Impeachment hearing exposes 'absolute coverup by White House', as former top aide dodges questions

Another 2020 candidate with a nice line on Trump is Hawaii congresswoman and war veteran Tulsi Gabbard, who says the president is making the US military "act as Saudi Arabia's bitch" by offering their services to crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in any forthcoming fight with Iran.

"We are not your prostitutes. You are not our pimp," she counters. 

These old Trump tweets on the same subject have not aged well, incidentally.

Former Trump aides Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn are supposed to be appearing before the House Judicary Committee today - along with ex-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski - over the possible obstruction of justice instances raised by the Mueller report but have been directed by the White House not to appear because they are protected by from testifying by immunity,

Lewandowski is expected to show up but has meanwhile been told not to answer questions about conversations he had with the president beyond those already recounted in the special counsel's report.

White House lawyer Pat Cipollone wrote to the panel's chairman Jerrold Nadler to argue: "Mr Lewandowski's conversations with the president and with senior advisers to the president are protected from disclosure by long-settled principles protecting executive branch confidentiality interests and, as a result, the White House has directed Mr Lewandowski not to provide information about such communications beyond the information provided in the portions of the report that have already been disclosed to the committee."

Here's that note in full.

Trump is making a rare visit to California today, a Democratic stronghold where he is expected to rake in millions of dollars during a series of fundraisers for his re-election effort that are almost certain to be met with jeering protests.

Trump has routinely mocked California over its liberal culture, policies and politics. His visit on Tuesday and Wednesday signals that despite the state's decidedly leftward swing in recent years there are still plenty of wealthy Republicans who support him.

"There's not been a president in living history that is as unpopular in the state of California as Trump," said Mike Madrid, a GOP political consultant who is an outspoken Trump critic. "But our money spends the same as everyone else's."

Trump continues to rake in gobs of cash more than a year out from the November 2020 contest, with his campaign and the Republican National Committee pulling in over $210m (£169m) since the start of 2019, Federal Election Commission records show. That's more than all the current Democrats seeking to replace him raised combined during that period.

The California events, which will be spread across two days in in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego, are expected to bring in an additional $15m (£12m), according to one Republican official.

California was an incubator for the modern conservative movement that swept the state's former governor, Ronald Reagan, into the White House in 1980. But demographic changes and an influx of new residents have helped drastically rework the political contours of the country's most populated state, with the former GOP stronghold of Orange County now home to more registered Democrats than Republicans. For Republicans, who have been resigned to political irrelevance at the state level, a donation to Trump can amount to its own form of protest.

"By showing up to a fundraiser deep in the belly of the beast, one is saying: 'I don't care what the liberal politicians are saying and I want to show my support for him publicly,"' said California's Republican National committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon, who is an ardent Trump supporter. She added: "I sold $100,000 (£80,575) worth of tickets and I could have sold another $100,000 more."

California has long been a key fundraising hotbed for politicians of both parties, which have relied on the entertainment industry and wealthy industry heads to finance their political ambitions. But under Trump, the run-of-the-mill fundraising trip has taken on a complicating dimension due to his harsh criticism of everything from the state's immigration laws to its forest management practices, which he blamed for fatal wildfires.

Earlier this month, Trump lashed out at Will and Grace TV star Debra Messing after she tweeted that attendees of the Trump's California fundraisers should be outed publicly.

In August, he took aim at the state's massive film industry, calling Hollywood "very dangerous for our country." That's contributed to heightened security concerns surrounding the trip.

Trump has also complained about the extent of homelessness in California. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Ben Carson is expected to follow Trump to California, if one day behind him, on visits to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. A senior HUD official said Carson will speak on a range of issues, including increasing the supply of affordable housing and incentivising investment in distressed communities while protecting vulnerable neighbours.

Already, the Backbone Campaign, a Washington state-based progressive group, said on Facebook that it planned to fly a large "Baby Trump" balloon in the Bay Area when Trump is scheduled to be there on Tuesday.

In an unusual move, Trump campaign officials - not his top donors - have been listed as sponsors of the event.

Dhillon said there were concerns that Antifa, an anti-fascist group, could stir violent protests. "For every person coming to this event, there would probably be 10 more," she said.

Trump referred to California a couple of times in his speech in New Mexico last night - and not in a particularly complimentary fashion.

The president noted that his administration is at odds with the state over fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. He long has made clear he wants to end California's clout in setting mileage standards, and Monday night he said he wants heavier cars because they're safer and cheaper, even if they are less fuel efficient.

"California wants you to do the other cars and we don't," Trump said. "We will end up in big litigation and I am fighting for you," he told the crowd.

He also joked about moving part of the border wall in San Diego to where it would be more appreciated. "I would love to take that sucker down and move it right now to New Mexico," he said to rousing cheers.

AP

If you thought Trump was digging deep to defend Brett Kavanaugh, spare a thought for the desperate lengths alt-right podcaster Ben Shapiro is going to here.

He wants a full description of the man's genitals, you see. "Maybe they were generic, who knows?" he wonders.

Greg Evans has more.

For Indy Voices, Carli Pierson says America has a moral duty to impeach Kavanaugh.

Also for Voices, Andrew Feinberg accuses Trump of spreading some fake news of his own on Iran.

Speaking of Tehran, supreme leader Ali Khamenei has ruled out talking to the Trump administration until the US returns to the 2015 nuclear deal it abandoned last year. 

"The maximum pressure policy is worthless in front of the Iranian nation and every official in Iran collectively believes there will be no talks with America at any level," he told seminary students.

Our international correspondent, Borzou Daragahi, has more.

A reminder from AP that this is going down today:

As they investigate President Trump, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will hold their first official hearing today in what they are calling an impeachment investigation.

Corey Lewandowski, Trump's outspoken former campaign manager, is scheduled to appear to discuss the report by former special counsel Robert Mueller.

But it's unlikely that Democrats will get much new information.

A devoted friend and supporter of the Republican president, Lewandowski isn't expected to elaborate much beyond what he told Mueller's investigators last year. Mueller himself testified this summer, with no bombshells.

Two other witnesses who were subpoenaed alongside Lewandowski - former White House aides Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter - won't show up at all, on orders from the White House.

Kamala Harris appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night and asked the audience to raise their hands if they had been forced to undergo mass shooting drills in high school. Almost everyone did so. It was an extraordinary moment.

The candidate declared that, if she were in the Oval Office, she would introduce a comprehensive background checks policy and ban the sale of assault rifles. Cue a huge round of applause.

Over on NBC, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer made his debut on Dancing with the Stars, playing the bongos, wearing a lime green ruffled shirt and moving to - what else? - "Spice Up Your Life" by the Spice Girls.

Another Trump administration veteran, ex-chief of staff Reince Preibus, was back stage to cheer him on. Yuck.

Here's Spicey responding to an admittedly apt GIF from ex-Arkansas governor (and father of his successor) Mike Huckabee with a fine example of modern Republican persecution mania.