Trump news – live: President threatens to 'obliterate' Turkey economy after damning Syria condemnation, amid reports of White House impeachment panic
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Donald Trump has been accused of endangering America’s Kurdish allies in Syria by his own former envoy, an ex-ambassador and a key DC attack dog after announcing a plan to withdraw US troops from the country’s northern border, therein abandoning the Syrian Democratic Forces to an onslaught from the Turkish military.
The president has meanwhile been ordered to turn over eight years of tax returns to New York prosecutors after a US district judge ruled his financial affairs are not immune from investigation in spite of his high office.
As the Ukraine scandal rumbles on, Mr Trump has conceded impeachment is a “bad thing to have on your resume” during a phone call with House Republicans, a rare confession that he fears for his legacy as a second whistleblower emerges to support the first’s account of the damning 25 July call with Volodymyr Zelensky during which the president appeared to push for the Eastern European leader to investigate allegations against his 2020 rival Joe Biden.
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A parade of US diplomats will head to Capitol Hill for closed-door testimony this week as Democrats build their impeachment case, as the White House considers ways to slow down the process.
Among those due to testify: Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union who was involved in efforts to get Ukraine to open the investigations, and Marie Yovanovitch, who - as previously discussed - was abruptly recalled from her post as ambassador to Ukraine in May after Trump supporters questioned her loyalty.
Sondland is expected to testify on Tuesday before the three House committees leading the impeachment probe. State Department counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl is also scheduled to testify that day.
Deputy secretary of state George Kent is scheduled to testify on Monday. Yovanovitch is due to appear on Friday.
Trump's White House could also formally tell Speaker Pelosi as early as Monday that it will ignore lawmakers' demands for documents until the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives holds a vote to formally approve the impeachment inquiry.
Pelosi says a vote is not needed, but Democrats say she would prevail if one were held, although very few Republicans would be expected to side with the Democratic majority. Congress returns to Washington on 15 October after a two-week recess.
"There's no question in my mind that she would have the votes," Democratic representative Jim Himes said on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday.
Trump had a TV review for that instalment too, incidentally:
A secret ballot vote on impeaching Trump would garner “significant Republican support” in Congress, according to an expert in congressional politics.
David Wasserman, who works for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said he has had private conversations with Republican congressmen who believe Trump is “wildly unfit to be president”.
“They can’t say that in public, or else their political careers would be torpedoed by one tweet from the Oval Office,” he told The New York Times.
Here's more from Conrad Duncan.
The president is up and justifying himself on the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.
It's about drawing a line under "Endless Wars" he says.
Here he is with a pat on the back for the Federal Communications Committee over net neutrality...
...and more whistleblower ranting.
An explosive response to the White House's statement on Syria from Brett McGurk, Trump's ex-special envoy to the coalition battling Isis.
Trump is meeting with military top brass this evening, where he will have a chance to further explain his controversial troop exodus, leaving the SDF open to attack from Erdogan.
Like Romney and Nebraska's Ben Sasse, Susan Collins, Republican senator for Maine, has broken ranks to attack Trump's suggestion that China investigate the Bidens from the White House lawn last week as "complettely inappropriate" and "a big mistake".
Trump has lost the latest round of his court battle to keep his tax returns secret after a federal judge refused his request to block demands from a district attorney.
New York prosecutor Cyrus Vance has subpoenaed eight years of the president's personal and corporate tax returns from accountancy firm Mazars USA as part of a criminal investigation into hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
Here's our breaking story.
Dogged Trump ally Lindsey Graham has turned his back on the president, sensationally attacking the president on Twitter over the withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria, calling the situation "a disaster in the making".
Trump adopted Graham after admiring his stout defence of US Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh during his stormy nomination hearings a year ago, despite the senator previously calling him "a kook" unfit for office.
Trump retweeted Graham's support four times this weekend alone:
Here's Chris Riotta on a shock U-turn.
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