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Trump impeachment news: Democrats release damning report accusing president of obstruction, as he has tense exchanges with world leaders at Nato summit

Chris Riotta,Joe Sommerlad

Tuesday 03 December 2019 22:22 GMT

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Trump threatens to 'deal with' Nato allies

Donald Trump sparred with Emmanuel Macron during a televised bilateral meeting at the two-day Nato summit in London, as House investigators released an explosive report on the impeachment inquiry back home in Washington.

It was a whirlwind news cycle during the president’s visit to the UK: as Mr Trump met with world leaders overseas, House investigators released their report finding “a months-long effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election”.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said the House had "overwhelming evidence of the president’s misconduct" and suggested the president's actions posed "a threat to the integrity of the upcoming election" as Mr Triump meanwhile denounced the timing of the next phase of the process, arguing it has been scheduled to embarrass him.

Mr Trump, who arrived in London on late Monday for two days of meetings, called the trip “one of the most important journeys that we make as president” before departing Washington and noted Democrats had long known about the meeting.

The president lashed out at Democrats again soon after arriving in the UK. He said on Twitter that he had read the Republican report designed to counter Democrats’ impeachment case on his flight. The report called Mr Trump’s hesitation to provide military aid to Ukraine “entirely prudent.”

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

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1/26Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Donald Trump

Accused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election. He also believes that Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails - a key factor in the 2016 election - may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

The Whistleblower

Believed to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable. Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

The Second Whistleblower

The lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President's actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community's inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Rudy Giuliani

Former mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trump’s personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the president’s enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a “shadow” foreign policy. In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trump’s behalf and has called himself a “hero”.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Volodymyr Zelensky

The newly elected Ukrainian president - a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident - is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House. With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation. He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the “favour” he was asked for. Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin.

AFP/Getty

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Mike Pence

The vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later. However, Trump announced that Pence had had “one or two” phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trump’s actions. It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy - if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Rick Perry

Trump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didn’t even want to. The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas - although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Joe Biden

The former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trump’s opponent in the 2020 election. Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Biden’s son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done. However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant.

Reuters

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Hunter Biden

Joe Biden’s son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Biden’s lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

William Barr

The attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trump’s preoccupations with the Biden’s and the Clinton emails. Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a “cover-up of a cover-up”.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Mike Pompeo

The secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call - but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time. He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works. Gordon Sondland testified that Pompeo was "in the loop" and knew what was happening in Ukraine. Pompeo has been criticised for not standing up for diplomats under his command when they were publicly criticised by the president.

AFP via Getty

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Nancy Pelosi

The Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Adam Schiff

Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry. He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a “parody” of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call. He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint. The Washington Post awarded Schiff a “four Pinocchios” rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman

Florida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October. Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine's gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts.

Reuters

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

William Taylor

The most senior US diplomat in Ukraine and the former ambassador there. As one of the first two witnesses in the public impeachment hearings, Taylor dropped an early bombshell by revealing that one of his staff – later identified as diplomat David Holmes – overheard a phone conversation in which Donald Trump could be heard asking about “investigations” the very day after asking the Ukrainian president to investigate his political enemies. Taylor expressed his concern at reported plans to withhold US aid in return for political smears against Trump’s opponents, saying: “It's one thing to try to leverage a meeting in the White House. It's another thing, I thought, to leverage security assistance -- security assistance to a country at war, dependent on both the security assistance and the demonstration of support."

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

George Kent

A state department official who appeared alongside William Taylor wearing a bow tie that was later mocked by the president. He accused Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, of leading a “campaign of lies” against Marie Yovanovitch, who was forced out of her job as US ambassador to Ukraine for apparently standing in the way of efforts to smear Democrats.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Marie Yovanovitch

One of the most striking witnesses to give evidence at the public hearings, the former US ambassador to Ukraine received a rare round of applause as she left the committee room after testifying. Canadian-born Yovanovitch was attacked on Twitter by Donald Trump while she was actually testifying, giving Democrats the chance to ask her to respond. She said she found the attack “very intimidating”. Trump had already threatened her in his 25 July phone call to the Ukrainian president saying: “She’s going to go through some things.” Yovanovitch said she was “shocked, appalled and devastated” by the threat and by the way she was forced out of her job without explanation.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Alexander Vindman

A decorated Iraq War veteran and an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Lt Col Vindman began his evidence with an eye-catching statement about the freedoms America afforded him and his family to speak truth to power without fear of punishment. One of the few witnesses to have actually listened to Trump’s 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, he said he found the conversation so inappropriate that he was compelled to report it to the White House counsel. Trump later mocked him for wearing his military uniform and insisting on being addressed by his rank.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Jennifer Williams

A state department official acting as a Russia expert for vice-president Mike Pence, Ms Williams also listened in on the 25 July phone call. She testified that she found it “unusual” because it focused on domestic politics in terms of Trump asking a foreign leader to investigate his political opponents.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Kurt Volker

The former special envoy to Ukraine was one of the few people giving evidence who was on the Republican witness list although what he had to say may not have been too helpful to their cause. He dismissed the idea that Joe Biden had done anything corrupt, a theory spun without evidence by the president and his allies. He said that he thought the US should be supporting Ukraine’s reforms and that the scheme to find dirt on Democrats did not serve the national interest.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Tim Morrison

An expert on the National Security Council and another witness on the Republican list. He testified that he did not think the president had done anything illegal but admitted that he feared it would create a political storm if it became public. He said he believed the moving the record of the controversial 25 July phone call to a top security server had been an innocent mistake.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Gordon Sondland

In explosive testimony, one of the men at the centre of the scandal got right to the point in his opening testimony: “Was there a quid pro quo? Yes,” said the US ambassador to the EU who was a prime mover in efforts in Ukraine to link the release of military aid with investigations into the president’s political opponents. He said that everyone knew what was going on, implicating vice-president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo. The effect of his evidence is perhaps best illustrated by the reaction of Mr Trump who went from calling Sondland a “great American” a few weeks earlier to claiming that he barely knew him.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Laura Cooper

A Pentagon official, Cooper said Ukrainian officials knew that US aid was being withheld before it became public knowledge in August – undermining a Republican argument that there can’t have been a quid pro quo between aid and investigations if the Ukrainians didn’t know that aid was being withheld.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

David Hale

The third most senior official at the state department. Hale testified about the treatment of Marie Yovanovitch and the smear campaign that culminated in her being recalled from her posting as US ambassador to Ukraine. He said: “I believe that she should have been able to stay at post and continue to do the outstanding work.”

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Fiona Hill

Arguably the most confident and self-possessed of the witnesses in the public hearings phase, the Durham-born former NSC Russia expert began by warning Republicans not to keep repeating Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories. In a distinctive northeastern English accent, Dr Hill went on to describe how she had argued with Gordon Sondland about his interference in Ukraine matters until she realised that while she and her colleagues were focused on national security, Sondland was “being involved in a domestic political errand”. She said: “I did say to him, ‘Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, this is going to blow up’. And here we are.”

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

David Holmes

The Ukraine-based diplomat described being in a restaurant in Kiev with Gordon Sondland while the latter phoned Donald Trump. Holmes said he could hear the president on the other end of the line – because his voice was so “loud and distinctive” and because Sondland had to hold the phone away from his ear – asking about the “investigations” and whether the Ukrainian president would cooperate.

REUTERS

“Prior to landing I read the Republicans Report on the Impeachment Hoax. Great job! Radical Left has NO CASE. Read the Transcripts", Mr Trump wrote on Twitter. “Shouldn’t even be allowed. Can we go to Supreme Court to stop?”

It was not immediately clear under what legal grounds the president was calling for the high court’s involvement.

Mr Trump’s trip comes amid ongoing quarrels over defence spending by NATO allies and widespread anxiety over the president’s commitment to the alliance.

The president said his trip would be focused on “fighting for the American people".

But in the more than two months that the impeachment inquiry has been underway, he has constantly drifted back to what he frames as the Democrats’ unfair effort to overturn the results of his 2016 election.

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on the constitutional grounds for impeachment before Mr Trump wraps up at the NATO meeting.

Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our live blog to load

Donald Trump has denied knowing Prince Andrew despite having met the embattled royal on several well-documented occasions, including the president’s official state visit to the UK earlier this year.

When asked about the Duke of York, who has stepped down from his royal duties after being accused of sexual assault, Mr Trump responded: “I don’t know Prince Andrew, but it’s a tough story, it’s a very tough story.”

The president was referring to allegations made in an new interview with a woman who said she was sex trafficked by the late billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and forced to have sex with the duke when she was 17 - below the age of consent.

“There was a bath, and it started there and then it led into the bedroom”, Virginia Giuffre said about the alleged incident in an interview with the BBC programme Panorama. “It didn’t last very long, the whole entire procedure. It was disgusting.”

She added: “He wasn’t mean or anything but he got up and he said thanks and then he walked out and I sat there in bed, just horrified and ashamed and felt dirty.”

Trump claims he doesn't know Prince Andrew despite several photos of them together

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 18:10

Breaking news: Kamala Harris has told her campaign staff she was dropping out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries amid a wave of negative press surrounding the California senator’s bid for the White House.

"'I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign", she wrote in an email to supporters. "And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete."

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 18:36

More on Kamala Harris' surprise decision to drop out of the 2020 primaries:

Kamala Harris drops out of 2020 presidential race: 'I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign'

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 18:56

Breaking news: The House Intelligence Committee has released its report about the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. The committee said its investigation "uncovered a months-long effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election."

Story to come...

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 18:57

The Independent's Clark Mindock has more on the House Intelligence Committee's impeachment inquiry report:

Read the newly released Trump impeachment report

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 19:20

The White House has responded to the House Intelligence Committee's impeachment inquiry report:

“At the end of a one-sided sham process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump", White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. "This report reflects nothing more than their frustrations. Chairman Schiff’s report reads like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to prove something when there is evidence of nothing.”

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 19:32

Donald Trump has lost an appeal to prevent Capital One and Deutsche Bank from sending his financial records to Congress, marking another legal blow to the president after several lawsuits and court rulings have sought records of his finances.

A 106-page ruling from a three-judge panel at the US District Court of Appeals says the banks must hand over several years of the president's records as part of a subpoena order from House Democrats.

The latest ruling follows the president's appeal of a May decision from US District Judge Edgardo Ramos, who ruled that the banks must comply with a congressional request for financial records from the president and his company, as well as similar records from the Trump family.

Trump not able to block banks from releasing his financial records, court rules

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 19:50

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff is speaking at a press conference about the impeachment inquiry report on Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine. We'll provide real-time updates and video as it comes in.

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 20:07

The chairman has posted a live streaming video of the press conference. He is currently laying out a timeline of examples in which the president demanded investigations into the Bidens -

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 20:10

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff says Donald Trump's claims about Ukrainian election interference and Crowdstrike is a "conspiracy theory" and "Russian narrative".

"That is a conspiracy theory put out, promulgated by Vladimir Putin to deflect attention away from Russia's interference in our own election and to try to drive a wedge between the US and" Ukraine, he added.

Chris Riotta3 December 2019 20:15

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