Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including the Senate took up the Justice Department’s internal watchdog report on the origins of the Russia investigation; Joe Biden maintains a narrow lead among Iowa Democrats heading into the final weeks before the February caucuses; Myanmar leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi returned to the United Nations’ highest court to deny that her country is committing genocide against Rohingya Muslims, and more.

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National

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., center, with members of the committee, speaking during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on the constitutional grounds for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Drew Angerer/Pool photo via AP)

1.) Impeachment of a president is rare indeed but on Wednesday the marvel of the moment runs headlong into a more familiar routine for lawmakers who will gather to debate and finally complete the articles of impeachment for President Donald Trump in a traditional legislative hearing known as a markup.

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Inspector General's report on alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

2.) The Senate took up the Justice Department’s internal watchdog report on the origins of the Russia investigation Wednesday, with Democrats and Republicans unpacking diametric takes on the inspector general’s findings.

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden reacts while John Kerry, the former secretary of state and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee speaks at a campaign event in Nashua, N.H. Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

3.) Joe Biden maintains a narrow lead among Iowa Democrats heading into the final weeks before the February caucuses, according to a new poll that also shows Bernie Sanders jumping to second place and Elizabeth Warren slipping to fourth.

Regional

4.) The Libertarian Party of Arkansas argued before an Eighth Circuit panel Wednesday that the state’s new election law requiring more than double the signatures within a 90-day timeframe to get on the ballot is unconstitutional.

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2017, file photo, the Supreme Court in Washington, at sunset. The Supreme Court is turning to gun rights for the first time in nearly a decade, even though New York City gun owners already have won changes to a regulation they challenged in court. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

5.) One of the brothers behind a string of fatal home robberies told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it was wrong to put him on death row without letting a jury hear about the difficult circumstances of his childhood.

International

6.) Myanmar leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi returned to the United Nations’ highest court Wednesday to deny that her country is committing genocide against Rohingya Muslims.

A woman walks by the entrance to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on Oct. 5, 2015. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

7.) It’s not for the European Court of Justice to wade into an international territorial dispute between the Balkan nations of Slovenia and Croatia, a magistrate with the court said Wednesday.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares a pie at the Red Olive catering company while on the campaign trail, in Derby, England, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019 Britain goes to the polls on Dec. 12. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)

8.) British voters go to the polls on Thursday in what’s been billed as a crucial once-in-a-lifetime election that could lead the United Kingdom to break away from the European Union and enter uncharted waters or deliver a hung Parliament and more Brexit uncertainty.

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