Trump news: President asked about Ukraine 'investigations', impeachment hearings told as Democrats reject effort to force whistleblower testimony
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Your support makes all the difference.The House impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump is beginning its first public hearings with Bill Taylor, acting US ambassador to Ukraine, and State Department official George Kent. Both witnesses delivered joint-testimony to Congress as the president derides the process as a “partisan sham”.
Mr Trump has meanwhile reportedly been threatening to fire his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney over his recent blunders. He also previously considered axing Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the US intelligence community, over his handling of the whistle-blower complaint about his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, as senior Republicans insist they will not be watching the hearings and Mr Trump hosts his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Wednesday, progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for the resignation of senior Trump aide Stephen Miller over racist emails he sent to the right-wing news site Breitbart, in which he advocated white nationalist ideologies.
Following a meeting between the two leaders, Mr Trump repeated to reporters at a press conference that the day's public impeachment hearings are a "witch hunt" and a "joke".
"I haven't watched, I haven't watched for one minute because I've been with the president which is much more important as far as I'm concerned," Mr Trump said.
But the leaders were at odds following their controversial summit, to which five Senators were invited, discussing Turkey's cease-fire against Kurdish forces in Syria, as well as a two-day $100b trade deal and Turkey's acquisition of Russian anti-aircraft weapons.
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Here's more from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg, who is in the room where the hearings are being held:
"Schiff is sitting stone-faced as Nunes uses his question time to recite a rambling, prepared statement attacking Democrats and repeating a number of falsehoods (about Ukrainian officials not knowing that their aid had been put on hold) and conspiracy theories about “Ukrainian meddling” in 2016 (which didn’t happen)."
Devin Nunes is going on to support Donald Trump's long-held, unfounded belief that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 presidential election in favour of Hillary Clinton, rather than Russia interfering in support of Mr Trump.
The claims Mr Nunes is espousing have not been supported by any intelligence agencies or credible media outlets.
William Taylor says that Donald Trump's suggestion along the 2016 presidential campaign trail that he would allow Crimea to go back to Russia was "amazingly inflammatory to all Ukrainians" in response to California Republican Devin Nunes.
The House Republican counsel is asking William Taylor if he understands Donald Trump's concerns about reports that some Ukrainian officials did not support his candidacy in 2016.
The acting US ambassador to Ukraine says he does not know Mr Trump's reactions to those reports. He continues to respond "I don't know" when asked about whether he can support such similar beliefs held by the president.
A note from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg as he watches the hearings from within the room where the proceedings are being held:
"The questioning so far from GOP Counsel appears to be based on the idea that Trump was justified in his feelings about Ukraine because Ukrainian officials may have said mean things about him."
William Taylor says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told officials he was "happy with the call" shortly after he spoke with Donald Trump.
Mr Taylor then says he was briefed on the call days later and was told about "concerning" elements of the call, including Rudy Giuliani being raised, among other issues.
The Independent's Andrew Feinberg snapped this picture inside of the hearing room showing House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel entering the proceedings:
George Kent is testifying that the US repeatedly pressed Ukrainian officials about a prosecutor allegedly taking a bribe to close an investigation involving Burisma, where Joe Biden's son, Hunter, served on a board of directors.
House Republican counsel Steve Castor does not appear to be yielding the answers from impeachment witnesses some GOP members may be hoping for. Even former President George W Bush's White House Ari Fleischer is even speaking out about it:
George Kent refuses to answer whether it's a problem for Hunter Biden to work for a Ukrainian energy firm, and does not answer any questions about the former vice president's son and his experience.
William Taylor also says he does not have knowledge about Hunter Biden's specific involvement on the board.
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