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.
Trump ‘was p****d’ about Giuliani's claim to have insurance in case the president threw him under a bus
The president's lawyer has apparently been told to stay away from Fox News after angering his boss by joking that he had "insurance" in case Trump betrayed him. A White House insider has told Vanity Fair the president was less than amused.
Vincent Wood reports.
US drug companies plotting higher medication prices after Brexit
Trump yesterday offered this reassurance about the NHS...
...but American pharmaceutical companies have been salivating at the prospect of a future of higher drug prices after Brexit, according to a US Chamber of Commerce document seen by The Mirror.
Rob Merrick has the details.
Trump and Erdogan meet at Nato summit
Trump is scheduled to sit down with German chancellor Angela Merkel any moment as it emerges he met with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. There's no word of what was discussed but you'd hope the fate of the Syrian Democratic Forces came up.
His big press conference of the day is coming at 3.30pm, just after Nadler sounds the gavel in DC.
Congresswoman warns of Republicans 'hell bent on chaos' at today's impeachment
Pramila Jayapal has been on CNN this morning anticipating GOP disruption at the House Judiciary Committee hearing today. Matt Gaetz is going to be there so she's surely right to be concerned.
Experts to argue 'Trump has committed impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors'
Here's what we can expect from the House's legal scholars at the Judiciary hearing later.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump are currently holding a bilateral meeting and speaking with reporters. We'll bring updates as they roll in.
Donald Trump says "the ceasefire is holding" in Syria, and "it was time for us to leave" the region, referring to his decision earlier this year to withdraw US troops from northeastern Syria. The move led to a Turkish offensive as its forces moved into the country.
Donald Trump says "you have to ask him" when asked about the newly-reported phone records from his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Trump and Clinton donor charged with funnelling millions in illegal contributions
A key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 US election has been indicted with seven others on charges of conspiring to funnel more than $3m (£2.29m) in illegal foreign campaign contributions for that year’s elections, the Justice Department has announced.
George Nader, an adviser to the UAE who acted as an intermediary for members of Trump's presidential campaign seeking to forge contacts in the Middle East, was charged with conspiring to make conduit campaign contributions and related offences in a 53-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday in Washington, prosecutors said.
Trump says the US is holding talks with Russia about a "cessation" of nuclear weapon creation, and adds that China has expressed interest in joining those talks.
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