Trump news: President gives rambling speech at UN after Ukraine call memo released, as Senate receives whistleblower complaint
Document shows president asked Ukrainian leader to talk to Giuliani about investigation
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s tumultuous day began with the release of a memo describing a phone call which could end his presidency, and ended with a weary rambling speech characterised by boasts, false claims and self pity.
If the president thought releasing the partial transcript would silence his critics, as he seemed to hope, he could not have been more wrong.
While his supporters claimed the memo exonerated him, his opponents insisted that it was even more damning than they had feared.
The call showed him asking his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Joe Biden, who could face Mr Trump in next year’s presidential election, immediately after discussing the military aid Kiev needs to protect itself against a Russian-backed insurgency.
They also talked disparagingly about the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled after apparently falling foul of the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Mr Trump apparently told the Ukrainian president: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”
After appearing at an awkward media conference with the Ukrainian president himself on the edges of the UN general assembly, Mr Trump addressed the press himself.
In a low-energy performance, he insisted that the accusations against him were a Democrat “hoax” timed to embarrass him in front of the world’s leaders, boasted about his accomplishments, accused Mr Biden and his son of being corrupt and assured a Venezuelan journalist that he was watching developments in her country closely.
Updates below...
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“Nancy Pelosi unfortunately as far as I’m concerned, she’s no longer the speaker of the House,” the president said at the end of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a day after she launched an formal impeachment inquiry into the president over a controversial phone call he made to the foreign leader.
Here's video from that wild press conference of Donald Trump shooting down claims he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into his 2020 rival Joe Biden:
Donald Trump's incendiary ending to that press conference between he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should not be overlooked. The president just said that, in his view, Nancy Pelosi is no longer the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
The Independent's Andrew Buncombe has more on that astonishing press conference that just played out:
Donald Trump has been spending the day sharing a whole lot of stuff like this on Twitter, including posts from his allies in Congress and his own family members. The president reportedly was shocked that Nancy Pelosi moved forward with her official impeachment inquiry after a phone call he had with the US House Speaker on Tuesday.
Matt Gaetz, a conservative Florida Republican, is perhaps one of the president's closest allies on Capitol Hill. Here he is lambasting Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party over its decision to impeach the president -
An explosive new report says the acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign - and it's getting swift pushback from the White House -
A whistleblower complaint that has triggered a renewed impeachment effort in the House will be available to some members and staff of congressional intelligence committees on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The House and Senate intelligence committees have been working to pry loose the complaint, which was withheld from Congress and started a firestorm over President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Lawmakers were hoping to review the complaint before hearings on Thursday with Acting Director of national Intelligence Joseph Maguire, and they have been negotiating with his agency to see it. The people were granted anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations.
The complaint is in part related to a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
AP
California Democrat Ted Lieu has released the following statement about the controversial call between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president that has led to an official impeachment inquiry:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seemingly looked nervous when Donald Trump began discussing his country's relationship with Russia, as seen in this video below:
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