Today’s Headlines and Commentary

The Senate voted Friday to not allow new witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, and will vote Wednesday on whether to acquit the President, reports The Washington Post. Closing arguments begin today at 11:00 a.m, and senators will have a chance to give floor speeches tomorrow.

President Trump on Friday added six nations to the list of countries facing stringent travel restrictions, effectively blocking immigration from Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania and Kyrgyzstan, according to The New York Times. The total number of countries on the restricted travel list now stands at 13.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened Saturday to cut security ties with both Israel and the U.S., reports Associated Press. Abbas’ comments came during a meeting in which he criticized the new White House plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

U.S. officials expressed confidence that a January U.S. airstrike in Yemen killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Qassim al-Rimi, according to The New York Times.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed on Sunday that it had directed a Saudi military officer to carry out the Dec. 6 shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, reports The New York Times.

The U.S. and governments in Europe and Asia are enforcing new regulations to block visitors from China. In the U.S., officials at airports have begun screening U.S. citizens returning from China for signs of the disease. Chinese markets dropped sharply on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 7.7%, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier today, Turkey responded with strikes after four Turkish soldiers were killed by Syrian government shelling in northern Syria. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan claimed that there were 30 to 35 casualties on the Syrian side, but offered no evidence to support that casualty assessment, reports Associated Press.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Matthew Waxman analyzed the implications of the Mexican-American War for constitutional war powers.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Colin Clarke and Matt Shear proposed a new way to think about terrorists’ use of new technology.

Margaret Taylor shared the tenth episode of The Report: Impeachment, which condensed the tenth day of the impeachment trial into one hour and 12 minutes.

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