Trump news: President gives rambling speech at UN after Ukraine call memo released, as Senate receives whistleblower complaint
Document shows president asked Ukrainian leader to talk to Giuliani about investigation
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Donald Trump’s tumultuous day began with the release of a memo describing a phone call which could end his presidency, and ended with a weary rambling speech characterised by boasts, false claims and self pity.
If the president thought releasing the partial transcript would silence his critics, as he seemed to hope, he could not have been more wrong.
While his supporters claimed the memo exonerated him, his opponents insisted that it was even more damning than they had feared.
The call showed him asking his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Joe Biden, who could face Mr Trump in next year’s presidential election, immediately after discussing the military aid Kiev needs to protect itself against a Russian-backed insurgency.
They also talked disparagingly about the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled after apparently falling foul of the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Mr Trump apparently told the Ukrainian president: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”
After appearing at an awkward media conference with the Ukrainian president himself on the edges of the UN general assembly, Mr Trump addressed the press himself.
In a low-energy performance, he insisted that the accusations against him were a Democrat “hoax” timed to embarrass him in front of the world’s leaders, boasted about his accomplishments, accused Mr Biden and his son of being corrupt and assured a Venezuelan journalist that he was watching developments in her country closely.
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How have Republicans reacted to the Democrats' push for impeachment?
The official Republican National Committee account and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, have followed Mr Trump’s lead by portraying impeachment as a distraction by Democrats.
Meanwhile, Ronna McDaniel, the RNC’s chairwoman, has called on Mr Biden to release transcripts of his calls with Ukrainian and Chinese leaders while he was vice president.
Although Mr Trump’s relationship with Ukraine has attracted attention this month, this story has been rumbling on for a while now.
Back in May this year, the president said it would be “appropriate” to talk to the attorney general about opening an investigation into Mr Biden.
However, as our defence and security editor Kim Sengupta explained at the time, the evidence for an investigation was weak.
Here’s something to look out for today – Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Trump are expected to meet face to face for the first time at the UN General Assembly later.
Mr Zelensky has avoided commenting on the controversy from the call so far and said on Tuesday that he expects a “very warm” meeting with the president.
A senior White House official has told Axios reporters that Mr Trump will congratulate Mr Zelensky on his election win and his “energy and success” on anti-corruption reform.
Volodymyr Zelensky has finally commented on his phone call with Mr Trump.
Reuters has reported that the Ukrainian president joked to journalists in New York that only his six-year-old son could put pressure on him, in reference to the allegations that Mr Trump threatened the leader.
"Nobody can put pressure on me because I am the president of an independent state," Mr Zelensky said.
"The only one person by the way who can put pressure on me ... is my son, who is six years old."
Here's a reminder that Mr Trump’s problems extend beyond Ukraine...
Federal prosecutors have joined Mr Trump in asking a federal judge in New York to temporarily block a subpoena seeking the president’s tax returns, AP reports.
The prosecutors said Mr Trump has raised “weighty constitutional issues” in trying to stop the subpoena and they want to review them before deciding whether to join the legal battle.
"To the extent that enforcement of the subpoena may adversely affect federal interests of constitutional dimension, those effects could not be redressed after the fact," the prosecutors said.
They are asking for a "short stay of the subpoena's enforcement."
If you are unsure about how Congress could impeach Mr Trump, this infographic explains the process for removing a president.
One reason why Mr Trump has focused on attacking Joe Biden is because it has been widely-assumed that the former vice president will be his opponent in the 2020 election.
However, that is not a done deal.
Although Mr Biden is the clear front-runner in the Democratic primary, his lead is much less commanding than it was at the start of the race.
Politico’s Marc Caputo has some polling numbers that illustrate the problem.
In the states of New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Florida, voters have been moving away from Mr Biden.
The former VP has lost 18 percentage points in both New Hampshire and South Carolina since May.
And in Florida, he has fallen by 15 percentage points.
Of course, polls are not always accurate and the Democratic race has a long way to go.
The general trend is clear though – Biden is still in the lead but his nomination is not certain at all.
China has rejected Mr Trump's criticism of the country’s trade policy following the president’s speech at the UN yesterday, AP reports.
Geng Shuang, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, called on the Trump administration to “meet China halfway” in settling trade disputes and “expand cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit”.
He added that he hoped Washington would “listen to developing countries' calls for rapid development, opposition to bullying and suppression and aspirations for peace and stability”.
This is an important point about the Ukraine call transcript – Richard N Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, has noted that we are unlikely to see a literal transcript of Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky’s conversation.
Instead, he said we will probably see a memo listing the main points of the conversation.
That may be why Mr Trump is keen to direct attention towards the transcript and why Democrats are more interested in getting hold of the whistleblower’s complaint.
Elizabeth Warren is leading Joe Biden for the first time in the new Quinnipiac University national poll.
Mr Biden has dropped 7 percentage points since the last poll in August, while Ms Warren has gained 8 percentage points.
The survey was conducted from 19-23 September so Mr Trump’s attacks on the former vice president could have played a role in the result.
Quinnipiac is thought to be one of the most accurate pollster in US politics, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight.
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