Trump impeachment news: Pressure to start Senate trial as worldwide survey reveals lack of confidence in president
Donald Trump says Iran is 'standing down' as Congress hears justification for military strike
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Donald Trump has told reporters at the White House that John Bolton, his former national security advisor and a potential key witness at his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, “knows nothing” about the Ukraine quid pro quo scandal, an apparent attempt to dismiss the significance of any testimony he might give before Congress.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell has said he is prepared to push on with the trial without having first agreed a deal on new witnesses and evidence with opposition Democrats, as House speaker Nancy Pelosi urges him to publish a resolution outlining the rules of engagement “immediately”.
After the Iran crisis deepened with the bombing of two US military bases in Iraq overnight, the president was ridiculed for seeking to reassure Americans by tweeting “All is well!” before making a statement declaring the country is now “standing down” but would face punishment through new economic sanctions rather than via military conflict.
During a brief address from the White House, the president made vague claims that General Qassem Soleimani planned "new attacks on American targets" before his killing. He also threatened new sanctions and repeated false claims that the Obama administration had paid for Iranian missiles in recent attacks.
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Meanwhile, members of Congress heard from the administration about its justification for military strikes in Iran.
House Speaker Pelosi intends to introduce a resolution this week to prevent further military action from the president
Follow along with live coverage as it happened:
McConnell says Senate will not allow House to 'steamroll' it over impeachment rules
Majority leader Mitch McConnell is refusing to budge on the impeachment stalemate following Pelosi's letter to colleagues last night urging him to publish his rules resolution "immediately".
He too claims to have spoken to Trump last night, incidentally:
President Trump due to address nation on Iran
We'll bring you the latest updates as Trump takes to the podium at the White House.
(Andrew Feinberg)
Trump keeps world waiting
We're currently still waiting for Trump to appear as the unexplained delay to his speech reaches the 20 minute mark.
Andrew Feinberg, our man in the room, tells me a folder was removed from the lectern a little while ago, possibly indicating last minute revisions being made to the president's address.
The fact that his announcement is being made in front of the press could indicate Trump has good news and is planning the sort of self-congratulatory victory lap we saw when he hailed the killing of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But honestly, who knows?
Press secretary Stephanie Grisham has apparently just been sighted, indicating we could be about to get underway imminently.
Trump: Iran appears to be standing down
The president is out and says no American or Iraqi casualties were incurred last night and only "minimal damage" sustained to the military bases in the ballistic missile attacks.
He says Iran now appears to be "standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world".
President announces tighter sanctions against Tehran, claims Obama deal paid for last night's missiles
After saying Qassem Soleimani's "hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood" and claiming, vaguely, "he was planning new attacks on American targets", the president announces harsher economic sanctions against Tehran but essentially declaring a de-escalation (phew!) while disingenuously claiming it was Iran blinked first.
Trump also takes the opportunity to blame the situation on Barack Obama, borrowing a line from Ted Cruz on Fox earlier: "The missiles fired at us last night were paid for by the funds made available by the last administration" (via the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015).
He is now calling in America's international allies including Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China and Nato to take a greater role in policing the country.
And that's that!
Short and relatively sober by his standards, Trump trails out flanked by Pence and his top generals without taking questions from the press corps.
Trump repeats claims that Obama 'paid for' Iran's attacks
The president's repeated claim that the Obama administration has funded Iran's military strikes, which he repeated in his address following last night's attacks on two US bases in Iraq, misrepresents the JCPOA that's at the heart of recent provocations and the deteriorated relationship between the countries.
The international deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018, lifted sanctions and unfroze Iran's own funds in exchange for Iran's agreement to curb its nuclear capacity.
Trump has said the cash release was a "slush fund for terror".
In today's remarks, he blamed Obama in his claim that "the missiles fired at us last night were paid for by the funds made available by the last administration".
The results of a new global survey show that the president is more disliked than Putin and Xi Jinping.
He ranked last among five world leaders with a median "unfavourable" percentage at 67 per cent.
The survey of nearly 37,000 people in 33 countries asked whether respondents have a lot of confidence, some confidence, or not much confidence in Mr Trump, and most respondents answered "no confidence at all".
The president appeared to have difficulty speaking through his remarks and failed to pronounce "tolerated" and "accomplishments."
As Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spar over the rules for an upcoming impeachment trial, some Senate Democrats are eager to get it started as patience is beginning to wear thin and a busy calendar shapes up, CNN reports.
Connecticut's Chris Murphy said he hopes to see a trial start next week: "If we're trying to create leverage on the Republicans, that leverage really exists when we put them on the record on motions to call witnesses."
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