Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
A star witness at the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump has testified to the existence of a quid pro quo with Ukraine and insisted: 'We followed the president’s orders.' Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, said in bombshell evidence that he was forced to work with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, against his will, and criticised the White House and state department for failing to provide records.
'Everyone was in the loop,' Sondland testified in opening remarks. 'It was no secret'
Stephanie Grisham retracted claim she and her colleagues encountered notes after rejection from ex-Obama staffers
The White House press secretary has backed down from her claim that Obama administration officials left behind notes for Trump staffers saying “You will fail” and “You aren’t going to make it”, after a number of aides denied the allegation.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham said she and her colleagues had encountered the notes upon entering White House offices.
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.
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.
The third day of public impeachment hearings featured testimony from witnesses who listened to a key phone call in which Donald Trump asked for a 'favour' from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
'What I heard was inappropriate,' said Lt Col Alexander Vindman. 'It was improper for the president to demand an investigation into a political opponent.'
A witness requested by Republicans also backfired as Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine, revised his earlier testimony and called allegations against Joe Biden 'self-serving and not credible'.
The US president has denied a heart attack prompted an unscheduled trip to the hospital over the weekend. Such reports, he claimed, showed that ‘the press really in this country is dangerous’
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.
The US official who overheard a key phone conversation between Eu ambassador Gordon Sondland and Donald Trump will testify publicly as part of the House impeachment inquiry, according to CNN.
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
The US has effectively backed Israel's right to build settlements on the occupied West Bank by abandoning its four-decade position that they were 'inconsistent with international law'
Prominent activists express skepticism after ex-New York mayor apologizes for program that disproportionately affected minorities
Potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has apologized for his longstanding support of the controversial “stop-and-frisk” police strategy, a practice that he embraced as New York’s mayor and continued to defend despite its disproportionate impact on people of color.
The apology, however, was received skeptically by many prominent activists who noted that it was made as he is taking steps to enter the presidential race ahead of the 2020 US election.
House speaker pushes back against president’s accusations that process is stacked against him as Schumer echoes her suggestion
Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited PDonald Trump to testify in front of investigators in the House impeachment inquiry ahead of a week that will see several key witnesses appear publicly.
Pushing back against accusations from the president that the process has been stacked against him, Pelosi said Trump is welcome to appear or answer questions in writing, if he chooses.
‘I’m not tearing down the system,’ Bernie Sanders says in response to former president’s message
Democratic 2020 presidential candidates have rejected criticism from former president Barack Obama, after he warned the field of White House hopefuls not to veer too far to the left because it would alienate voters.
Though Obama did not mention anyone by name, the message he delivered before a room of Democratic donors in Washington on Friday was a clear word of caution about the candidacies of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who are seen as two of the top-tier candidates in the crowded field.
As growing numbers of Latinos are voting, Sanders has gained their support in California simply by outworking the competition
It’s Friday night, and the moments before US Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is due to appear at Fresno City College feel more like a rock festival than a political rally.
Vendors hawk swag – hats with “Feel the Bern” and “Eat the Rich” slogans, T-shirts featuring the photo of the young Sanders being arrested at a protest – while an already raucous crowd nods to songs about revolution and wave signs reading: “Unidos con Bernie.”
Gordon Sondland may try to balance fealty to Trump with the fate that has befallen others in the president’s circle: prison time
Donald Trump’s fate in the impeachment inquiry could rest in the hands of a donor and supporter under pressure to turn against the US president to save his own skin.
Gordon Sondland, the American ambassador to the European Union, is due to testify on Wednesday during the second week of televised hearings that have rocked the White House.
Sondland is certain to be questioned about the biggest revelation from last week: a phone call he made Trump from Ukraine in July in which the president was overheard asking about an investigation into one of his political rivals. Sondland allegedly assured him it would go ahead.
The ambassador made no mention of the call in a deposition to the inquiry behind closed doors, nor in a revised statement three weeks later that conceded a quid pro quo over military aid. Now, in front of TV cameras and an audience of millions, he will be asked why.
As he weighs his answer, Sondland may try to balance fealty to Trump with the fate that has befallen others in the president’s circle: his former lawyer Michael Cohen and ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort are both behind bars, while political operative Roger Stone was last week found guilty of lying to Congress.
“Hey Ambassador Sondland,” tweeted Joe Scarborough, a former congressman turned TV host, “Roger Stone lied to Congress for Trump and is now going to jail. Just like his campaign manager and lawyer. Are you next? Your call, Gordy.”
Washington has been gripped by only the fourth impeachment inquiry in American history. Last week, in the first public hearings, three senior officials – Bill Taylor, George Kent and Marie Yovanovitch – presented a damning account of how Trump smeared his own diplomats so he could establish an irregular channel to bribe Ukraine and boost his chances in next year’s presidential election.
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
The US president has denied that attacks directed at the former US ambassador to Ukraine, as she testified in the second day of impeachment hearings, amounted to witness intimidation. ‘Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad,’ Trump wrote in tweets which were dramatically read aloud to Yovanovitch at the hearing. Democrats immediately accused Trump of attempting to intimidate a witness.
Giuliani says of 2016 remarks implying he spoke to ‘active’ FBI agents: ‘I mean they are not old men, they can still do things’
Rudy Giuliani offered the FBI an extraordinary – and seemingly implausible – explanation for “misleading” remarks he made on television just a month before the 2016 election about a “surprise” that could derail the Hillary Clinton campaign.
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.'
Young people are getting Bernie Sanders tattoos and Andrew Yang even has his own ‘Yang Gang’ – but at Biden rallies, the youth vote is conspicuously absent
Young people like Bernie Sanders. They flock to his rallies and tattoo his spectacles on to body parts. Young people like Elizabeth Warren – just take a look at the memes. Pete Buttigieg, despite his unradical, centrist policies and general air of clean-shirtedness, draws out the youth. Andrew Yang’s “Yang Gang” are an often youthful phenomenon of their own.
Trump promised after the August mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton that his administration would propose policies to curb gun violence.
However, the president has yet to release any gun-control proposals, and he has reportedly abandoned the plan in recent weeks.
Trump has been counseled by political advisers, including campaign manager Brad Parscale and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, that gun legislation could splinter his political coalition, which he needs to stick together for his reelection bid, particularly amid an impeachment battle.
The president no longer asks about the issue, and aides from the Domestic Policy Council, once working on a plan with eight to 12 tenets, have moved on to other topics, according to aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations.
A nearby hospital said it had received two patients in critical condition from the shooting at a high school near Los Angeles, with three more victims en route.
#SaugusHighShooting: We have received 2 patients in critical condition, 3 en route. We will provide updates as they become available.
Santa Clarita is in California’s 25th congressional district, which currently does not have a member in Congress following Katie Hill’s resignation. https://t.co/LpJiHG84Z6