Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert at the US National Security Council, is testifying to the House impeachment inquiry over concerns he raised about Donald Trump’s 25 July phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky and the administration’s bid to pressure the country into investigating the son of domestic political rival Joe Biden.
The president has meanwhile taken to Twitter to join right-wing media pundits in questioning the patriotism and political loyalties of the decorated Iraq War veteran, branding Lieutenant Colonel Vindman a “Never Trumper”.
House Democrats announced on Monday they will hold a vote on taking the impeachment hearings public on Thursday in response to Republican criticism as Charles Kupperman, a former deputy to John Bolton, failed to appear on Capitol Hill to give a deposition of his own.
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From inside the deposition of Lt Col Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, Democrats say the testimony has been "extremely disturbing".
Carolyn Maloney, the acting House Oversight chairwoman, told NBC that his remarks were "extremely, extremely, extremely disturbing" as she left. She did not provide any other details.
Debbie Wasserman Schutz, a member of the committee, said that Mr Vindman — who was expected to say that he was on two calls between Donald Trump and Ukrainian officials — was "very credible" as a witness, and that he "really drew a direct line to the president, and those around him and their interest in withholding foreign aid through Ukraine that was vital, as well as insisting on investigations into Biden."
On the 2020 campaign trail, Bernie Sanders is seeing some positive news in New Hampshire.
A new CNN-University of New Hampshire poll places Mr Sanders at the front of the pack in the state, with 21 per cent support. He is followed by senator Elizabeth Warren, at 18 per cent support.
Joe Biden, whose status as front-runner in the race has displayed some noticeable cracks in recent weeks, is in third place in the state, with 15 per cent support.
Congresswoman Liz Cheney has condemned attacks on Alexander Vindman, an Iraq war veteran who has been called to testify before the House impeachment probe.
“It really is shameful what the Democrats have been doing in terms of attempting to try to impeach a sitting president in the basement of the Capitol," Ms Cheney said at a press conference. "Now, I also want to say a word about something else that's been going on over the course of the last several hours and last night, which I think is also shameful.
“And that is questioning the patriotism, questioning the dedication to country of people like Mr Vindman, Lt Col Vindman who will be coming today, and others who have testified. I think that we need to show that we are better than that as a nation.”
Interesting catch by Vox's Aaron Rupar, on the beginnings of Donald Trump's bizarre ascendancy to the White House:
Trump misspoke yesterday and referred to his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky as "the new Russian president", provoking an excitable reaction online.
"Grassroots Resistance organisation" The Democrat Coalition will run the pro-impeachment advert below during the president's favourite TV show, Fox and Friends, tomorrow morning.
Although Trump's often influenced by whatever he sees on Fox, this one feels like a long shot.
This was Joe Biden's response to Trump tweeting about Vindman.
Former CIA director John Brennan has also weighed in.
Speaking to GQ, reverred actor and committed "Never Trumper" Robert De Niro says the president has "blood on his hands" over the El Paso mass shooting after the killer posted a white supremacist manifesto on 8chan decrying the "Hispanic invasion of Texas", echoing Trump's own campaign rhetoric.
There are undoubtedly going to be plenty of rubber Trump masks doing the rounds this Halloween and one punter at a fairground in Naples, Florida, has already been punched for wearing one.
Harry Cockburn has the whole story.
House Republicans have been staging a press conference on impeachment and minority leader Kevin McCarthy was not making a whole lot of sense.
Amazingly, Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney found herself the unlikely voice of decency on Vindman.
Alexander Vindman arrived on Capitol Hill a short while ago in full dress uniform as the American right kicks into overdrive to question his patriotism and credibility.
Although he was indeed born in the Soviet Union, Vindman was brought to the US aged three, graduated from Harvard and stands before the impeachment inquiry as a decorated lieutenant colonel in the US Army who completed multiple overseas tours and was awarded the Purple Heart after being injured in Iraq in 2003 by a roadside bomb.
Trump received five draft deferrals from Vietnam for "bone spurs".
(Shawn Thew/EPA)
Here's a handy list of other American public servants born overseas to put conservative minds at rest.
Don Jr is a fan of Jesus is King by the way, which is no kind of endorsement in my book.
Rapper and MAGA cap-wearer Kanye West, promoting his new album and drifting ever further to the right under the influence of Candace Owens, has said the Democratic Party has "brainwashed" African-Americans into "making us abort our children".
Last week he said his decision to endorse Trump - whose "dragon energy" he previously declared he admired - was "God’s practical joke to all liberals".
The man needs a lie down.
"Just the oppidite". Does he have a cold?
Trump likes to bash The Washington Post as "the Amazon Washington Post" because the newspaper is owned by that Croesus of online retail, Jeff Bezos.
Now the almost-Richest Man in the World is coming for the US government, threatening to sue the Pentagon over the loss of a $10bn (£7.8bn) cloud computing contract to Microsoft.
The House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry are seeking the testimony of Robert Blair, senior adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, according to CNN.
It is not clear at present with Blair will appear voluntarily or whether a subpoena will have to be issued but he is a person of interest to Schiff's team as he was on the Zelensky call.
Blair previously served as associate director for national security programs in the Office of Management and Budget, and followed Mulvaney to the West Wing in January this year as his national security adviser when the latter became acting chief of staff.
Trump's visit to Chicago on Monday did not go down at all well with the city's Democratic mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has denounced his "insulting, ignorant buffoonery".
"President Trump knows as much about policing as he does running a fair and transparent government," she says (ooof!) and backs up her embattled police superintendent Eddie Johnson.
He really has a nack for infuriating mayors doesn't he? From Nan Whaley in Dayton to Jacob Frey in Minneapolis and our own dear Sadiq Khan in London, he's annoyed them all.
In the last hour, Trump has attempted to discredit Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, inflated his own popularity among the GOP, claimed the death of al-Baghdadi's would-be successor Abu Hassan al-Muhajir and misspelled the name of California congressman and dairy farmer Devin Nunes while shilling a new conspiracy theory booklet ahead of the Christmas rush.
Here's more on the death of al-Muhajir, who was killed late on Sunday near Jarablus, a town about 140km northeast of Barisha in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rudy Giuliani is still refusing to lie low and is currently being ridiculed for talking about [Osama] "Ben Laden" in a tweet, not nailing the spelling despite having been mayor of New York City during 9/11.
A controversial migrant detention centre in Homestead, Florida, that had been accused of holding children in "prison like conditions" has finally been shut down by the Trump administration.
Clark Mindock has the full story.
