Trump’s on Trial While in Iran, Fallout is Fierce: Weekend Reads

(Bloomberg) --

For only the third time in America’s history, a president is about to go on trial. Donald Trump’s impeachment case — in which he faces charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — got underway Thursday with a show of pageantry in the Senate.

It came a day after the U.S. and China signed a phase-one deal that’s aimed at stemming the damage from their bruising trade war.

In Tehran, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his first Friday sermon in eight years, seeking to rally Iranians around an embattled establishment after a furious domestic backlash over the government’s attempts to cover up the unintentional downing of a passenger jet.

Dig deeper into these and other topics and click here for Bloomberg’s most compelling political images from the past week.

Xi’s Wider Fight With U.S. Only Just Beginning After Trade Deal
In a letter read out during Wednesday’s trade deal signing at the White House, Chinese leader Xi Jinping asked Trump to take steps to “enhance mutual trust and cooperation between us.” But as Bloomberg News reports, that won’t be easy.

With Iowa Looming, Bernie Sanders Is Poised for an Upset
The cantankerous senator’s campaign appears to have taken off at just the right time, Joshua Green reports. But it will take more than just his hardcore supporters for Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination.

The Tokyo Job: Inside Carlos Ghosn’s Escape to Beirut
Despite being under intense surveillance, with a camera trained on his front door and undercover agents tailing him when he left his house, Ghosn somehow made it to Lebanon. Matthew Campbell reports on the elite extraction team that spirited the former CEO out of Japan.

Fury at Air Crash Cover-Up Puts Iran’s Leaders Back on Defensive
The admission by authorities in Tehran that they accidentally shot down a passenger jet packed with Iranian students last week shattered a brief moment of unity, Marc Champion, Arsalan Shahla and Golnar Motevalli write.

Strength in Weakness: Why Iran Fights the Way It Does
The pinpoint accuracy of Iran’s response to the killing of commander Qassem Soleimani, striking two U.S. bases in Iraq while avoiding causing casualties, has signaled Tehran’s capacity to harm American assets. As Marc Champion reports, it’s also shown the limitations on Iran’s freedom to openly do so.

Trump Bailout Means Farmers Emerge Optimistic From Trade War
Donald Trump is boasting that he’s made farmers “really happy.” He’s not wrong, Mike Dorning reports, but it’s not just the trade deal that’s left farmers optimistic for 2020.

The European Union Is Going to Miss the U.K. When It’s Gone
With one foot inside and one foot out, the U.K. was never sure which way to turn — and the European Union never seemed to know how to make it more comfortable. Now, the overriding feeling among the EU’s political elite remains one of regret, Ian Wishart writes.

How Putin Was Thrown Off Course by a Furious Libyan General
Khalifa Haftar was expecting the Kremlin red carpet. Instead he was cooped up in the Russian Foreign Ministry hoping for an audience with President Vladimir Putin, Samer Al-Atrush, Ilya Arkhipov and Selcan Hacaoglu write. In the end, the Libyan commander stormed out.

No Soul Searching for Xi After Taiwan Rebuffs China in Election
In a democracy, two resounding election defeats in a matter of months might prompt some soul searching in the losing camp. But as Samson Ellis and Peter Martin report, in China a snub at the polls in places it claims is more a minor setback rather than a sign of a flawed strategy.

Bloody Mutiny in Sudan Casts Shadow Over Drive for Democracy
When disgruntled Sudanese spies took up arms and gunfire rang out across Khartoum, even members of the most powerful pro-government militia were startled, Mohammed Alamin and Samuel Gebre report.

Drones Target Polluters in One of Europe’s Smoggiest Places
Krakow was one of the most choked-up urban areas on the continent, James M Gomez and Dorota Bartyzel write. Then the Polish city became ruthless in its fight for clean air.

And finally ... Whenever somebody on Twitter takes issue with the network’s policies, they almost always resort to the same strategy: They send a tweet to @jack. But while Dorsey is the company’s public face, the taxing job of creating and enforcing Twitter’s rules don’t actually land on the CEO’s shoulders. Instead, that falls to Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, Kurt Wagner writes.

--With assistance from Kathleen Hunter.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net

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