Trump news: Republicans 'stop defending president off the record' as impeachment crisis deepens amid new Ukraine scandal revelations
Follow the latest updates from Washington, as they happened
Republicans are reportedly backing away from opportunities to defend Donald Trump after the impeachment inquiry took another dramatic turn on Thursday night when the House Intelligence Committee released 25 pages of damning text messages from US special envoy Kurt Volker exposing the extent of American diplomatic pressure on Ukraine in the run-up to the notorious Volodymyr Zelensky call on 25 July.
The texts reveal the administration suggested Mr Trump would not meet face-to-face with Mr Zelensky without a commitment from his country that it would investigate his domestic political rival Joe Biden, a step Ukrainian officials had begun to prepare for.
The situation has since been branded a “constitutional crisis” by an ex-director of the US Office of Government Ethics as the president continues to lash out angrily over the the affair, declaring he has “an absolute right, perhaps even a duty” to investigate graft even if it involves seeking foreign insistence.
Mr Trump, for his part, has doubled down on his belief that is within his power fo ask foreign powers to launch investigations, even amid the criticism he has received.
Meanwhile, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has fought back accusations that she went easy on a "supporter" who claimed people need to start eating babies in order to fight climate change.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent liberal in the House, has charged that the person was actually a Trump supporter keen on making her look bad.
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In an average of polls taken since Speaker Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry last week, 51 percent of the public now support the Democrats's actions while only 44 per cent are against it, according to CNN.
When it comes to find Trump guilty of "high crimes and misdemeanours", 46 per cent are in favour of impeaching and removing him from office while 45 per cent are against.
That last line compares with just 31 per cent support when the same questioned was asked in relation to Bill Clinton in 1998 and 38 per cent support for impeaching Richard Nixon in 1973, the network states, citing a Gallup poll taken in the wake of the Watergate scandal's Saturday Night Massacre.
A majority of the American public - 52 per cent - felt Nixon's decision to direct his attorney general to fire an independent prosecutor investigating him did not merit impeachment.
Trump reportedly promised China he would not comment on the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in order to allow trade talks between Washington and Beijing to progress. Another quid pro quo?
Chris Baynes has more.
More on a story we touched on yesterday, as it emerges Mike Pence might be about to be drawn into another whistleblower scandal, this time revolving around alleged attempts to interfere with tax audit at the Internal Revenue Service.
Trump still insists he can't release his as they're under inspection, which wouldn't stop him from doing so even if it were true (it may or may not be).
More on Trump floating the idea of having his own state-run media in Florida yesterday from Zamira Rahim.
Eric Trump wrote a column for The Hill yesterday in which he quoted the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, apparently not understanding that he was a real historical figure and not in fact a fictional characer played by Richard Harris in Ridley Scott's sword-and-sandals blockbuster Gladiator.
The boys over at The Onion are going to love this.
We're living in ridiculous times so, fittingly, here's Trump's latest ravings as seen through a Snapchat filter.
Trump continues to hammer away on Twitter, making the case for his own defence by tweeting kind words from Republican allies and Fox pundits.
He also posted a short clip of the wall being built - already run by the White House account - which has proved a great degree of ridicule as very little progress appears to have been made in the barren stretch of desert the construction workers depicted are operating in.
Greg Evans has more for Indy100.
The Republicans appear to be running away from defending Trump, backing down from media interactions - even off the record.
Trump has been out on the White House lawn again, seeking to rowback from his remarks yesterday inviting China to pursue Biden.
Presumably he has since been persuaded of the gravity of his error by advisers.
AOC says the woman seen screaming at her during her climate change town hall in New York was a pro-Trump plant.
She appears to have been acting on behalf of a "bizarre political cult" known as Lyndon LaRouche PAC, according to BBC culture broadcaster Dr Matthew Sweet, who is apparently an expert.
The group believes the Queen controls the international drug trade, Prince Phillip plans to start a Third World War and that Jane Fonda should be fed to the whales. They have been described as neo-fascist and antisemitic.
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