"If you don’t know, now you know"

Democrats make the case for convicting the president; Davos discusses climate change. Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters. TOP NEWS Democrats make their opening arguments for impeachment in Senate trial [Impeachment managers Val Demings and Hakeem Jeffries]( Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images - The big picture: Seven Democratic House impeachment managers this week took to the Senate floor to present their case against President Trump. Their argument: The president abused the power of his office to withhold crucial security aid for Ukraine in exchange for a corrupt, politically motivated investigation into a potential political rival — former Vice President Joe Biden — and obstructed Congress’s investigation into his conduct. [[Washington Post / Seung Min Kim, John Wagner, and Karoun Demirjian](] - As opening arguments continue, Republican senators have seized on a new argument for acquittal: So far, no new evidence has been presented at trial. Earlier in the week, however, every Republican in the Senate voted against the introduction of new witnesses or evidence, so, as Vox’s Aaron Rupar writes, “Republicans are complaining about Democrats not doing something they’re preventing them from doing.” [[Vox / Aaron Rupar](] - Of course, there is new evidence — it just hasn’t been introduced at trial. Last week, a tranche of new documents from Lev Parnas, an associate of the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was released, providing further evidence that the president was fully aware of the scheme to elicit an investigation into Biden by Ukraine. [[NPR / Bill Chappell](] - As the trial continues, a new CNN poll Monday found a slim majority of support for the president’s conviction and removal, and nearly 70 percent support for the admission of new witnesses in the Senate trial. [[CNN / Jennifer Agiesta](] - Democrats will get one more crack at calling witnesses after opening arguments conclude. Some Republicans, including Sens. Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, have expressed an interest in allowing new witnesses after the first phase of the trial ends, but nothing is certain and Democrats will need to win over at least four Republican votes in the Senate. [[NYT / Michael D. Shear](] - Friday is the last day for impeachment managers to present the Democratic case for conviction, and on Saturday, Trump’s legal team will have the chance to make their counterargument. The president’s lawyers could take up to three days to mount their defense, at which point the Senate will return to the question of witnesses, and potentially a final vote. [[Politico / Quint Forgey](] - Ultimately, of course, the trial will conclude with an up-or-down vote: convict the president and remove him from office, or acquit? The timing of the vote is still uncertain and heavily reliant on whether new witnesses are called, but the outcome is not. A two-thirds majority is necessary to convict, which means that the president will almost certainly be acquitted in the Senate by a Republican majority. [[Economist](] - As always, the news moves fast, and the Senate trial doesn’t stop for the weekend. For all your up-to-the-minute impeachment needs, Vox’s Matthew Yglesias and Andrew Prokop have you covered with [Impeachment, Explained](; you can also tune in to Ezra Klein’s [podcast of the same name](. Climate change gets top billing at Davos - As his impeachment trial got underway in the US, the president headed to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum this week. Over his two days at the summit, Trump boasted about the American economy, brushed aside the threat of climate change, and talked US-EU trade with the new head of the European Commission. [[AP / Darlene Superville](] - The annual conference convenes world leaders, CEOs, academics, and others for four days of meetings and panels on a range of topics. The Guardian notes that the event, which is in its 50th year, has been described at times as “the place where billionaires tell millionaires how the middle classes should live their lives.” [[Guardian / Larry Elliott](] - Trump also wandered into political peril during a Wednesday interview when he indicated his administration will look into cutting entitlement programs — Medicare and Social Security — “toward the end of the year.” Cuts to such programs have historically been considered politically poisonous. [[Slate / Jordan Weissmann](] - But while Trump made headlines back home in the US during his stay at Davos, Politico Magazine notes that at the event, the embattled president was in many ways “a marginal figure” when it came to the primary topics of discussion. [[Politico Magazine / John F. Harris, Florian Eder, and Ryan Heath](] - Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, returning to Davos for a second time, took center stage at the summit. Thunberg, 17, gave a pair of searing speeches demanding climate action and excoriating the gathered leaders. "Our house is still on fire," Thunberg said. "Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour. And we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else." [[Washington Post / Rick Noack](] - Even beyond Thunberg’s activism, climate change was in the spotlight at Davos. The world’s business community has begun to act — slowly — on the burgeoning crisis, but many activists worry that such efforts are too slow and too small-scale. [[NYT / Stanley Reed](] MISCELLANEOUS Inside the "Decency Collective," private Twitter rooms populated by #Resistance celebrities. [[Vox / Emily Stewart](] - Authentic Scottish haggis can be a hot black-market commodity. [[NYT / David Yaffe-Bellany](] - Why a lactose-intolerant CQ Roll Call reporter is tracking impeachment-trial milk consumption [[Washingtonian / Daniella Byck](] - Deval Patrick is still running for president. [[Atlantic / Edward-Isaac Dovere](] - GOP tax cuts made rich Republicans even richer.[[Vox / Peter Cary, Center for Public Integrity](] CROSSWORD OF THE DAY [Can you solve today's crossword?]( What’s a five-letter word for a kangaroo or a cassowary, but not a koala? [Solve today's new Vox crossword puzzle](, and stay tuned for more puzzles coming out Monday through Saturday. VERBATIM “If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost. [The] framers couldn’t protect us from ourselves, if right and truth don’t matter. And you know that what he did was not right. ... But here, right is supposed to matter. It’s what’s made us the greatest nation on earth.” [[House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff speaking on the Senate floor Thursday night / Vox](] WATCH THIS [The Indian government shut the internet down in Kashmir last year]( The Indian government shut down the internet in Kashmir last year. [[Spotify](] [Read more from Vox](#) [Some opioid executives are finally going to prison]( [Trump said no US troops were hurt in the Iran strike. The number is now up to 34.]( [Your Slack DMs aren’t as private as you think]( [Invasion Day is a day of mourning for Indigenous Australians. The bushfires make this year extra poignant.]( [Greta Gerwig’s fresh take on Little Women won’t win Best Picture, but it should]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving all emails from Vox. View our [Privacy Policy]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.