Trump news: First public impeachment hearings to begin in days, as president suffers election humiliation and huge 2020 poll deficits
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Your support makes all the difference.David Hale, a senior State Department official, is testifying to the House impeachment inquiry the morning after Donald Trump suffered a series of disastrous electoral setbacks, with the Democrats declaring victory in key races in Virginia and Kentucky.
Mr Trump also finds himself trailing behind Democratic 2020 candidates Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg by double-digit margins on Wednesday, according to the latest poll from ABC News/Washington Post.
Perhaps worst of all, the president’s ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, a key figure in the impeachment probe, has revised his own testimony, admitting a quid pro quo was behind the decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine and that the administration only planned to release the money in exchange for new president Volodymyr Zelensky announcing an anti-corruption probe into Mr Biden.
The day proceeded with Democrats announcing the first set of public impeachment hearings for next week.
Then, testimony from William Taylor was released in full, showing a worrisome situation for the president.
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A little Democratic reaction to last night's election upsets.
Prisoner Abdul Latif Nasir was just about to leave Guantanamo Bay when then-president-elect Trump tweeted on 3 January 2017 that there "would be no more releases" from the notorious American detention centre on the Cuban coast.
Nasir has since been told he will stay there forever.
Andrew Buncombe has his story.
In the last hour, Trump has praised Volker for saying he didn't know there was a quid pro quo in play (which is not the same as categorically denying there was one) and "joked" about taking credit for stock market highs.
Here's David Hale, undersecretary of state for political affairs, arriving on Capitol Hill to speak to the House impeachment panel a short while ago.
(Shawn Thew/EPA)
Energy secretary Rick Perry, State Department counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl and Office of Management and Budget acting director Russell Vought are scheduled in but are expected to be no-shows.
Update: Brechbuhl has flown out to Germany with Mike Pompeo to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, so that one's clearly not happening.
Trump will be the first president to kick off New York City’s Veterans Day Parade, the White House has announced.
The event takes place next Monday and will see Trump address the 100th annual opening ceremony and lay a wreath at the Eternal Light Memorial at Madison Square Park.
This comes shortly after Trump - born and raised in Queens - announced he was leaving the Big Apple to make Florida his permanent place of residence as the city pushed for his tax returns and after he was loudly booed at two public appearances, the most recent of which was at a UFC bout at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Kellyanne Conway has been out early in the autumn morning sunshine pushing vague lies about election "irregularities" in Kentucky and berating reporters.
Paula White, Trump's spiritual adviser (I know, right?), is being resoundingly mocked online after declaring: "To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God."
If you've never ecountered White before, she's a Florida pastor who preaches the “prosperity gospel”, which insists that financial donations to religious causes will boost your own economic wellbeing and spiritual health, and is partial to speaking in tongues.
Here she is with her husband.
Sirena Bergman has more for Indy100.
For Indy Voices, Andrew Feinberg says the latest impeachment transcripts expose how ludicrous it is for Republicans to continue defending Trump.
The former governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has weighed in on his biggest fears ahead of the 2020 election.
Mr Walker, who famously dropped out months before the first votes were to be cast in the Republican primary in 2016, said that he worries that Donald Trump's chance's aren't Joe Biden, but rather Bernie Sanders.
Also for Voices, Chris Stevenson says the Democrats have just won their most important elections in a decade.
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