Trump news: President lashes out after impeachment report accuses him of bribery, as Republicans urged not to conduct 'cover-up' Senate trial

Hello and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the day's events in Washington, as a historic House vote on Donald Trump's impeachment looms.

Trump’s ‘impeachment adviser’ Pam Bondi says looming charges are weighing on him

A White House adviser tasked with defending Mr Trump during the impeachment proceedings against him suggested the pressure of the looming charges was beginning to weigh down on the president just before an official vote, Chris Riotta reports.

Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who the president hired last month to serve as a voice for the administration while it battles back against the public impeachment hearings, slammed the House-led inquiry in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. 

“Is this difficult? Of course it is”, Ms Bondi said. “And that’s why the lawyers, we are all handling this impeachment sham and charade with the weakest of weak evidence … now going to the US Senate.”

Read more here: 

Poll finds half of Americans support removing Trump from office

A Fox News poll has found 50 per cent of Americans are in favour of impeaching the president and removing him from office, with a further four per cent in favour of impeachment, but not his removal from the White House.

The results suggest only a mild change in public opinion since October, with support for his impeachment up one point despite the furious battle playing out in the media over whether or not the "impeachment hoax", as the inquiry has been branded by the president, is justified.

As usual, the president questioned the accuracy of the poll and called for Fox to "get a new pollster".

He also shared some figures of his own, suggesting his approval rating within the Republican party was at a record 95 per cent.

It is not clear which polling Mr Trump refers to when he says this, with a Gallup survey in November putting him on 90 per cent with Republicans and 43 per cent overall – the same as Barack Obama in his third November as president.

George W Bush holds the record approval rating among Republicans, with 99 per cent viewing his presidency favourably immediately after 9/11.

Trump and Schiff clash as committee unveils articles of impeachment

Top Democrats branded Mr Trump "a clear and present danger to democracy" as they tried to convince Republican senators to cross party lines in a likely impeachment vote, with Adam Schiff asserting Mr Trump's "conduct is far worse than anything Nixon did, far more sweeping in its obstruction of accountability, far more damaging to our national security and the cover-up that was Watergate".

While Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has indicated there is "zero chance" the Republican-controlled Senate will vote to impeach Mr Trump, his fate lies in the hands of just 20 Republicans whose vote would be required to make up the 67 necessary for his removal.

The House, however, is expected to vote this week in support of the two articles of impeachment unveiled by the House Judiciary Committee on Sunday night.

In a series of angry tweets, Mr Trump employed his well-worn epithet "Shifty Schiff", and claimed Nancy Pelosi's teeth were falling out in an interview.

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House Judiciary Committee publishes full 658-page impeachment report

The committee driving the inquiry into Mr Trump's impeachment published its full report on Sunday night, with the House expected to vote on it as early as Wednesday.

Divided into four parts, the report respectively logs the processes of the investigation, sets out the Constitution's standards for impeachment, details the case against Mr Trump's dealings in Ukraine, and alleges that the White House worked to obstruct the investigation by refusing the House's requests for evidence and testimonies.

The report states that Mr Trump has realised the "worst nightmare" of those involved in drafting the Constitution.

It states: "He has abused his power in soliciting and pressuring a vulnerable foreign nation to corrupt the next United States Presidential election by sabotaging a political opponent and endorsing a debunked conspiracy theory promoted by our adversary, Russia."

"He has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that will continue if left unchecked. Accordingly, President Trump should be impeached and removed from office," Jerrold Nadler wrote.

Trump quotes former David Cameron aide likening impeachment impact to UK general election result

As he lashed out at top Democrats, the president loosely quoted Fox News’ Steve Hilton who yesterday likened the impeachment inquiry’s impact on the 2020 election to Brexit and the UK’s general election.

“For the last three years in England, the establishment tried to overturn the 2016 Brexit vote and the people told them to get lost. They meant it the first time and they voted for it a second time,” said the presenter, who also indulged in the Ukraine-Biden conspiracy during his defence of the president – a theory which US intelligence officials have warned serves Russian interests. 

Mr Hilton, a former director of strategy for David Cameron, added: “They meant it the first time and they voted for it a second time. Here in America it will be the same but even more so, because while in England nothing got done during the establishment’s attempted counter-revolution, in this country, while all this has been going on – the obstruction, the impeachment, Russia, Ukraine, whatever, president Trump has managed to deliver not just his promises, but a record … which surely adds up to one of the most successful presidencies in history.”

Mr Trump posted an interpretation to his followers:

What's next in the impeachment proceedings?

The Associated Press has compiled a guide of what's expected in the impeachment votes. Here it is:

The House Vote

House leaders are preparing for the final impeachment vote just as lawmakers are about to leave for the holiday break. Approval would set up a 2020 trial in the Senate.

Votes on the two articles could come as soon as Wednesday, with a meeting to set debate rules already scheduled for Tuesday. Floor consideration is expected to be much like that of a regular bill.

The House Judiciary Committee vote was strictly along party lines, and the floor vote is expected to be similar, with a few exceptions. No Republicans have so far signalled that they will support the articles of impeachment, but a small handful of Democrats who represent GOP-leaning districts have said they may join Republicans in voting against them.

Impeachment Managers

Nancy Pelosi is expected to name, as soon as this week, a handful of members to argue the Democrats' case in the Senate trial. It's still unclear who these impeachment managers will be, but they are likely to be members of the Judiciary and intelligence committees that took the lead on the case.

Ms Pelosi has kept quiet on potential names. But the managers are expected to be from safe Democratic districts, diverse in race and gender and from all parts of the country. It is also likely that the number of impeachment managers will be fewer than 13, the number of GOP managers in Bill Clinton's 1998 trial.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler are expected to assume two of the positions.

The Senate Trial

If the House approves the charges, as expected, impeachment would then move to a weeks-long Senate trial, where senators are jurors and the impeachment managers act as prosecutors. The chief justice of the United States presides over the trial.

If the Senate approves an article of impeachment with a two-thirds vote of "guilty," the president is convicted and removed from office. If all the articles are rejected - as expected - the president is acquitted.

It is unclear how long the trial will last or exactly how it will be structured.

This is the fourth time in history Congress has moved to impeach a president. If he were convicted by the Senate, Mr Trump would be the first to be removed.

Democratic senate leader calls for at least four witnesses during Senate trial as Republicans indicate they will 'take cues' from Trump

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has written to majority leader Mitch McConnell, calling for the eventual trial in the Senate to include witnesses and fresh documents.

Mr Schumer requested that key officials in the Trump administration testify, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and his senior adviser Robert Blair, Mr Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton, and Michael Duffey from the Office of Management and Budget.

The Washington Post's Seung Min Kim published a copy of Mr Schumer's demands: 

But Mr McConnell and the White House have indicated Republican leaders will work "hand in hand" with Mr Trump to ensure the narrative of Senate hearings are to his liking.

Last week, Mr McConnell angered Democrats when he told Fox News: "Everything I do during this, I am coordinating with White House counsel."

Republicans have defended this as a move to ensure Mr Trump receives "a fair trial".

Mr Schumer and Mr McConnell are expected to meet this week to discuss the format of the likely Senate hearing.

Here's a bit more detail on that Fox News polling that prompted the US president to advise the broadcaster hired new pollsters.

53 per cent of Americans believe Mr Trump abused his power, in contrast to 38 per cent who don't think he did.

45 per cent believe he committed bribery, compared to 37 per cent who don't think he did.

Trump's expected impeachment re-election boost may not be going to plan, polling suggests

Donald Trump has embraced Democratic-led efforts to impeach him as a major asset to his 2020 re-election campaign, betting that Republicans and disaffected political independents will be motivated to vote for him next November.

But if the Republican president is hoping for a public backlash like the one against the 1998 impeachment of Bill Clinton, it has so far not worked out that way.

Reuters/Ipsos polling data over the past few months shows that while Mr Trump is not enjoying anything close to the kind of bipartisan rise in support experienced by Mr Clinton. If anything, the demand among Democrats to hold the president to account has become more fervent, while his approval ratings among Republicans stay relatively flat.

Here is another notable comparison of the two presidents as they faced looming impeachment:

Mr Trump has long asserted that the "Do Nothing Democrats" are fixated only on his impeachment, and Nancy Pelosi's backing of his new NAFTA trade deal replacement is likely cognizant of this.