Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Wednesday, January 13, 2021:
IMPEACHMENT TODAY
President Trump will likely make history today as the first American president to get impeached twice. The House is set to vote on impeaching the president for “inciting an insurrection.” Rep. Liz Cheney, the no. 3 House Republican, has come out in support of impeachment. In the Senate, Maj. Leader Mitch McConnell is said to be “pleased” that Democrats are moving forward because it will be easier for the GOP to distance itself from the president once he leaves office. Should McConnell publicly say that he supports impeachment, there is a real possibility that Trump could be convicted and barred from running for office again. In his first public appearance since the riots, the president called his remarks before the siege “totally appropriate.” AXIOS
INTELLIGENCE BREAKDOWN
The FBI was aware that extremist groups were preparing to travel to D.C. “ready for war” ahead of the Capitol riots, according to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post. The memo contradicts claims that federal law enforcement was flying blind and didn’t know about the possibility of violence while a joint-session of Congress was gathering. Meanwhile, the Dept. of Justice, in the first briefing since the riots, says it is considering filing sedition charges against some of those involved. WASH POST
COVID-19: NEW GUIDELINES
TRAVEL: Anyone flying into the United States will soon be required to show a negative COVID test before boarding their plane. The new CDC policy will take effect in two weeks and covers foreigners as well as American citizens abroad, even if they have been vaccinated. AP
VACCINATIONS: The federal government is changing its guidelines for the vaccine rollout and will no longer hold back second doses. The White House is recommending that states prioritize getting the first shots into the arms of anyone 65 or older, as well as high-risk people, as quickly as possible. NBC NEWS
DEATH PENALTY
The U.S. government executed Lisa Montgomery overnight. Montgomery is the first woman to be put to death by the federal government in nearly 70 years. She was convicted of killing a pregnant woman and stealing her newborn baby 16 years ago. Her lawyers argued that she was severely mentally ill and brain damaged and suffered a lifetime of abuse, and a federal judge stayed the execution before the Supreme Court stepped in at the 11th hour and vacated the stay. NPR
SHELDON ADELSON: 1933-2021
Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and GOP megadonor, has died at 87. Adelson grew up in Boston during the Depression before rising in business to become one of the richest people in the world as founder and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, which owns casinos and hotels around the world. Along the way, he spent vast sums of money to influence Republican politics and U.S. policy toward Israel and other Jewish causes at home. Adelson was the largest single donor in the 2012 election and President Trump’s largest donor. READ THE OBIT
NETFLIX HITS THE GAS
As any boxer knows, the time to deliver the K.O. is when your opponent is on the ropes. That appears to be the strategy behind Netflix’s 2021 programming slate. With movie theater operators hoping to be able to salvage at least some of this year, the streamer is going all in: a record 71 movies across genres will debut on Netflix in 2021, including major big-budget flicks starring A-listers like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Dwayne Johnson -- more than one a week -- plus more than a dozen drama series.WATCH THE SIZZLE REEL
HOCKEY'S BACK
The NHL kicks off its season tonight. The league will play a condensed 56-game regular season, ending on May 8. To make travel easier, for the first time all seven Canadian franchises will be grouped in a single division. Only inter-division games will be played. Here’s a preview: READ IT
SPOTTED...
…the first peak at the inside of a Los Angeles mansion being billed as the most expensive home in the country and the largest in the world. Architectural Digest got the exclusive preview of The One, a 105,000 square-foot estate that took 600 workers eight years to build. The pad is going on the market for a reported $340 million: SEE PICS
...Bruce Willis, walking around an L.A. Rite Aid without a mask on before he was told to leave: SEE PIC
...Michael B. Jordan and Lori Harvey, daughter of Steve, making it Instagram official: SEE PICS
LATE NIGHT WARS
Jimmy Fallon is in ratings trouble. The Tonight Show saw its smallest TV audience ever for an original episode on Monday, drawing just 947,000 total viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers. In comparison, Colbert had 2 million viewers and Kimmel had 1.7 million. Fallon was on top of the late-night wars until late 2018, when Colbert first passed him after going all in on political and anti-Trump humor. THE WRAP
LEFTOVERS: REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
The Capitol riots were just a week ago, believe it or not. Cheddar Political Director Megan Pratz was covering the Electoral College vote in the building when all hell broke loose outside. In a first-person account of the mayhem that followed, Pratz recounts what the experience was like as a journalist on the scene: READ IT
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