Trump news: President fumes over Hillary Clinton’s emails in Twitter rant, as ex-aide Hope Hicks testifies before Congress
'We're watching obstruction of justice in action,' says congressman Ted Lieu of frustrated House Judiciary Committee hearing with former administration spokeswoman
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.Donald Trump‘s former adviser Hope Hicks appeared before the House Judiciary Committee as Democrats hoped to question her on the obstruction of justice counts recorded in the Mueller report, despite the White House invoking executive privilege in a bid to block her testimony and stonewall the investigation.
The president has tweeted angrily about the hearing taking place behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, writing: “Why aren’t the Dems looking at the 33,000 Emails that Hillary and her lawyer deleted and acid washed AFTER GETTING A SUBPOENA FROM CONGRESS? That is real Obstruction that the Dems want no part of because their hearings are RIGGED and a disgrace to our Country!”
Last night, Mr Trump kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign in Orlando, Florida, tearing into his enemies in Washington and pledging to combat “criminal aliens” in a wild address at the 20,000-capacity Amway Center packed with his most ardent supporters.
Less than an hour into Ms Hicks’ interview on Wednesday, frustrated Democrats taking breaks from the meeting said she and her lawyer were following White House orders to stay quiet about her time working for Mr Trump.
She was answering some questions about her time on the campaign, however, the lawmakers said.
“She’s objecting to stuff that’s already in the public record,” said California Democrat Karen Bass. “It’s pretty ridiculous.”
Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, called her answers “a farce.” Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, tweeted about the interview and wrote that Ms Hicks refused to answer even innocuous questions such as whether she had previously testified before Congress.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler declined to comment on the substance of the interview so far, saying “all I’ll say is Ms Hicks is answering questions put to her and the interview continues.”
Republicans had a different perspective, saying she was cooperative and that the interview was a waste of time. The top Republican on the panel, Doug Collins, said they were “simply talking about things that are already out there in public or getting the same answers over and over.”
It was so far unclear whether Democrats would take Ms Hicks or the administration to court to challenge the claim of immunity. In a letter Tuesday to Mr Nadler, White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote that Mr Trump had directed Ms Hicks not to answer questions “relating to the time of her service as a senior adviser to the president.”
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Hillary Clinton has responded to Donald Trump's attacks during his rally last night with another fire tweet -
Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming Democratic debates next week:
Senate Democrats have lambasted the Trump administration over a new bill it claims will provide "affordable clean energy" -
Democrats have denounced as “a farce” testimony from Donald Trump’sformer spokesperson, who refused – under directions from the White House– to confirm even basic information such as the location of her office in the West Wing.
The House of Representative’s judiciary committee hoped the closed-door testimony of former communications director Hope Hicks would provide insights into whether the president broke the law.
But soon after her testimony on Capitol Hill got under way on Wednesday, Democrats accused the 30-year-old and her legal advisors of stonewalling.
Here's The Independent's fact-check from last night's presidential rally -
This concludes today's live coverage on Donald Trump. Be sure to check back tomorrow as The Independent brings you the latest from Washington.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments