Category Archives: Donald Trump

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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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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Chicago is not ‘on fire’: police chief hits back at Trump criticism – video

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Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson responded to Donald Trump's criticism after he shunned the president's speech to a national convention of police officers that was being held in the city while protests against his visit took place on the streets.

Trump said the police chief 'could learn something' from the event, but in a statement published later, Johnson said the city was leading the way on lowering crime and that he would not get 'caught up in negativity'

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House to vote on resolution on next steps in impeachment inquiry – live

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Resolution outlining impeachment procedures specifically calls out the Trump administration for dismissing the inquiry as illegitimate

Here’s a recap of today:

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who introduced a Senate resolution denouncing the House inquiry last week, is both taking credit for House Democrats’ decision to hold a full vote on the impeachment inquiry, and saying that the vote is meaningless.

“A vote now is a bit like un-ringing a bell as House Democrats have selectively leaked information in order to damage President Trump for weeks,” he said.

There is no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming response House Democrats heard from the American people and Senate Republicans in support of my resolution forced their hand.

Today’s announcement is an acknowledgement of the success of our efforts last week.

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Syrian Kurds say spy stole Baghdadi’s underpants for DNA test

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Syrian Democratic Forces also claim they played a key role in tracking down Baghdadi to a compound in northern Syria

Syrian Kurds say they managed to place a spy in Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s inner circle who stole a pair of the Isis leader’s underpants to prove his identity and then helped guide US soldiers to his Syrian hideout.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claim they played a key role in tracking down Baghdadi to a compound in northern Syria where he was reportedly planning his escape over the nearby border into Turkey.

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Pelosi plans to call House vote to formalize impeachment inquiry

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Trump administration has argued inquiry is invalid because the House has not held a vote to formalize it

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced she will call a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry under way against Donald Trump.

The House rules committee was to convene on Wednesday to draft a resolution laying out the course of the inquiry moving forward, including a timeline for moving the investigation from closed-door depositions to public hearings.

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James Comey jokes he will move to New Zealand if Trump is re-elected – video

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The former FBI director James Comey joked he would move to New Zealand if Donald Trump was re-elected in 2020. Comey worked for the Obama administration, caused a storm over Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 and was fired by Trump in May 2017. He also said US leaders 'can't be people who lie all the time'

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‘Lock him up’: Trump greeted with boos at World Series – video

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Donald Trump was booed loudly and a chant of 'lock him up' rose up against him when he was shown on the video screens in the Nationals Park stadium, where he attended game five of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros. 

Trump left the game with one inning to go

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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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Donald Trump booed and greeted with ‘lock him up’ chants at World Series

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  • President attended Sunday’s baseball game in Washington DC
  • Crowd booed when Trump appeared on video screen

Donald Trump once claimed he was courted by several major league baseball clubs in his youth but turned them down because they couldn’t offer him enough money. On Sunday, baseball got its revenge.

The President attended Game 5 of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros at Nationals Park, a short journey from the White House. When Trump was shown on the video screens in the stadium he was loudly booed by fans. That, perhaps, was predictable: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and both Bushes were all booed while attending baseball games as President. What came shortly afterwards was a little more personal in a city that is heavily Democratic as cries of “Lock him up!” rang out, a reference to the chants about Hillary Clinton used at Trump’s rallies in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections.

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Pelosi slams Trump for cutting Democrats out of loop on Baghdadi raid

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Top Democrats reacted with anger to Donald Trump’s decision to go ahead with the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raid without giving them advance notice, on grounds that they were not to be trusted with such highly sensitive information.

Related: Trump impeachment: Schiff expects battle over key witness John Bolton

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Killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gives Trump lifeline amid political battle

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President’s supporters framing the impeachment hearings as an unpatriotic attack on a leader keeping America safe

The killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has given Donald Trump a lifeline in the midst of a battle for his own political survival and he has grabbed it with both hands.

Trump’s fifty minute television appearance on Sunday to announce the successful mission began with a sombre announcement before drifting into something more rambling and vainglorious, foreshadowing how he will use it for political ends, and as a club to swing at his political enemies pushing for his impeachment.

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Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid – video

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Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a US special forces raid in the north-west of Syria. According to the president, the Isis leader died 'running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way'. Trump made the announcement in Washington hours after tweeting: 'Something very big has just happened!'

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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death comes as new order takes shape in Middle East

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In aftermath of Isis’s toxic mix of chaos and intolerance, new spheres of influence are being demarcated

Reports of his death had been frequent – and exaggerated. But not this time. Even as US forces were flying to Iraq the remains of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in Syria in the early hours of Saturday, a debate about his legacy was stirring.

For more than five years, Baghdadi, who was known by birth as Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, was the most wanted man on the planet – a figure who had turned an already potent post-invasion insurgency in Iraq into a formidable terrorist juggernaut that changed the course of history.

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Donald Trump confirms Isis leader died in US raid – video

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The US president has said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, was killed in a raid by US special forces in north-west Syria. Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after running into a dead-end tunnel, killing himself and three of his children, Donald Trump said

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‘I took a stand’: the centrist Democrat navigating impeachment in a divided district

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Abigail Spanberger caught in delicate balance of advancing policy agenda and ensuring Trump is held accountable

At a middle school auditorium three hours south of the capital, where an intensifying impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump consumes all aspects of political life, the Virginia congresswoman Abigail Spanberger greeted a restive crowd of constituents with a PowerPoint presentation on the American system of government.

Related: Make no mistake: Medicare for All would cut taxes for most Americans | Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman

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Trump lashes out at Kamala Harris after senator protests criminal justice award

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After Kamala Harris pulled out of a South Carolina criminal justice forum because its organizer gave Donald Trump an award, the president duly lashed out.

Related: Springing the 'rat' trap: how Baltimore fought back against Trump's insults

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Mitt Romney: Trump’s best staff decision was ‘not choosing me’

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Utah senator and Trump critic tells the New York Times he wouldn’t have lasted as long as Rex Tillerson

The best personnel decision Donald Trump has made, Mitt Romney said in an interview published on Saturday, “was not choosing me”.

After winning the White House in 2016. Trump toyed with the idea – and in doing so rather cruelly toyed with the man – of appointing Romney secretary of state.

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‘Disorder and chaos’: Trump and Republicans mount furious impeachment fight

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A hearing room is invaded, the president’s enemies are ‘scum’. A bare-knuckle scrap has begun – but will it be enough?

Donald Trump has shown little taste for military adventure. He avoided the draft in Vietnam. He fell out with his once-beloved generals. He stunned the world by pulling troops out of Syria and abandoning America’s Kurdish allies.

Related: Blow to Trump as DoJ ordered to turn over evidence from Mueller grand jury

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