Trump news - live:‘Can you believe this?’ President rages at ‘garbage’ Democrat impeachment investigation
Nancy Pelosi announces that Democrats are starting proceedings to try to force Donald Trump from office
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After having the threat hanging over him for what has felt like almost the whole of his presidency, Donald Trump now finally faces a formal impeachment investigation.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, announced that she was beginning the inquiry in response to allegations that the president was trying to recruit a foreign head of state to fabricate dirt on Joe Biden, the frontrunner to face Mr Trump in next year’s election.
In a statement she said: “The actions of the Trump presidency have revealed the dishonourable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”
It was a dramatic change of tack by Ms Pelosi, who has opposed efforts by her party colleagues to impeach the president.
But the controversy over Mr Trump’s mysterious July phone call to Volodymyr Zelensky, the efforts to keep a whistleblower’s complaint from Congress, and the suspicion that the president was trying to subvert American democracy - perhaps for a second time - served to change her mind.
The president himself punched back in characteristic fashion, unleashing a broadside of tweets that were by turn angry, insulting and boastful.
He reverted to some of his favourite catchphrases - “witch hunt”, “presidential harassment”; implied that efforts to hold him to account were tantamount to an attack on America - “so bad for our country”; and tweeted a re-election campaign video that featured him claiming that impeachment would help his poll numbers.
The impeachment process itself is likely to pass the lower chamber of Congress, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, where it needs a simple majority. But the Republican-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required for a conviction, looks virtually unattainable.
The Democrats will therefore hope that their dramatic gamble, 14 months before the presidential elections, pays off.
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Is there finally enough momentum behind impeachment for Democrats to go all-in on it? Some political journalists think so today…
A senior US senator is demanding an investigation into the Trump administration’s withholding of aid from Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said Congress was not made aware of any policy reason for withholding the funds and “it is becoming clear that” Mr Trump put pressure on Ukrainian officials.
In one of three letters sent to Trump administration officials, Mr Menendez wrote:
“We must immediately understand whether, and to what extent, the president and his team converted duly-appropriated United States foreign assistance funds for his personal and political benefit, and what role federal agencies may have played in it."
If impeachment was to start this month, how long could it take to complete?
Steve Kornacki, a national political correspondent at NBC News, has tweeted the timeline for the Bill Clinton impeachment back in 1998 which gives an idea of how long proceedings could take.
Of course, Mr Trump’s impeachment would be a very different case to Mr Clinton’s – especially as the Mueller report basically lays out the arguments Democrats will use.
By Politico’s count, there are now 158 Democratic representatives who support impeachment proceedings.
That’s 158 out of 235 Democratic members of Congress.
BREAKING: Finally, we have some word from the president.
Mr Trump has responded to the fallout from his conversation with the Ukranian president.
He has claimed that he blocked aid to Ukraine because he wants “other countries to put up money” – such as Germany and France.
Mr Trump has also said that he “assumes” journalists will be able to see the transcript of the phone call soon.
In his statement, Mr Trump admitted to withholding aid from Ukraine while asking the country’s leader to investigate Joe Biden.
More on that story as we get it below:
Here are Mr Trump’s comments in writing on the speculation about an imminent impeachment inquiry:
Some more 2020 Democratic candidates have reiterated their support for impeachment proceedings today.
Beyond impeachment talk, Mr Trump said he believes Iran wants to do something to defuse tensions with the United States ahead of his speech at the UN.
He told reporters:
"I think we're doing very well. Let's see what happens with Iran, but we are in a very strong position on Iran and I think they'd like to do something and it would be a smart thing for them if they did."
The president has just referred to "globalists" during his UN speech - a term that has a troubling history as an antisemitic slur.
Mr Trump said: "The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots."
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