Last month, a source emailed a colleague of mine with a complicated theory that, the source claimed, proved Pete Buttigieg had been in the CIA. "The American people have the right to know if he was ever an agent or officer," the person wrote, with the kind of baseless confidence that lives on the internet.

Barely a day passed after the president's acquittal in the Senate before he took action to transfer three figures connected with the effort to oust him. President Trump directed the transfer of both Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and his twin brother Yevgeny Vindman from the National Security Council.