White House says it will not co-operate with impeachment inquiry after blocking ambassador from testifying to Congress
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Donald Trump’s ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, has been blocked from testifying before Congress about his role in the Ukraine scandal, the president calling the impeachment inquiry a “kangaroo court” as he frustrates its bid to examine the damning text messages Mr Sondland exchanged with another envoy, Kurt Volker.
The president meanwhile remains under fire from senior Republicans over his announcement that the US will withdraw troops from northern Syria - leaving its allies against Isis in the Syrian Democratic Forces exposed to Turkish aggression – a move that was also branded “bats*** crazy” by ex-US national security adviser Susan Rice and that reportedly left his own senior military officials completely blindsided.
“Everyone was absolutely flabbergasted by this. I tell you that as a fact,” admiral James Stavridis told MSNBC. “Nobody saw it coming, and that is a real problem when you’re trying to conduct not only foreign policy... but also military operations.”
The president also feuded with the mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota today about security fees for a rally he'll hold in the city on Thursday.
Finally, the White House sent a letter to House leadership saying they would not cooperate with their impeachment inquiry. Ms Pelosi's office confirmed that she received it.
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Another extract from the explosive sounding new book Border Wars by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D Shear is doing the rounds.
While there's no topping that alligator moat story (Moot?), the authors recount an angry discussion between Trump and then-acting Homeland Security secretary Elaine Duke from October 2017, in which he reportedly raged about not being able to ban refugees from "f***ing Somalia" at a private meeting at his Bedminster golf course in New Jersey.
"Both he and [senior policy adviser Stephen] Miller seemed to have a particular dislike for Somalia, often citing it or its nationals when they spoke of the potential dangers of refugees and other immigrants," Davis and Shear state, explaining its inclusion in his "Muslim travel ban" of 2017.
No doubt he considers it a "s***hole country".
Weeks later, Duke received a call from Miller again insisting she "shut off refugee flows from 11 countries the administration had identified as high-risk," particularly Somalia, according to the book.
Trump is threatening to sue the Target Center arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after it blocked him from staging a MAGA rally, claiming the city's Democratic mayor, Jacob Frey, was behind the decision .
Chiara Giordano has more.
It now appears that Gordon Sondland will not be appearing before Congress after all...
Here's Chris Riotta's breaking report.
Trump's chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, says he "doesn't honestly know" whether Trump was joking about China investigating Biden last week.
Andrew Buncombe reports.
Joining fellow GOP senators Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Susan Collins in condemning Trump's actions on the Zelensky call is Rob Portman of Ohio, who has told The Columbus Dispatch:
The president should not have raised the Biden issue on that call, period. It’s not appropriate for a president to engage a foreign government in an investigation of a political opponent.
Portman stopped short of saying the president should be impeached, however, allligning his strategy with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
It's still a major embarassment for Trump, who only six days said during his raving press conference with the president of Finland:
There's nobody more honourable than Rob Portman of Ohio.
As this Statista graph illustrates, Trump's Twitter usage has increased drastically in 2019 - spiking to 797 last month as the impeachment inquiry was announced by House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Judging by last night's manic retweet spree and his 88-tweet propaganda blitz over the weekend, the pressure appears to be getting to him.
(Statista)
First lady Melania Trump - remember her? - is again being roundly mocked over her anti-bullying campaign, noble work that keeps on being undermind and upstaged by her husband's bullish behaviour on the world stage.
The Trump Organisation has prevented an Islamophobic group from hosting a gala at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida resort.
The reception was to be held by Act For America - the largest anti-Muslim organisation in the US, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center - whose leader Brigitte Gabriel has issued statements denouncing Islam and claimed devout Muslims cannot be “loyal Americans”.
Zamira Rahim reports.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler had some strong words yesterday on Trump's extraordinary rhetoric.
In the last hour, Trump has renewed his attack on the mayor of Minneapolis, attempted to soothe the situation at the Syrian border and said he "would love" to see Ambassador Sondland testify, just not before a "kangaroo court" like the House impeachment inquiry.
He also confirms Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit the White House on 13 November in the course of all that.
Some telling commentary on those last tweets.
Here's Zamira Rahim on Trump's self-justification.
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