Senator Cory Booker drops out of the 2020 presidential race.

Sen. Cory Booker announced to the public Monday, Jan. 13 that he was suspending his presidential campaign. Booker was running for the Democratic nomination, but recently his polling numbers have been dwindling. “I am so proud of what we built, and I feel nothing but faith in what we can accomplish together,” Booker tweeted Monday morning regarding his supporters and campaign staff. His reasons for leaving were left at his low success rate, with a national polling average of two percent. With Booker quitting the race, this leaves only one African-American candidate in the race, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. With the Democratic nomination looming, the competition continues to prove slimmer between the remaining candidates on the debate floor, and the lowest polling candidates are slowly dropping out of the race one by one. 

The Oscar Nominations are announced.

Monday morning the nominations for the 2020 Academy Awards were announced, and leading the pack was Joker with a total of 11 nominations including Best Picture and Joaquin Phoenix for Leading Actor. Other headlining nominations include Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood… which is up for a total of 10 awards. Some other favorites nominated for various awards include Netflix’s Marriage Story, with Adam Driver up for Best Actor and Scarlett Johansson up for Best Actress.The Irishman, Little Women, and 1917 are all included as well, with 1917 up for 10 awards and Little Women up for sixThe most agreed upon snub was directress Greta Gunwig not being nominated for her work on Little Women, as there were no female directors nominated once again this year. The Oscars will be held on Feb. 9, and everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see who will take home the big awards. 

The US Senate formally opens Trump’s impeachment trial.

Wednesday evening the Articles of Impeachment regarding President Trump were walked from the House of Representatives to the Senate where the trial officially began. President Trump was formally charged with abuse of power and obstruction of justice, and the trials for both articles are expected to take place this coming week in the Senate. This is to be the third Senate impeachment trial in U.S. history and was covered heavily on news networks since it is such a rare occurrence. A two-thirds majority is required for the president to be removed from office, meaning 20 Republican senators would have to cross party lines for Pres. Trump to be voted out. The vote to set the official rules of the trial is expected to take place on Tuesday, and Chief Justice John Roberts will be sworn in on Thursday. The length of the trial is currently up in the air, but former President Bill Clinton’s trial lasted a total of 57 days.