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Donald Trump has attacked House impeachment inquiry witnesses as “Never Trumpers” without basis and delayed the release of a transcript of his first call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, a gesture his supporters had hoped would prove the president’s intentions towards the country were entirely innocent.
Kiev was reportedly alarmed by the hold-up of $400m (£312m) in American military aid this summer and reached out to Washington for answers, according to the latest records of witness testimony released by the inquiry from senior officials Laura Cooper, Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson.
A federal judge has meanwhile ruled that the president cannot sue to stop his home state of New York from acquiring his tax returns while Mr Trump has unexpectedly come under fire from Fox host Andrew Napolitano, who took him to task for his “often tasteless banter” and disrespect for the US Constitution.
One man who also won’t be suing: Mick Mulvaney. The president’s acting chief of staff said Tuesday that he no longer plans to sue over the House impeachment proceedings and will instead follow Mr Trump’s directions and decline to cooperate.
In a court filing Tuesday, one day before the impeachment inquiry enters a critical phase of public hearings, Mr Mulvaney said he no longer planned to ask a judge for guidance on whether he must cooperate with the House.
Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal
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He said he would rely on Mr Trump’s instructions “as supported by an opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel of the US Department of Justice, in not appearing for the relevant deposition.”
Mr Mulvaney had been subpoenaed to appear last week for a closed-door deposition before House impeachment investigators but did not show up.
House Democrats had seen him as a potentially important witness, in part because he has publicly confirmed the contours of a quid pro quo arrangement in which the Trump administration would release military aid to Ukraine in exchange for the country announcing an investigation into Democratic rival Joe Biden.
His name has also repeatedly surfaced in the testimony of other witnesses who have cooperated.
The Justice Department legal opinion that Mr Mulvaney references says close advisers to the president are immune from having to testify to Congress because “preparing for such examinations would force them to divert time and attention from their duties to the President at the whim of congressional committees.”
Additional reporting by the Associated Press. Please allow a moment for our live blog to load
The president has also retweeted this video of Newt Gingrich talking to Fox News while referring to the impeachment inquiry as a "coup" against Donald Trump:
Donald Trump has denounced his impeachment inquiry as a "scam" in an explosive rant on twitter.
The US president unleashed the almost incoherent tirade via his favourite medium just hours before the White House was expected to release a transcript of his now infamous call with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
In one sentence stretching to 86 words – and rumbling on across three separate tweets – Mr Trump appeared to suggest he had not put any pressure on the East European country to investigate Joe Biden, but that, if he had, it would have been okay to do so.
He wrote (take a breath now): “Why is such a focus put on 2nd and 3rd hand witnesses, many of whom are Never Trumpers, or whose lawyers are Never Trumpers, when all you have to do is read the phone call (transcript) with the Ukrainian President and see first hand?
ICYMI: Donald Trump cannot sue New York State officials in a Washington courtroom in order to stop the release of his tax returns, a federal judge has decided.
The ruling marks a rejection of the presidents efforts to intervene before House Democrats can obtain the financial records under a new New York State law, and leaves open the possibility that the president might file a similar lawsuit in a different court.
"Mr Trump bears the burden of establishing personal jurisdiction, but his allegations do not establish that the District of Columbia's long-arm statute is satisfied here with respect to either Defendant," wrote judge Carl Nichols, who was an appointee of Mr Trump.
Donald Trump has spread false claims about immigrants receiving deportation protections under the Deferred Acton for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme as the Supreme Court begins hearing arguments over the policy created by Barack Obama.
“Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from ‘angels’,” the president tweeted. “Some are very tough, hardened criminals.”
Recipients of DACA were brought to the US as children and must follow a strict set of guidelines in order to receive protection from deportation. For example, a recipient cannot qualify for the programme if they have been convicted of any significant misdemeanours or federal offences, and they must renew their deferred action nearly every two years to ensure they are still eligible.
The president also falsely claimed in his tweet: “President Obama said he had no legal right to sign order, but would anyway.”
In fact, the former president never said he lacked the legal right to implement DACA. He instead suggested when announcing the programme that it was a temporary fix leaning on immigration enforcement laws to provide “a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people".
Here's Donald Trump essentially hosting a rally at the Economic Club of New York, telling his wealthy supporters that "the best has yet to come" for those in the room -
This concludes today's live coverage on Donald Trump. Be sure to check back tomorrow as The Independent covers the first day of public impeachment hearings in real-time, delivering the latest news and analysis straight to you.
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