You-know-who's back in the news

Donald Trump's second impeachment trial won't begin in the Senate until Feb. 8, but that doesn't mean the former president isn't already in hot water. The Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General is initiating an investigation into whether any former or current DOJ official conspired with Trump to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The plot allegedly involved replacing then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark, a lawyer at the DOJ who was seen as more amenable to a plan to pressure Georgia politicians to overturn the results of the race there. The plot fell apart when a group of DOJ officials uncovered the plan and threatened to resign en masse if it went forward. —The Hill

• — Pressure campaign fails. Trump also pushed the DOJ to ask the Supreme Court to invalidate President Biden's victory. The effort failed because senior officials including Rosen, former Attorney General Bill Barr, and former acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall refused to file the case, concluding that there was no basis to challenge the election outcome, and that the federal government had no legal interest in whether Trump or Biden won the presidency. —Reuters
•  
• — Unresolved. Today, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case concerning whether Trump violated the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars a president from profiting from a foreign government. The court instructed lower courts to wipe away previous opinions that went against Trump because he is no longer in office—leaving unresolved questions about whether presidents can retain an interest in personal businesses and let those businesses take money from foreign and domestic governments. —CNN
•  
• — Tax status. A federal judge on Friday ordered the Treasury Department to give attorneys for Trump 72 hours' notice if it decides to turn over his federal tax returns to House Democrats. House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal has long sought access to Trump's returns, but former Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin refused to surrender them. With a change in administration, Treasury could decide to hand them over. Stay tuned. —Politico
•  
• — Repercussions for Rudy. Dominion Voting Systems has sued Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, saying Giuliani defamed the company by spreading accusations that it rigged the 2020 election for Biden. The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks more than $1.3 billion in damages. —The Wall Street Journal
•  
• — No repercussions for insurrectionists? DOJ and FBI officials are reportedly discussing whether everyone who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 should be charged, with some arguing charges should not be filed for those who did not engage in violent behavior. Some federal officials have also pointed out logistical concerns, as authorities estimate that roughly 800 people participated. —The Hill
•  
• — A potential new home for the MAGA crowd. The insurrectionists and other Trump supporters may reportedly have their own "MAGA Party" soon to challenge "disloyal" Republicans who helped impeach Trump in the House—or who are considering voting to convict him in the Senate. If Trump is convicted, he could be barred from ever running for federal office again, but with his own party, he could continue to wield huge influence over American politics. Ugh. —Independent

Clarke: A new era of far-right violence

"Domestic far-right extremism is poised to become a more diverse phenomenon in 2021, bringing together white supremacists marching in crowds alongside conspiracy theorists, militias, and other extremists motivated by gun culture and a deep hatred of government. With Trump no longer in office, a portion of his supporters are vulnerable to recruitment into more extreme networks and, potentially, white-supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations. These groups are energized and confident in their ability to co-opt militant Trumpists." —Colin Clarke in The New York Times

Colin Clarke is the director of policy and research at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consultancy, and the author of "After the Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future of the Terrorist Diaspora."

MORE: Dana Milbank: Trump is gone, but Marjorie Taylor Greene is keeping up the cult —The Washington Post

'Election integrity' minus the integrity

Republican legislators across the country are preparing a slew of new voting restrictions in the wake of Donald Trump's defeat in November. Georgia will be the focal point of the GOP's push to change state election laws, after Democrats narrowly took both Senate seats there, and President Biden flipped the state blue for the first time in 28 years. But state Republicans in both deep-red and battleground states are citing meritless claims of voter fraud in 2020–and the resulting diminished trust in election integrity—as an excuse to tighten access to the polls. —Politico

MORE: The newest assault on your voting rights: Pennsylvania judicial gerrymandering scheme —The Morning Call

Covid hits the National Guard

The National Guard struggled to implement a plan to test troops flowing in and out of Washington, D.C., this month for the coronavirus, with some Guard members being forced to find their own tests and others pressured to leave quarantine early to report for duty. As a result, hundreds of the Guard members who poured into the city after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol have tested positive for COVID-19 or are quarantining in nearby hotels. Troops and lawmakers are concerned that the deployment, which is expected to continue for some time, is becoming a superspreader event. —Politico

MORE: One year, 400,000 coronavirus deaths: How the U.S. guaranteed its own failure —The New York Times

Boot: The US must help Navalny

"[Russian dissident Alexei] Navalny's foundation, with limited resources, has done a heroic job of exposing the extravagant corruption of the Putin gang. Think of how much more could be done if the U.S. government devoted serious resources to the task. Indeed, much of the information might already exist in the top-secret files of the intelligence community. And if it doesn't exist, it should be acquired—and then partially declassified. Putin wants to masquerade as a champion of Russia while victimizing its people. Expose him as the crook that he is." —Max Boot in The Washington Post

Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

MORE: President Biden is starting on the right foot with Russia —The Washington Post

Focus on global democracy

Tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets in cities across the country on Saturday to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, braving the threat of mass arrests in what was expected to be one of the largest demonstrations against the Kremlin in years. Young people came out particularly strong, undeterred by the official warnings and arrests, in a reflection of the frustrations among an entire generation of Russians who have known only one leader, President Vladimir Putin, in their lifetimes. —NPR

• — Brazil. Street protests also rocked Brazil over the weekend, as thousands of Brazilians took to the streets to call for the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is under fire for his government's mishandling of COVID-19, which has raged through the country and claimed more than 216,000 lives. Yesterday's protests were called by conservative groups that had once backed the president, while those on Saturday had come from the left. —Associated Press
•  
• — Portugal. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Portugal's center-right president, secured a new five-year term yesterday after winning about 61% of the vote in the country's election. The Socialist candidate, Ana Gomes, won about 13% of the vote, just ahead of far-right, ultranationalist candidate André Ventura, who got almost 12% of the vote and has quickly emerged as a political force in Portugal. —The New York Times
•  
• — Uganda. Uganda's High Court has lifted the house arrest of Ugandan presidential candidate Bobi Wine after security forces surrounded his home for 10 days. The court ruled that if the government has evidence against Wine, he should be charged in court and not held unjustifiably at his home. Wine was the main opposition candidate in the country's Jan. 14 presidential election, in which longtime leader President Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner. Wine rejects the election results, saying he has evidence of fraud and intimidation. —CNN

MORE: Twitter bans "fake" account linked to Iran supreme leader after post seems to threaten Trump —CBS News

Singer: Policing disinfo and extremism isn't a violation of rights

"There is not nor has there ever been 100% free speech in our democracy, online, or even in your own home. We as a society have decided that certain elements of speech violate our norms and laws, be they making child porn or inciting violence. The latter can take a form of what legal scholars call 'dangerous speech': something said by an influential speaker to a susceptible audience that makes mass violence more likely. Just as social-media firms have policed their networks for everything from child porn to pirated movies to terrorist beheadings, they are well within their rights to—and indeed should be defended when they choose to—eject dangerous speech from their platforms." —Peter Singer in Defense One

Peter Singer is a strategist at New America and the co-author of "LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media."

MORE: Lincoln Project turns fire on Josh Hawley after 'Muzzling of America' column —Newsweek

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.