Trump news: House votes to send articles of impeachment against president for Senate hearing
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Your support makes all the difference.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has named her seven impeachment managers to prosecute the case against Donald Trump during his upcoming Senate trial.
Congress voted 228-193 to send the two articles of impeachment against the president to the Senate with Ms Pelosi's chosen House prosecutors.
The vote was predictably along party lines, with 192 of the "no" votes coming from Republicans, joined by only one Democrat.
Ms Pelosi's appointment of the case managers followed the release a trove of damning new evidence detailing the Trump administration’s efforts to extort a political favour from Ukraine obtained from Lev Parnas, a business associate of Rudy Giuliani, which has already prompted ex-US ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to call for a new investigation as it appeared Mr Giuliani's cronies had spied on her in Kiev.
Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler, who joins Adam Schiff and five other Democrats as part of the prosecution team headed to the Senate, said that if the Senate doesn't permit the introduction of all relevant witnesses and of all documents the House wants to introduce, "then the Senate is engaging in an unconstitutional and disgusting cover-up."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says a trial will likely begin on 21 January.
The Senate might consider witnesses after opening statements are made, Mr McConnell has said.
As the House debated before a vote, the president signed a "phase one" trade deal with China as part of an apparent easing of tensions between Washington and Beijing after the two exchanged retaliatory tariffs last year.
His "landmark" deal followed last night's address to fans in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he advocated the looting of Syria’s oilfields (a war crime), suggested 36th president Lyndon Johnson is in hell and raved about the problem of inadequate water pressure in American dishwashers, sinks and showers on another eccentric night at the podium.
Follow live coverage as it happened:
Who is Robert Hyde?
Last night's Parnas evidence introduced us to a new name in the Ukraine scandal: Robert F Hyde.
The man who appears to have been involved in spying on Marie Yovanovitch is known as a minor Republican donor and Trump fanatic who made his money in landscape gardening. He is currently running an unlikely campaign to unseat Democratic congresswoman Jahana Hayes in Connecticut (despite his own party asking him to step down for posting a sexist tweet about California senator Kamala Harris).
But David Corn of Mother Jones reports a stranger episode from Hyde's past: just last May he had to be taken into police custody at Trump's Miami Doral resort in Florida for his own protection after he claimed he feared for his life because the Secret Service and a hitman were after him.
Very odd.
He's clearly not handling his turn in the media spotlight well either, having tweeted a QAnon conspiracy about House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff today.
His Instagram account is also well worth checking out, providing a who's who of Trump World.
Mike Pence, Ivanka, Don Jr, Eric, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Michael Flynn, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy, Charlie Kirk - they're all in there.
One of Trump's key targets to lead trial against him
The man regularly mocked by Trump as "pencil-neck" and a "deranged human being" will lead the case against him in the president's impeachment trial in the Senate, House speaker Nancy Pelosi has just announced.
Alex Woodward has this on the redoubtable Adam Schiff.
Trump to sign 'phase one' of new trade deal with China
This is the scene at the White House as the president hosts Chinese vice premier Liu He to sign off on their new trade agreement.
The ceremony appears to have been delayed but guests are currently being treated to some soothing piano as they take their seats.
The Republicans are so excited they're taking selfies.
US-China trade 'deal' lacks teeth, critics say
Following Nancy Pelosi's announcement of House managers to lead the impeachment trial against him, Donald Trump announced "phase one" of an anticipated and delayed trade deal between the US and China.
The announcement follows years of heated negotiations and billions of dollars in tariffs between the two economic powerhouses, but it stops short of a formal trade agreement that the administration sought in its trade war with China.
Among the agreements in this phase of a deal, the US aims to prevent China from acquiring US technology to build rivals abroad. But the deal doesn't address structural changes and is largely unenforceable, analysts say.
Its biggest sell is getting China to commit to purchasing $200 billion in US goods over two years, including $40 billion in agriculture products, but the significant blow to American farmers since the trade war began will take time to be repaired while China begins making its supposed commitments.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the deal "an extreme disappointment" with the president "conceding our leverage for vague, unenforceable 'promises' China never intends to fulfill."
Mike Pompeo cancels meeting after US officials demand State Department documents
The House Foreign Affairs committee wants the State Department to turn over provide "documents, information, and a briefing from senior officials" after yesterday's "profoundly alarming dialogue" between Lev Parnas and Trump Donald Robert Hyde including threats to impeachment witness Marie Yovanovtich.
Today, the State Department was set to brief Congress on embassy security following alleged threats to the US ahead of the killing of Iran's top general.
Secretary Mike Pompeo just cancelled the hearing.
House begins debate to send impeachment articles to Senate
This morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the six House managers who will act as prosecutors in Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate.
Now, New York Congressman Jerry Nadler — one of those appointed managers – is leading debate on a resolution to send the impeachment articles and establish rules for the managers.
He said "the Senate is on trial" as it faces the responsibility to lead a fair proceeding with witnesses and documents.
Republican Congressman Doug Collins said the impeachment resembles a "Dr Seuss book".
House Republicans debate impeachment before articles head to Senate
Republican opposition to Donald Trump's impeachment is once again tied to Democratic process and the president's own claims that he is innocent and not hundreds of pages of evidence and testimony that say otherwise.
Doug Collins and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy claim impeachment was purely politically motivated and "an exercise in raw, partisan politics," McCarthy said.
He said that if Republicans were to resume control of the House, "the rule of law would come back."
Pelosi takes House floor: 'Do me a favour? What is this, do you paint houses, too?'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after announcing the prosecutors who will lead Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate, compared congress members' crossing through a "very important threshold in American history" to Paul Revere and repeated her claims that a Senate dismissal of impeachment amounts to a cover-up of the crimes committed by the president.
Of Trump's request to the president of Ukraine to "do me a favour, though" and investigate Joe Biden and his son in exchange for military aid, Ms Pelosi compared the pressure to a mafia hit.
"What is this, do you 'paint houses' too?" she said, invoking the hitman phrase recently used in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman.
She also defended her statement that an impeachment is permanent after Republicans criticised her remarks:
"Once a person is impeached, they are always impeached", she said. "That cannot be erased. I stand by that comment, although you don't like hearing it."
Trump signs 'landmark' first phase of China trade deal amid tariffs war
Donald Trump has signed a “phase one” trade deal with China at the White House as part of an apparent easing of tensions between Washington and Beijing after the two exchanged retaliatory tariffs last year.
The president signed the agreement with China’s Vice Premier Liu He during a ceremony on Wednesday, describing it as a “landmark” deal that would benefit American farmers.
The phase one deal comes as Mr Trump’s administration has reportedly agreed to suspend new tariffs against Beijing in exchange for China purchasing $200bn (£153.5bn) worth of goods and services from the country over the next two years.
House votes to send articles of impeachment, managers to Senate
Congress voted 228-193 to send to the Senate the two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, who is charged with abuses of power and obstruction of Congress in its investigation of his dealings with Ukraine.
The House also assigned seven Democrats as case managers to act as the prosecution in the president's trial.
The vote was predictably along party lines, with 192 of the "no" votes coming from Republicans, joined by only one Democrat, Collin Peterson of Minnesota.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he anticipates starting a trial on 21 January.
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