The Senate would probably want to hear from a firsthand witness in President Trump's impeachment trial. But Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) isn't sure where you'd find one.Despite a Sunday report indicating former National Security Adviser John Bolton will say in his book he spoke directly to President Trump about Ukraine, a number of GOP senators still don't want to hear from him in Trump's impeachment trial. Hawley is among those lawmakers, giving new reasoning to his anti-Bolton argument Monday by questioning whether Bolton even was a firsthand witness to Trump's alleged crimes.> Why wouldn’t the Senate want to hear from a firsthand witness?> > Sen. Josh Hawley: “Well, I don’t know. Is he a firsthand witness? I’m not sure.”> > — Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) January 27, 2020Bolton's book reportedly describes how Trump talked to his former adviser about withholding security assistance from Ukraine until it agreed to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. And with Republicans largely complaining impeachment witnesses testified to the House based on "hearsay," one would think they'd like to hear from someone who was actually in, as Bolton's book title so aptly puts it, "the room where it happened."More stories from theweek.com Mike Pompeo is a disgrace LeBron James posts tribute to Kobe Bryant: 'I promise you I'll continue your legacy' Late night hosts don't see how GOP senators can still refuse to call John Bolton as an impeachment witness

Details are still emerging about the circumstances surrounding the helicopter that killed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others including the pilot, but the flight was reportedly granted special approval to fly in challenging weather conditions.Fog was thick Sunday morning in the Los Angeles area when the helicopter took off and made its way toward Gianna Bryant's youth basketball tournament, but air traffic control at Burbank airport gave the pilot Special Visual Flight Rules clearance, allowing the aircraft to enter Burbank's airspace.A Federal Aviation Administration official said air traffic control's approval would not have extended to Calabasas, where the helicopter crashed. By that point, the official said, it would have been up to the pilot to determine if conditions were appropriate to continue or transition to instrument flight rules.Witnesses near the site of the crash described conditions as so foggy that people had trouble driving, per The New York Times. "I couldn't see anything, not even a silhouette," said Scott Daehlin who heard the sound of the helicopter flying low before making impact with a nearby hillside. "My first thought was what in the world is a helicopter doing out here in this fog?" Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com GOP senators seemed enthralled with Dershowitz's Trump impeachment defense. Elizabeth Warren found it 'nonsensical.' Mike Pompeo is a disgrace Survivors gather at Auschwitz to mark 75th anniversary of its liberation

(Bloomberg) -- Elizabeth Warren’s campaign set the most aggressive fundraising goal for the last 5 days of the month, as candidates work furiously to raise enough money to keep their campaigns in high gear.In an email to supporters Monday, Warren set a financial goal of raising $3.5 million between now and Friday, which would average out to $700,000 per day, her biggest fund-raising goal to date. “That’s what it’s going to take to start 2020 in the strongest position possible and keep our plans to win on track,” the campaign said.By comparison, Pete Buttigieg has set a fundraising goal of $1 million, or $200,000 per day. Joe Biden asked supporters to pitch in to an “emergency fundraising drive this week,” saying the campaign is only at 34% of their goal. Amy Klobuchar set a goal of $621,000 per day to stay on track, the campaign said. Bernie Sanders, who has topped the Democratic field in fundraising in the last two quarters, was “shooting for a HISTORIC number of donations” to maintain his momentum, according to campaign Facebook ads.All the candidates were working to fill up their campaign bank accounts and demonstrate political strength in the days before the Iowa caucuses. The negative effects of a poor showing in early nominating states could snowball and make fundraising even more difficult. Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg all raised more money than Warren in the final quarter of 2019.Bloomberg Seeks to Limit Drug Patent Protection (2:50 p.m.)Democratic presidential Michael Bloomberg would seek to reduce the cost of prescription drugs with a plan that includes limiting new brand-name drugs to a single patent to get lower-priced generics to the market faster.There have been unsuccessful efforts to limit so-called “evergreening,” or obtaining multiple patents to extend exclusivity in the past. But the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said he would work with Congress to ensure only qualifying products get 20-year patent protection to stop manufacturers from slowing the introduction of generics.Bloomberg is also proposing capping out-of-pocket drug spending for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000 a year in addition to steps other Democratic presidential candidates have proposed, including authorizing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and allowing Americans to buy medicine from other countries with adequate quality control.Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. -- Mark NiquetteTrump to Flood Iowa with Big Name Supporters (11:56 a.m.)President Donald Trump’s campaign plans to flood Iowa with Cabinet secretaries, lawmakers and senior White House officials for the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses next week, in a show of strength designed to kick off his re-election bid.The president has no serious challenge in the Iowa Republican contest, with one-term Illinois congressman Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld the only other Republicans seeking the party’s nomination. Still, his campaign has sought to capitalize on the attention being paid to the Democratic nominating contest, and the president himself will travel to Des Moines on Thursday for a political rally.Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are among those expected to appear on the president’s behalf, rallying support from Republican caucus-goers. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie are also among the dozens of surrogates expected to attend.“Our Caucus Day operation is just a preview of what is to come,” Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “We are putting the Democrats on notice -- good luck trying to keep up with this formidable re-election machine.”Other surrogates expected to appear in Iowa include My Pillow Inc. chief executive Mike Lindell and Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who was disappointed to have been left off Trump’s impeachment defense team. -- Justin SinkCOMING UP:Some of the Democratic candidates will debate again in New Hampshire on Feb. 7.The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3. The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 11. Nevada holds its caucuses on Feb. 22 and South Carolina has a primary on Feb. 29.CNN will host town halls featuring eight presidential candidates in New Hampshire on Feb. 5 and 6.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)\--With assistance from Mark Niquette and Justin Sink.To contact the reporter on this story: Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan CraneFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Former national security adviser John Bolton has denied providing the New York Times with an excerpt of his upcoming book that revealed President Trump told him the provision of military aid to Ukraine was contingent on the opening of an investigation into Joe Biden.Bolton released a statement Monday afternoon pushing back against accusations from Republicans, who questioned the timing of the Sunday Times report, which dropped just before Bolton's yet unpublished book became available for pre-order. Bolton said neither he nor his publisher nor literary agent coordinated with the newspaper to increase the hype surrounding the book in order to drive sales."Ambassador John Bolton, Simon & Schuster, and Javelin Literary categorically state that there was absolutely no coordination with the New York Times or anyone else regarding the appearance of information about his book, THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED, at online booksellers. Any assertion to the contrary is unfounded speculation," Bolton said in a statement.Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney suggested Monday that Bolton's new allegations have “more to do with publicity than the truth.”Trump's legal team also downplayed the report of Bolton's claims regarding aid to Ukraine, calling them "speculation."“We deal with transcript evidence. We deal with publicly available information. We do not deal with speculation, allegations that are not based on evidentiary standards at all,” said Jay Sekulow, Trump’s lead personal attorney for the Senate impeachment trial, which on Monday saw its second day of opening arguments by Trump's defense team.Trump himself also directly denied on Monday that he told Bolton the temporary freeze on aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations of his political opponents, saying in a tweet that Bolton "never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book."Democrats have pushed for Bolton to testify at the impeachment trial while Republicans loyal to Trump have argued there is no need for additional witnesses who did not testify during the House phase of the impeachment process. Republican senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine have said they will likely vote for Bolton to testify while other Republicans thought to be on te fence regarding witnesses, such as Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Cory Gardner of Colorado, have not announced how they will vote.