Trump news: President attacks journalist in rambling press conference as impeachment inquiry escalates
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has been labelled “dangerous” and accused of “unhinged depravity” after he tweeted that the impeachment inquiry into his phone call with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky amounted to a “coup” days after quoting a far-right Texas pastor’s warning that Congress risks creating a “Civil War like fracture” by pursuing him.
As his job approval rating slides to an all-time low, the president has been forced to deny reports emanating from a new book that he suggested shooting migrants in the legs, building a snake and alligator-filled moat at the US-Mexico border (no, really) and electrifying his much-touted wall before being told by aides his ideas were both illegal and impractical.
In a furious press conference with the Finnish president, Mr Trump snapped at reporters multiple times and appeared to be somewhat admonished by the visiting leader.
In other developments, 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders has been hospitalised following a chest complaint, House Democrats have threatened to subpoena the White House and secretary of state Mike Pompeo had admitted for the first time he was in on the Zelensky call. However, his aides are still denying that he took part in the attempts to get Ukraine to interfere with the 2020 election.
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"Smell my cheese you mother!"
Darren Richman offers an Alan Partridge parallel after Mike Pompeo was subjected to an angry cheese protest in Italy, not unlike the unfortunate BBC chief commissioning editor Tony Hayers in the classic sitcom.
Here's Trump's latest rambling about impeachment - further completely different lines of attack.
He's starting to look very desperate indeed.
Pelosi and Schiff are currently speaking to the press on their impeachment inquiry.
Trump is clearly watching to live-troll their remarks.
Trump, clearly very angry, has just tweeted a naughty word in block caps.
Won't someone please think of the children?
Trump's ex-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been on Fox Business to say Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want to allow "illegals to come across the border and kill Americans".
"They wanna redistribute your wealth. Anybody who's made something successful, they want to take it away from you," he said before turning to the candidates' platforms on immigration to claim: "They want to have illegal aliens come across this border and kill Americans. And they think that's what America stands for? I don't agree at all."
All of which would be outrageous if we didn't already know that he feels no duty to be honest with the media whatsoever, as he himself flatly declared before Congress two weeks ago.
The prime minister of Australia said Donald Trump requested his government’s help in an investigation looking at the origins of the US probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Scott Morrison described a phone call he had with the US president in which he agreed to cooperate with the Trump administration’s new investigation as “fairly uneventful” during an interview with Sky News on Wednesday.
“The president contacted me and asked for there to be a point of contact between the Australian government and the US attorney, which I was happy to do on the basis that it was something we had already committed to do,” Mr Morrison said.
He also confirmed Australia had previously offered its cooperation in the probe that’s being led by William Barr, the US attorney general Mr Trump nominated to oversee the Justice Department in December 2018.
Story to come...
Donald Trump is speaking to reporters in the Oval Office and continuing to escalate his attacks on the Democratic Party.
He's calling out Nancy Pelosi, saying she spends "99 per cent of her time" focusing on the impeachment inquiry rather than lowering drug prices and her district of San Francisco, California.
The look on the president of Finland's face as Donald Trump attacks Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office is quite telling:
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