Category Archives: Trump administration

Gordon Sondland: witness White House fears most to testify

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Sondland will face questions on Wednesday over a key phone call with Trump at a restaurant in Ukraine

Donald Trump’s own words will take centre stage at the impeachment inquiry on Wednesday when his ambassador to the European Union faces questions about a phone call with the US president in a Ukrainian restaurant.

Gordon Sondland is the witness who most alarms officials at the White House, according to US media reports, fueling speculation that the ambassador could plead the fifth amendment to protect himself from self-incrimination.

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Key witnesses tell of concern over Trump’s ‘inappropriate’ Ukraine call

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Kurt Volker, witness requested by Republicans, says the investigations Trump requested amounted to ‘conspiracy theories’

Two witnesses in the impeachment inquiry have described their concern over an “unusual” call between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president in July, in which Trump ignored official talking points about fighting corruption to instead “demand” an investigation tied to Joe Biden.

Related: Donald Trump has dragged America's global reputation to an all-time low | Simon Tisdall

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Vindman tells impeachment hearing he reported ‘improper’ Trump call immediately – live

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Key witness testifies publicly on Trump’s Ukraine call and says ‘vile’ character attacks on those testifying ‘reprehensible’ – follow the latest live

Republican representative Chris Stewart pressed Lt Col Alexander Vindman on why he corrected Devin Nunes after the GOP ranking member incorrectly called the Iraq war veteran “Mr Vindman.”

“You always insist on civilians calling you by your rank?” Stewart asked. Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient, replied that he considered the correction appropriate given that he is in his military uniform and because he has been the subject of attacks meant to “marginalize” his service.

Okay guys can we please stop making this a thing? Active duty service members are literally required to wear their dress uniforms when appearing on Capitol Hill in an official capacity. https://t.co/DWXD9LchoU

Lt Col Alexander Vindman testified that after he reported his concerns on Trump’s July call with the Ukrainian president, he was excluded from several meetings he usually would have attended in his capacity as the top Ukraine expert on the NSC.

Vindman says that after he reported on the July 25 call he was excluded from several meetings & “it was out of the course of normal affairs” to not have him participate.

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Trump impeachment inquiry: highlights from day two – video

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The second day of impeachment hearings featured compelling testimony from Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was sacked by Trump. Yovanovitch evidence drew links between corrupt elements in Ukraine and the Trump administration's push to force her from her post. She said she was 'shocked and devastated' by Trump's personal attacks on her. As she spoke, Donald Trump attacked her on Twitter, prompting the Democrat chair of the hearing, Adam Schiff, to read the tweets to Yovanovitch in real time. 'The effect is intimidating,' she said, as Democrats accused the president of witness intimidation on a day of high political drama 

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Marie Yovanovitch calls Trump’s disparaging tweet ‘intimidating’ – video

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Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, read out a tweet by Donald Trump disparaging Marie Yovanovitch as the former US ambassador to Ukraine testified to the president's impeachment hearing. When Schiff asked whether she thought the tweet was intended to intimidate her, Yovanovitch replied: 'I can’t speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating.'

Schiff replied: 'I want to let you know, ambassador, that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously.'

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Impeachment hearings go public with a flurry of pomp, drama and tension

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As key diplomats testified in an open session, Democrats hoped to overcome the polarization that has defined Trump’s presidency

Shortly after 10am on Wednesday, a single sharp rap of the gavel launched the House intelligence committee’s first public hearing into the impeachment of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.

In the vaulted chambers of the ways and means committee, the House’s grandest and most ornate meeting room, the day’s witnesses – William Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior state department official in charge of Ukraine policy – rose to their feet and solemnly raised their right hands to be sworn in.

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Trump impeachment inquiry: highlights from day one – video

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Donald Trump cared more about investigating his political rival Joe Biden than the fate of Ukraine, according to dramatic testimony from a key witness in the first impeachment inquiry hearing before the American public. As Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair, gaveled the House intelligence committee into session, cameras from every major network carried the proceedings to millions of Americans, some of whom were encountering the allegations against Trump for the first time

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Donald Trump says US military presence in Syria ‘only for the oil’ – live

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Bill Taylor and George Kent testify in first day of public impeachment inquiry – follow for live updates

Some non-impeachment news courtesy of The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani:

The Guardian’s Washington correspondent David Smith:

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Ilhan Omar has been proved right: Stephen Miller is a white nationalist | Poppy Noor

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Leaked emails show the Trump aide promoting white nationalist websites and touting Calvin Coolidge’s segregation-era policies

When the congresswoman Ilhan Omar called Donald Trump’s top immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, a white nationalist in April, the chorus of outrage from Republicans could not have been louder.

Donald Trump Jr tweeted: “I see that the head of the Farrakhan Fan Club, @IlhanMN, took a short break from spewing her usual anti-semitic bigotry today to accuse a Jewish man of being a ‘white nationalist’ because she apparently has no shame.”

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Donald Trump plans to make foreign aid conditional on religious freedom

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President wants to apportion aid based on how countries treat religious minorities

White House officials are reportedly drafting plans to make US foreign aid conditional on how countries treat their religious minorities, in an effort that is seen as a sop to Christian evangelicals in Donald Trump’s base.

The move, which threatens to impose further constraints on a US foreign aid policy already heavily restricted under the Trump administration, was first reported by Politico after briefings from White House aides.

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Trump faces key test as week of impeachment hearings begins – live

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It’s Veterans Day, Donald Trump is back in Manhattan and Washington is getting ready for more momentous events

The announcement of Republican representative Pete King’s retirement once again throws a spotlight on the high number of departures and defeats in the House GOP caucus since Trump took office.

When President Trump took office in January 2017, there were 241 Republicans in the House.

Since then, 101 have either been defeated/retired/otherwise left office or are retiring in 2020. (h/t @Dchinni)

One name under discussion for Rep. Peter King's seat: Democratic Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini.

Demonstrators who protested Trump’s Veterans Day speech in New York criticized the president’s treatment of veterans and called for his impeachment.

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Trump, the whistleblower and the comic: key players in the Ukraine scandal

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Trump’s request that Ukraine help find dirt on Joe Biden has led to an impeachment inquiry – and drawn in multiple people

Democrats announced an official impeachment inquiry into Trump on 24 September following a whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s interactions with the president of Ukraine. A White House summary of a 25 July call shows Trump pressed Volodymyr Zelenskiy to work with the US attorney general and Rudy Giuliani, to investigate his political rival Joe Biden in the run-up the 2020 US election. Trump told Zelenskiy to look into unfounded and debunked allegations that Biden helped remove a Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated a company tied to his son Hunter.

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Nikki Haley: Tillerson and Kelly tried to block Trump to ‘save country’

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Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has claimed former secretary of state Rex Tillerson and former White House chief of staff John Kelly tried to recruit her to work around Donald Trump in an effort to “save the country”.

Related: Trump impeachment: whistleblower will not testify in public, Democrats say

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Trump impeachment: whistleblower will not testify in public, Democrats say

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The whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump will not testify in public, House intelligence chair Adam Schiff said.

Related: Watergate to Ukraine: how TV will dictate Trump's impeachment fate

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US will keep 500 or 600 troops in Syria to counter Isis, chief says

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  • Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff gives Veterans Day interview
  • Turkish president Erdoğan due at White House this week

About 500 or 600 US troops will remain in Syria to counter Islamic State, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday.

Related: 'Secure the oil': Trump's Syria strategy leaves Pentagon perplexed

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US-China trade war: hopes of deal rise after partial easing of tariffs

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IMF says deal to alleviate trade tensions could persuade it to revise up growth forecasts

China has raised hopes that a deal can be reached to end its trade war with the US after agreeing with Washington to roll back some tariffs.

The prospect of an agreement sent stock markets soaring to all-time highs and prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to say a deal easing trade tensions between the US and China could persuade its officials to revise up forecasts for global growth next year.

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Steve Bannon will be surprise witness at Roger Stone trial

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Stone is accused of lying to House intelligence committee about Trump campaign’s efforts to obtain emails hacked by Russia

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, will be a star witness at the trial in Washington of Roger Stone, a longtime political operative and ally of Donald Trump, a court heard on Wednesday.

The surprise announcement was made during opening statements on Wednesday by prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, who told the court that Stone had “straight-up lied” to the US Congress about aspects of the 2016 election campaign “because the truth looked bad for Donald Trump”.

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Trump impeachment inquiry: Sondland revises testimony and admits Ukraine quid pro quo – live

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EU envoy acknowledges in updated testimony he told Ukraine it would likely not receive aid unless it announced investigations into Trump’s rivals

Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell appears to have bulldozed directly through protocol by forecasting, before the articles of impeachment have even been drafted in the House and Trump put on trial in the Senate, that the president will be acquitted.

“If it were today, I don’t think there’s any question — it would not lead to a removal,” @SenateMajLdr McConnell says of a potential impeachment trial in the Senate.

/2 McConnell: “I’m pretty sure I know how it’s going to end.” Says Trump will be acquitted by Senate like Clinton & Andrew Johnson

Sondland was asked, with respect to the “demands” made by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani to investigate the 2016 election and Burisma, if “those conditions would have to be complied with prior to getting a meeting.”

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Trump begins year-long process to formally exit Paris climate agreement

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  • Exit will not be final until day after 2020 elections
  • Many organizations are keeping US in climate crisis fight

Donald Trump is moving to formally exit the Paris climate agreement, making the United States the only country in the world that will not participate in the pact, as global temperatures are set to rise 3C and worsening extreme weather will drive millions into poverty.

The paperwork sent by the US government to withdraw begins a one-year process for exiting the deal agreed to at the UN climate change conference in Paris in 2015. The Trump administration will not be able to finalize its exit until a day after the presidential election in November 2020.

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Impeachment inquiry transcripts reveal shock and concern over Trump plot

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Two senior American diplomats warned congressional investigators a White House plot to manufacture political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine had undermined US national security interests and shredded faith among foreign service personnel, according to transcripts released on Monday by committees pursuing an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.

Related: Trump rejects whistleblower offer to answer Republican questions

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