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.
Mr Feldman on whether it matters that Ukraine eventually received the crucial military aid from the Trump administration:
"If the president of the U.S. attempts to abuse his office, that is a complete impeachable offense. The possibility that the president might get caught in the process ... and then not able to pull it off does not undercut in any way the impeachability of the act."
Professor Gerhardt says it does "not excuse the person from the consequences" of impeachment just because they ultimately did not commit the bribery or alleged wrongdoing successfully, noting that all impeachments have been launched because a president did not "get as far as they would have liked to" in committing such wrongdoings.
Professor Gerhardt says he has found that Donald Trump committed an impeachable offence by obstructing justice at least five times as outlined in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
From The Independent's Andrew Feinberg as he watches the impeachment proceedings from within the hearing room: "Karlan says she 'sees a pattern in which the president’s view' on foreign government interference in elections 'are the antithesis of what the framers committed to.'"
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler has called for a ten minute recess, jokingly calling it a "humanitarian" recess.
Here's more from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg as he chats with politicians during the break: "I caught Rep. Raskin on his way out during the break. When I asked the former professor how “class” was going, he flashed a big smile, gave a thumbs up and replied: 'A+'"
Republican Jim Jordan told The Independent's Andrew Feinberg: "I think it’s going fine for the president -- the facts haven’t changed, the facts have always been on the president’s side.”
Republican Doug Collins begins opening the hearing by complaining about how cold it is inside the room where the impeachment proceedings are being held. He is also complaining about the seating arrangements, saying: "This seat is terrible!"
The Republicans' witness appears to argue the framers of the US Constitution would only support impeachment over a case of bribery if money was in fact exchanged, sharply contrasting the view of Professor Karlan.
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