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

Trump impeachment ‘closest to what founders actually feared’, says historian

Historian Jeffrey A Engel, co-author of Impeachment: An American History, has helped to put the upcoming House vote in context, by pointing out that this is the first time a president will be tried over an issue relating to foreign interference – and as such “is the only one that actually deals with the kind of issues that the founders explicitly discussed at the Constitutional convention. 

Mr Engel told Sky News: “Their primary examples of when a president would need to be removed from office all involved a president who worked with foreign powers, who came under the influence of foreign powers, and in particular … who in some way lied or disseminated in order to achieve office, and then achieve office again, to keep their first commission of crimes from being found out.

"So I think this is the one that is the closest to what the founders actually feared.”

Trump and Johnson to speak in due course, Number 10 says

According to Reuters, a spokesperson for Boris Johnson has said he is sure the PM will speak to Donald Trump in due course.

On Friday, the US president hailed the PM's victory as "tremendous" for America, saying: "It means a lot of trade, a tremendous amount of trade. They want to do business with us so badly."

Trump ally Lindsey Graham says he is 'not a fair juror' and will vote against impeachment

Republican senator Lindsey Graham has said he has made up his mind on impeachment and does not plan on being a “fair juror” in a Senate trial of Donald Trump, Conrad Duncan reports.

Senators will be called upon to determine whether the president should be removed from office if the House of Representatives votes to pass articles of impeachment against Mr Trump this week.

However, Mr Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he plans to shut down an impeachment trial as quickly as possible and does not want to hear from any more witnesses on the president’s alleged misconduct with Ukraine.

“I have clearly made up my mind. I'm not trying to hide the fact that I have disdain for the accusations and the process,” Mr Graham told CNN on Sunday. “I am ready to vote on the underlying articles. I don't really need to hear a lot of witnesses.”

Read more here: 

Hold articles of impeachment 'like Sword of Damocles' over Trump and McConnell, says Harvard constitutional law professor

Here's one possible route being floated in response to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell's insistence that Republicans will work "hand in hand" with the White House to ensure the impeachment trial's narrative is to Mr Trump's liking.

Dangle impeachment over their heads "like a sword of Damocles" until they agree to hold "a fair trial in the Senate, not a Trumpian whitewash", says professor of Constitutional law at Harvard, Laurence Tribe.

  ↵Fox News host 'stunned' by poll suggesting half of Americans support Trump's removal

Brian Kilmeade has said he is "stunned" by a Fox News poll suggesting 50 per cent of Americans support Trump's removal from office. Here's his reaction on Monday morning:

Here's more detail on the polls:

Joe Biden receives 2020 endorsement in Alabama

The mayor of Alabama's largest city is endorsing Joe Biden for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination just weeks after the vice president met with a group of Southern black mayors representing millions of voters in key early primary states, The Associated Press reports.

In an exclusive interview with AP on Sunday, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said he left that Atlanta meeting in November convinced that Mr Biden is the best choice to defeat Donald Trump.

"I think he would view mayors as his partners in the campaign and he would view us as partners in the White House," Mr Woodfin said. "That's important to me."

Mr Woodfin's endorsement, which he is expected to announce later today, is the latest amid a scramble among the 2020 candidates to shore up support with mayors.

Five aides resign as Democrat switches party to vote against impeachment

The five have written a letter saying they are "deeply saddened" and can no longer work in good conscience for congressman Jeff Van Drew because his party switch "doesn't align with the values we brought to this job".

Mr Van Drew has said he plans to vote this week against impeaching Donald Trump, putting him at odds with nearly every other House Democrat.

Mr Van Drew, who is in his first term, represents a southern New Jersey district that Mr Trump carried in 2016 and was expected to face a difficult re-election next year.

Here's a little more detail on the recently published report.

In a 169-page document that will accompany the two articles of impeachment (abuse of power and obstruction of Congress) expected to be put to the House this week, the House Judiciary Committee has claimed Donald Trump "committed multiple federal crimes", including bribery, and that the president "betrayed the nation".

Describing Mr Trump's alleged abuse of power, the report states: "President Trump abused the powers of the Presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit.

"He has also betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections… President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.”

Divided into four parts, the full 658-page document 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.

Donald Trump and Jr seize Democrat's party switch as evidence of unjust impeachment

The president has endorsed his son of the same name's praise for Jeff Van Drew, who recently announced his defection to the GOP over impeachment, causing five of his aides to resign.

Mr Trump Jr said: "So great to see someone willing to put party politics aside and call balls and strikes when they see them." 

Meanwhile, the president is looking ahead to 2020.

Senate minority leader explains his call for at least four witnesses during Congress trial

Chuck Schumer has appeared on CNN explaining why he has asked for at least four witnesses during a likely hearing to remove Donald Trump in the senate. The witnesses are: 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.

Mr Schumer asserted there will be “no fishing expeditions”, just “the kind of justice America is known for, which is swift but fair”.

“Look, this is so serious,” he told CNN. “When you have the evidence the House has, which is very severe, all the facts should come out. These four witnesses have direct knowledge of the facts, particularly with regard to the aid to Ukraine. I don’t know what they’ll say.”

Meanwhile, calls for the House to withhold impeachment articles from the Senate until Republicans guarantee a "fair trial" are gathering steam.