Trump impeachment news: President will not take part in hearings as Congress poised to launch articles next week
White House calls impeachment an 'abuse of power' from Democrats as Supreme Court grants president an temporary hold on release of financial documents
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump won't participate in his upcoming impeachment hearings in Congress, his counsel says, forfeiting his ability to present evidence and call witnesses as House Democrats prepare articles of impeachment against the president.
Mr Trump faced a 5pm EST deadline (10pm GMT) deadline to indicate whether his team intends to mount a defence at further House Judiciary Committee proceedings.
His counsel Pat Cipollone called the impeachment hearings "baseless" and accused Democrats of an "abuse of power" — echoing sentiments from White House spokespeople over the last few weeks.
“Civilisation as we know it today is at stake in the next election, and certainly our planet,” House speaker Nancy Pelosi told a CNN town hall event in Washington on Thursday after making her historic announcement calling on Congress to commence the process.
The president was quick to lash out on Twitter, again inviting ridicule by calling for the CIA whistle-blower whose initial complaint prompted the inquiry to reveal themselves, as his lawyers continue to battle to stop the release of his tax returns to Congress.
Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court has granted a freeze on the release of the president's banking information, delaying a decision in that case until 13 December, when the court is set to discuss three cases involving subpoena requests for the president's financial documents and tax returns.
Follow our live coverage as it happened.
Trump blames 'Radical Left' for the 'evil of Drugs, Gangs and all other problems!'
This is pretty nutty - the president appears determined to push the line that the impeachment inquiry is holding up the government's legislative agenda and that the House Democrats are therefore responsible for all the ills of the world.
'Joe Biden's campaign gaffe wasn't good. But the way his team dealt with it was even worse'
For Indy Voices, Jay Caruso has this on Biden's bad day at the office yesterday.
Adam Schiff: 'Trump doesn’t give a s*** about what’s good for our country'
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff has given an interview to The New Yorker in which he says Trump "doesn’t give a s*** about what’s good for our country, what’s good for Ukraine".
"It’s all about what’s in it for him personally and for his re-election campaign," he continued.
House Republicans demand 'minority hearing day'
Doug Collins, the disruptive ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, has written to chairman Jerry Nadler demanding a "minority hearing day" for the opposition to call their own witnesses to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry.
White House praises 'heck of a good' report on latest jobs numbers
White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters that the latest national job numbers — showing payrolls spiking by 266,000 last month — are "spectacular" and likely to continue on that trend.
He said: "As I say and the way I look at it, America is working. America is working and not only is America working, America is getting paid after taxes."
Despite the positive outlook, wage growth remains stubbornly low, with income stability and reliable, available middle-income jobs still unattainable for many Americas.
Mr Ludlow also said president's impeachment hearings and the 2020 election aren't likely to shift negotiations with China over looming deadlines on a trade deal.
He said: "I don’t think this impeachment stuff is going anyplace. There may be an impeachment vote; there will be no conviction, that is my view. I think the Chinese know that. I think a lot of people know that. But putting those opinions aside, we have seen no evidence of that.”
A Republican senator was directed by the White House to block a resolution that condemns the killings of 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire's regime.
The Trump administration asked North Dakota Republican Ken Cramer to stall a vote on Thursday after the US president met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Nato summit in London.
The Independent's Chris Riotta has more:
Trump responds to the second US naval station shooting this week.
Here's the latest:
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White House: Trump's response to Giuliani's Ukraine visit is 'between Rudy and the president'
Donald Trump expects to respond to the House Judiciary's impeachment request by the end of the day, according to White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley.
Mr Gidley told reporters that questions concerning reports of his attorney Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine are "between Rudy and the president.”
Mr Gidley: “I haven’t spoken with him about that directly, but obviously Rudy Giuliani can speak for himself. He’s the president’s personal attorney.”
Mr Trump has until 5pm EST to respond to whether his team intends to mount a defence in the impeaching hearings.
Meanwhile, on Joe Biden's "No Malarkey!" tour in Iowa, the former vice president defends yesterday's dustup with a voter who accused him of sending his son to Ukraine for "access" and said he doesn't have "any more backbone than Trump does."
Mr Biden also pushed back about questions on his health and challenged the man to pushups and an IQ test.
Today, Mr Biden said the man's argument is "part of what is the opposition's case."
"It's not true," he said. "Trump's already spending 12 million bucks to send the same message, and there's nothing to the message. Anyway, I probably shouldn't have challenged him to pushups."
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