Trump news: Secret impeachment plan revealed as rattled president posts 17 Fox News-related tweets in wake of Mueller hearings
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Donald Trump, clearly rattled by Robert Mueller's testimony to Congress, has attempted to spin the outcome of the Democratic-led hearings with a slew tweets featuring Fox News personalities declaring the "witch hunt" against the president to be over in spite of what some have viewed as damning testimony and a long investigation ahead for House Democrats.
Mr Mueller appeared before two congressional committees on Wednesday to explain his 448-page report into Russian election hacking in 2016, and whether the president obstructed justice by attempting to interfere in his investigation by ordering Mr Mueller's firing and sending his allies to pressure witnesses to deliver positive
Sticking largely to the script, the FBI veteran described “sweeping and systematic” interference by Russia, repeated that his findings were not an exoneration of the president, confirmed that Mr Trump had asked senior aides like counsel Don McGahn to lie on his behalf and said the president could be charged with a crime once he leaves office. The occasion sparked immediate cries among Democrats for impeachment proceedings against the president, which House speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly called "premature".
Later on Thursday, Mr Trump held a manufacturing event in the White House, where he welcomed business owners and workers who had benefited from his so-called Pledge to America's Workers drive, which began one year ago.
Mr Trump then took his presidential voice to Twitter, where he called for the release of A$AP Rocky, who has been charged with assault in Sweden. The president had demanded his return to the United States earlier in the week after Kanye West called him, but the Swedish government declined.
Melania Trump wooden statue prompts complaints in Slovenia
Show all 5"Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM. We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem!" the president tweeted.
Mr Trump also tweeted about an incident in New York City, where police officers were seen on camera being doused with water. He called the incident a "disgrace".
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Ex-FBI special counsel Robert Mueller appeared before two congressional committees on Wednesday to explain his report into Russian election hacking in 2016 and whether Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice by blocking his investigation.
Sticking largely to the script, Mueller described “sweeping and systematic” interference by Russia, repeated that his findings were not an exoneration of the president, confirmed that Trump had asked senior aides like counsel Don McGahn to lie on his behalf and said the president could be charged with a crime once he leaves office.
Speaking to the House Judiciary and House Intelligence committees for more than five hours, Mueller cut a shaky figure at times – perhaps feeling the pressure of the intense media spotlight - hesitating over his answers, asking congressmen to repeat their questions and even referring to the president as “Trimp” at one point.
But his answers were sound and his convictions clear.
Here are some of the key moments from an utterly exhausting day on Capitol Hill.
Chris Riotta has this report.
President Trump, clearly rattled, offered a gloating response, attempting to spin the day as a “disaster” for Democrats, insisting the opposition had "lost so BIG today" and branding Mueller's appearance "one of the worst performances in the history of our country”.
This was an especially deranged tweet.
Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that the special counsel "never had the right to exonerate", having previously gloried in the untruth that the Mueller report was a "total exoneration", and then threatened two journalists who asked him about his possibly being charged with a crime once he leaves office.
He also spent his evening bombarding his Twitter feed with videos of sympathetic coverage from the extremely partisan Fox News and responses from friendly Republican congressmen like Doug Collins, Devin Nunes and Kevin McCarthy. Remember when he said he was going to be watching this?
Here's Zamira Rahim on the fire and fury.
The Democrats, of course, had a rather different take on the affair.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi called it a "historic day" but said she had not changed her mind on impeachment.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler pledged to pursue a subpoena for Don McGahn in court.
Here's Andrew Buncombe on the speaker standing firm.
Pelosi may continue to dig in her heels on impeachment but other members of her party remain in favour, with Elizabeth Warren the most outspoken in calling for it in response to yesterdays Mueller hearings.
Her fellow 2020 presidential candidates Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris also had plenty to say on the "i" word.
"He is not exonerated," said Vermont senator Sanders, calling Trump a “racist” who is "trying to divide the American people up based on the colour of their skin” and who "did everything that he could to obstruct the Mueller investigation".
"I think there are impeachable offences and that the president should be tried for them," former vice-president Biden told reporters in Dearborn, Michigan. "I think it’s something that the House has to come about in an orderly way so that the American people understand that this is not done for political reasons."
"The American people are smart enough to know what is and what is not truth", Harris commented.
Cory Booker and Pete Butigieg both agreed that impeachment proceedings would be beneficial for the nation but stressed the need for the party to concentrate on beating the president at the ballot box next year.
The debate is expected to continue over the coming days as the opposition formulates its next moves. Remember that Texas congressman Al Green put forward an impeachment motion earlier this month that failed, but not without revealing that 94 Democratic members of the House supported a measure that Pelosi maintains is "too divisive" for America.
In the latest polling on the matter from The Washington Post/ABC News, only 37 per cent of the American public were in favour of impeaching Trump and 59 per cent were opposed. Among self-identifying Democrats, the number was much higher - at 61 per cent.
Here's Andrew Buncombe on how Wednesday's drama could upset the apple cart.
Perhaps the most stinging assessment on Wednesday came from Judiciary Committee panelist and California congressman Ted Lieu - a man with a deft turn of phrase, who only last week branded Trump "a racist ass" over his incendiary tweets.
"We have a felon sitting in the White House," he concluded.
Having said, this was also pretty good.
If you enjoyed those zingers, here are five more key takeaways from the Mueller hearings.
In disturbing news related to Trump, his former friend Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted paedophile and billionaire hedge fund manager, has been found with injuries to his neck at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center where he awaits trial on child sex trafficking charges. He has been placed on suicide watch.
Trump has distanced himself from Epstein in recent weeks but the two were pictured partying together at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in a video from 1992 that resurfaced last week and he has previously praised him as "a terrific guy".
The president's labour secretary Alexander Acosta was also recently forced to step down under pressure after it emerged, in his previous life as an attorney, he had played a part in agreeing a generous plea deal on Epstein's behalf that allowed him to evade justice.
Colin Drury has more.
Trump meanwhile found time yesterday to veto a trio of congressional resolutions aimed at blocking his administration from bypassing Congress and selling billions of dollars in weapons and maintenance support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month cited threats from Iran as a reason to approve the $8.1bn (£6.5bn) arms sale to the two US allies in the Persian Gulf, which are enemies of Tehran.
But Trump's decision in May to sell the weapons in a way intended to bypass congressional review infuriated politicians.
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate banded together to introduce resolutions to block the weapons sale in what was viewed as a bipartisan pushback to Trump's foreign policy.
The White House had argued that stopping the sale would send a signal that the United States does not stand by its partners and allies, particularly at a time when threats against them are increasing.
The arms package included thousands of precision-guided munitions, other bombs and ammunition and aircraft maintenance support.
Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led the effort, but he had support from two of Trump's Republican allies in Congress: Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul.
Anger has been mounting in Congress over the Trump administration's close ties to the Saudis, fuelled by the high civilian casualties in the Saudi-led war in Yemen - a military campaign the US is assisting - and the killing of US-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. Trump's decision in May to sell the weapons only inflamed the tensions.
"The president's shameful veto tramples over the will of the bipartisan, bicameral Congress and perpetuates his administration's involvement in the horrific conflict in Yemen, which is a stain on the conscience of the world," House speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
It did not appear that politicians opposed to the sale had enough votes to override Trump's veto.
Last month, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee grilled State Department officials about the sale.
Chairman Eliot Engel said it was a "slap in the face" to Congress and accused the Trump administration of using threats from Iran as a "convenient excuse" to push through the sale.
In a statement released on Wednesday night, Engel said: "The president's veto sends a grim message that America's foreign policy is no longer rooted in our core values - namely a respect for human rights - and that he views Congress not as a coequal branch of government, but an irritant to be avoided or ignored."
Our Middle East correspondent, Bel Trew, has this report.
Less than one week after Trump tried to make life more difficult for asylum seekers arriving at the US border from Central America, a federal judge in San Francisco has issued a preliminary injunction frustrating the administration's latest manoeuvre to hold them up in Mexico.
Trump is up and busily resuming his exhaustive schedule of recirculating Fox coverage.
I hope the Murdochs pay him a handsome commission for his efforts.
This is the Fox and Friends segment he's talking about...
...and here's how the channel has been covering Mueller this morning. A good thing they dropped that "fair and balanced" motto two years ago or it might not altogether stand up.
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