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As it happenedended1575504769

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'

Law professor Pamela Karlan blasts Trump's quid-pro-quo deal with Ukraine

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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.

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Donald Trump says there are "very tough barriers to get over" when it comes to trade. "I think we will solve it", the president said. "We will make a lot of progress, we just want fairness. We haven't had fairness in trade." 

Chris Riotta4 December 2019 13:22
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Donald Trump said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is "two-faced" while discussing Canada's contributions to the Nato alliance. "They're not paying their two per cent", he added.

Chris Riotta4 December 2019 13:24
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Donald Trump and Angela Merkel's press conference before their bilateral meeting has concluded.

Chris Riotta4 December 2019 13:25
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Here's video of the moment Donald Trump called Justin Trudeau "two-faced" during a bilateral meeting with Angela Merkel:

Chris Riotta4 December 2019 13:41
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'In one moment of unscripted exasperation at Nato, Macron showed Trump what the whole world thinks of him'

For Indy Voices, Clémence Michallon applauds French president Emmanuel Macron for cutting off Trump's bad taste joke about Isis prisoners yesterday.

Joe Sommerlad4 December 2019 14:10
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Donald Trump has reacted furiously to footage of world leaders apparently making fun of him, calling Justin Trudeau “two-faced” then cancelling a press conference and cutting short his attendance at a Nato summit.

The US president was asked whether he had seen the clip in which his international counterparts appeared to joke about his explosive press conference with Emmanuel Macron.

“You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor!” Mr Trudeau apparently said of Mr Trump.

“Well, he’s two-faced,” Mr Trump said of the Canadian prime minister when questioned on Wednesday afternoon, and suggested the unguarded comments were based in frustration at US demands that Canada contribute more to Nato.

Chris Riotta4 December 2019 14:14
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'Trump is lying when he says he's not interested in the NHS. If Johnson wins, America expects to drain it for profit'

Also for Voices, John Rentoul warns the British public not to believe Trump's reassurances about the NHS.

Joe Sommerlad4 December 2019 14:25
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And there we have it: the president has tweeted that he will be abruptly cancelling his final press conference at the two-day Nato summit in London: 

Chris Riotta4 December 2019 14:36
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'Trump’s instructions not to "interfere" in the UK’s general election lasted seconds'

Also for Voices, here's Tom Peck on Trump's pledge not to interfere in the UK general election.

Joe Sommerlad4 December 2019 14:40
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The House Judiciary Committee is set to begin it’s public impeachment hearing momentarily, featuring scholarly experts on the subject who will go over the House Intelligence Committee’s damning report on Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. 

The Democratic counsel for the committee, Noah Feldman, is set to say the following in his opening remarks: “President Trump’s conduct described in the testimony and evidence clearly constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution."

We’ll bring you live updates throughout the hearing, with help from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg, who is in the room where the proceedings are set to take place. 

Chris Riotta4 December 2019 14:55

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