Category Archives: Trump administration

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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Judge blocks Trump’s rule requiring immigrants show they have healthcare

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  • Federal judge issues temporary stay after Oregon hearing
  • Litigator says ban would separate families

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, has put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas.

US district judge Michael Simon granted a temporary restraining order that prevented the rule from going into effect Sunday. It was not clear when he would rule on the merits of the case.

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‘Quid pro quo, yes or no?’ Trump allies face Ukraine question

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As Donald Trump repeated his demand that the whistleblower who triggered the impeachment inquiry should be identified, White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway refused to say the president did not offer the leader of Ukraine a quid pro quo involving military aid and the investigation of his political rivals.

Related: Experts on Trump's conduct: 'Plainly an abuse of power, plainly impeachable'

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California wildfire: evacuation orders lifted as Trump blasts Newsom

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  • President slams governor and threatens to cut federal funds
  • Newsom tweets back: ‘You don’t believe in climate change’

As authorities lifted all evacuation orders imposed by a wildfire that caused thousands to flee their homes north-west of Los Angeles, Donald Trump threatened to cut federal funding for aid during the kind of blazes that have hit California hard this fall.

Related: ‘Not our mission’: private fire crews protect the insured, not the public

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Pelosi bangs the gavel: House votes to endorse Trump impeachment inquiry

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Vote set rules for public phase of impeachment inquiry, laying out plan that could produce televised hearings within two weeks

For only the third time in the history of the modern presidency, the US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to formalize impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States.

Related: House votes to formalize impeachment process against Trump – live

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How the US caught up with Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi | podcast

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The Guardian’s Martin Chulov describes how US special forces finally tracked down Baghdadi, who was killed in a raid at the weekend. Plus: Robert Booth on the criticism of the London fire brigade’s response to the Grenfell Tower disaster

US special forces finally caught up with the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on Saturday at a safe house in the Syrian province of Idlib, one of the few areas of the country still outside regime control. In a night-time raid, Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest and killed himself and three of his children, according to Donald Trump.

The Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Martin Chulov, has followed the rise and fall of Isis in the past five years from close quarters. He tells Rachel Humphreys what Baghdadi’s death will mean to the terrorist organisation, which has lost almost all the territory it held at its peak.

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Army officer tells impeachment inquiry of gaps in Trump’s Ukraine transcript

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Lt Col Vindman reportedly said omissions included references to Joe Biden and Burisma

A decorated army officer and the top Ukraine expert on the national security council has reportedly told House impeachment investigators that the White House transcript of a call between the presidents of the US and Ukraine left out important words and phrases.

The New York Times cited three sources familiar with Alexander Vindman’s testimony on Tuesday who said the omissions included Donald Trump making reference to recordings of the former vice-president Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy making reference to Burisma, the company for which Biden’s son Hunter worked.

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Ukraine expert gives first-hand testimony on Trump-Zelenskiy call – live

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Alexander Vindman to testify call made him ‘worried about the implications for the US government’s support of Ukraine’

Trump is still tweeting away, arguing that the House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry have a “Death Wish” when it comes to next year’s elections.

However, a number of House Republicans have announced plans to retire or seek higher office in recent months, suggesting that the GOP caucus is the one with doubts about their 2020 prospects.

Nervous Nancy Pelosi is doing everything possible to destroy the Republican Party. Our Polls show that it is going to be just the oppidite. The Do Nothing Dems will lose many seats in 2020. They have a Death Wish, led by a corrupt politician, Adam Schiff!

Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, declined to attack the integrity of Lt Col Alexander Vindman but still questioned the official’s reported concerns about Trump’s Ukraine call.

The California Republican told reporters on Capitol Hill: “I thank him for his service ... but he is wrong.”

“You can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” @GOPLeader tells @nancycordes when asked whether Republicans are moving the goalposts by refusing to support a vote on impeachment procedures going forward after calling for one for weeks.

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Harry Dunn’s family to sue US government over Anne Sacoolas

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Lawyers for family say Trump administration tried to ‘twist’ immunity law for US diplomat

The family of a 19-year-old motorcyclist killed in a crash involving the wife of a US diplomat have announced they are planning to sue the Trump administration for lawless misconduct and a cover-up.

Harry Dunn’s family are also going ahead with previously announced plans to sue Anne Sacoolas for damages in a civil action.

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Alexander Vindman’s Trump-Ukraine testimony: five key takeaways

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Army lieutenant colonel to describe his concerns Trump’s Biden plot was undermining US foreign policy in Ukraine

In his opening statement before congressional impeachment investigators on Tuesday, Lt Col Alexander S Vindman planned to describe his concerns that Donald Trump’s plot to undermine Joe Biden was undermining US foreign policy in Ukraine.

Related: Army officer to testify Trump-Zelenskiy call 'raised internal alarm'

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This week in the impeachment inquiry: bombshell testimony and Trump fury

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After a chaotic week in Washington, even more damning testimony for Trump could lie ahead

As a watershed week full of bombshell testimony and presidential fury at the impeachment inquiry receded, Washington is now looking ahead to another week promising bombshell testimony – and more presidential fury.

For sheer spectacle, Republicans will be hard-pressed to top an invasion last week by lawmakers of the secure area where witnesses were being questioned. And for sheer malice, Donald Trump will have to sink far indeed to go lower than his claim to be the victim of a lynching.

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