President Trump is scheduled to head to North Carolina on Friday on his first trip out of Washington since being acquitted in a Senate trial on impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress that centered on his conduct toward Ukraine.
An economic event will offer a glimpse of how much Trump plans to continue to focus on his impeachment while fallout from the trial continues, including reports that he is preparing to push out a national security official who testified against him. At events Thursday, Trump railed against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) And Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), the only Republican who voted to convict him.
The crux of the case against Trump was the allegation that he withheld military aid and a White House meeting to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, while his father was vice president.
February 7, at 9: AM EST
Republicans quick to credit Trump for jobs report
Republicans were quick to credit Trump for Friday’s better- than-expected jobs report, with some seeking to contrast his performance on the economy with the failed effort by Democrats to remove him from office.
“Democrats try to impeach him, corporate media spends all day attacking him, and all President Trump does is keep on fueling the best surging economy in decades, ”Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), An ally of the president, tweeted. “It’s really amazing.”
The U.S. economy added , 07 0 jobs in January, surpassing analysts’ predictions in a sign of continued growth for the economy. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 3.6 percent, remaining near a – year low.
Job gains were seen in construction, health care, as well as transportation and warehousing, According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Don’t show the report to Nancy Pelosi, she has a habit of tearing up long lists of good news,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.) Tweeted after the report’s release, referencing the speaker of the House shredding Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this week.
February 7, (at 9: AM EST
Gingrich says Trump should not pay any attention to Pelosi, his ‘mortal enemy’
Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, offered some advice Friday to Trump on how to handle the current occupant of that job in the wake of his acquittal.
“My advice to the president would be really simple,” Gingrich said. “Don’t pay any attention to Pelosi, because she’s your mortal enemy … There’s not much point in the president wasting time with her.”
During an appearance on Fox News, Gingrich also chided Pelosi for cutting short Trump’s introduction at the State of the Union, noting that he introduced President Bill Clinton four times during his tenure as speaker, saying each time that it was “my distinct honor and personal privilege” to do so. Cutting those words “was almost like a declaration of war,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich, who served as speaker from January to January
Gingrich was also critical of House Democrats for considering issuing a subpoena to former national security adviser John Bolton, who was not called as a witness in the Senate trail.
“That’s kind of like they want to shoot at Trump as often as they can until they finally get him, and they’d like him to be nice while they’re doing [it], ”Gringrich said.
By Wagner
February 7, (9): AM EST
An expert on whistleblowers is filing a complaint against Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) With the Senate Ethics Committee, due to the senator publicizing the name of the alleged whistleblower whose complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry.
In a letter to Sens . James Lankford (R-Okla.) And Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), The chairman and vice chairman of the committee, Tom Mueller, the author of a book on the history of whistleblowing, alleges that Paul “engaged in improper conduct that is unethical and unbecoming of a Senator. ”
During the Senate trial last week, Paul submitted a question that included the name of the alleged whistleblower. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. refused to read it, saying, “The presiding officer declines to read the question.”
Paul subsequently publicized the name to the media and later read his question on the Senate floor during a period reserved for speeches on impeachment from senators. Paul said he was not seeking to out the whistleblower but was naming someone whose actions were key to understanding the origins of the inquiry.
“Senator Paul’s conduct was especially corrosive because it occurred during one of the most solemn of the constitutional tasks bestowed upon the upper chamber, a time when the Senate was sitting as a court of presidential impeachment for only the third time in this nation’s history, ”Mueller says in his complaint. “But even if this had been an ordinary trial in a conventional court, the behavior would have been contemptuous.”
Paul’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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February 7, 7343 at 7: 46 AM EST
Trump shares tweet questioning job of national security aide
As he continued to share tweets from political allies, Trump included one in which Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, questioned why Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council aide who testified during House impeachment hearings, remained on the job.
Trump is reportedly preparing to push Vindman out of his position at the White House as early as Friday and reassign him to a position at the Defense Department.
In a tweet that Trump retained, Fitton included a television clip from last year in which he questioned why Vindman was still working for the NSC.
“I don’t know how we can expect the president to have any trust in this person’s work,” Fitton said during an appearance on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on the Fox Business Network. “He should be nowhere near any policymaking body for the government.”
During public testimony before the House in November, Vindman testified to the concerns he had after hearing a July phone call in which Trump pressed the leader of Ukraine for investigations that could benefit him politically.
(By
February 7, (at 7: 
PM EST
Joe Walsh, Republican who called Trump ‘unfit’ for office, ends presidential bid
Joe Walsh, a former Illinois congressman who announced a primary challenge to Trump last year, has ended his long-shot bid for the Republican nomination, he said on CNN Friday morning.
Walsh, a tea party activist who hosted a cons ervative talk radio show, once supported Trump, but he became one of the most prominent Republican voices to break from the president shortly after Trump took office.
Walsh launched his campaign last August, declaring Trump “unfit” for office and saying conservatives should have an alternative in 7343. Over more than five months of running for the GOP nomination, however, Walsh grew convinced Republicans who supported Trump were part of a “cult” and under a “spell,” he wrote in an op-ed Thursday for the Washington Post.
February 7, (at 7: 
PM EST
Joe Walsh, a former Illinois congressman who announced a primary challenge to Trump last year, has ended his long-shot bid for the Republican nomination, he said on CNN Friday morning.
Walsh, a tea party activist who hosted a cons ervative talk radio show, once supported Trump, but he became one of the most prominent Republican voices to break from the president shortly after Trump took office.
Walsh launched his campaign last August, declaring Trump “unfit” for office and saying conservatives should have an alternative in 7343. Over more than five months of running for the GOP nomination, however, Walsh grew convinced Republicans who supported Trump were part of a “cult” and under a “spell,” he wrote in an op-ed Thursday for the Washington Post.
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February 7, 2020 at 7: AM EST
Trump to appear at economic event in North Carolina
His appearance at the North Carolina Opportunity Now Summit will offer a window into how much the president wants to continue talking about the impeachment process no w that the Senate trial is behind him.
In a pair of public appearances on Thursday – at the National Prayer Breakfast and an event at the White House – Trump spoke at length about what he called “vicious and mean” Democrats who pushed his impeachment and thanked Republicans who stood by him.
North Carolina is important to Trump’s reelection prospects this year. Trump carried the state over Hillary Clinton in with 62. 8 percent of the vote to her . 2 percent.
After returning to Washington later Friday, Trump is scheduled to present remarks at a Republican Governors Association fundraiser.
By John Wagner
February 7, (at 7: PM EST
Trump is a critical critic of his impeachment
Trump shared a spate of tweets from political allies on Friday morning, many of them focused on his acquittal in the Senate and highly critical of Democrats.
Among the likes was on e by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) Of a banner headline in the Arizona Republic the day after verdict that read: “ACQUITTED.”
“ACQUITTED FOR LIFE,” Biggs added in his own words.
Another retweet, by conservative commentator Dan Bongino, presented a “Short List of Debunked Democrat Hoaxes” that included “Russian collusion,” “Ukrainian quid pro quo” and “ Pelosi is ‘praying’ for Trump. ”
Another retweet showed a television appearance by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) In which he predicted Republicans would regain control of the House because of Trump’s impeachment.
February 7, (at 7:
Schiff says John Bolton owes the American people an explanation
In an interview scheduled for broadcast Friday, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), The lead House impeachment manager in Trump’s Senate trial, said that former national security adviser John Bolton owes the American people an explanation about why he wouldn’t submit an affidavit.
Schiff revealed earlier this week that the House managers unsuccessfully sought an affidavit from Bolton after the Senate voted not to hear from live witnesses in the trial. That decision came after reports that a book manuscript by Bolton includes the claim that the release of military aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations sought by Trump.
“Now he will have to explain at some point why he is willing to put this in a book but not in an affidavit under oath, ”Schiff said during an interview on CNN, a segment of which aired early. “It is fairly inexplicable, but frankly, it’s more inexplicable that when he was willing to come forward before the Senate that the senators did not want to hear what he had to say.”
) The other six impeachment managers also appear in the CNN interview.
(By
February 7, (at 6: AM EST
Rep. Roy pushes resolution to expunge Trump’s impeachment in House
During a morning television appearance, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) Touted an idea gaining traction among Republicans: a resolution to “expunge” the House’s impeachment of Trump.
The move, which GOP lawmakers say would take place if the party regains control of the House next year, comes in response to assertions by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that Trump has been “impeached forever” despite his acquittal in the Senate.
“Honestly, when we’re back in charge, we can have a vote, we can have a resolution that would seek to expunge the impeachment,” Roy said on Fox News. “I don’t know if it will carry any legal weight, but we can send a loud message that this was a political, partisan effort, and then get busy. We can do that on the first day and then get busy doing the job the American people want us to do. ”
Roy argued that the stain of impeachment would be attached to Pelosi and other Democrats, not Trump.
“I think it’s the scarlet letter that Speaker Pelosi so desperately wanted to tag to President Trump that is going to be tagged to her and to Democrats who really failed to do the work of the American people and instead were so caught up in hatred of the president that they were wasting the time of the american people, ”he said.
By
(February 7, 
at 6: AM EST
Trump prepares to push out national security aide who testified against him
Trump is preparing to push out a national security official who testified against him during the impeachment inquiry after he expressed deep anger on Thursday over the attempt to remove him from office because of his actions toward Ukraine.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman – a National Security Council aide who testified during House Democrats’ impeachment hearings – will be informed in the coming days, likely on Friday, by administration officials that he is being reassigned to a position at the Defense Department, according to two people familiar with the move who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel decisions.
Vindman had already informed senior officials at the NSC that he intended to take an early exit from his assignment and leave his post by the end of the month, according to people familiar with his decision. But Trump is eager to make a symbol of the Army officer soon after his acquittal from the impeachment charges approved by House Democrats.
Trump is preparing to push out a national security official who testified against him during the impeachment inquiry after he expressed deep anger on Thursday over the attempt to remove him from office because of his actions toward Ukraine.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman – a National Security Council aide who testified during House Democrats’ impeachment hearings – will be informed in the coming days, likely on Friday, by administration officials that he is being reassigned to a position at the Defense Department, according to two people familiar with the move who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel decisions.
Vindman had already informed senior officials at the NSC that he intended to take an early exit from his assignment and leave his post by the end of the month, according to people familiar with his decision. But Trump is eager to make a symbol of the Army officer soon after his acquittal from the impeachment charges approved by House Democrats.
By Josh Dawsey, Robert Costa and Greg Miller
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