Trump news: House fails to override president's veto, as impeachment vote numbers are under 'consideration'

CNN's Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak say the president's rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Thursday will provide the first indication of how Donald Trump plans to play the "political gold" of the Mueller report.

They're expecting him to "slam and shame" the media (as he just did in that tweet) rather than move on with grace, as his advisers privately hope. Insiders would reportedly prefer Mr Trump to "attempt a more traditional presidency, one focused on sober policy-making instead of chaotic attempts to change the narrative" but are not optimistic he can change.

"I think [Grand Rapids] is gonna look like probably the second-most exciting Trump event, following the election night win in 2016," Jason Miller, a communications adviser on Trump's 2016 campaign, told the network. "This is a cloud that has hung over the presidency in the first two years of it. Now that cloud has been lifted - and not just lifted, but in such complete and convincing terms."

"The fact that the entirety of the Democrat party, through the megaphone of the national media, spent every waking moment of the last two years screaming about Russian collusion is absolutely going to be an issue," Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh says of the 2020 campaign. "We've been hearing these charges for two solid years. I think you might hear a little bit about the fact that all of it is untrue."

And they're not ruling out President Trump seeking revenge.

"I believe that we need to investigate the investigators," says David Bossie, the president's former deputy campaign manager and an informal adviser. "I think that there needs to be an accounting. People need to be held responsible for what they have done to this country for the last two years. I am not ready to move past that. I think that's a very important element of what we need to do."

Rudy Giuliani is being as helpful as ever.

The US House of Representatives is due to vote today on an effort to overturn President Trump's veto of a resolution that passed the House and Senate expressing disapproval at his national emergency declaration over the southern border.

The Democratic-led House would need a two-thirds majority to win the day. In a 435-member House, that would mean around 290 votes and require a considerable Republican rebellion of some 43 members, which is not likely to happen, particularly now that the president is enjoying a bounce in the wake of the Mueller report.

"Even though the two issues clearly aren’t related, it increases the president’s strength and popularity and puts him in a stronger position," observes Oklahoma congressman Tom Cole.

The previous resolution passed the House last month by 245-182, with Republicans happy to rebel on constitutional grounds. If the fail to do so today, the president's national emergency declaration will stand, allowing him to move $3.6bn (£2.7bn) in military construction projects towards the wall.

"The president will be fine in the House," says Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy. "The veto will not be overridden."

As shellshocked Democrats demand the full release of the Mueller report in the interest of transparency, the Republicans are flexing their muscles for the push-back.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has already blocked an effort by minority leader Chuck Schumer to get the upper chamber to vote on a resolution calling for its unabridged publication.

"It's not unreasonable to give the special counsel and the Justice Department just a little time to complete their review in a professional and responsible manner," Mr McConnell said on the Senate floor yesterday.

"Remember... We're likely dealing here with potential other prosecutions, classified information, damaging people's reputation. There's no evidence that the attorney-general is not going to produce as much information as possible for all of us, and that's why I objected. I think it's a reasonable thing to do."

Mr Schumer hit back: "This language was good enough for every Republican in the Senate as well as every Democrat... The president himself says it should be released. It's hard to understand why the majority leader should stand alone with objections no one else found to be reasonable or sustainable and oppose this resolution. The report should be made public and the Senate should resolve that it should be."

"There are any number of reasons the president should not be taking a victory lap," writes Neal Katyal in The New York Times this morning.

Mr Kayal is a lawyer who helped draft the rules for special counsel conduct in the 1990s.

"First, obviously, he still faces the New York investigations into campaign finance violations by the Trump team and the various investigations into the Trump organisation. And Mr Barr, in his letter, acknowledges that the Mueller report 'does not exonerate' Mr Trump on the issue of obstruction, even if it does not recommend an indictment," he writes.

"But the critical part of the letter is that it now creates a whole new mess. After laying out the scope of the investigation and noting that Mr Mueller’s report does not offer any legal recommendations, Mr Barr declares that it therefore 'leaves it to the attorney-general to decide whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.' He then concludes the president did not obstruct justice when he fired the FBI director, James Comey," he added.

"Such a conclusion would be momentous in any event. But to do so within 48 hours of receiving the report (which pointedly did not reach that conclusion) should be deeply concerning to every American."

Great line from Democratic rising star and rumoured Joe Biden running mate Stacey Abrams.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is attacking media bias by posting a stretched and incoherent graphic on "Mueller madness" straight from The New York Post.

#YouDecide

Veep Mike Pence reportedly had to talk the president down from firing national intelligence director Dan Coats last December, who was himself planning to resign and thought Mr Trump was "crazy" for insisting he'd been wiretapped by Barack Obama.

President Trump was angered at Mr Coats's refusal to join in his attacks on the intelligence community and by his praise for Nato, while the latter objected to the plans for full troop withdrawal from Syria, forcing his fellow Indianan to step in and smooth matters. He had to do the same with Rex Tillerson six months in to his tenure as secretary of state, apparently.  

President Trump, always ready with a nickname, apparently likes to deride the wholesome Coats as "Mister Rogers" after the affable the children's TV presenter. Trump really is the Cable Guy isn't he? 

Steve Bannon, the ex-Breitbart editor and White House chief strategist, says President Trump will "come off the chain" and go "full animal" in the wake of his so-called vindication by William Barr's reading of the Mueller report.

Here's Tom Embury-Dennis.

Here's Will Gore for Indy Voices on how the Mueller investigation has actually provided a handy distraction for the president, allowing his questionable policy agenda to pass with reduced scrutiny.