The House Intelligence Committee’s televised hearings this month inspired a steady increase in public support for the impeachment of Donald Trump over the Ukraine scandal, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests.
As the House Judiciary Committee announced its plans for the next stage of the inquiry and invited the president to attend, The New York Times reports Mr Trump knew about the CIA whistleblower’s initial complaint when he finally released the withheld $391m (£302m) military assistance to Kiev, a tactic that prompted two White House budget officials to resign in protest, according to the latest published witness transcript.
President Trump meanwhile gave his latest 2020 campaign rally in Florida on Tuesday night, denouncing the investigation into his quid pro quo call with Volodymyr Zelensky as “bull****” and encouraging his supporters to chant the word in defiance.
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Report: Giulani sought business in Ukraine with government officials while pushing Trump agenda
The New York Times reports that Rudy Giuliani pursued "hundreds of thousands of dollars in business from Ukrainian government officials" while performing a "public campaign" scouring for damaging information in the country on the president's rivals.
Documents obtained by the New York Times contradict the president's personal attorney, as well as the president, who both have told reporters as recently as this week that Mr Giuliani had nothing to do with Ukraine.
The documents show that while Mr Giuliani was trying to arrange financial deals with members of the Ukraine government while pushing the president's agenda.
The New York Times reports that Rudy Giuliani pursued "hundreds of thousands of dollars in business from Ukrainian government officials" while performing a "public campaign" scouring for damaging information in the country on the president's rivals.
Documents obtained by the New York Times contradict the president's personal attorney, as well as the president, who both have told reporters as recently as this week that Mr Giuliani had nothing to do with Ukraine.
The documents show that while Mr Giuliani was trying to arrange financial deals with members of the Ukraine government while pushing the president's agenda.
The New York Times reports that Mr Giuliani "prepared at least one retainer agreement, on his company letterhead, that he signed."
The White House is reporting that "Congress Isn’t Working this Week, but President Trump Is" — while the president is at his golf course in Florida.
How hard is he working while Congress is on break for Thanksgiving?
The White House's examples of his hard work: signing a law and an executive order and participating in a few minutes-long turkey pardoning.
Per White House pool on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving: "POTUS arrived at Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, at 9:55 a.m."
A Warning author pledges to reveal identity soon
The anonymous White House insider who wrote the new behind-the-scenes book A Warning has promised to reveal his or her identity soon.
The mystery author told a Reddit AMA that “Donald Trump has not heard the last of me” but declined to give an exact timeframe on when they might unmask themselves.
"As far as anonymity is concerned, I will not keep my identity shrouded in secrecy forever," the writer said. "I am not afraid to use my own name to express concern about the current occupant of the Oval Office."
The moderators of the AMA wrote admitted they could not “verify by our usual standards” that the poster is the anonymous author but said: "The publishers of his book assure us it’s the same guy and we have no reason not to believe them."
(Scott Olson/Getty)
Trump tweets utterly ridiculous Rocky meme
The president has been pretty quiet so far today, outside of a few cursory retweets. And then this happened.
"Take off your shirt, sir, and show us that gorgeous chest. We've never seen a chest quite like it," he said in Florida last night, allegedly quoting his doctor.
Jesus wept.
He's otherwise spending the day playing a few rounds at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Does Pete Buttigieg have what it takes to challenge for the presidency?
Our man in Iowa, Andrew Buncombe, has this on the rise and rise of Peter Buttigieg, the Iraq War veteran and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to the top of the polls in the Midwestern state.
Michael Flynn sentencing delayed until further notice
A US judge has delayed the planned 18 December sentencing hearing of Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, but has not set a new date.
Judge Emmett Sullivan had been expected to put off sentencing after both Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents, and the United States filed a joint motion to request the delay, citing the expected December release of the Justice Department inspector general's report on the origins of investigations into alleged Russian election interference. The inspector general said last week he expects to release the report on 9 December.
(Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
"The parties expect that the report of this investigation will examine topics related to several matters raised by the defendant," they wrote in the joint filing.
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to agents about his 2016 conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then-Russian ambassador to the United States. The retired Army lieutenant general is one of several Trump aides to plead guilty or be convicted at trial in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
Mexico's Obrador expressions suspicion of US 'interventionism' to battle drug cartels
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has responded to Trump's suggestion during his interview with Bill O'Reilly yesterday that he may designate the country's cartels as a terrorist organisation.
"Co-operation, yes, intervention, no," President Obrador said simply during a morning news conference.
He did add that Mexico would take up the issue after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and said that he had asked his foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard to lead talks.
Once a particular group is designated as a terrorist organisation, it is illegal under US law for people in the United States to knowingly offer support and its members cannot enter the country and may be deported. Ebrard said at the weekend that such a designation could, under US law, enable the United States to act directly against the threat if it so chose.
(Mario Guzman/EPA)
Ex-baseball star under fire for tweet about teaching kids to shoot in case Bernie Sanders wins 2020 election
Like Obama, another man not keen on the thought of a Bernie Sanders administration is retired baseball star Aubrey Huff.
The latter though is so opposed to Sanders he posted this truly alarming message below from a firing range claiming he had been teaching his kids to score head shots in anticipation of a future Bernie presidency.
Comedian Kathy Griffin and actor Tom Arnold are among those taking the fight to Huff.
Alex Woodward has more.
Ex-DNC employee forced to argue in Devin Nunes lawsuit: 'Cows can't operate a Twitter account'
Devin Nunes - the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee currently facing questions about a mystery trip to Vienna last December that may or may not embroil him in the Ukraine scandal - is still attempting to sue over the Twitter accounts Devin Nunes' Cow and Devin Nunes' Mom that mock him so relentlessly and hilariously.
Nunes is seeking $250m (£194m) in damages, accusing Twitter of "facilitating defamation".
The below is a genuine comment from a new filing from the attorney of Adam Parkhomenko, a former Democratic National Committee (DNC) employee allegedly associated with the former account who received a subpoena from the Republicans' lawyer Steven Bliss demanding emails, text messages and direct Twitter messages between the operators of the accounts and himself.
"No reasonable person would believe that Devin Nunes’ cow actually has a Twitter account, or that the hyperbole, satire and cow-related jokes it posts are serious facts. It is self-evident that cows are domesticated livestock animals and do not have the intelligence, language, or opposable digits needed to operate a Twitter account."
Barack Obama 'would speak out to stop Bernie Sanders securing 2020 nomination'
Barack Obama has indicated privately that he would speak out to stop Vermont senator Bernie Sanders from securing the Democratic nomination in 2020, Politico reports today.
A close adviser to the 44th president told the site: "He hasn’t said that directly to me. The only reason I'm hesitating at all is because, yeah, if Bernie were running away with it, I think maybe we would all have to say something. But I don't think that's likely. It's not happening".
While Obama has largely stayed quiet about the specific candidates he did say earlier this month: "Look, we have a field of very accomplished, very serious and passionate and smart people who have a history of public service, and whoever emerges from the primary process I will work my tail off to make sure that they are the next president."
(Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times/AP)
Joe Biden still leading Democratic 2020 challengers in latest CNN poll as Pete Buttigieg rises
Here's the latest national polling on the 2020 Democrats from CNN, with Joe Biden still well out in front and Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg his only serious contenders at present.
Texas GOP accidentally emails 2020 strategy to rival Democrats
The Texas Republican Party accidentally emailed its strategy for the 2020 election to rival Democrats, revealing a plan over the next 12 months that will see it attempting to push back on the narrative that the GOP lacks diversity and working to counteract Donald Trump's potential negative impact on the race.
Whoops.
Here's Clark Mindock's report.
Trump's education secretary to expand rights for students accused of sexual assault
Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos will narrow the government’s scope of what is considered sexual harassment and expand rights for students accused of sexual assault in a new series of rules for universities.
Chris Riotta reports.
Federal prosecutors looking into Giuliani's donations to Trump fund
Things keep getting worse for the president's personal lawyer.
In addition to getting dropped in it by Trump yesterday, federal prosecutors with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are reportedly looking into Rudy Giuliani’s donations to a pro-Trump super PAC while "exploring a wide range of potential crimes" involving two of his associates - Soviet-born businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman - who were previously charged with campaign finance violations.
Chris Riotta has more.
President returning to Buckingham Palace for Nato reception
Trump will return to Buckingham Palace next week, five months on from his pomp-and-ceremony state visit in the summer.
The president and first lady are due to attend a reception for Nato leaders hosted by the Queen next Tuesday. It is part of a string of events designed to mark 70 years since the founding of the alliance, about which Trump has frequently griped.
Prince Andrew will not on the guest list, however, in the wake of his damaging BBC Newsnight interview in which he was grilled on his friendship with the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein - also a former pal of Trump's, you will recall.
Hollywood royalty lay into 'dictator-like' Trump
Celebrities have been sticking it to Trump with some vehemence this week.
Hollywood legend and All The President's Men star Robert Redford has written an opinion piece for NBC's THINK platform in which he accuses Trump of a "dictator-like attack... on everything this country stands for" and turning America into a "monarchy in disguise".
"What is happening, right now, is so deeply disturbing that instead of the United States of America, we are now defined as the Divided States of America," the veteran wrote. "Leaders on both sides lack the fundamental courage to cross political aisles on behalf of what is good for the American people."
"We're at a point in time where I reluctantly believe that we have much to lose - it is a critical and unforgiving moment," he said. "This monarchy in disguise has been so exhausting and chaotic, it's not in the least bit surprising so many citizens are disillusioned."
Over on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Robert De Niro - promoting The Irishman - compared the current state of America with "living in an abusive household".
"To me, it’s more than heartbreaking, it’s a really, really serious situation we’re in,” the actor said of the Trump presidency. "I don’t want to bring people down but… it’s a serious situation.
"It’s like living in an abusive household. You don’t know what’s going to happen next, what crazy thing is going to happen next, what’s going to make you say, 'What the hell is going on?'"
Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride andWhen Harry Met Sally director Rob Reiner meanwhile had this to say on Melania...
...the winner though is surely Mia Farrow, who tweeted this about Don Jr and Eric's taste for big game hunting.
Here's the legislation to which she refers.
Ex-Clinton strategist advising Trump on impeachment
Mark Penn, a forrmer adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, spent more than an hour in the Oval Office last week reassuring Trump on impeachment and offering him insight into how the 42nd president handled the process back in 1998, according to The Washington Post.
Penn and Trump also reportedly discussed the polls, with the pollster encouraging Trump to travel more and focus on governing.
The news is being met with glee in Democratic circles, who fondly recall his sacking by Hillary in 2008 and point to his subsequent career as a Fox pundit for hire as a reason not to take him seriously.
Melania Trump booed by school kids at opioids event in Baltimore
The first lady was at Trump's side in the Rose Garden there but later attended a summit on the opioid crisis at the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus, where she was roundly booed by many of the high school and middle school students in attendance.
Here's Clark Mindock's report.
Trump jokes about Adam Schiff and impeachment inquiry at turkey pardoning
Before he jetted out for Florida yesterday, Trump took part in the traditional White House custom of pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey, not wasting an opportunity to mock his antagonists in Congress.
Trump joked that Bread and Butter - the pair of North Carolina-bred turkeys he was about to pardon - had been raised to "remain calm under any condition," a trait he said will be "very important because they've already received subpoenas to appear in Adam Schiff'sbasement on Thursday."
"It seems the Democrats are accusing me of being too soft on turkey," Trump told guests seated in the White House Rose Garden, where he was flanked by his wife, first lady Melania Trump. But he told the birds that, "unlike previous witnesses, you and I have actually met. It's very unusual." Ho ho.
Trump's latest act of clemency benefited Butter, a 21-kilogram turkey granted a "full and complete" pardon. Trump said he was also sparing Bread, who weighs 20 kilograms from being served up on a Thanksgiving table. Both gobblers will get to spend the rest of their lives on a farm at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Here's Darren Richman for Indy100.
Trump denies ordering Rudy Giuliani to dig up dirt for him in Ukraine
Prior to yesterday's rally, Trump gave a radio interview to disgraced former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and used his platform to deny that he directed his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani - who had been pushing Ukraine for the investigations - to act on his behalf by pressuring Kiev to dig up dirt on his political rivals.
"No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior," Trump told O'Reilly, using the same adjective he would apply to the excused war criminals in Florida.
"No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior," Trump told O'Reilly, using the same adjective he would apply to the excused war criminals in Florida.
Giuliani "possibly saw something", Trump added. "He's done work in Ukraine for years."
Rudy better have that "insurance" he joked about because he was well and truly thrown under the bus here and is clearly being set up as the president's fall guy.
Trump also used the appearance to push false approval rating statistics (that went unchallenged) and suggest he will designate the cartels of Mexico as a terror organisation.
