Trump news: President abruptly drops sanctions on Turkey, as Republicans storm impeachment hearings
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump continues to froth over the impeachment inquiry on Twitter as Laura Cooper, deputy assistant US secretary of defence for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, becomes the latest senior official to appear before the House panel on Capitol Hill to testify about the conduct of diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Bill Taylor, acting US ambassador to Ukraine, told the inquiry he was informed military aid to the country was “dependent” on president Volodymyr Zelensky agreeing to publicly announce a corruption probe into Donald Trump’s 2020 rival Joe Biden, confirming the existence of the suspected quid pro quo at the heart of the Democratic-led investigation.
Mr Biden’s polling lead in the Democratic 2020 primary race is meanwhile at its widest margin since April. The former vice president has won the support of 34 per cent of voters registered with the party, according to a new CNN survey.
There as quite a scuffle in Washington on Wednesday, however, after Republicans staged a sit in during a secured briefing as a part of the impeachment inquiry.
During that time, the Republicans reportedly ordered pizza and joked about as they successfully pulled off their publicity stunt.
Mr Trump also announced that he would be pulling back on Turkish sanctions, claiming that the cease fire his administration claims existed between Kurds and the Turkish military had succeeded.
He later claimed that the US was building a wall in Colorado, during a speech in Pittsburgh, even though the state is landlocked.
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Meanwhile, the aforementioned US envoy to Syria James Jeffrey is appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, having spoken to the Senate yesterday, and has already dropped a few bomb shells, telling the panel that over 100 detained Isis fighters have escaped since the US troop withdrawal was announced and branding the US failure to protect the Kurds "a tragedy".
The New York Times is reporting Ukrainian officials knew about the US military aid freeze in early August, well before it became public, undermining a key Republican argument in Trump's impeachment defence - that Zelensky could not have felt pressured to investigate the Bidens if he did not know about the hold-up.
This tweet was only fours ago.
Never mind this... Where is Trump?
He was supposed to begin his press conference 40 minutes ago.
Here he is - and he's announcing that he's agreed with Erdogan to make the ceasefire with Turkey "permanent" and that sanctions against Ankara will be dropped in return.
California congresswoman Katie Hill says she is the victim of a smear campaign after allegations she had a relationship with her legislative director Graham Kelly as well as a sexual relationship with a female campaign staffer and her husband, whom she is divorcing, were published by right-wing website RedState, along with "intimate photos".
Don Jr has been in on the trolling.
Alex Woodward has more.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two business associates of Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have appeared in court in New York to plead not guilty to charges of attempting to use foreign money to buy political influence.
The pair, who were arrested at Dulles international airport with one-way tickets to Vienna, have been photographed with the president, his son, Donald Trump Jr, and Republican politicians including Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Clark Mindock has the latest:
Having previously expressed reluctance to criticise the Trump administration he left behind last December, former secretary of defence "Mad Dog" Jim Mattis has followed his brutal stand up set at a white tie dinner in New York last week with a damning interview with Politico.
More on the Republican politicians gatecrashing the impeachment hearings in a public show of support for Donald Trump - one that may be particularly needed in the wake of the devastating testimony yesterday from acting Ukraine ambassador Bill Taylor.
The president has pleaded with his party to do more to protect him. Republicans have taken up the claim that the hearings are illegitimate because they are being held in private - even though GOP members are taking part in them and are allowed to question witnesses. Alex Woodward has more:
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