Trump news - live: White House sends threatening letter to Bolton, as key witness unexpectedly appears at impeachment trial
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has raged at his ex-national security adviser John Bolton, saying the Ukraine claims made in his forthcoming new memoir are “nonsense” and declaring he would have started “World War Six” if he had not been removed from office last September as the Republican effort to discredit him continues.
A new poll by Quinnipiac University has meanwhile found that 75 per cent of Americans want to hear from Mr Bolton at the president’s Senate impeachment trial as GOP majority leader Mitch McConnell is forced to admit he does not currently have the votes to stop Democrats calling new witnesses to speak out.
And, as fallout has continued to come in from Mr Bolton's apparent book, a letter was released showing that the White House attempted to stop it from being published before the leaked manuscript, arguing that it contains classified information (others have pointed out that Mr Bolton has a long history handling US classified information, so it may be questionable that he would actually include such information in a book write-up).
President Trump delivered his latest Keep America Great rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, last night after unveiling his highly controversial two-state solution to bring peace to the Middle East at the White House, which was cheered by Israel but met with angry protests by Palestinians.
During the ongoing impeachment efforts on Wednesday, Mr Trump's lawyers argued that because the president believes it to be in the country's best interest to win re-election, he could not have done anything wrong by encouraging an investigation into his rival by a foreign government.
And, Lev Parnas showed up at the US Capitol demanding that he be called as a witness in the Senate.
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Trump, Rudy Giuliani rage at John Bolton as 75 per cent of voters want testimony
Donald Trump has raged at his ex-national security adviser John Bolton, saying the Ukraine claims made in his forthcoming new memoir are “nonsense” while his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, called the ousted foreign policy hawk “a backstabber” as the Republican effort to discredit him continues.
Kentucky senator Rand Paul suggested on Tuesday that Bolton is "disgruntled" and seeking to make money off his White House service - an argument also made by the president on Twitter, which Democrats have since argued was the moment Trump ceded his hopes of blocking Bolton's appearance as a witness by attacking him directly.
Another GOP senator, John Cornyn of Texas, also tried to dismiss the significance of Bolton's claim in the draft of The Room Where It Happened that the president explicitly told him the decision to withhold military aid to Kiev was tied to the country's president announcing a corruption investigation into Joe Biden. "I don't think it sheds any new light on the facts," he said.
Pouring valuable scorn on all of this was Fox News's legal expert Andrew Napolitano, who pointed out that Bolton was "a conservative icon until two days ago".
A new poll by Quinnipiac University has meanwhile found that 75 per cent of Americans want to hear from Mr Bolton at the president’s Senate impeachment trial:
Mitch McConnell admits he does not have votes to block witnesses
The overwhelming public backing for new impeachment witnesses - not just Bolton but other key figures believed to be in the know like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, his aide Rob Blair and budget official Michael Duffey - leaves Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell in a bind.
Yesterday, he was forced to admit he does not currently have the votes to stop the Democrats issuing fresh subpoenas, indicating that at least four GOP senators are prepared to defect on the issue to back the opposition cause and give them a majority.
Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Lamar Alexander are believed to be the quartet in question.
McConnell's opposite number - Chuck Schumer - told CNN yesterday that there could be as many as a dozen GOP defectors if they dare to defy their leader in the chamber:
Alex Woodward has more on this.
Defence rests at Senate impeachment trial
The president's legal team completed its defence of him in the Senate on Tuesday, wrapping in just 90 minutes as counsel Pat Cipollone stressed the need to "end the era of impeachment", arguing it "should end now, as quickly as possible" without the extension that new witnesses would mean.
Attorneys Jay Sekulow and Alan Derschowitz used their time to join in the attempt to shoot down the significance of Bolton.
Impeachment "is not a game of leaks and unsourced manuscripts," Sekulow said.
Speaking afterwards, Oklahoma GOP senator James Lankford floated the idea - backed by South Carolina's Lindsey Graham - to subpoena Bolton's book manuscript so senators can see the evidence themselves in private.
Schumer called the proposal "absurd" and noted that it would prevent the former aide from testifying in public.
Other Republicans, including Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, have suggested a trade that would bring in Bolton or another Democratic witness in exchange for one sought by the GOP side such as Hunter Biden or even Joe Biden.
"We're not bargaining with them," Schumer said. "We want four witnesses... then the truth will come out."
With opening arguments over, the case now moves to the written question phase, with senators on both sides getting 16 hours to pose them to the House managers and defence team via presiding chief justice John Roberts. A vote on witnesses is expected as soon as Friday.
Republicans were warned yesterday that even if they agreed to call Bolton to testify, the White House would seek to block him, a response certain to spark a lengthy court battle over executive privilege and national security.
Here's John T Bennett's report from Washington.
President serves up smears, bogus claims at New Jersey rally
President Trump delivered his latest Keep America Great rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, last night, a location picked as a thank you to Democratic defector Jeff Van Drew after he rebelled against his party over the impeachment vote in December and came out as a Republican.
The president's speech was noticeably shorter than usual and he barely mentioned impeachment (he saved that for Twitter, calling it "just another political CON JOB") but he did find time to accuse the Obama administration of "chosing not to" address the Aids virus while taking credit for its Veteran's Choice healthcare legislation.
He also sought to whip up hysteria about sanctuary cities and undocumented migrants, saying they amount to communities full of "dangerous predators", and revived bogus claims about Mexico paying for his border wall and introducing a middle-income tax cut, something he had also pledged before the 2018 Midterms that has yet to materialise.
During Fox's broadcast from Wildwood, the network cut away as Trump flubbed his lines but not before audible laughter was heard from the studio.
An interesting gaffe given the president's attack on his favourite broadcaster just yesterday ("What the hell has happened to Fox News?" he asked, after griping about them having the audacity to interview a Democrat, senator Chris Van Hollen).
Here's Alex Woodward again.
Trump fans camp overnight in freezing cold for New Jersey rally
Say what you like about the president but no matter how boorish his behaviour or nakedly obvious his corruption, he continues to inspire huge loyalty among his base.
This was the scene at the Wildwood Convention Center last night.
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(Seth Wenig/AP)
(Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer/AP)
(Stephanie Keith/Reuters)
(Stephanie Keith/Reuters)
(Stephanie Keith/Reuters)
(Leah Millis/Reuters)
(Stephanie Keith/Reuters)
(Stephanie Keith/Reuters)
Alex Woodward has this on the wretched souls who camped out overnight in freezing temperatures to catch a glimpse of their orange icon.
Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu unveil vision for two-state solution in Middle East
All this and we haven't had time to address the Trumpster's "Vision for Peace" in the Middle East, which he unveiled at the White House yesterday with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the president's conceptual map, Jerusalem would be under total Israeli control, which would deny Palestinians their aspiration to have the whole of east Jerusalem as their capital. “But that’s no big deal,” Trump joked as he unveiled it, “because I already did that for you."
“We will never ask Israel to compromise its security,” he continued. “Can’t do that.”
The 181-page document the pair presented carves out a Palestinian state in Gaza and parts of the West Bank but would allow Israel to annex the Jordan Valley and nearly all of its settlements in the occupied territory.
Here's Bel Trew and John T Bennett to dig into the details.
Palestinian leaders vehemently reject Trump’s long-awaited peace plan
The reaction among Palestianians to the president's self-described "win-win" solution to secure a "new dawn" for the region was very much what you'd expect, with its leadership calling the plan "the slap of the century".
"I say to Trump and Netanyahu: Jerusalem is not for sale; all our rights are not for sale and are not for bargain. And your deal, the conspiracy, will not pass,” Mahmoud Abbas said in a televised address from Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, in Gaza City, crowds shouting, “Trump is a fool, Palestine is not for sale!” waved Palestinian flags while they burnt pictures of him and Netanyahu.
Bel Trew, Ahmed Aboudouh and John T Bennett have this.
Trump resumes attack on John Bolton: 'If I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now'
The president is out of bed and picking up his assault on his ex-national security adviser some gusto:
Trump has since retweeted several earlier attacks on Bolton and added this, which is, in his own words, "nonsense".
He himself ordered members of his administration not to co-operate with the House investigation and new evidence has continued to come to light since the investigative stage of the process was completed.
He's clearly very angry this morning.
Chris Riotta has the latest.
Joe Biden: Trump is 'scared to death I'll be the nominee'
Here's Clark Mindock with the latest on the Democratic 2020 race, where the front-runner has seized on comments made by Iowa's Republican senator Joni Ernst - questioning the impeachment trial's knock-on effect on his credibility - to make the case for his candidacy ahead of next week's state caucus.
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