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Donald Trump’s legal team delivered its closing remarks at the US Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday, working to discredit the Democratic-led investigation into the president’s conduct towards Ukraine and fixating on Hunter Biden.
The final defence comes as Democratic senators have characterised their arguments as “nonsensical”, “absurd” and “incredibly surreal”. The team of attorneys gave their closing remarks, which ends the initial phase of the trial, just as a new survey indicated a staggering majority of millennials across the country support the impeachment against Mr Trump, with 63 per cent of those surveyed saying they want senators to vote to remove the president from the Oval Office.
The US Senate was set to vote at the end of the week about whether to add witnesses to the ongoing trial, following a leak of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s new memoir that appeared to directly connect Mr Trump to demand for political investigations into Joe Biden.
The president has meanwhile unveiled his ambitions plans to bring peace to the Middle East today alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just before heading to Wildwood, New Jersey, for his latest "Keep America Great" rally.
He also backed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in his battle with National Public Radio and tweeted out more media criticism, one target familiar and the other less so.
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Mr Trump introduced Mr Pompeo at an East Room announcement of the administration's Mideast peace plan, saying it was "very impressive" that he got a standing ovation from the White House workers and guests.
"That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you," the president said. "I think you did a good job on her, actually."
NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly angered Mr Pompeo with a short interview on Friday, then he reportedly berated her afterward in his office. The State Department then announced Monday that NPR reporter Michele Kelemen would not be allowed on Mr Pompeo's upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia; NPR had no immediate comment on the president's remarks on Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, the president tweeted an insult at CNN's Don Lemon, who received some criticism in conservative media for hosting a segment over the weekend where two of his guests made fun of the "rube demo" that backed Mr Trump.
He also tweeted criticism of his favourite network, Fox News Channel, for "trying to be 'politically correct"' by having a Democratic senator discuss impeachment on the network.
The president said Fox's Chris Wallace, who on Monday challenged a Fox contributor for not having her facts straight in a discussion about impeachment witnesses, shouldn't be on the network.
"What the hell has happened to Fox News?" Mr Trump tweeted. "Only I know!"
Additional reporting by Associated Press. Please allow a moment for our live blog to load
Matt Gaetz: AOC wants to 'force you to eat nothing but kale and quinoa'
We've touched on the Florida congressman's appearance on Laura Ingraham's Fox show last night but his attack on Schiff was nothing compared to his ludicrous assault on New York congresswoman and progressive icon Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
"She wants to fundamentally change everything, where unless the government is forcing you to eat nothing but kale and quinoa while you're riding around on your non-gender specific unicorn to your next Pocahontas rain dance, you're just not woke enough," he said.
The president is due to unveil his ambitions plans to bring peace to the Middle East today alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu before heading to Wildwood, New Jersey, for his latest Keep America Great rally.
A staggering majority of Americans under the age of 30 support removing Donald Trump from office, according to a new survey
Business Insider’s SurveyMonkey Audience polling published on Tuesday morning showed that a whopping 63 per cent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 responded that “Trump should be removed from office”.
The survey featured 1,070 individual responses. Just 24 per cent of those surveyed within that same age group said they did not think MR Trump should be removed.
A new report in Politico says Utah Republican Mitt Romney has "made a strong pitch" for witnesses to be featured in the US Senate's impeachment trial against Donald Trump.
The news comes after a leaked transcript of former National Security Adviser John Bolton's new book directly connected the president to demands for Ukraine to launch political investigations into his 2020 political rival Joe BIden.
House Intelligence chairman and lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff has decried the Supreme Court's decision to allow a new immigrant wealth test, writing on Twitter: "Trump has broken our nation’s promise to immigrants: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free."
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