Donald Trump has been labelled “dangerous” and accused of “unhinged depravity” after he tweeted that the impeachment inquiry into his phone call with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky amounted to a “coup” days after quoting a far-right Texas pastor’s warning that Congress risks creating a “Civil War like fracture” by pursuing him.
As his job approval rating slides to an all-time low, the president has been forced to deny reports emanating from a new book that he suggested shooting migrants in the legs, building a snake and alligator-filled moat at the US-Mexico border (no, really) and electrifying his much-touted wall before being told by aides his ideas were both illegal and impractical.
In a furious press conference with the Finnish president, Mr Trump snapped at reporters multiple times and appeared to be somewhat admonished by the visiting leader.
In other developments, 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders has been hospitalised following a chest complaint, House Democrats have threatened to subpoena the White House and secretary of state Mike Pompeo had admitted for the first time he was in on the Zelensky call. However, his aides are still denying that he took part in the attempts to get Ukraine to interfere with the 2020 election.
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Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of the Donald Trump administration.
Donald Trump has been labelled “dangerous” and accused of “unhinged depravity” after he tweeted that the impeachment inquiry into his phone call with Ukraine's president amounted to a “coup” days after quoting a far-right Texas pastor’s warning that Congress risks creating a “Civil War like fracture” by pursuing him.
The president tweeted this last night...
...just days after quoting Islamophobic preacher Robert Jeffress at length atter seeing his appearance on Fox News.
The above led 2020 Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris to call for Twitter to suspend the president's account and strong condemnation from Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, who called Trump's rhetoric "beyond repugnant".
Now the president has been attacked by academic Brian Klass, who warns he is "going to get people killed".
Jon Sharman and Andrew Buncombe have more.
The news is not about to get any better for this president, whose job approval rating has just fallen to an all-time low, according to a new poll from CNBC.
The New York Times reports that the president suggested - get this - not only shooting migrants in the legs (!) but building a snake and alligator-filled moat at the US-Mexico border (!!) and electrifying his much-touted wall, before being told by aides his ideas were both illegal and impractical.
I mean, where to even start with that level of scalding hot madness?
Zamira Rahim has a go.
Congressional committees investigating Trump’s now-infamous 25 July exchange with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky have summoned their first two diplomatic officials to testify, with others expected to follow.
Former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will provide a deposition on 11 October while Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine who resigned from his position last Friday, will appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
Their co-operation is being seen as a rebuke to secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who wrote to the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, on Tuesday to express his "concern" about the process, warning of attempts to "intimidate, bully and treat improperly" his staff.
He says the dates provided for his own possible appearance "are not feasible", which has not gone down well.
The response amounts to a confrontation between the executive and legislative branches over impeachment and could both slow the probe and expose Trump to charges that he is obstructing Congress.
Here's Andrew Buncombe's report.
Pompeo has set out for a four-nation tour of Europe, arriving in Rome to meet with Italian officials just hours after it was confirmed he was on the line during the Zelensky call, the first cabinet official known to have heard the exchange in which Trump apparently pressured his counterpart to investigate Hunter Biden's ties to a Ukrainian natural gas firm.
The secretary ignored a question about the call in a meeting with Italy's president Guiseppe Conte yesterday. He was spared a possible repeat as he posed for photos with the prime minister when a young Italian woman tried to present him with a wedge of cheese to protest Trump administration trade tariffs.
The protester arrived with press credentials and threw the room into confusion by bursting through the rope line to present Pompeo with the Parmesan, produced in her hometown.
Pompeo appeared perplexed, perhaps thinking the woman was part of an official welcoming ceremony, but Conte grew angered when she appeared to deliver a plea for Pompeo to bring the cheese to Trump to show him that his threatened tariffs on European products would hurt local Italian businesses.
"I have a present," she said. "The prime minister knows what I'm talking about. This is something made best in Italy, made from the heart, so we hope you can help us in taking it to Mr Trump, please."
Conte ordered the woman removed from the room.
Pompeo is currently addressing the Vatican, telling a conference on human dignity and faith that when governments hold all the power, religion is a threat.
"When the state rules absolutely, human dignity is trampled, not cherished," he said. "When the state rules absolutely, moral norms are crushed completely. When the state rules absolutely, it demands its citizens worship government, not God."
He singled out China, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar and Syria in particular for repressing religious freedom.
From Italy, Pompeo will travel to Montenegro and North Macedonia before wrapping up his European trip in Greece.
This is the company he's keeping, by the way.
Back at the White House, some more unflattering news to have emerged about the president's behind-the-scenes behaviour is being recounted in a new book excerpted in The New York Times.
"You're making me look like a f***ing idiot," he reportedly howled at Pompeo, senior adviser Stephen Miller and ex-Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen regarding immigration statistics, according to Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D Shear, the same source that gave us that extraordinary moat line earlier.
Here's Vincent Wood with more.
Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, already the subject of a House Intelligence Committee subpoena related to the impeachment inquiry, has threatened to sue Congress in his latest TV appearance.
Speaking on Laura Ingraham's Fox show last night, the former New York City mayor hit out at House Democrats, arguing their powers of oversight have been taken too far: "They are doing extraordinary things. For example, they are violating - they’re interfering with the president in exercising his rights under Article II: The president United States conducts the foreign policy of the United States," Giuliani said.
"They're calling foreign leaders. They are going to foreign capitals.... This is worse than McCarthy!"
Even someone as partisan as Ingraham had to note that members of Congress are protected by immunity for anything they say on the floor and dismissed his threat of a lawsuit by saying: "It's novel".
Asked later about how he proposed to go about suing "The Swamp" by Atlantic political correspondent Elaina Plott, the hapless Giuliani gave this peach of an answer:
First bedbugs at the Trump National Doral Miami, now an infestation of mice at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The president really should start tipping Pest Control.
Adam White has more from Hillary and Chelsea Clinton's interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, where the studio audience delighted in putting a new spin on an old chant.
Astonishingly, a new poll has found that just 40 per cent of self-identied Republicans believe Trump discussed the Biden investigation with President Zelensky, according to USA Today, despite his openly admitting he did so and the White House transcript setting it out in plain English.
Among Democrats, that total is 85 per cent, with 61 per cent of independents agreeing the president "probably did" press Zelensky on his new favourite conspiracy theory.
"This seems to be another example of partisan tribalism at work in public opinion,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, which carried out the survey between 23 and 29 September.
More than six in 10 adults surveyed by Monmouth said it is not appropriate for a president to make a request of its nature to a foreign leader. Only three in 10 Republicans agreed.
Almost half of all adults questioned (49 per cent) said it's a good idea for the House Judiciary Committee to conduct an impeachment inquiry, but less than half (44 per cent) felt Trump should actually be impeached and forced out of the White House.
"Trump may be facing backlash for this call but the irony is now that its contents are out there, it may actually help with his objective," Murray said. "And that is to sow doubt about Biden among voters."
Could Trump still run for president in 2020 even if he were to ultimately be impeached in the Senate?
Here's your answer folks.
We heard yesterday that Bernie Sanders raked in $25.3m (£20.6m) in campaign donations over the past three months, putting him on top of the Democratic presidential fundraising field for now. But in a sign of what he and his rivals are up against, Trump and his allies raised $125m (£102m).
Other leading Democrats, including former vice president Joe Biden and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, have yet to reveal their fundraising figures for the third quarter.
But the staggering sum on the Republican side, which was split between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, highlights the cash gulf between Democrats and the GOP. It could revive anxieties among Democrats that a protracted primary featuring nearly 20 candidates could be counterproductive while Trump builds a massive cash advantage that can be used against the ultimate nominee.
"This is a shit-ton of money," Bakari Sellers, a top surrogate for California senator Kamala Harris, tweeted in reference to Trump's fundraising. Although activists who contribute small amounts online have been widely celebrated, he said that won't stand up to the Trump operation. "Small dollar donations alone ain't going to save our democracy."
Sanders posted the largest quarterly sum for a Democratic White House hopeful this year. The haul ensures the Vermont senator will be an enduring presence in the primary even as Warren and Biden have surpassed him in some polls. Much of the money he raised came from his army of small-dollar online contributors.
Meanwhile, Pete Buttigieg, who entered the race as the little-known mayor of South Bend, Indiana, pulled in $19.1m (£15.6m). That's an almost $6m (£4.9m) dip from his field-leading sum last quarter but a figure that's all but certain to place him in the top tier.
Now the question turns to how much money Biden and Warren raised during the third quarter. The former vice president and the Massachusetts senator are in an increasingly close race for first place, according to several polls.
There's a growing sense of urgency for the White House hopefuls as the primary becomes a fierce battle for a limited pool of cash. In the days and hours before Monday's deadline, they pleaded for money, making appeals on social media and collectively blasting out more than 80 emails asking supporters to "chip in" $5, $10 or $50. The third-quarter figures have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by 15 October.
Those outside the top tier are facing pressure to post competitive numbers or get out. They will not only face challenges paying for advertising to amplify their message, but are also likely to struggle reaching fundraising thresholds set by the Democratic National Committee to qualify for future debates.
"If you are being outraised 3-to-1 by Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden, you have no viable path to victory," said Rufus Gifford, Barack Obama's former finance director. "Even if you can compete in the early states... shortly thereafter you will run out of money."
Over the summer, Harris kept up an aggressive fundraising schedule to stockpile the cash needed to build up her operation in early states. Yet she did not improve on her past performance amid a series of stumbles and restarts. The $11.6m (£9.5m) she reported raising keeps virtually even with her totals from each of the past two quarters, suggesting she hasn't caught on with much of the party's activist donor base. Still, it's enough to keep her in contention in the months to come, and Harris's campaign manager, Juan Rodriguez, said they were "built to win this primary."
Others face dimmer odds. Cory Booker recently warned that unless he juiced his fundraising numbers by an additional $1.7m (£1.4m) he'd likely have to drop out. The New Jersey senator announced Tuesday he was "proud" of his team for surpassing the goal while pulling in a total of $6m (£4.9m) for the quarter. But campaign manager Addisu Demissie then issued a memo stating they'd have to do even better and raise $3 million by the end of October.
Montana governor Steve Bullock, who has also struggled to raise money, is applying for public financing, turning to a fund that is replenished by those who volunteer to chip in $3 from their taxes. He hopes it will supplement his campaign with a $2m (£1.6m) boost, though the FEC board does not currently have enough commissioners to sign off on the request.
The third quarter came to a close as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in Congress related to his attempts to get the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden. The development has scrambled politics in Washington but has turned into a fundraising rallying cry for both major political parties.
Trump has turned his outrage over the inquiry into a flood of campaign cash. Trump and the Republican National Committee reported raising $13m (£10.6m) in the three days after House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the probe last week. And Trump's son Eric tweeted later that the total grew to $15m (£12.2m). That's a source of worry for some Democrats.
"Trump's presidency is wounded but not mortally wounded, and their operation is as good as it gets," Gifford said.
AP
A little more on the coming election fight.
America First Policies, a political action group backing Trump, will launch an advertising campaign aimed at unseating vulnerable House Democrats who support the impeachment inquiry against him.
The television and digital ad buy, which the source said would cost more than $1m (£820,000), will encourage voters to tell their Democratic representatives in Congress to oppose the impeachment probe.
The attack ads are designed to echo a $2m (£1.6m) campaign the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched over the weekend - examples of which you can see below - and will be set to run when those ads are completed, likely at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
America First Policies is a super PAC permitted to raise and spend unlimited sums of money but must disclose both fundraising and expenses. As a super PAC, the group is prohibited from directly coordinating with either the RNC or Trump's campaign.
The ads are being run by the America First non-profit arm, which is not required to disclose how much money it raises or spends, but is prohibited from funding advertisements that directly advocate voting for or against a candidate.
The ads will point to the "kitchen-table" issues that Democrats campaigned on during the 2018 congressional elections, like healthcare and the border.
"Now you're doing nothing, all you do is investigate, investigate, investigate," a source told Reuters, summarising the intended message. "It's a call to action."
The ads will target districts that elected Democrats in 2018 after going for Trump in the 2016 election.
"We're going to be putting pressure on moderate Democrats," the source said.
Mike Pompeo has addressed his role in the Zelensky call for the first time at a press conference in Rome after speaking at the Vatican. Perhaps his surroundings moved him to confession.
Here's Chris Riotta's report.
Yikes. More ugly remarks from Trump resurfacing online, this time from a 2013 appearance on David Letterman's chat show, in which he said the Mafia are "very nice people".
Darren Richman has the full story for Indy100.
The Ukraine investigation continues to grow as Bob Menendez of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asks Trump's energy secretary Rick Perry what took place when he visited the Eastern European country in May this year, which just so happens to be when Giuliani was threatening to fly in.
For Indy Voices, DC reporter Andrew Feinberg offers these insights on whether White House insiders believe the president is ready for the impeachment proceedings gearing up against him.
Trump's first tweets of the day find him again throwing his weight around the Louisiana governor's election (as he did last night) and hailing a court ruling yesterday that means he will not have to publish his tax returns to appear on California's primary ballot in 2020 after all. He's also doing his fairground barker act on the border wall.
Not exactly known for her measured rhetoric, Democrat Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, says the president deserves to be jailed and thrown in solitary confinement.
