Trump news: House takes major step towards impeachment, as Democrats debate in Houston

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Trump says he plans to ban flavoured e-cigarettes: 'People are dying with vaping'

The top 10 Democrats in the presidential race faced each other in yet another 2020 showdown, with Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren meeting head-to-head for the first time in the primary season.

The debate comes following a busy day in Washington, where the House Judiciary Committee approved a key resolution as it gears up towards potential impeachment of Donald Trump. The resolution has defined the boundaries of a probe that Democrats hope could lead to said impeachment, and potentially his removal from office. The move allows the committee to designate certain hearings as impeachment hearings, and empower staff to question witnesses for a longer period of time.

Mr Trump travelled to Baltimore today for a Republican fundraising event and the House Republican Conference member retreat dinner.

During the debates, Ms Warren and Mr Biden were joined by the likes of Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Andrew Yang.

The debate saw an illustration of their differences on healthcare policy, with Ms Warren and Mr Sanders advocating for Medicare for All, while many of the others advocating for a less aggressive approach.

Mr Trump has a quiet day scheduled for Friday, meeting for an intelligence briefing in the morning, before then meeting with the secretary of Defense in the afternoon.

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Key Points

• House passes resolution on guidelines for potential impeachment proceedings
• Supreme Court rules Trump administration can bar most Central American asylum-seekers

[13 September 2019 03:47 · Phil Thomas]

The protesters who interrupted Joe Biden earlier were reportedly shouting: "We are DACA recipients. Our lives are at risk!"

[13 September 2019 03:48 · Phil Thomas]

And that brings the third Democratic debate to an end - stay tuned for analysis on who the big winners, and the big losers, were on the night.

[13 September 2019 03:54 · Phil Thomas]

It was the first time the 10 main contenders had faced off on stage together, meaning we were almost certainly seeing the eventual Democrat challenger to Donald Trump - and it was often an intense and bad-tempered affair. But who came out best? Clark Mindock gives the contenders the once-over:

[13 September 2019 04:17 · Phil Thomas]

One issue grabbing attention had only a tangential link to the debate itself - an attack ad running in the commercial slots targeting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. While she's used to being a target of conservative attacks, the latest one is particularly shocking.

The advert - apparently released by a group called New Faces GOP - shows a picture of AOC on fire against footage of blindfolded skulls. The implication is that the Democratic congresswoman's avowed socialism and policies like the Green New Deal and universal healthcare will lead inevitably to scenes akin to the killing fields created by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s.

Clark Mindock has the story:

[13 September 2019 04:22 · Phil Thomas]

AOC had her own take on the disturbing ad:

[13 September 2019 04:26 · Phil Thomas]

Joe Biden was at the centre of the most intense clashes tonight, but he probably did enough to keep his frontrunner status, says Andrew Buncombe, who was inside Texas Southern University to watch events unfold.

[13 September 2019 04:40 · Phil Thomas]

While the Democrats slugged it out in Texas, Donald Trump was giving a speech to a dinner of Republican supporters in Baltimore, a city he recently described as a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" where "no human being would want to live" - not a slogan the city's tourist board is likely to adopt any time soon.

In a rambling 68-minute speech, he boasted about slashing regulations - including the Waters of the United States legislation that protected America's waterways from pollution - said his tax cuts had saved the average family $3,000 a year, and once again tried to take credit for Barack Obama's Veterans Care Act, one of the few of his predecessor's policies he seems to approve of.

He also managed to mispronounce his vice-president's name:

[13 September 2019 04:42 · Phil Thomas]

President Trump's vermin-evoking assessment of Baltimore was not lost on protesters awaiting his arrival:

[13 September 2019 04:53 · Lucy Anna Gray]

In one of the more bizarre moments of the night, Joe Biden suggested parents should play records for their children to help them at school school.

The former vice president said: "Play the radio, make sure the television - excuse me, make sure you have the record player on at night, the phone - make sure that kids hear words, a kid coming from a very poor school, a very poor background will hear 4 million words fewer spoken by the time they get there."

[13 September 2019 05:06 · Lucy Anna Gray]

In response to Andrew Yang's pledge use campaign funds to give $1,000 a month to 10 people for the next year, the co-founder of Reddit has offered to give the money himself. 

Alexis Ohanian, husband of Serena Williams, said: