The close of the week brought a new round of fresh controversies enveloping Mr Trump’s White House, from his acting chief of staff’s comments during a press briefing on Thursday, to the violence in Syria after his decision to withdraw troops from the region.
Mr Trump was quick to hail the ceasefire his vice president Mike Pence agreed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara over the Syria crisis. The president said on Twitter it was a “great day for civilisation” shortly after Turkey agreed to a 120-hour ceasefire that provided the country with many of its demands made prior to the deadly violence that shook northeastern Syria.
But his DC rivals denounced the measure as a “sham” as the fighting continued between the Turkish military and the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The ceasefire did not hold for long as reports indicated shelling had taken place on Friday shortly after Mr Pence announced the agreement.
Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal
Mr Trump avoided military service during the draft in the Vietnam War when he was provided with a letter from a doctor claiming he had bone spurs. The president has never revealed in which leg he claimed to have suffered the bones, or whether they somehow went away.
Mr Mattis also harped on mocking comments the president made about him saying he was “not just an overrated general, I am the greatest, the world’s most overrated.”
“I’m honored to be considered that by Donald Trump, because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress,” he added. “So, I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals. Frankly that sounds pretty good to me.”
A US diplomat overseeing the previous administration's Ukraine policy reportedly told House investigators he was "turned away" by a staffer to then-Vice President Joe Biden after sharing concerns about his son's work in the country.
George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said that he approached an aide to Mr Biden in early 2015 with concerns about Hunter Biden’s position on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, according to the Washington Post.
He reportedly warned that Ukrainian officials might believe they could use the younger Biden for currying influence with the vice president.
Three people familiar with his testimony told the outlet that Mr Kent was concerned the issue would undermine efforts by US diplomats working with Ukraine to root out corruption and conflicts of interest within its own government.
Donald Trump has likened Turkey’s invasion of Kurdish-held regions in northern Syria to a squabble among children, while endorsing Ankara’s objective of pushing out Kurdish fighters and their families from a so-called “safe zone”.
Turkey’s military and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters unleashed an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) a week ago, two days after the US president announced he was ordering American troops out of the area. The SDF had fought against Isis alongside US special forces.
Ankara views the YPG, which constitutes a large contingent of the SDF, as an extension of the Kurdish Workers’ Party – a banned separatist group based in Turkey and Iraq. Mr Trump has signalled that Ankara will face no long-term consequences for its actions.
Addressing a rally in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday night, the president said: “It was unconventional, what I did. I said, ‘They’re going to have to fight a little while’. Sometimes you have to let them fight a little while. Then people find out how tough the fighting is ... Sometimes you have to let them fight. It’s like two kids in a lot, you’ve got to let them fight and then you pull them apart.
Former US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has said the scandal surrounding the Trump administration's dealings with Ukraine had nothing to do with his resignation. "It has absolutely nothing to do with Ukraine," Perry said of his planned departure in a Fox News interview. He went on to say he did not know whether he would cooperate with House Democrats' impeachment inquiry.
"In days gone by, I used to compare the Trump presidency with the Arab dictatorships. He took preposterous pleasure in the company of Egypt's Sisi (60,000 political prisoners) and his inane ramblings had much in common with those of Muammar Gaddafi, who also "authored" a book he never wrote but whom Trump never met (albeit that Tony Blair and Gaddafi kissed each other on the cheek). But over the past week, I've begun to realise that the crackpot in the White House has much more in common with ancient Rome."
Donald Trump has been accused of employing “the language of ethnic cleansing” over remarks he made about Turkey‘s invasion of northern Syria.
Democrats described as “chilling” the way Mr Trump set out his backing of Ankara’s violent creation of a “safe zone” in Syria, which was triggered by the president’s own actions.
“They had to have it cleaned out,” Mr Trump said of Turkey’s offensive to expel Kurdish fighters and their families from the area. Ankara launched its incursion against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) a week ago, days after the Republican announced he was withdrawing American troops from the area. The SDF had been US allies in the fight against Isis.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s government regards the YPG, which makes up a large portion of the SDF, as an extension of the Kurdish Workers’ Party – a banned separatist group based in Turkey and Iraq.
Addressing reporters in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday, Mr Trump touted the agreement his administration had reached with Mr Erdogan, for a 120-hour pause allowing Kurds to retreat from where they had been living, as an “incredible outcome”.
Former defense secretary James Mattis responded to Donald Trump’s criticism of him by referencing how the US president avoided the draft during the Vietnam war.
“I earned my spurs on the battlefield; Donald Trump earned his spurs from the doctor,” he said.
The former general was a keynote speaker at the Al Smith Memorial Foundation dinner on Thursday when he made the comments in response to Mr Trump calling him the “world’s most overrated general”.
The president had reportedly made the comments during an earlier “acrimonious” White House meeting on his decision to pull American forces from northern Syria.
The president is complaining about having to deal with checks and balances, which of course was an intended measure to limit the powers of the presidency -
The former White House director to the Office of Government Ethics said “there is no level of corruption greater” than Donald Trump’s decision to host the next G7 summit at his exclusive resort in Florida.
Walter Shaub, an attorney who served in the Office of Government Ethics from January 2013 to July 2017, slammed the move in a tweet posted on Thursday night.
“Hi. There is no level of corruption greater than a President participating in the award of a contract to himself,” he wrote.
His comments came after Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced during a press conference earlier that day that the Trump Doral in Florida had been selected as the venue to host the world economic powers as they convene next year in the United States.
“We have reached the bottom,” Mr Shaub wrote. “If the Senate will not act to stop this, there is no government ethics programme. It’s over.”
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