Trump news: President reacts as impeachment speculation intensifies and his own lawyer admits he cannot rule out that aid to Ukraine was used as bribe

Follow all the latest developments, as they happened

Joe Biden says Trump 'deserves to be investigated' over Ukraine scandal: 'He knows I'll beat him like a drum'

Donald Trump has insisted that he is not taking talk of impeachment seriously as he once again claimed he had done nothing wrong in a phone call with the president of Ukraine.

Arriving at the United Nations in New York for a session on religious freedom, Mr Trump said the row over his “perfect” phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky was a “Democrat witch-hunt”, adding: “They failed with Russia, they failed with recession, they failed with everything, and now they’re bringing this up.” Meanwhile, his personal lawyer, the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, told Fox Business he could not be “100 per cent sure” the president didn’t threaten to cut off aid to Ukraine unless the former Soviet country agreed to investigate Joe Biden’s son.

Mr Trump is participating in a series of meetings today with fellow world leaders, including the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi - whom he once reportedly referred to as “my favorite dictator”, and what is described as a “pull aside” with New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern. Meanwhile, the Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee will hold a session entitled “Presidential corruption: emoluments and profiting off the presidency”.

He is expected to speak before the general assembly on Tuesday, marking his third address to the international body.

Mr Trump's day in New York included a viral moment, in which 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg was spotted glaring at the president as he walked into the building.

Ms Thunberg had travelled to the US from her home country of Sweden, on a carbon emission free yacht instead of by plane in order to reduce her carbon footprint.

Key Points

• Donald Trump is heading to New York for the United Nation's General Assembly
• Trump has admitted he talked about Joe Biden with Ukraine's leader
• Congress is now under increasing pressure to remove Trump as president...
• ... As a top Democrat says impeachment 'may be only remedy'

[23 September 2019 16:00 · Phil Thomas]

Asked how seriously he was taking the prospect of impeachment, he said: "Not at all seriously. We had a perfect phone call with the president of Ukraine. Everybody knows it,it’s just a Democrat witch-hunt, here we go again. They failed with Russia, they failed with recession, they failed with everything, and now they’re bringing this up."

Politico has suggested otherwise, claiming that the White House and justice department have up to 30 lawyers trying to find ways to avoid impeachment before it begins in earnest. 

[23 September 2019 16:36 · Phil Thomas]

President Trump has made an unscheduled appearance at the climate change summit at the United Nations. The White House had previously said he would be too busy leading a session on religious freedom, which is also happening this morning, to be able to attend. He has long denied the science behind climate change, once famously claiming that it was a Chinese hoax.

[23 September 2019 16:58 · Phil Thomas]

Earlier Mr Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told Fox Business that he could not be "100 per cent sure" that the president did not threaten to cut off aid to Ukraine unless it promised to investigate the business dealings of Joe Biden's son, Hunter.

Mr Giuliani's often confusing TV interviews in support of his boss have not always appeared to add a great deal of credibility to Mr Trump's accusations. Some observers have wondered why, if the US government really did believe the Bidens were involved in overseas corruption, Mr Trump's personal lawyer would be the best person to send to Ukraine to investigate.

[23 September 2019 17:03 · Phil Thomas]

Donald Trump is taking the presidency to a "new frontier of lawlessness", a Democratic senator has said.

Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, is a longstanding critic - and target - of Donald Trump. The president has criticised him for repeatedly giving the impression that he served in Vietnam when in fact he received a series of deferments (like the current occupant of the White House) and subsequently serving in the Marine reserves in the US.

[23 September 2019 17:25 · Chris Riotta]

The president has claimed protecting religious freedoms in one of his "highest priorities and always has been" after skipping out on a major climate summit at the United Nations - 

[23 September 2019 17:45 · Chris Riotta]

Donald Trump shrugged off questions from reporters about the new efforts on Capitol Hill to possibly begin impeachment proceedings against him in the wake of his Ukrainian scandal -

[23 September 2019 18:05 · Chris Riotta]

The House Intelligence Committee chairman said Congress may need to move forward with the “extraordinary remedy” of impeachment against Donald Trump as Democrats on Capitol Hill face increased pressure to launch formal proceedings against the president. 

Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, described new allegations against Mr Trump as potentially the “most profound violation of the presidential oath of office” after it was reported last week the president repeatedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call earlier this year to launch an investigation into the son of his potential 2020 opponent, Joe Biden. 

“There is no privilege that covers corruption,” Mr Schiff said in an interview on Sunday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, while calling for the release of a whistle-blower complaint which reportedly focused on that phone call, as well as a transcript of the conversation between the two presidents. 

Story to come...

[23 September 2019 18:25 · Chris Riotta]

Here's my story on Democrats like Adam Schiff - who may be the deciding factor in whether the House begins impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump - seemingly moving closer to supporting the move after the president's latest scandal -

[23 September 2019 18:45 · Chris Riotta]

California Senator and 2020 hopeful Kamala Harris has called for impeachment proceedings to immediately begin against Donald Trump, putting it rather simply after the latest batch of White House controversies: "He's gotta go."

[23 September 2019 19:05 · Chris Riotta]

Greta Thunberg was spotted giving Donald Trump some seriously deadly stares at the United Nations climate summit. Story to come, but for now, here's a picture: