Trump news: President rages against Pelosi after she orders Congress to draw up articles of impeachment
Follow the latest updates, as it happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.House speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered the House to draw up articles of impeachment against Donald Trump over the Ukraine scandal.
“The facts are uncontested. The president abused power for his personal benefit at the expense of national security by withholding military aid and crucial Oval Office meeting in exchange for an announcement of an investigation into his political rival,” she said at a short press conference on Capitol Hill.
Her announcement followed Wednesday’s combative seven-hour House Judiciary Committee hearing at which three academic legal experts agreed that Mr Trump’s apparent attempt to extort a quid pro quo from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met the standard for impeachment in a fiery session defined by Republican obstruction and bickering.
Later, Ms Pelosi snapped at a reporter during her weekly press conference, when asked by him if she hates the president.
Citing her Catholic religion, Ms Pelosi said she does not hate anybody, and told the reporter not to test her on the issue.
Another Democrat in completely different circumstances also had a moment in which he snapped, when Joe Biden called an Iowa voter a "damn liar" over a question about his son Hunter and Ukraine.
Please allow a moment for our live blog to load
Trump on Nato: 'No president has ever achieved so much in so little time'
The president is back on Twitter with more favourable inquiry retweets and this ludicrous attempt to reclaim the narrative after storming out of the Nato summit early because the bigger boys were made fun of him.
House Homeland Security Committee calls for investigation into awarding of $400m border wall contract
Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has asked the Defence Department's inspector general to investigate the awarding of a $400m (£308.5m) contract to North Dakota construction firm Fisher Sand and Gravel, which had been touted by the White House for the job despite its long history of environmental and tax violations.
Thompson's letter said the decision to hire Fisher "raise[s] concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence". President Trump is known to favour CEO Tommy Fisher since spotting him being interviewed on Fox News.
"I am requesting that you review the award of this contract to ensure that the bid submitted by Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. met the solicitation standards and that USACE made the award in accordance with federal procurement law and regulations," Thompson wrote, alluding to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Departmental spokeswoman Dwrena Allen said the office is reviewing his request.
Here's Conrad Duncan's original story on the awarding of the contract to Fisher.
Video of men easily climbing Trump's border wall goes viral
Never mind hacking through it with household power tools, seems like a windowcleaner's ladder is all you need to get past the president's signature white elephant.
'Do it now, fast': Trump urges Democrats to impeach him
"If you're going to impeach me, do it now, fast," tweets Donald Trump, as he claims yesterday's House Judiciary Committee hearing, in which three out of four constitutional law experts said his actions merited impeachment, was a great success for him.
Here's Chris Riotta's story.
Legal professor hits out at White House order not co-operate with inquiry
Impeachment witness Michael Gerhardt has been on CNN's New Day this morning taking issue with one of fellow professor Jonathan Turley's contentions.
Hillary Clinton says Trump ‘shocked into silence’ by her offer of help
The former Democratic nominee rival has given an interview to controversial New York DJ Howard Stern, himself no stranger to tangling with Trump.
Kate Ng has the highlights of their encounter.
Nancy Pelosi addressing the nation on impeachment
“In the course of today’s events, is has become necessary to address the president's failure to execute the law", the House speaker says at her press conference underway in DC right now.
Pelosi is giving background on the protections enshired in the US Constitution to protect the American people against a president who breaks the law or assumes to behave like a king.
"The facts are uncontested: the president abused his power for his own political benefit at the expense of our national security," she says.
“The president’s actions are a profound violation of the public trust… and have seriously violated the constitution… his wrongdoing strikes at the very heart of our constitution and the separation of powers… our democracy is at stake, the president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt the election for his own benefit.”
Pelosi: 'Sadly, I am asking our chairmen to proceed with articles of impeachment'
There it is - the investigating House committees will begin drawing up articles of impeachment against America's 45th president Donald Trump.
Here's Chris Riotta's breaking story.
White House: 'Pelosi and the Democrats should be ashamed'
Here's the immediate reaction from the the president's press secretary, as all eyes turn to @realDonaldTrump.
Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager, has also responded with this statement:
"We are less than a year away from Election Day 2020 and Democrats can’t possibly explain to the American people why they want to take the decision of who should be president out of the hands of voters. But impeaching the president has always been their goal, so they should just get on with it so we can have a fair trial in the Senate and expose The Swamp for what it is. Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Schiff and Hunter Biden should testify and then we can get back to the business of our country."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments