Trump news: President sends furious letter to Pelosi about impeachment as former campaign aide sentenced to jail
Follow here for all the latest updates, as they happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Republican Party “will not survive” Donald Trump’s impeachment trial if Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s “corrupt” conduct continues, a chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush has warned.
Richard Painter’s admonition comes on the likely eve of a historic impeachment vote in the House amid a brewing battle over the shape of a near-inevitable trial in the Senate, with minority leader Chuck Schumer weighing his options over how to best ensure the president is held to account.
Meanwhile, one of the president's former campaign managers was sentenced to three years of probation and 45 days in jail for charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Rick Gates, an associate of Paul Manafort, committed tax evasion and skirted federal lobbying laws by concealing millions of dollars they received in Ukraine. Gates pleaded guilty in 2018. Manafort is currently serving a seven and a half year sentence.
As the House prepares to vote on impeaching the president on obstruction charges, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani admitted that he wanted ousted Ukraine envoy Marie Yovanovitch “out of the way”, suggesting he fed the president “gossip” in order to turn him against her.
The House Rules Committee is debating the process for the vote in Congress, which is set for Wednesday.
But Senate leaders McConnell and Schumer are in a tug of war over how to proceed with the Senate's impeachment trial.
Mr McConnell rejected Mr Schumer's request for witnesses and accused Democrats of trying to "short circuit" the hearings.
Mr McConnell had previously boasted that he was in "total coordination" with the White House over impeachment strategy, raising criticisms against Republicans for their apparent hypocrisy while underlining the active obstruction charges against the president.
Republican Congressman Rob Woodall just sucked the air out of the room, saying, a "grand jury room is not a place of fairness, it's a place of indictment."
Asked by Alcee Hastings to repeat what he said, Mr Woodall repeated himself.
Congressman Jamie Raskin threaded Donald Trump's history of financial misuse and political maneuvering to the Mueller report and to the charges outlined in the articles of impeachment: "There is a pattern of evidence."
He said there may be charges and evidence left on the table, and that peoples' call for the president's impeachment before 2019 shouldn't influence what happens next, just as Republicans' call to remove Bill Clinton from office for years before his impeachment "doesn't necessarily discredit what happened".
The issue right now, Raskin says, is "a clear and present danger to our democracy" that requires an expeditious trial.
Doug Collins, dismissively, calls it a "clock and calendar" issue, insisting that Democrats are running out of time.
Committee Chair Jim McGovern repeats that their working to impeach a president performing "crime in progress. ... It is beyond the pale."
Here in the US, as impeachment bears down upon us, the hashtag "#Trumplandside" is trending.
Yes, that's a typo. Though, to be fair, a lot of the tweets seem to be people making fun of the typo.
Joe Biden has release his medical records, with the following summary:
You can access the full records right here.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments