Happy Thursday!
Before the House Judiciary Committee was expected to pass articles of impeachment later in the day, President Donald Trump on Thursday went on an early morning tweetstorm, bashing the House’s impeachment inquiry and the media as he sent out dozens of tweets and retweets of supporters defending him. [TheHill]
Topping the news: Utah Sen. Mike Lee says the report on the FBI is ‘scathing,’ and he believes agents were biased against Trump. [Trib] [DNews]
-> A BYU study links the shrinking Great Salt Lake — and increasing numbers of dry lake beds — to 90% of northern Utah’s dust. [Trib]
-> As some of Utah’s homeless refuse to leave the downtown area, providers are struggling to fill empty beds at a new homeless center in South Salt Lake. [Trib] [DNews]
Tweets of the day: From @jaketapper: “GRAHAM: Former FBI Director James Comey said this week that your report vindicates him. Is that a fair assessment of your report?
HOROWTIZ: You know I think the activities we found here don't vindicate anybody who touched this.”
-> From @bobcesca_go: “‘Isn't the lack of evidence of bias, itself evidence of bias?’ --Sen. Mike Lee right now making no sense.”
Also in the news: Sen. Mitt Romney objects to big fee increases for federal genealogy records and he’s asking the Department of Homeland Security to explain the changes further. [Trib]
-> Columnist Robert Gehrke says Utah legislators will pass tax reform on Thursday, but explains why he believes that is a mistake. [Trib]
-> Facebook’s massive Eagle Mountain Data Center hasn’t even opened yet, but the company has already announced plans to expand it by 50%. [Trib]
-> Solitude is receiving mixed reviews for charging skiers to park, as part of efforts to relieve canyon congestion. [Trib]
-> Four women who were banished from the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in northeastern Utah have turned to the federal court system for help. [KUER]
-> An Arizona elected official charged in Utah with human trafficking made an appeal Wednesday to keep his job. [APviaTrib]
-> Some Utahns are questioning whether 2020 could bring full Medicaid expansion to Utah, with limited expansion helping some and leaving others without coverage. [DNews]
-> Pat Bagley, Tribune cartoonist, performs a series of hearing tests. [Trib]
-> Sen. Mitt Romney continues to push an anti-vaping and -smoking rhetoric as he bills to raise the smoking age and ban e-cigarettes in schools as part of his health care package. [DNews]
-> Thursday’s deadline for the Bureau of Land Management employees looms as they choose whether or not to move out west. [DNews]
Nationally: The House Judiciary Committee is holding a marathon two-day meeting to debate and vote on the articles on impeachment. [CNN]
-> An internal Justice Department watchdog was caught in the middle of a political back-and-forth as senators used his report on the origins of the Russia investigation involving Trump’s 2016 campaign. [AP] [NYTimes]
-> The House passed a bipartisan bill that would grant legal status to thousands of undocumented farmworkers. [CNN]
-> Harvey Weinstein has reached a tentative $25 million settlement that would end nearly every sexual misconduct lawsuit brought against Weinstein and his former fil studio’s board. [AP]
-> A new executive order by President Donald Trump is likely to further a policy that was already playing out in the Education Department’s push to fight bias on college campuses. [NYTimes]
-> Trump is minimizing impeachment in the public eye, but people familiar with his mindset say he’s taken a “somber view” in private. [CNN]
-> Findings about surveillance in a high-profile report show important details that prove there’s more to be wary of than bipartisan politics. [NYTimes]
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-- Lee Davidson and Clara Hatcher
Follow @sltribpolitics