Trump impeachment news: Ambassador gets standing ovation for her testimony after 'intimidation' attempt by president

Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of the Donald Trump administration.

Trump complains impeachment inquiry has been 'very hard' on his family at Louisiana rally, attacks 'Never Trumper' witnesses

Donald Trump has complained that the House impeachment inquiry has been “very hard” on his family during a rally in Louisiana intended to muster support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone.

The president also angrily attacked the inquiry's first witnesses - acting Ukraine ambassador Bill Taylor and State Department official George Kent - as "Never Trumpers" out to get him.

Trump was on bullying form throughout, mocking House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff - spearheading the investigation into the Zelensky call - by saying he "would not make the LSU [Louisiana State University] football team" and deriding his "pencil neck", a familiar Trumpian insult.

Here's Andrew Buncombe's report.

Ousted Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to testify

The public stage of the inquiry is set to resume on Friday with Congress hearing from ousted Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who, it has been said, was the victim of a smear campaign to remove her from Kiev orchestrated by the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Here's Clark Mindock on what we can expect to see today.

Yovanovitch 'going to eat these people for lunch'

For Indy Voices, Andrew Feinberg says the ousted Ukraine ambassador has scores to settle and will relish her oportunity in the glare of the media spotlight.

Security experts warn Putin could have heard Sondland call

The call acting ambassador Taylor raised at Wednesday's hearing - which a member of his staff reported overhearing and in which Trump was heard to ask his ambassador to the UN Gordon Sondland about "the investigations" while the latter was in a Kiev restaurant - could well have been picked up by Russian spies and handed on to Vladimir Putin, US security experts have warned.

Stanford professor Michael McFaul warned as much on MSNBC...

... as did Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA officer who oversaw operations in Europe and Russia, on CNN.

 "If true, the cell phone call between Ambassador Sondland and President Trump is an egregious violation of traditional counterintelligence practices that all national security officials - to include political appointee ambassadors such as Sondland - are repeatedly made aware of," Polymeropoulos said.

"I cannot remember in my career any time where an ambassador in a high counterintelligence environment like Kiev would have such an unsecure conversation with a sitting president. This just should not happen."

Nancy Pelosi: Trump's actions 'make what Nixon did look almost small'

House speaker Nancy Pelosi had some strong words for Trump yesterday, saying the impeachment investigation has found evidence of “bribery” - an impeachable act - that was corroborated by the public testimonies of Taylor and Kent this week.

Trump's actions make "what Nixon did look almost small", she said.

Clark Mindock reports.

Kellyanne Conway blows up at Wolf Blitzer over marriage question

White House counsel Kellyanne Conway reacted angrily to CNN's Wolf Blitzer when he asked her about her marriage to outspoken Trump critic George Conway, who made a rare guest appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday to comment on the public hearings.

Andrew Buncombe has the full report on the showdown.

Louisiana senator derides 'goat milk latte-drinking, avocado toast-eating DC insiders'

Trump introduced professionally-folksy Louisiana senator John Kennedy to the stage last night in Bossier City with the declaration: "He went to Oxford. You know what that means? That means good. That means you're very good."

Senator Kennedy proceeded to play up to his brand in grand style.

Here's Jon Sharman's report.

President asks Supreme Court to protect his tax returns - setting up constitutional showdown

Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to shield his tax returns from prosecutors, setting up what is likely to be a showdown between different elements of the government.

A week after a federal appeals court ruled against the president and said he must hand the financial information to prosecutors in New York, his legal team made an approach to the nation’s highest bench.

In the filing, his lawyers argued that as president, he was immune from criminal investigation while he remained in office. 

“For the first time in our nation’s history, a state or local prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation of the president of the United States and subjected him to coercive criminal process,” the filing said.

“Every time a president has asked the court to review an unprecedented use of legal process against the occupant of the office, it has done so.”

Here's Andrew Buncombe.

Career admin official to break ranks and talk to impeachment inquiry on Saturday

Mark Sandy, a career admin aide with the Office of Management and Budget whose signature was on the letter withholding Ukrainian military assistance, is expected to defy the White House and testify to the impeachment inquiry on Saturday.

"I'm quite sure Mr Sandy... didn't make this decision on his own," ex-federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner told MSNBC's Ari Melber last night.

Maybe the impeachment inquiry is not dead after all, despite Trump's insistence otherwise late last night.