Today’s Headlines and Commentary

House impeachment managers continued their argument into the third day of the Senate trial, writes the New York Times. The prosecution team is expected to conclude its oral arguments today, focusing on former President Trump’s “lack of remorse” for the Jan. 6 riots. The former president’s legal team will likely begin their defense tomorrow.

Instagram removed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s account “for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” writes the Wall Street Journal. This decision comes after parent company Facebook Inc. stated earlier this week it would step up removal of false statements related to the coronavirus. As of now, Kennedy’s Facebook and Twitter accounts are still active.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, said that he believes vaccinations will be available for anyone who wants one by April , according to the Hill. Fauci predicts the rate of vaccinations will increase as more locations begin administering shots. The U.S. is currently vaccinating 1.5 million people per day.

On Tuesday, President Biden had his first conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking office, writes the Washington Post. According to a White House statement, “President Biden underscored his fundamental concerns about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices, crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan.”

After a months-long standoff, China and India began troop disengagement from a disputed section of their shared mountain border, reports the Associated Press. The standoff, which began in May 2020, started when Chinese and Indian soldiers began shouting and engaging in fist-fights in the Karakoram mountains. Over the past few months, both sides had started to amass troops and munitions in the region.

Indian technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said U.S. social media firms must abide by the laws of India if they want to continue to operate in the country, one day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government engaged in a back-and-forth with Twitter over government-mandated content moderation. In his statement in the Indian Parliament, Prasad mentioned Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Whatsapp by name, according to Reuters.

Myanmar’s new military junta leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, urged civil servants to return to work and people to stop gathering to avoid spreading the coronavirus, amidst the sixth day of protests against the military coup, reports Reuters. Protesters also demonstrated outside of the Chinese embassy, accusing China of supporting the junta.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Benjamin Wittes wrote his daily thoughts on the Senate’s proceedings in his impeachment trial diary.

Bryce Klehm announced a Lawfare Live episode on Feb. 12 at noon. Wittes will sit down with Bob Bauer, former White House Counsel to President Obama and Professor of Practice at New York University School of Law, about his recent Lawfare article on the constitutional stakes in the impeachment trial.

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of Rational Security, the “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer Does Impeachment” edition.

Tia Sewell shared a livestream of the second day of the impeachment trial.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast, featuring Benjamin Wittes’s conversation with Sophia Yan, Beijing correspondent for The Telegram and Alvin Cheung, a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University, about the current situation in Hong Kong.

David S. Rubenstein analyzed the implications of the Texas v. United States case on the Biden administration’s immigration agenda.

Emma DiNapoli and Rifaat Makkawi examined human rights issues in Sudan and made policy suggestions for the Biden administration.

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