Pressure is intensifying on Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi to launch impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.
An increasing number of Democrats - and even a Republican congressman - are openly calling for the measure in response to the Mueller report's findings and the Trump administration's refusal to submit documents to congressional investigations.
Mr Trump on Wednesday sabotaged a planned White House meeting with Ms Pelosi on infrastructure, and said he would not work with Democrats until all probes into him were closed.
Meanwhile, the president announced a massive $16bn (£12.6bn) aid package for farmers on Thursday, amid an intensifying confrontation with China on trade. US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said that the first of three payments is likely to be made in July or August and suggested that the US and China were unlikely to have settled their differences by then.
“The package we’re announcing today ensures that farmers do not bear the brunt of unfair retaliatory tariffs imposed by China and other trading partners,” Mr Perdue said.
The latest bailout comes atop $11bn (£8.7bn) in aid Mr Trump provided farmers last year.
“We will ensure our farmers get the relief they need and very, very quickly,” Mr Trump said in an unwieldy press conference on Thursday in which he insisted is a "very stable genius."
Seeking to reduce America’s trade deficit with the rest of the world and with China in particular, the president has imposed import taxes on foreign steel, aluminium, solar panels and dishwashers and on thousands of Chinese products.
US trading partners have lashed back with retaliatory tariffs of their own, focusing on U.S. agricultural products in a direct shot at the American heartland, where support for Trump runs high.
Financial markets slumped Thursday on heightened tensions between the US and China. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 286 points, or 1 per cent, to 25,490. It had been down 448 points earlier in the day.
Additional reporting by AP. Check out live updates as the came in below.
Trump explodes in White House meeting, refusing to work with Democrats and lashing out on Twitter
President says he will no longer work with Democrats until all investigations against him are closedMr Trump's latest defiance of congressional investigation of his administration and his own actions came on Tuesday when he ordered his former counsel, Don McGahn, to refuse to appear at a House hearing despite a subpoena.
The Democratic majority leader, Maryland's Steny Hoyer, has said lawmakers might be confronting the largest cover-up in American history and that if a House inquiry leads to impeachment, "so be it".
On Wednesday evening, the House Oversight Committee reached an agreement with Mr Trump's attorneys to seek an expedited appeal in a court case in which lawmakers are seeking the president's financial records from his accounting firm.
A US judge ruled on Monday that the Mazars accounting firm must turn over the documents to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, but the president had appealed the decision.
The panel said in a statement that under the schedule, written arguments could be submitted as early 12 June, with briefings completed by July. The court has yet to approve the accelerated schedule.
"I am hearing that Trump may use an obscure loophole in the Arms Control Act and notice a major new sale of bombs to Saudi Arabia (the ones they drop in Yemen) in a way that would prevent Congress from objecting. Could happen this week," Mr Murphy warned on Twitter.
In this case, they said Mr Trump would cite rising tensions with Iran as a reason to provide more military equipment to Saudi Arabia, which he sees as an important US partner in the region. Mr Trump has touted arms sales to the Saudis as a way to generate jobs.
It was not immediately clear what equipment would be sold to Saudi Arabia or when any sale might go ahead.
Many in the party have resisted calls for proceedings to be initiated, with many suggesting that doing so would aid the president's repeated and unsubstantiated claims that he is the victim of a "deep state" conspiracy.
But John Yarmuth, chairman of the House budget committee, said: “I think what we have … is we have a situation in which I think a growing majority of our caucus believes that impeachment is going to be inevitable.
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