* “No other market is as free and open for U.S. businesses as the E.U. Where else are you as welcome?”–European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan.
*”As long as we are resolute … we can win the battle of controlling the epidemic.”–Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the threat of the coronavirus.
* “We don’t talk about particular sanctions, but everyone can fully expect that the United States is not done.”–Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in promising more action to help Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido.
* “The combination of maximum economic pressure and restoring deterrence by credible threat of military force, if attacked, is going to do more to advance peace and stability in the region than a policy of accommodation with the regime.”–State Department Iran specialist Brian Hook.
* “The current version of the United States doesn’t seem to know quite what it is–global democratic leader or parochial self-protector–and the confusion benefits China.”–David Leonardt, New York Times.
* “Populism makes global governance even harder.”–Walter Russell Mead, Wall Street Journal.
* “I think it’s appropriate at this point for me to admonish both the House managers and president’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body.”–Chief Justice John Roberts, presiding over the impeachment trial.
* “When you open the door to impeachment, there’s a third party in the room. History. It too has its needs, and they are less selfish than those of the political parties. History wants information. It wants data and testimony. It wants as near as possible to know and understand the story.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.
* “Either you want the truth, and you must permit the witnesses, or you want a shameful coverup. History will judge and so will the electorate.”–House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
* “Once we’ve heard that ‘overwhelming evidence,’ I don’t know that we’ll need to see additional witnesses.”–Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
* “John Bolton has the evidence. It’s up to four Senate Republicans to ensure that John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney and the others with direct knowledge of President Trump’s actions testify in the Senate trial.”–Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
* “(Ken) Starr, who once clutched his pearls over Bill Clinton’s sexual high jinks, is now going to bat for President ‘Access Hollywood.’ After playing an avenging Javert about foreplay in the Oval, Starr will now do his utmost to prove that a real abuse of power undermining Congress and American foreign policy is piffle.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “Trump likes people who are already famous and who defend him on TV. No sensible counselor would pick Starr, Dershowitz or Bondi.”–Frank O. Bowman III, author and professor at the University of Missouri School of Law.
* “When an accident happens on Bayshore, it’s major headlines. When an accident happens on some other street, it’s crickets.”–Jean Duncan, Tampa’s transportation and stormwater services department director.
* “We currently don’t have any plans for speed cameras.”–City Hall spokeswoman Ashley Bauman.
* “My job is to listen and learn, to figure out what’s working, what’s not, and what we can do differently.”–Addison Davis, the newly chosen superintendent of the Hillsborough County School District–as well as the first outsider in more than 50 years.
* It is economic development in its purest form.”–Yacht StarShip owner Troy Manthey, on the bottom line of adding vessels and expanding routes.
* “Human trafficking exists; it’s real and it’s ugly. We can no longer pretend otherwise.”–St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway, whose department is taking the lead in a new six-county regional task force on human trafficking.
* “(St. Petersburg has) gone from God’s waiting room to God’s craft beer tap room.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.
* If construction crews are an indicator of economic outlook, then things are looking pretty nice in the ‘burg. I have the hard-hat hair to prove it. I haven’t had a good hair day in two years because I spend all my time on construction sites.”–St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin.