Trump impeachment news: President’s ‘shocking and unprecedented intervention’ condemned by former Navy chief, as golf trips bill hits $115 million

Trump to cut Nato funding days before London summit

The president will cut US funding to Nato in an agreement reached just days before a summit marking the crucial transatlantic alliance’s anniversary in London.​

The administration has sought to cut its contribution to Nato’s direct budget from 22 per cent to around 16 per cent - a Trump obsession realised - CNN has reported, citing US defence officials. That would bring America's contribution closer to Germany, which pays 14.8 per cent. The UK pays 10 per cent.

Here's Samuel Osborne's report.

Republican running against Ilhan Omar banned from Twitter after calling for her to be hanged

GOP contender Danielle Stella, hoping to unseat Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, has had her official Twitter account closed after she called for the high-profile Muslim Democrat to be hanged.

You would hope that will be enough to end Stella's run for Congress too.

Here's Phil Thomas's report.

Michael Bloomberg: 'America needs more immigrants, not fewer'

Media mogul Michael Bloomberg's 2020 presidential run is officially underway and he's already arguing that America needs more immigrants, not fewer, in a sharp rebuke to President Trump's "zero tolerance" policies and racist rhetoric.

"We need immigrants to take all the different kinds of jobs that the country needs – improve our culture, our cuisine, our religion, our dialogue and certainly improve our economy,” the billionaire told reporters at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday.

"Ripping kids away from their parents is a disgrace," he added.

(Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

The late entrant to the crowded Democratic field also reiterated his 17 November apology for supporting New York’s stop-and-frisk police strategy while he was mayor of the Big Apple, a practice that he embraced at the time and continued to defend despite its disproportionate impact on people of colour. He said it was a mistake but also credited it with reducing New York’s murder rate.

"How many times do you hear elected officials say, ‘I made a mistake’?” Bloomberg said. “None of us do everything perfectly. I’m sorry it happened, I can’t rewrite history. Let’s get on with it."

In addition to his huge advertising spend already, Bloomberg has underlined his seriousness about running by hiring Kelly Mehlenbacher  as deputy chief operating officer, poaching her from California senator Kamala Harris's team. She previously worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid.

Trump ally Sean Hannity urges disgraced Bill O'Reilly to return to Fox News

One of Trump's biggest media allies, Sean Hannity, has called on his disgraced former colleague Bill O'Reilly to return to Fox News and retake his number one spot, provoking a storm of protests. 

Hannity made the comment when he interviewed O'Reilly on his radio show this week, apparently indifferent to the latter having to resign in 2017 after being accused of multiple cases of sexual harassment by female staffers at the network, his ousting one of biggest scalps of the #MeToo movement that saw him making massive compensation payouts to his victims.

This was the exchange in question, according to Mediaite, which centered around Trump's appearance on O'Reilly's radio show on Tuesday (the president not bothered about any of the above either, naturally):

"The other thing I did in the interview was I made it a little personal," O’Reilly explained. "I said you know, you - you’re taking more attack and vitriol than any other president with the exception of Abraham Lincoln."

"I have never seen a human being able to absorb more punishment than Donald Trump,” O’Reilly added.

"So true, it’s unbelievable,” Hannity agreed.

"You and I, we can identify because we’ve been attacked for more than 20 years, each of us has," O’Reilly said.

"Twenty four to be exact,” Hannity corrected. "By the way, I keep offering you, go back on Fox, and…"

"Yeah and why do I want to do that?” O’Reilly cut in to say. "So I can have security guards go with me everywhere, like I used to?"

"No, so that you take the number one slot,” Hannity replied.

Their discussion duly drew this outraged response from three former Fox personalties targeted by O'Reilly.

Matt Gaetz: 'If you're ever accused of holding a hostage for ransom and you're not doing it... It's always a good idea to release the alleged hostage'

Speaking of Fox, here's Florida congressman and Trump stooge Matt Gaetz looking like a total dolt as he flubbs his answer to a softball question about the president holding up that pesky military aid to Ukraine.

That line up there could have been written by the Coen Brothers for Burn After Reading. Yeesh.