TIME's The Brief

Included in this episode: 1. Impeachment Was the GOP’s Last Chance to Quit Donald Trump 2. WHO Team Lands in China to Uncover Coronavirus Origins 3. In These Tumultuous Times, Sea Shanty TikToks Have Suddenly Become a Port in the Storm 4. Millions Could Have to Pay Back Unemployment Benefits If They Miss This Deadline 5. New Report Finds Trust in Social Institutions Diminished Further in 2020 6. Many Capitol Rioters Still Walk Free Despite Online Efforts to Find Them .

As the House of Representatives voted Wednesday on the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, the leader of the chamber’s Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, sought to have it both ways. Trump’s actions were wrong, McCarthy said, but so was the last-minute impeachment push. “A vote to impeach will further fan the flames of partisan division,” McCarthy said.

Following many months of wrangling and repeated rebuffs, a World Health Organization (WHO) team touched down in China Thursday to begin an investigation of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far sickened 92 million people around the world, killed almost 2 million, and derailed the global economy. The team arrived in the central city of Wuhan—where the coronavirus was first identified in December 2019—amid China's worst resurgence of COVID-19 for almost six months.

While 2021 has already served up plenty of wretched bombshells, the best surprise of the past two weeks might be TikTok's biggest new trend: sea shanties. As the world hurtles head-first into 2021, sea shanties are turning into a safe harbor for social media users looking to take their mind off the events of the day with some (very) old-timey entertainment.

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After an unprecedented year of global pain, loss and uncertainty, a new report finds that 2020 marked "an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world." The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, a study published annually by global communications firm Edelman, unveiled its findings on Wednesday after conducting more than 33,000 online surveys in 28 countries between October and November 2020.

In the wake of a violent mob, incited by President Donald Trump, storming the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., many involved in the assault have yet to be arrested. This despite the fact that many have been possibly identified by others online in a fervent effort to bring the perpetrators to justice. What started as a pro-Trump rally near the White House on Jan.

Included in this episode: 1. U.S. Executes Lisa Montgomery, 1st Female Federal Prisoner Put to Death Since 1953 2. Republicans Are Breaking Ranks on Impeachment. Here’s Why That Helps Democrats 3. What Impeachment Won't Change: How the GOP Became the Party of Trump 4. How Olympic Athletes Are Coping with the Wait for the Postponed 2021 Games 5. Trump Administration Announces New COVID-19 Vaccine Plans to Speed Up Distribution 6. Federal Judge Halts Trump Administration Executions Over COVID-19 Concerns 7. Several Gorillas at San Diego Zoo Test Positive for COVID-19 .

(TERRE HAUTE, Ind.) — A Kansas woman was executed Wednesday for strangling an expectant mother in Missouri and cutting the baby from her womb, the first time in nearly seven decades that the U.S. government has put to death a female inmate. Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.

This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday. To understand what’s going on at the Capitol today as the House considers impeaching President Donald Trump for a second time, it's helpful to look at a bit of recent history.