Trump news: President vows to be 'unborn' children's strongest defender at abortion rally as impeachment trial gets back underway
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has bemoaned the Senate impeachment trial rules set by Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell after realising the first day of his defence team’s opening argument will take place on Saturday, “which is called Death Valley in TV”, he noted, because viewer ratings are likely to be lower than they would be on a week night.
On Friday afternoon Mr Trump made history by becoming the first sitting president to attend the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington, DC, as he seeks to shore up conservative support ahead of November’s election.
Just before that speech, his administration announced that it would cut federal funding streams to California unless the liberal state revokes rules that require abortion coverage by health insurers.
During Mr Trump's speech to the anti-abortion group, he drew attention for claiming that unborn babies had never had a "stronger defender" in history, and pledged to maintain his support for religious liberties.
The Democratic impeachment managers have meanwhile continued to make the case against the president in the upper chamber on Thursday, focusing on abuse of power and accusing the administration and Fox News of pursuing “completely bogus, Kremlin-pushed” conspiracy theories as a pretext to cheat in 2020 by leaning on Ukraine for a political favour to damage possible rival Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced that dozens of US service members who were present when Iran attacked an Iraqi base suffered from brain injuries, contradicting Mr Trump's previous comments that they simply had headaches after the blast.
Many of those soldiers were transported to the United States for treatment, while others were taken to Germany.
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Trump pushes ancient Steele Dossier conspiracy theory, complains his defence lawyers will get poor ratings
"So had bad & illegal is that?" the president asks, after extensively quoting an ex-federal prosecutor alleging FBI snooping on his administration.
He's now moaning about the fact that the first day of his legal team's rebuttal comes on a Saturday, when he expects audience numbers to be way down...
...and using Biden's words against him.
That point about Saturday being "Death Valley" for TV ratings betrays his obsession with the subject, a hangover from his Apprentice days, as well as his preoccupation with his status as a perennial political victim, despite his own stooge, Mitch McConnell, setting the rules for the trial.
This is just paranoid raving.
Trump imposes visa restrictions on pregnant women to target 'criminal' birth tourism
Clark Mindock has this on another attempt by the administration to police's women's bodies - this time as an anti-immigration measure.
Kamala Harris 'considering' Joe Biden endorsement
The California senator and former state attorney general, who was forced to drop out of the 2020 race in December due to lack of funds, is reportedly considering backing the Democratic front-runner, according to The New York Times.
For now, Harris "remains focused on the ongoing impeachment trial" but her backing would represent a major coup for Biden.
“No decisions have been made about whether she will endorse, which candidate, nor when an endorsement decision will be made,” her spokesman Chris Harris (no relation?) told The NYT.
‘The Constitution is not a suicide pact’
What a superb line that is from Jerry Nadler. “It does not leave us stuck with presidents who abuse their power in unforeseen ways that threaten our security and democracy," he continued.
"Until recently, it did not occur to me that our president would call a foreign leader and demand a sham investigation meant to kneecap his political opponents, all in exchange for releasing vital military aid that the president was already required by law to provide.”
Here's a little more on yesterday's prosecution effort, where the intentions of the Founding Fathers were again poured over with no little passion.
Trump seeks to distract with new Obama meme
Kate Ng has more on that witless attempt by the president to divert attention from the Senate impeachment trial.
Trump says Schumer 'never had what it takes'
In the last hour, Trump has continued his never-ending retweeting spree and turned his fire and fury on poor old Chuck Schumer.
His target has been on barn-storming form this week and tweeted this last night:
Rudy Giuliani says damning Lev Parnas phone records only proof that he is 'a very hard-working lawyer'
The president's personal attorney has been on Fox and Friends this morning and again proves himself to be a liability.
"They want to kill me", he says, before clarifying that he meant reputationally, not literally.
"[Viktor] Shokin they're trying to really kill..." he continues, alluding alarmingly to the former Ukrainian prosecutor general Joe Biden objected to in 2016.
Trump brags about 2020 poll that completely ignores his biggest competition
Among Trump's polling tweets last night was one in support for his candidacy in Florida, ranking him favourably against the 2020 Democratic field.
But there was one major omission from his natty little chart.
Louis Staples has more for Indy100.
Democratic counsel says Jay Sekulow argument contradicts Justice Dept stance on Don McGahn
House Democrats last night wrote to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit arguing that comments made by the president's defence lawyer Jay Sekulow in the impeachment trial contradicted arguments used by Trump's own Department of Justice (DOJ) to block ex-White House counsel Don McGahn from giving testimony.
Sekulow questioned from the Senate floor this week why the Democratic-led inquiry had not pursued their requests for additional testimony - stonewalled by the White House on Trump's orders - through the courts.
“The president’s opponents, in their rush to impeach, have refused to wait for judicial review,” he declared.
But the DOJ has argued that federal judges should not get invovled in disputes between Congress and the executive as a reason to silence McGahn, a key recurring character in the Mueller report, who spent 30 hours being interviewed about the firing of then-FBI director James Comey from the Russia investigation and other matters by the special counsel.
“President Trump’s arguments in the impeachment trial contradict DOJ’s assertion in this case that the Committee may not seek to enforce its subpoenas in court,” House counsel Douglas Letter wrote to the court.
“In light of President Trump’s argument, it is not clear whether DOJ still maintains its position that courts are barred from considering subpoena-enforcement suits brought by the House," he continued. "At the very least, President Trump’s recognition that courts should resolve such suits undermines DOJ’s contrary threshold arguments in this case, which seek to prevent the House and its committees from seeking judicial resolution of subpoena-enforcement disputes.”
“The executive branch cannot have it both ways.”
A three-judge panel is expected to rule on the House Judiciary Committee's months-long fight to subpeona McGahn imminently.
'No, no America': Thousands march in Iraq to demand US forces leave
Thousands of protesters marched in Baghdad on Friday calling for American troops to leave Iraq, a show of anger at the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a targeted US drone strike on 3 January.
Richard Hall has the full story.
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