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As it happenedended

Trump news - live: White House sends threatening letter to Bolton, as key witness unexpectedly appears at impeachment trial

Follow the latest updates, as they happened

Clark Mindock
New York
,Joe Sommerlad
Wednesday 29 January 2020 18:35 GMT
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'You did a good job on her' Trump praises Pompeo after he is accused of bullying female journalist

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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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But who will be headlining the event?

The Bernie Sanders campaign has announced that it is teaming up with musical group The Strokes for a get out the vote rally in New Hampshire on the eve of the upcoming primary there.

The presidential candidate announced the Feb 10 concern on Wednesday, tweeting out a message to his 10 million followers that the NYC band will be at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham.

It's got some dope artwork, too.

Clark Mindock29 January 2020 20:57

Stating the obvious...

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner has urged senators not to call on further witnesses in the impeachment trial because it would "take more time".

While that is literally true, Mr Kushner's urging comes after a New York Times report indicated that John Bolton has written a book specifically tying the president to a threat to withhold military help to Ukraine unless the country launched an investigation into Donald Trump's political rival Joe Biden.

That report has, in turn, led to further calls for Mr Bolton to be subpoenaed to testify — which he has signaled a willingness to do.

"I think it would be unfortunate because it's just going to take more time," Mr Kushner said during an appearance on 'Fox & Friends'. 

"The American people don't want Congress focusing on this hoax that they've been putting on."

Clark Mindock29 January 2020 21:27
Clark Mindock29 January 2020 21:57

Trump impeachment lawyer criticized for 'very odd' legal theory

From The Independent's Washington Bureau Chief John T Bennett:

Clark Mindock29 January 2020 22:22

Dominic Raab and Mike Pompeo meet

Clark Mindock29 January 2020 22:35

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