Trump impeachment news: President launches fresh attack on longstanding allies as new poll projects him losing to 2020 contenders

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

Trump lashes out at rivals in furious rally speech, says world no longer laughing

Donald Trump lashed out at his political rivals in his latest 2020 campaign rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, last night, also claiming the world is no longer laughing at the US a week after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was filmed doing exactly that.

The president labelled House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff “a crooked bastard”, the FBI “scum” and House Financial Services Committee chair Maxine Waters "low IQ" at one of his most raucous gatherings in recent memory. He mocked 2020 challenger Elizabeth Warren over her social media output and falsely accused Texas politician Beto O'Rourke of trying to "get rid of religion, the Bible".

He again pushed lies about the Justice Department watchdog's new report exonerating the FBI of bias, repeated a ludicrous misconception about how renewable energy works and even attempted to politicise the problem of sexual assault among undocumented migrants despite being accused of misconduct himself by literally dozens of women.

Trump also accused House speaker Nancy Pelosi of seeking to use the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade pact to deflect attention from the impeachment effort, which yesterday saw Democrats announce two articles against him: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress (more on which shortly). 

"They announced the impeachment and then an hour later she announced that she is going to do USMCA. You know why, it's a huge deal and it plays down the impeachment because they're embarrassed by the impeachment," Trump told the cheering crowd.

The president is seeking to shore up support in swing states like Pennsylvania, which he won by less than one percentage point in 2016, visiting the state often ahead of the November 2020 election.

One of three "Rust Belt" states Trump won with votes from white, blue-collar voters who had previously supported Democrats, Pennsylvania is seen as key to keeping control of the White House, along with Michigan and Wisconsin.

"We're gonna win Pennsylvania," Trump said at the rally, before attacking local voters over their choice of district attorney: "What the hell. How did you let that happen?"

He went on to call the impeachment probe a hoax and disparaged rival Joe Biden for forgetting the names of states in which he was campaigning.

All in all, it was quite a performance.

President harangues arena security over protester: 'We don't want to be politically correct'

One of the more disturbing incidents of the evening came when Trump called for the removal of a female anti-fascism protester waving a pink sign that read "grabbing power back."

"Get her out. Law enforcement is so great," Trump said, before singling out one member of security at the Giant Center he felt had been too lenient with her and adding: "That particular guy wanted to be so politically correct... We don't want to be political correct."

Jon Sharman reports.

House Judiciary Committee to debate articles of impeachment

The reason for the president's fire and fury was of course yesterday's articles of impeachment announcement by the House Democrats.

The House Judiciary Committee is is due to meet today to debate the articles ahead of a vote to send the matter on to the full House of Representatives on Thursday, setting up a final vote on whether or not to impeach President Trump before Christmas. 

That is widely expected to happen and pass along party lines, setting up a Senate trial in the new year.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told reporters yesterday he would be "totally surprised" if there were enough votes to convict Trump and boot him out of the Oval Office.

Here's Chris Riotta and Andrew Feinberg with a full account of a historic day in Washington.

Impeachment: What is the president being charged with and what happens next?

Here's Chris Riotta to explain what yesterday's announcement means for Donald J Trump.

New poll finds Trump losing to leading 2020 Democrats

With things looking rougher than ever for the president at present, a devastating new Quinnipiac poll has emerged projecting Trump losing comfortably to all of the leading Democratic presidential nominees in 2020.

Trump campaign invites ridicule with ludicrous video of Trump as Marvel villain Thanos

In sillier news, Trump’s campaign team has put out a completely dunderheaded new video depicting the president as Avengers villain Thanos.

Not only is the purple-hued intergalactic terrorist - hell bent on halving the globe's population - a bad guy, he also loses the "Infinity War" he wages against earth, as Marvel fans have been only too quick to point out.

Here's the response from Bernie Sanders fans...

.. and here's Ellie Harrison with the disgusted reaction of the character's creator, Jim Starlin.

Judge blocks Trump from using military funds for US-Mexico border wall

A federal district judge in Texas has blocked the Trump administration from spending $3.6bn (£2.7bn) of military funds on the president’s long-promised border fence to stifle immigration from Central America.

Justice David Briones of El Paso issued a permanent injunction that prevents the administration from using money previously set aside for a string of military construction projects.

It is a major setback for Trump, who has made building a barrier along the US-Mexico border a signature issue and even told his aides he would pardon them if they broke the law to get it done in time for November 2020. The Justice Department says it will appeal the decision.

Here's Jon Sharman with a full report.

Trump to sign executive order on Judaism days after being accused of antisemitism

The president will sign an executive order on Wednesday effectively defining Judaism as a nationality, not just a religion, in a move the White House has described as an order to combat antisemitism on US college campuses.

The gesture has already been criticised by free speech advocates though, who raised concerns a broader definition of antisemitism could be used to limit criticism of Israel’s government.

This comes just days after the president was denounced by Jewish groups and his political rivals for including an antisemitic trope in his speech to the Israeli American Council, the slur again exposing his hypocrisy towards America's Jewish population, whom he has repeatedly patronised and insulted while pandering to Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and making disingenuous political capital out of Democrat Ilhan Omar's criticism of the influence of Israeli lobbyists in Washington.

Trump and the first lady will also be hosting a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House today, incidentally.

Samuel Osborne has more.

President forced to pay out $2m over misuse of charity money

Trump has been forced to pay out $2m (£1.5m) to eight charities as part of a court-ordered judgement after he was accused of self-dealing and using charitable donations for his campaign.

In a settlement reached on 7 November, Trump admitted to "persistent" violations of federal and state campaign finance laws by abusing the tax-exempt status of his Donald J Trump Foundation and using it as "little more than a chequebook" to support his campaign and his business. He was ordered to make donations to Army Emergency Relief, the Children's Aid Society, Citymeals-on-Wheels, Give an Hour, Martha's Table, the United Negro College Fund, the United Way of National Capital Area and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Trump also agreed to distribute $1.8m (£1.4m) remaining in his foundation's coffers among the same charities. In total, each of the eight received just over $476,000 (£362,000). 

Last year, the president said on Twitter he "won't settle" the case and called it a political attack from "sleazy" New York Democrats.

Alex Woodward reports.