It was a very bad week for Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, beginning Tuesday when Trump's lawyers went to federal court and put forth the unusual and legally absurd argument that a president has near-complete immunity from any crimes they might commit in office, including the murder of their political opponents. One day later, at a Fox News town hall Wednesday, the former president tripped over his ego once again by single-handedly taking credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a potentially major political miscalculation on which the Biden campaign has already seized.
Republicans' final presidential debate ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses featured Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis launching ferocious attacks on one another and whiffing on softball questions about Trump's legal woes. Hours earlier, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie officially dropped out of the race, issuing a final, searing warning about the dangers of a second Trump term.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden ignited a political frenzy on Capitol Hill when he made a surprise appearance at a House Oversight Committee hearing on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress. The circus train derailment kicked off with South Carolina Republican (and former "Scarlet Letter" cosplayer) Nancy Mace crying "white privilege," then continued with GOP members promptly forgetting their own history of subpoena defiance, and ended with Hunter and his attorneys abruptly storming out as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene began her questioning.
On Thursday, the United States and the U.K. launched military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, after weeks of mounting attacks by the Iran-backed militant group on shipping in the Red Sea. The strikes threaten an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East beyond Israel's war in Gaza, even as the Biden administration and its allies have been working to avoid such a result.
Missed something? Don't worry. Here are our select columns and videos from the week. And don't forget to check out MSNBC.com for more.
