Five hours is a long time in politics.
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) January 29, 2021
After outcry, EU reverses plan to restrict vaccine exports through Irish border https://t.co/alUYWXS0Yl pic.twitter.com/BNKvHvDV8a
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 29, 2021
EU risks reopening Brexit wounds with Northern Irish vaccine controls https://t.co/wx3B598gE1 via @IanWishart @AlbertoNardelli @DaraDoy pic.twitter.com/y9e7JFLowk
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) January 29, 2021
BREAKING: The EU has introduced controls to prevent the export of COVID-19 vaccines from the bloc to Northern Ireland.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 29, 2021
Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster has accused the EU of "an incredible act of hostility".
More: https://t.co/lG3aSyp9tT pic.twitter.com/Bjx42aPFP3
Irish PM expresses concerns to EU chief over Northern Ireland protocol move https://t.co/lbwG7RSdvV pic.twitter.com/afWrHJfHuw
— Reuters UK (@ReutersUK) January 29, 2021
Come on now – are we expected to fall for that one… 🤷🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️
— Darren McCaffrey (@DarrenEuronews) January 29, 2021
And even if that was true – essentially it means the most senior people in the EU Commission don’t understand the political implications – which would be worrying https://t.co/Lh9oL14x4l
“We’ve triggered Article 16 by mistake” https://t.co/AIXYXt8zbG pic.twitter.com/6hdjeCfixq
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) January 29, 2021
NEW: Brussels to withdraw incendiary plan floated hours ago to use new vaccine export curbs to in effect create a hard border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, per EU officials. "It was an error. We are changing it," said one EU official of the abortive plan.
— Michael Peel (@Mikepeeljourno) January 29, 2021
was it, aye? https://t.co/N9VEdztReH
— Sarah Creighton 🍂 (@Saraita101) January 29, 2021
EU Com statement tonight confirming NI Protocol Art 16, safeguard clause, will not be triggered.
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) January 29, 2021
Welcome news, but lessons should be learned; the Protocol is not something to be tampered with lightly, it’s an essential, hard won compromise, protecting peace & trade for many. pic.twitter.com/QLKpfhR9Yt
"In the process of finalisation of this measure, the Commission will ensure that the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol is unaffected. The Commission is not triggering the safeguard clause."https://t.co/TIGX5Tw4Pv pic.twitter.com/EPFYCslAxl
— David Phinnemore (@DPhinnemore) January 29, 2021
Or scissors
— MLAs And The Like (@MLAsAndTheLike) January 29, 2021
And this is the central problem.
— Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) January 29, 2021
There’s only so many doses to go around, and it appears AZ can’t meet its commitments to both the UK and the EU in Q1.
If the EU backs down, it means EU citizens won’t get the doses they were promised.
This is only going to get uglier.
Didn’t today show how hard that would be in practice, with one state in the EU and the other out?
— Daniel Keohane (@KeohaneDan) January 29, 2021
Just don’t think it’s feasible post-Brexit… https://t.co/UhbVJiaYeR
Unbelievable if, as John reports, 👇🏼EU took this action without talking to Irish govt – after all the talk of avoiding a hard border and respecting Dublin https://t.co/pXlteXzu9S
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) January 29, 2021
What’s remarkable, this is not even the most reckless thing the Commission did this week. Remember when it threatened to block vaccine exports to the world — destroying the principles the EU is built on and it’s soft power (as a palatable alternative to China and the US). https://t.co/boS3FRiyKJ
— Andrew Beatty (@AndrewBeatty) January 29, 2021
I mean, it’s not an unpopular opinion here. The pragmatic case for EU membership (aside from any financial repercussions from the shock etc) was always “I’d rather be inside the tent pissing out than have the tent pissing on me”
— . (@twlldun) January 29, 2021
I don't know why leave voters think this is some kind of a gotcha moment? Like 90% of the pro EU case was 'its better to be directing things on the inside than receiving them on the outside'. Fact is, none of this drama would be happening to us if we were a member state 🤷‍♂️
— Alex Powell (@APowellLaw) January 29, 2021
As a 110% remainer – I’m gritting my teeth at the wild antics of @EU_Commission tonight. pic.twitter.com/1e9qASjrcA
— Rosmer | Black Lives Matter (@DrRosmer) January 29, 2021
The 2nd Johnson was the brains behind the operation.
— GMcK (@GerMcK1976) January 29, 2021
In amongst all of the vaccine news and the EU/UK/NI discord it’s been easy to miss the news yet another appalling day of deaths. 1,245 added to the official tally. 104,371 now.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) January 29, 2021
The 7 day average only just beginning to edge down.
🚨 WOW 🚨
— Peter Donaghy (@peterdonaghy) January 29, 2021
Northern Ireland administered 20,847 first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine yesterday, smashing the previous daily record of 11,866. That's 1.11% of the population *in a single day*
***
ANOTHER NOT VERY GOOD DAY IN THE CIRCUS THAT IS TRUMPWORLD
JUST IN: Judge orders tax lawyers to hand over Trump organization docs to NY AG https://t.co/J4PQUCa4bx pic.twitter.com/yymEeLfrOo
— The Hill (@thehill) January 29, 2021
“The legal terms” — treason, insurrection, sedition — “may seem archaic, and sometimes have been misused or abused, but that should not blunt their precise relevance to our unfortunate contemporary situation.” @JeannieSGersen has rightly invoked them here.https://t.co/GxNpy1Pwz0
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) January 29, 2021
Palm Beach is conducting a legal review of Donald Trump's residency at Mar-a-Lago https://t.co/nT90iX36di pic.twitter.com/CdEeq35jpS
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 29, 2021
Legal experts believe Steve Bannon might now be called as a government witness to testify against the three men who were indicted with Bannon.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 29, 2021
Assuming Bannon accepted his pardon, he could not invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.https://t.co/oGorg6Vc7u
January 6th: Let’s have trial by combat!
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) January 29, 2021
January 29th: It was the Lincoln Project’s fault. pic.twitter.com/S2fWZ3P9vD
Attorneys for the Lincoln Project must be chomping at the bit to go after Rudy Giuliani. Trump’s personal lawyer has accused the anti-Trump group of helping to plan the insurrection at the Capitol. https://t.co/Xpexzfl2j5
— NewsandGuts (@NewsandGuts) January 30, 2021
"Trump may have jetted off to Florida urging those he left behind to 'Have a nice life,' but the stigma of his political brand will not be so easy for his former aides to escape" https://t.co/RFsijqTHuT
— Timothy Aeppel (@TimAeppel) January 29, 2021
Dems: Stop handwringing about Trump's trial. The process is manageable. It won't take up too much time or attention. You have a duty to provide a *complete* accounting of Trump's appalling misconduct and make Republicans confront it. @paulwaldman1 and me:https://t.co/NMDSwLn4Rc
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 29, 2021
Trump reportedly fixated on taking down Liz Cheney after she voted to impeach him https://t.co/Tx58dtoolL via @Yahoo
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) January 29, 2021
GOP group launches billboards demanding Cruz and Hawley resign https://t.co/hIF9sH0VZJ
— The Independent (@Independent) January 29, 2021
The GOP struck a bad bargain. That’s how it got stuck with Marjorie Taylor Greene. https://t.co/Ssd00ufnbC
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) January 29, 2021
"I said she has real problems and does not represent, at least what I think of as, someone who would be allowed even in a big-tented party."
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) January 29, 2021
"I mean, at some point, you have to say, 'No shoes, no shirt, no service.'" https://t.co/hthV0kiF1j
SCOOP. We have video of a Stop the Steal organizer calling for the "execution" of Trump's foes.
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 29, 2021
This Trumper, Alan Hostetter, helped organize & finance one of the rallies leading up to the Jan. 6 march that turned into the murderous raid on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/ICpVwbo5xC
House Republicans who voted to impeach face backlash at home in test of Trump's staying power https://t.co/QPrZ52hfDb pic.twitter.com/MKYd4uwT17
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 29, 2021
The Republican Party is no longer salvageable—at least a sane center-right version the country needs as an alternative. I resisted accepting this for a long time. But Trump, Jan 6, Greene et al made me face it. Not sure what’s next & best, or how to get there. #RepublicanParty
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) January 29, 2021
The Pentagon is suspending the processing of dozens of last-minute appointments made by President Trump to advisory boards. Given Trump's habit of promoting loyalists at the expense of expertise, a careful review of those appointments seems in order. https://t.co/Gl9jRZA8Fb
— Noah Bookbinder (@NoahBookbinder) January 29, 2021
JOB ONE: Biden tackles Covid. Preview of this week's @Sho_TheCircus Sunday at 8PM! pic.twitter.com/DlHs7TdaCb
— alexwagner (@alexwagner) January 29, 2021
About 1.2 million vaccine doses are being administered every day in the U.S., with Alaska, West Virginia and Connecticut inoculating people at the highest rates. https://t.co/3p2T7XRuHd pic.twitter.com/OuR0tYJ38t
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 29, 2021
Putin has signed a law ratifying the extension of a key arms control treaty with the US, the last major pact of its kind after America pulled out of a separate nuclear arms control agreement under the Trump administration https://t.co/VxOlMU9zRE
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 29, 2021
The Overnight Note 