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Trump’s exchange with Pope Leo reflects deep-rooted tensions between the Vatican and the United States: 4 essential reads 
United States President Donald Trump is currently faced with an impeachment trial at the Senate. Recently a secret recording reveals what he thinks about people who smoke marijuana.
Forbes reports that a secret recording taken by Lev Parnas, who is the associate of Trump’s attorney Rudolph Giuliani, was released over the weekend. The hour-long conversation took place in April of 2018. In the clip, Parnas brought up the legalized marijuana businesses’ lack of access to banking services. Trump then responded, “Cannabis, look, you’re talking about marijuana, right? You can’t do banking there?” to which Parnas replied that it was a big problem for marijuana businesses as banks do not accept the money.
Trump then said that the issue is “all working out” and that he does not know if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Parnas went on to explain how legalizing marijuana could give him an advantage in the midterms. The President, however, went on to say that Colorado has more accidents and that smoking marijuana causes an IQ problem. “You lose IQ points,” said Trump.
His view on cannabis earned him backlash from marijuana advocates, and it should also be pointed out that the National Institute on Drug Abuse revealed that there is no association between marijuana use and IQ loss. Sheila Vakharia of the Drug Policy Alliance said that Trump’s comments show that he is very out of touch, given that most Americans are for the legalization of cannabis for both medical and personal use.
Meanwhile, as the Senate Impeachment Trial continues for Trump, The Guardian reports that the GOP leaders supposedly do not have the votes to block witnesses. This is because the Republican Senators, who also serve as jurors, have yet to deliberate on whether or not to call for witnesses. Over the coming days, the Senators will be submitting their questions to the legal teams of both sides and will then debate and vote on witnesses to testify for and against Trump.
Regarding former national security adviser John Bolton’s revelation about the Ukraine scandal, Trump’s defense team insisted that the claims are “inadmissible” in their attempt to urge the senators to reject the impeachment and acquit the President.
