent episode of the National Security Law Podcast, in which they discuss the procedural and jurisdictional issues that may arise if the Senate subpoenas John Bolton, as well as the Justice Department’s decision to concede the impropriety of some of the FISA applications related to Carter Page.

Jen Patja Howell shared the most recent episode of the Rational Security podcast, featuring a discussion of John Bolton and the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

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