Trump compares whistleblower’s source to a ‘spy’, audio reveals – live

Trump says he wants to know who gave information to the whistleblower: ‘You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies?’

Warren is defiant against Wall Street critics

Earlier today, CNBC reported that democratic Wall Street donors are threatening to vote for Donald Trump if Elizabeth Warren, an outspoken critic of big business, won the democratic nomination.

I'm fighting for an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just the wealthy and well-connected. I'm not afraid of anonymous quotes, and wealthy donors don't get to buy this process. I won't back down from fighting for the big, structural change we need. https://t.co/nx7GczQhHl

Since Donald Trump took office, his administration has been accepting fewer and fewer refugees. In fiscal year 2018, the administration capped the number of asylum seekers it would admit at 45,000 and this year the cap was 30,000.

“The President is using people seeking safety as an opportunity to rile up hostility and create a climate of fear. Though the vast majority of people support welcoming refugees, this administration seeks to strip away long-standing protections and values for its own interests.”

Related: Trump sets cap for refugee admission at an all-time low

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Trump-Ukraine scandal: what did the whistleblower say and how serious is it?

Democrats are going ahead with an impeachment inquiry, with the accusation Trump pressured a foreign government for dirt on an opponent

Democrats in the House of Representatives are moving forward with an impeachment inquiry to explore whether the US president should effectively be put on trial by the US Congress and, if convicted, removed from office.

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Trump says courts could stop impeachment inquiry – video

Speaking to reporters about the release of the whistleblower complaint, Donald Trump repeated his claim that his phone call with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was ‘perfect’. The US president noted that Zelenskiy yesterday denied he had been pressured during the call to open an investigation into Joe Biden. Trump called the Democrats’ investigation a ‘disgrace’ and suggested there should be a legal mechanism to quash the probe: ‘There should be a way of stopping it, maybe legally through the courts’

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Whistleblower report reveals how far Trump’s dubious ethics have spread

Report indicates there were a lot of people involved in Trump’s scheme to tamper in the 2020 election and prosecute opponents

The critics are calling it “horrifying,” “pure dynamite,” and “INSANE”.

It’s a blockbuster that arrived too late for summer, but with the president obsessing, Congress investigating and main street America processing, the buzz around a whistleblower complaint about Donald Trump released early on Thursday appears likely only to grow.

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Intelligence chief says Trump whistleblower acted in ‘good faith’ – video

The acting director of national intelligence said he believed both the whistleblower who filed the complaint against Donald Trump and the inspector general who handled it ‘acted in good faith’. Joseph Maguire told members of the House intelligence committee: ‘I have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book.’ Maguire, who was appointed last month to succeed outgoing director Dan Coats, also said he believed he handled the whistleblower’s complaint ‘in full compliance with the law at all times’ adding that he was committed to doing so

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‘This is a cover-up’: Nancy Pelosi on Trump whistleblower complaint – video

Nancy Pelosi started her weekly press conference by directly addressing the release of the whistleblower complaint. Recounting the whistleblower’s allegations that the White House tried to keep details of the Ukraine call from becoming public, the House speaker said: ‘This is a cover-up.’ Pelosi also explained her thinking behind deciding to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump: ’Last week we saw something that removed all doubt as to whether we should move forward’

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Trump pressed Ukraine leader to investigate Biden, memo reveals

US president asked Volodymyr Zelenskiy for ‘a favor’ and to ‘look into’ Biden as impeachment inquiry launched against Trump

Donald Trump pressed the Ukrainian president to work with the US attorney general to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, a damning White House memo revealed on Wednesday, raising the stakes in an acrimonious and polarising impeachment inquiry.

Democrats said the US president’s conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskiy detailed in the five-page rough “transcript” was a devastating betrayal of his country that merited their investigation, while Republicans claimed it showed no quid pro quo and offered complete vindication.

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Zelenskiy meets Trump: sitcom president finds himself trapped in a whodunnit

Sitting down in front of cameras at the UN, Zelenskiy looked miserable and Trump rambled about his achievements

In this new screwball comedy, an American reality show host and a Ukrainian TV comedian somehow find themselves elected president and almost get away with it – until a seemingly routine phone call ends up determining the fate of both their nations.

It is a script that has bypassed the big screen to go straight to reality in 2019, and it was playing on Wednesday in both Washington and New York.

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House intelligence chair: whistleblower complaint shows ‘serious wrongdoing’ – live news

President gives rambling press conference as controversy swirls

Democratic and republican lawmakers are expressing concern after reviewing whistleblower complaint

It appears that members of the Senate intelligence committee have reviewed the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower complaint.

Chuck Schumer after reading whistleblower complaint: “Having read the documents in there, I'm even more worried about what happened than I was when I read the memorandum of the conversation. There are so many facts that have to be examined. It’s very troubling.”

SASSE after reading the whistleblower complaint: “Really troubling things here. Republicans ought not just circle the wagons, and democrats ought not have been using words like impeachment before they knew anything about the actual substance.”

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has introduced a resolution to get congress to officially avow that it “disapproves” speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry announcement yesterday.

HAPPENING NOW→ I'm introducing a privileged resolution for the House to vote on.

"The House of Reps disapproves of the actions of Speaker Pelosi to initiate an impeachment inquiry against the duly elected President of the US, @realDonaldTrump."

Read the full resolution↓ pic.twitter.com/9xgYoVAl8P

HAPPENING NOW→ I'm introducing a privileged resolution for the House to vote on.

"The House of Reps disapproves of the actions of Speaker Pelosi to initiate an impeachment inquiry against the duly elected President of the US, @realDonaldTrump."

Read the full resolution↓ pic.twitter.com/9xgYoVAl8P

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Favors, dirt, investigations: key takeaways from the Trump-Ukraine memo

The White House released a summary of Trump’s call with Zelenskiy that lies at the heart of the impeachment inquiry

The White House on Wednesday released a five-page summary of a 30-minute call between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that lies at the heart of the growing impeachment process.

Here are five key takeaways:

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Adam Schiff condemns Donald Trump’s Ukraine call as a ‘mafia shakedown’ – video

Adam Schiff has compared Donald Trump’s communications with Ukraine, as reported in a White House memo, to the actions of a mobster. The House intelligence committee chair said the US president's conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart represented a 'classic, mafia-like shakedown' of a foreign leader. 'This is how a mafia boss talks,' Schiff said. 'And it’s clear that the Ukraine president understands exactly what is expected of him'

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‘There was absolutely no pressure’: Trump on Ukraine controversy – video

Donald Trump has said he put ‘absolutely no pressure’ on Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. He told reporters after the White House released notes of the phone call he had with the president of Ukraine that the impeachment inquiry was a 'disgraceful thing’. He added: ‘The way you built up that call it was going to be the call from hell. It turned out to be a nothing call, other than a lot of people said I never knew you could be so nice’

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Trump seemed to be untouchable – that may have just changed

Documentation has never before emerged of Trump asking for dirt on his opponents – and there are signs he may be in deeper trouble

For decades there has been a “catch me if you can” quality about Donald Trump, skipping from casino bankruptcies to fraudulent universities to porn actor payoffs. As president, Trump has at times seemed likewise untouchable, even as the number of his discarded former allies piles up and his political capital pays out.

But documentation has never before emerged, as it did on Wednesday, of Trump as US president asking a foreign leader for dirt on his political opponents. And there’s reason to believe that much more, and worse, is about to come out.

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Trump scandal: Ukraine fears it could become Russia of 2020 election

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s country, dependent on US aid, is now caught in the middle of a Washington row

As Democratic lawmakers plan to impeach Donald Trump for abuse of power, the novice Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, must run a gauntlet of US partisan pressure that he has sought desperately to avoid.

Zelenskiy is squeezed between a US president urging him to dig up dirt on his political rival Joe Biden and a Democratic party that sees the White House’s pressure on him as a compelling argument to unseat Trump.

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‘It’s a witch-hunt’: Donald Trump lashes out as impeachment calls grow – video

Donald Trump says growing calls for his impeachment are 'nonsense' after it emerged he withheld nearly $400m in aid to Ukraine.

The US president ordered staff to withhold the aid before demanding Ukraine’s president investigate Joe Biden and his son, it emerged on Tuesday. Trump said the controversial phone call, with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had been 'perfect'

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