Trump news: Ken Starr blasted for hypocrisy for bemoaning 'political impeachment' as key Republicans signal they could turn on president
President's trial defence continues with arguments from former Clinton prosecutor as legal team attacks Joe Biden
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Twenty years after leading the impeachment efforts against Bill Clinton, Ken Starr made his debut on the Senate floor in defence of Donald Trump, while two Republican senators admit that John Bolton's testimony is becoming "increasingly likely" following bombshell revelations in the former national security chief's book.
The president reacted angrily after the manuscript Mr Bolton's book was leaked in which the former aide claims the president told him the decision to withhold military assistance to Ukraine last summer was explicitly tied to demands for an investigation into Joe Biden.
"If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book," Mr Trump tweeted, arguing that the House should have subpoenaed Mr Bolton when it was gathering evidence in November (it did), prompting impeachment manager Adam Schiff to say the revelation "blasts another hole" in his counsel's defence.
Senator Mitt Romney said Mr Bolton's revelations are "relevant" and that he would like to hear them on the Senate floor.
Susan Collins of Maine echoed Mr Romney's concerns and said that Mr Bolton's claims "strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues".
All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment
Show all 6
Mr Starr was widely criticised for his defence and accused of contradicting his own arguments he made as a prosecutor. He derided the impeachment of Mr Trump over a lack of bipartisan support and claimed that the president was afforded executive privilege allowing him to withhold documents and testimony from subpoenas.
The president's defence also attacked Joe Biden and his son Hunter for what they argued was his corrupt role on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Meanwhile, Fox host Chris Wallace railed against a contributor he told to "get your facts straight" on air as the talking heads squabbled over the admission of evidence in the Clinton trial compared to the Trump proceedings.
Back at the White House, Mr Trump hosted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opposition counterpart Benny Gantz for briefing on his plans to bring peace to the Middle East.
The president intends to announce those plans on Tuesday amid widespread criticism and calls for boycotts from Palestinians, who have largely been ignored from US-led discussions over the region's future.
Follow live coverage as it happened:
Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of the Donald Trump administration.
New John Bolton claim provokes angry reaction from president
Donald Trump has reacted angrily after the manuscript of ex-national security adviser John Bolton’s new book was leaked, in which the former aide claims the president told him the decision to withhold military assistance to Ukraine last summer was explicitly tied to demands for an investigation into Joe Biden.
“If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book,” Trump tweeted, as the revelation ramped up pressure on Republican senators to allow for new witnesses to be called to his impeachment trial, which resumes today with the president’s counsel continuing to make the case for the defence.
Bolton's account was first reported by The New York Times and is due to appear in The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, which is slated for release on 17 March.
When The NYT's report went online Sunday night, the seven House Democratic managers immediately called on all senators to insist that Bolton be called as a witness and provide his notes and other relevant documents. Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, issued the same call.
Bolton, who acrimoniously left the White House a day before Trump ultimately released the Ukraine aid on 11 September, has already told lawmakers that he is willing to testify, despite the president's order barring aides from cooperating in the probe.
"Americans know that a fair trial must include both the documents and witnesses blocked by the president - that starts with Mr Bolton," the impeachment managers said in a statement.
For his part, Bolton's lawyer Charles Cooper said his client had no part in the leak, submitting the draft to the National Security Council's Records Management Division to review its contents for classified information on 30 December, which is standard practice for former government officials writing books.
“It is clear, regrettably, from The New York Times article published today that the prepublication review process has been corrupted and that information has been disclosed by persons other than those involved in reviewing the manuscript," Cooper said in a statement.
Here's Andrew Buncombe's report.
What's happening at the impeachment trial today?
Trump's legal team will continue to lay out its case in depth on Monday, turning to several high-profile attorneys to argue against impeachment. The lawyers revealed the broad outlines of their defence in a rare but truncated Saturday session, in which they accused House Democrats of using the impeachment case to try to undo the results of the last presidential election and drive Trump from office.
The legal team is expected to pick up on that theme and also dive into areas that received negligible attention during the Democrats' presentation, including the now-concluded investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign.
The president's lawyers aren't expected to take as much time for their arguments as the Democrats, whose impeachment managers spoke for about 24 hours over three days. But they also don't need to: acquittal is likely in a Senate where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, with a two-thirds vote needed for conviction. Still, they see an opportunity to counter the allegations, defend the powers of the presidency and prevent Trump from being weakened politically ahead of November's election.
Trump faces two articles of impeachment. One accuses him of abusing his power by asking Ukraine to investigate Biden at the same time that his administration withheld $391m (£302m) from the country. The other alleges that Trump obstructed Congress by directing aides to not co-operate with the impeachment inquiry.
The legal team will portray Trump as having been harassed by investigations from federal agents - and Democrats - since he took office and seize on the FBI's recent acknowledgment of surveillance errors during the Russia probe. The lawyers have already hinted that they will focus attention on Biden just as he campaigns for a first-place finish in next week's Iowa caucuses.
Monday's presentation is expected to include appearances by Alan Dershowitz, who will argue that impeachable offences require criminal-like conduct, and Ken Starr, the independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation that led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi is also expected to make arguments.
Many legal scholars reject Dershowitz's arguments, saying the Founding Fathers meant for impeachable offences to incorporate a broad range of conduct by presidents. Dershowitz told the AP last week that he understood that some critics thought his argument was "bonkers" but encouraged them to listen nonetheless. He was also put to the sword on the matter by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday over the weekend, as his current position completely contradicts his stance during the Clinton era.
Democrats argued their side of the impeachment case for three days last week, warning that Trump will persist in abusing his power and endangering American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election.
On Saturday, the president's attorneys said there was no evidence that Trump made the military aid contingent on the country announcing an investigation into Biden. They also accused Democrats of omitting information that was favorable to Trump's case.
Once Trump's team concludes, senators will have 16 hours to ask questions of both the House impeachment prosecutors and the president's legal team. Their questions must be in writing and Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been presiding over the trial, will read them aloud.
Wyoming Republican John Barrasso told reporters on Saturday that Republicans expected to get together on Monday to start formulating a list of questions. "We will meet as a conference and decide what questions we want to pose, what the order may be of those of those questions," he said.
After the question-and-answer time has elapsed, the Senate will take up the question of whether to consider new witnesses and evidence - a question that could be more politically complicated with the account in Bolton's book. Four Republicans would have to break ranks to join Democrats to extend the trial for an undetermined amount of time. Democrats have been especially seeking testimony from Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
An attempt to call either probably would lead to a showdown with the White House, which claims both men have "absolute immunity" from being called to testify before the Senate, even in an impeachment trial.
'Attacks and half-truths: The president’s impeachment defence strategy is vintage Trump'
Here's John T Bennett with some timely analysis of what we've heard so far from the president's legal team on the Senate floor - and how the man himself is firefighting the situation on Twitter.
Trump hosting Israeli leaders at White House to discuss Middle East peace
Before the impeachment trial gets back underway, the president will host Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opposition counterpart Benny Gantz at the White House for a briefing on his plans to bring peace to the Middle East.
These back-to-back sessions will be followed by Trump and Bibi delivering joint remarks on Tuesday, at which the president could make his solution to resolve one of the world's most intractable problems public.
The two days of foreign policy meetings will provide Trump with a distraction from his Senate trial but whether it truly will jumpstart the long-stalled effort to bring Israelis and Palestinians together is far from certain.
Palestinians have refused to engage the Trump administration on the effort and roundly denounced a $50bn ($38bn) economic revival plan it set forth last July to lift the Palestinian and neighboring Arab state economies. Palestinians fear the plan will dash their hopes for an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The White House hope was reportedly that, if Trump could get the support of both Netanyahu and Gantz for the plan, it would help provide some momentum. A US official said Trump wants to know both Netanyahu and Gantz are on board with the plan before announcing it. Trump's message to both: "You have six weeks to get this going, if you want it," the official said.
Having both leaders present helps take the politics out of the effort, said another source: "The rationale... is it depoliticises this to the point that, no matter what happens on 2 March [when Israel next goes to the polls], the two leaders of the two largest parties can potentially be supportive."
The Trump plan is the product of three years' effort by senior advisers Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz, as well as Jason Greenblatt, who left the government last autumn. Trump last year had hoped to release his secret proposal aimed at triggering negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, but was forced to delay it as Netanyahu struggled to form a governing coalition. The proposal, more than 50 pages long, aims to take on some of the most difficult issues separating the two, such as the status of Jerusalem. Palestinians want the city's eastern part as their future capital.
Trump and Netanyahu pictured in March 2019 signing a proclamation recognising the Golan Heights as Israeli territory (Brendan Smialowksi/AFP/Getty)
Talking to reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, the president said he was eager to release his plan. "They say that's the hardest of all deals. I love doing deals," he said.
Netanyahu faces political and legal troubles at home as he heads for his third election in less than a year and was indicted on criminal charges in November. He denies any wrongdoing.
Netanyahu's principal domestic political rival, Gantz, a centrist former general who leads the Blue and White Party, last week lifted his objection to having the peace plan published before Israel's March election. He had previously seen it as interference in the vote.
"I am looking forward to meeting the president - a president of utmost friendliness to the state of Israel - on a matter that is very important for the state of Israel - with national, strategic and security ramifications," Gantz told reporters as he landed in Washington on Sunday.
"We will hold a back-and-forth, get to know one another, and take it from there."
But Trump, preoccupied with November's re-election bid, faces his own political clock, and can ill afford to wait months for Israel to decide its next prime minister, a US official commented.
Additional reporting by Reuters
President pays tribute to late NBA star Kobe Bryant
In addition to denouncing the John Bolton news, Trump also took to Twitter last night to pay his respects on the death of NBA star Kobe Bryant and his teenage daughter Gianna after the pair were among nine killed when a helicopter crashed near Calabasas, California, on Sunday.
Here's Lawrence Ostlere and Tom Kershaw with more on Bryant, a giant of the game.
Trump appears to threaten Adam Schiff: 'He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!'
Also highly noteworthy from Trump's Twitter feed this weekend was this tweet (one of many) about House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff:
The Democrats' lead impeachment manager duly appeared on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd and was asked whether he considered the president's message "a threat".
"I think it is intended to be," he answered.
Trump was clearly watching the exchange and continued to troll his arch-antagonist (and Todd).
Here's what else the redoubtable Schiff had to say.
Mike Pompeo erupts at NPR journalist over Ukraine
Also causing a stir over the weekend was secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who reportedly "screamed obscenities" at National Public Radio (NPR) reporter Mary Louise Kennedy when she asked him about Marie Yovanovitch and the administration's actions towards Ukraine, rather than Iran as he had hoped, prompting him to lose his temper and claim she couldn't find the Eastern European nation on a map.
The story prompted the president to ask what NPR was even for...
...and CNN anchor Don Lemon to break down into tears of laughter during a segment discussing the idiocy of it all with pundits Wajahat Ali and Rick Wilson.
Here's Matt Drake on Pompeo, who will be in the UK this week and had warned Britain against doing business with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.
Trump up early to firefight Bolton bombshell with lie
The president can't have had more than a five-hour sleep last night, judging by the time between tweets, but is already up and lying about Bolton.
The House did intend to call him as a witness during the investigative stage of the inquiry, but he replied at the time he would only comply with a subpoena after it was backed up by the courts, a process that threatened to take months, prompting them to reluctantly abandon the idea.
Here's a little more on renewed calls for the Senate to compel him to do the right thing after he indicated he had changed his mind on the matter.
Spiritual adviser under fire for 'Satanic pregnancies' sermon
Trump became the first president in American history to attend a March for Life rally in person on Friday, pledging to "protect the unborn" from DC's National Mall as he pursues Christian support ahead of November's election.
Over the weekend, a clip of his spiritual adviser Paula White calling on higher powers to end "Satanic pregnancies" in miscarriage went viral, a disturbing address that provoked an inevitable backlash.
Here's Greg Evans with more for Indy100.
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