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 signs a trade deal with Japan

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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Key Points

• Trump attacked by own envoy over Syria troop withdrawal
• Court orders president to turn over eight years of tax returns
• Trump admits he fears for his legacy over impeachment
• Spends weekend lashing out at rivals in 88 tweet spree
• Trump allies 'tried to oust Ukrainian gas company CEO'

[7 October 2019 19:30 · Chris Riotta]

Speaking of backlash, here are more tweets from Lindsey Graham attacking Donald Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria, while hitting the president where it hurts him most - comparing him to his predecessor, Barack Obama: 

[7 October 2019 19:50 · Chris Riotta]

The Independent's Phil Thomas also has more on the latest decision by a US judge requiring Donald Trump to release his tax returns:

[7 October 2019 20:10 · Chris Riotta]

Donald Trump‘s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani lashed out at the “idiot press” during his latest TV interview about the impeachment inquiry.

The former mayor of New York even turned on Fox News host Howard Kurtz for daring to contradict his allegations about the US president’s 2020 main rival Joe Biden.

“Shhhh, shhhh, wait, before you interrupt me,” he said. “I know you want to defend it so bad, you do, it’s pathetic, its pathetic.

“You contradict me immediately. Biden cronies and Democratic lapdogs get 15 minutes to answer a question, with me they contradict me before I get one minute into the sentence.”

At one point Mr Kurtz had to make a frenzied “time out” gesture to get Mr Guiliani to stop talking so they could cut away for an advertising break.

[7 October 2019 20:30 · Chris Riotta]

The judge presiding over the president's tax return case called Donald Trump’s claim of broad immunity “extraordinary” and “an overreach of executive power.”

“As the court reads it, presidential immunity would stretch to cover every phase of criminal proceedings, including investigations, grand jury proceedings and subpoenas, indictment, prosecution, arrest, trial, conviction, and incarceration,” Marrero wrote. “That constitutional protection presumably would encompass any conduct, at any time, in any forum, whether federal or state, and whether the President acted alone or in concert with other individuals.”

The judge said he couldn’t accept that legal view, “especially in the light of the fundamental concerns over excessive arrogation of power” that led the founding fathers to create a balance of power among the three branches of government.

In a statement, Mr Trump's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow said only that he was pleased by the appeals court stay.

AP

[7 October 2019 20:50 · Chris Riotta]

The New Yorker's Susan Glasser has sparked quite the conversation with her tweet about Donald Trump's claims of having "unmatched wisdom" - 

[7 October 2019 21:00 · Chris Riotta]

It's worth noting here that the president was at the very least successfully multitasking when he threatened Turkey and claimed to have a godly-level of intelligence:

[7 October 2019 21:20 · Chris Riotta]

The US will not stand in the way of a planned Turkish military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, the White House has announced.

The surprise policy shift signals an abandonment by Washington of its longtime ally in the fight against Isis, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and raises the prospect of a new conflict in the country’s multifaceted war.

It came late on Sunday evening following a phone call between Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria. The United States armed forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and the United States forces, having defeated the Isis territorial ‘caliphate’, will no longer be in the immediate area,” the White House statement said. 

Mr Trump, in a lengthy series of messages posted on Twitter early Monday, said the US deployment of troops to northern Syria was too costly, and Syria’s Kurds would now have to go it alone.