February 9, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The Senate on Tuesday voted 56-44 that putting Donald Trump on trial is constitutional, a move refuted by the former president's legal team. Robert Ray was a member of Trump’s defense team from his first Senate impeachment trial and an independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation into President Clinton. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss why he thinks the latest trial is unconstitutional.

Democrats and Republicans Tuesday made their arguments over the constitutionality of President Trump impeachment trial and his role in the attacks on the Capitol in January. Michael McConnell, of the Stanford Law School, is a constitutional scholar and former judge who was nominated to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

In our news wrap Tuesday, President Biden endorsed making $1,400 stimulus payments to Americans earning up to $75,000, WHO experts concluded COVID-19 most likely did not come from a Chinese lab, at least 5 people were shot and wounded in Minnesota, police in Myanmar cracked down on protestors, and investigators blamed a helicopter pilot for the crash that killed basketball great Kobe Bryant.

Singer Mary Wilson, one of the original Supremes and a key part of its legendary sound, has died at the age of 76. She was a founding member of the group, with Florence Ballard and Diana Ross -- together they helped power Motown in the 1960's. Jeffrey Brown has our remembrance.

The data are preliminary so far, but there are concerns that some new COVID strains are more infectious, more deadly, and possibly even more resistant to the vaccines -- and experts stress mass vaccination is crucial to slowing the spread. Dr. Atul Gawande, a staff writer for the New Yorker and a Massachusetts's surgeon leading an inoculation campaign, joins William Brangham to discuss.

States across the country have been struggling to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines quickly. But seven weeks into their rollout, West Virginia has found a way to vaccinate more of its population than almost any other state, including delivering both doses of a vaccine to all nursing home residents and most health care workers. Amna Nawaz reports.

Afghanistan has suffered immeasurable loss for years on battlefields and in bombings, but a recent campaign of assassinations has shocked the country. Kabul’s middle class neighborhoods are stalked and targeted by killers, picking off a generation of professionals. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson and producer Emily Kassie report.