Trump news: Angry president cuts short Nato summit trip and rages at Trudeau, as Congress launches next stage of impeachment after damning report
Three Constitutional scholars argued that the president committed 'high crimes and misdemeanours'
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Your support makes all the difference.A trio of scholars agreed that Donald Trump’s alleged abuses of power in his dealings with Ukraine amounted to "high crimes and misdemeanours" as grounds for impeachment, according to the rules outlined in the US Constitution.
Four constitutional scholars testified to the House Judiciary Committee on its first day of public impeachment hearings, which provided expert analysis to determine Constitutional grounds for removing the president from office, a process that will be determined formally by a majority vote of Congress.
Michael Gerhardt, Pamela Karlan and Noah Feldman vehemently agreed that the president had committed impeachable offences, including abuses of power, bribery, the hampering of Congress, and the obstruction of justice.
Ms Karlan invoked the image of America as a "shining city on a hill" that, if unable to investigate foreign influence into its own democracy, would cease to be that example.
Jonathan Turley — who was summoned by Republicans — said the inquiry is "one of the thinnest records ever to go forward on impeachment."
Ms Karlan also apologised — after right-wing outrage, including a tweet from First Lady Melania Trump — for a play on words in which she said that the president could name his son Barron but could not make himself a baron.
In a White House statement, press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that "the only thing the three liberal professors established at Chairman Nadler’s hearing was their political bias against the president."
The hearing followed the release of a damning 300-page report from the House Intelligence Committee, summarising its findings and detailing “overwhelming evidence of misconduct” by Mr Trump and his inner circle over Ukraine, with call records dragging Rudy Giuliani and implicating Congressman Devin Nunes further into the scandal.
Meanwhile, the president suffered fresh humiliation after world leaders Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron were filmed apparently laughing behind his back at a Nato reception at Buckingham Palace in London.
The US president slammed the Canadian prime minister as "two-faced" to reporters shortly after, while announcing the abrupt cancellation of a press conference later that day, saying he would instead be returning home.
Follow our coverage as it happened.
Matt Gaetz is attacking Noah Feldman, asking him whether he is out of the mainstream in terms of supporting impeachment. Mr Feldman holds his own, saying he was in fact an "impeachment skeptic" until learning more about the president's phone call with Ukraine.
Matt Gaetz says Professor Pamela Karlan's quip about Barron Trump's name makes her look "mean" and as if she is "attacking someone's family".
The Florida Republican is attempting to outright undermine each witness invited by the Democrats.
Republican Mike Johnson: "Let's be honest. Let's not pretend anyone actually cares about what's happening today. ... So much for an impartial jury."
He says the impeachment process will make partisanship "worse" in Washington and says people are "sick of this" and the "toxic atmosphere" that the impeachment has created.
"God help us."
Not any word about the substance of the investigation.
California Democrat Eric Swalwell now underlining the important role that the military aid was for Ukraine's war with Russia — playing back comments from Bill Taylor who testified how crucial it was to their defence — to point out that Trump's withholding of the aid was more than a political cudgel.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the president is planning to expand the US military's footprint in the Middle East with 14,000 troops, dozens of ships and other hardware as a counter to Iran.
This comes after Trump promised to bring the troops "home" after pulling out of Syria.
Democrat Ted Lieu asks Feldman why bribery was included in the founders' impeachment grounds. He's clarifying that specific criminal definitions aren't grounds for impeachment; they're much broader.
Feldman said it was a "classic example" at the time of the Constitution's writing, saying, generally, "If you take something of value when you're able to effect an outcome," you're serving other interests that are not the nation's.
Republican Tom McClintock repeatedly asked for the panel for a show of hands of those who voted for or supported Trump in 2016.
Noah Feldman says them not showing their hands isn't an answer.
Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, asks what "the existence of the impeachment power in the constitution tell us about the president's claim that the constitution allows him to do whatever he wants."
Karlan: "It blows it out of the water."
Karlan invokes the "shining city on a hill" image again.
Karlan: "Congress has enacted a series of laws to make sure there isn't foreign influence in our elections ... We can't be the shining city on the hill promoting democracy around the world if we're not promoting it here."
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