Monday, Feb. 8

· Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the United States will “re-engage immediately and robustly” with the United Nations Human Rights Council, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew three years ago, although Blinken described the council as a “flawed body, in need of reform to its agenda, membership, and focus, including its disproportionate focus on Israel.”

· Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said the best defense against the rising tide of COVID-19 variants is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

· Reuters reported on a U.S. investigation against Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, although court filings did not detail the focus of the investigation. U.S. courts have already accused Hernandez of participation in Honduras’ narcotics trade.

· President Joe Biden had a teleconference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss climate change and democratic values in the first in-depth conversation between the two world leaders.

Tuesday, Feb. 9

· Trump’s second impeachment trial began. The trial was set to last four days with arguments evenly divided between House managers who acted as prosecution and Trump’s defense lawyers. “All parties have agreed to a structure that will ensure a fair and honest Senate impeachment trial of the former president,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. No other president in U.S. history has ever faced two impeachment trials.

· The Senate voted for Trump’s impeachment trial to proceed Wednesday in a 56-44 vote, largely along party lines.

· The Navajo Nation announced it will receive about 29,000 additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines and that it has administered nearly 75,000 of the 78,520 doses it already holds, meaning the nation outpaces much of the U.S. in delivering COVID vaccinations.

· Dozens of civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International, sent an open letter to Biden requesting a moratorium on federal executions, because, among other things, the practice disproportionately targets Black people.

· The Department of Justice asked most Trump-appointed federal prosecutors to resign, as is routine when a new president is elected. Acting Attorney General Robert Wilkinson said he intended to ask Delaware Attorney David Weiss, who is overseeing a tax probe into Biden’s son Hunter Biden, to remain in office.

· The Justice Department said the Biden administration will continue to seek the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the United Kingdom to the U.S., challenging a British judge’s rule that Assange should not be extradited because he is at risk of taking his own life.

· A bipartisan group of federal legislators reintroduced the Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act, a bill to make it easier for Hong Kong residents fearing persecution to secure refugee status in the U.S.

Wednesday, Feb. 10

· The second day of Trump’s second impeachment trial took place. House managers argued that Trump’s misinformation campaign and comments to supporters before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot amounted to “incitement of insurrection.”

· Biden announced the U.S. will impose sanctions on Myanmar’s military leaders following their coup d’etat, calling for civilian leaders to return to power. “The U.S. government is taking steps to prevent the generals from improperly having access to the $1 billion in Burmese government funds being held in the United States,” Biden said.

· The Justice Department announced the U.S. has sold more than a million barrels of Iranian fuel seized under last year’s sanction campaign, which it imposed over Iran’s nuclear program — restarted after the U.S. withdrew from the multi-nation nuclear deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama — and the designation of a number of Iranian groups as “terrorists.”

· The Department of Homeland Security revealed it is investigating a massive counterfeit N95 mask operation in which fake 3M masks were sold to medical facilities and government agencies in at least five states.

· White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration would leave the Trump policy of turning away most migrants arriving at the southern border until Biden’s team can come up with a more “humane” asylum processing system.

· Biden had his first teleconference with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which he pressed Xi on Beijing’s crackdowns in Hong Kong and actions in Taiwan, and accused Beijing of carrying out “coercive and unfair economic practices.”

Thursday, Feb. 11

· The Centers for Disease Control put out a report determining that exposure to potentially infectious aerosols decreased by about 95% when a cloth mask is worn over a medical procedure mask, also known as double-masking.

· The third day of Trump’s second impeachment trial took place. House managers presented video evidence of Trump supporters at the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and argued that Trump’s actions before and after the rally showed he supported his followers’ actions.

· Biden said the U.S. is facing a “national emergency” in the coronavirus pandemic as his administration worked to obtain enough COVID-19 vaccinations to inoculate 300 million Americans, calling it “one of the most difficult operational challenges we have ever undertaken as a nation.”

Friday, Feb. 12

· The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors and regulators launched an investigation into whether market manipulation or other criminal misconduct led to the meteoric rise in shares for struggling companies like GameStop and AMC theaters.

· The White House announced plans to allow 25,000 asylum seekers from Mexico into the U.S. while waiting for their immigration court hearings.

· The Biden administration launched a review of the U.S. military prison Guantanamo Bay, reviving an Obama goal to close the facility.

· The fourth day of Trump’s second impeachment trial took place. Trump’s lawyers presented their defense, largely arguing that the former president’s remarks were protected by free speech.

· A federal judge declined to stop the Forest Service from transferring government owned land in Arizona to a private copper mining company despite protest from local Native Americans who hold that the land has religious and cultural significance for them.

Saturday, Feb. 13

· The Senate acquitted Trump of “incitement of insurrection” in a 57-43 vote largely along party lines. Seven Republicans broke rank to charge Trump, but 17 were necessary to successfully impeach him.

· Biden’s deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo resigned after Vanity Fair reported he used derogatory language and threatened a female journalist who reported on his relationship with another reporter. “No words can express my regret, my embarrassment, and my disgust for my behavior,” Ducklo said.

Sunday, Feb. 14

· On the third anniversary of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, Biden called for common sense gun control laws in the country including background checks, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and “eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.”