The House impeachment inquiry is zeroing in on two White House lawyers who allegedly played a role in the moving of a memo of Donald Trump’s controversial phone call with the leader of Ukraine to a highly-restricted computer system.
Investigators are seeking further details from John Eisenberg and Michael Ellis after two witnesses suggested officials took extraordinary steps to shield access to the memo.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has announced he will be moving his permanent residence to Florida after leaving office, complaining that he has been “treated very badly” by political leaders in New York.
In response, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said: “Good riddance. It's not like Donald Trump paid taxes here anyway…”
In New York, The Independent visited Trump Tower, took a stroll through Central Park, and visited other hotspots in the city to find out if anyone was offended that Mr Trump had moved his permanent residence — and got a resounding, metaphorical shrug.
We also learned on Friday that a key Ukrainian official who was on the 25 July phone call with between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian president had been told not to discuss the call with anyone, after he raised concerns.
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John Eisenberg, the lead lawyer for the National Security Council, has become one of the key figures in the House’s impeachment inquiry after Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman testified that Mr Eisenberg helped hide a memo of the Ukraine phone call.
Mr Vindman said the NSC lawyer suggested moving the record of the call to a restricted computer server for highly classified materials, according to a person who is familiar with Mr Vindman's testimony.
Michael Ellis, a senior associate counsel to the president, was apparently with Mr Eisenberg when the alleged suggestion was made.
The decision to move the memo would be highly unusual as the computer server is normally reserved for documents about covert action.
Our chief US correspondent Andrew Buncombe has the full story on Mr Trump’s plan to move to Florida after he leaves office.
The president was born in New York and has lived there for much of his life, but he has recently become at odds with the city’s liberal leadership.
On Twitter last night, Mr Trump complained that he has been treated “very badly” by the city and state’s leaders – although he promised New York would always have a “special place” in his heart.
However, some people have suggested the decision to move his permanence residence is for tax reasons…
You can read the full story below:
In other Trump news this morning, his administration is expected to roll back Obama-era regulations meant to protect water supplies from contaminated coal ash, according to sources.
The move is part of a series of regulation changes by the Trump administration which is aimed at extending the lives of old, coal-fired power plants.
In his testimony yesterday, Tim Morrison, a former National Security Council official, confirmed that military aid to Ukraine was held up by Mr Trump’s request for an investigation into his 2020 election rival Joe Biden.
Although Mr Morrison’s testimony confirmed the quid pro quo at the centre of the House impeachment inquiry, the ex-White House official said he did not believe “anything illegal was discussed” in Mr Trump’s phone call with Ukraine.
Mr Morrison’s admission of a quid pro quo is not good news for the president but Mr Trump still latched onto his testimony last night as a win for his administration.
In a tweet, he thanked the former official for his “honesty”.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi went on The Late Show last night to talk about the future of Mr Trump’s presidency.
The important point came early on when Stephen Colbert asked Ms Pelosi when public impeachment hearings would start.
She was vague in her response but told Mr Colbert: “They’ll be soon…”
Americans remain roughly split down the middle on impeachment, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
The topline figures show 49 per cent of US adults favour impeaching and removing Mr Trump, while 47 per cent oppose impeaching and removing the president.
That divide is sharply partisan as well, with 82 per cent of Democrats favouring impeachment and 82 per cent of Republicans opposing it.
Meanwhile, independent voters narrowly oppose impeachment at the moment, with 49 per cent opposing and 47 per cent in favour.
Here’s some more polling news, the New York Times has research out today with Siena College that shows Elizabeth Warren narrowly leading in the influential Iowa caucus.
Ms Warren is currently leading with 22 per cent of the vote, with Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden close behind.
The Massachusetts senator also has a strong lead with first and second choice preferences combined, which suggests Ms Warren could gain ground as other candidates drop out.
The result is bad news for Mr Biden though, who was once the front-runner and now finds himself languishing in fourth place.
Last night, Mr Trump suggested that the US could not do a trade deal with the UK if it passes Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
The surprise intervention on the radio show of Nigel Farage, a British politician, was also apparently a surprise to the UK government.
A government spokesperson has said this morning that Mr Johnson had not spoken to Mr Trump about his Brexit deal, which was “agreed after they were last in touch”.
You can read more about the ongoing chaos in the UK here.
Here’s some interesting analysis from Axios on the “racial wealth gap” in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Despite a number of high-profile non-white candidates entering the race, the front-runners (Warren, Biden, Sanders and Buttigieg) are noticeably white.
Those candidates have also generally fared better with fundraising.
Axios’ Alexi McCammond writes:
“This problem isn't unique to presidential elections. People of colour at the federal, state, and local level have a harder time fundraising than their white colleagues.”
The Washington Post has reported that Mr Trump has abandoned the idea of releasing proposals to combat gun violence, despite insisting he would introduce new polices in the wake of mass shootings in August.
The Post’s Josh Dawsey writes:
“Trump has been counselled by political advisers, including campaign manager Brad Parscale and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, that gun legislation could splinter his political coalition, which he needs to stick together for his re-election bid, particularly amid an impeachment battle.”
The president has quietly stopped talking about the issue and moved onto other problems for his administration, according to the report.
The Associated Press and NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research have a new poll out on American attitudes to impeachment.
According to the poll, 47 per cent of US adults support the impeachment inquiry, while just 38 per cent disapprove of it.
However, only a third of respondents said the inquiry should be a top priority for Congress.
Mr Trump is awake and on Twitter.
The president’s first move of the day is a quote tweet of Republican congressman Lee Zeldin’s supportive post from two weeks ago, which suggests Mr Trump has been searching through Twitter for some words of encouragement.
The Democratic Party is increasing pressure on its 2020 presidential candidates to commit to campaigning actively for the party’s nominee in next year’s election.
Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has asked all candidates to commit to pooling all Democratic resources to benefit the presidential nominee to avoid a repeat of the divided 2016 campaign for Hillary Clinton.
DNC officials have said Barack Obama has already talked with party leaders about campaigning on behalf of the nominee, whoever it is.
Here’s some new economic data for October.
The Washington Post’s Heather Long has reported that the US economy added 128,000 jobs last month, beating expectations.
However, Ms Long notes that the solid job figures are countered by wage growth (which is up just 3 per cent in the past year).
Mr Trump is celebrating the new jobs data, albeit with a figure “adjusted for revisions and the General Motors strike”…
The president is claiming an adjusted figure of 303,000 jobs added – but it is not clear how he got that number (It does not appear to be in the official Bureau of Labour Statistics release).
The officially-released figure is 128,000 jobs.
Politico’s chief economic correspondent Ben White and Bloomberg Business’ Katia Dmitrieva are not convinced by Mr Trump’s figure at least.
Politico’s chief economic correspondent Ben White and Bloomberg Business’ Katia Dmitrieva are not convinced by Mr Trump’s figure at least.
Here are some more economics reporters who are unconvinced by the president’s analysis.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren has announced her plan for a Medicare for All system – one of the key policy issues for the 2020 Democratic primary.
Ms Warren's plan would cost the US government an extra $20.5 trillion over 10 years but she has promised it would not require “raising taxes one penny” on the middle class.
Instead, the senator has claimed it will save American households $11 trillion in current out-of-pocket spending.
Medicare for All has become a difficult topic for Ms Warren’s campaign, with critics challenging her for not outlining precisely how she will pay for the ambitious healthcare system.
NBC News’ Benjy Sarlin has some analysis on the plan, which he describes as a political “power move”.
The Post’s Heather Long has some information from the White House on how they came up with the 303,000 jobs figure.
It is not clear if those adjustments are realistic but at least we know the president hasn't just picked a random number.
Mr Trump has also tweeted about the new leader of Isis and claimed the US knows “exactly who he is.”
That last part might seem weirdly vague and unnecessary, as Isis formally announced their new leader’s name yesterday – his name is reportedly Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi.
However, Hashemi's name is not known to security forces and is thought to be a nom de guerre (an assumed name for combat), according to the BBC.
