Trump news: President gives rambling speech at UN after Ukraine call memo released, as Senate receives whistleblower complaint
Document shows president asked Ukrainian leader to talk to Giuliani about investigation
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Donald Trump’s tumultuous day began with the release of a memo describing a phone call which could end his presidency, and ended with a weary rambling speech characterised by boasts, false claims and self pity.
If the president thought releasing the partial transcript would silence his critics, as he seemed to hope, he could not have been more wrong.
While his supporters claimed the memo exonerated him, his opponents insisted that it was even more damning than they had feared.
The call showed him asking his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Joe Biden, who could face Mr Trump in next year’s presidential election, immediately after discussing the military aid Kiev needs to protect itself against a Russian-backed insurgency.
They also talked disparagingly about the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled after apparently falling foul of the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Mr Trump apparently told the Ukrainian president: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”
After appearing at an awkward media conference with the Ukrainian president himself on the edges of the UN general assembly, Mr Trump addressed the press himself.
In a low-energy performance, he insisted that the accusations against him were a Democrat “hoax” timed to embarrass him in front of the world’s leaders, boasted about his accomplishments, accused Mr Biden and his son of being corrupt and assured a Venezuelan journalist that he was watching developments in her country closely.
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Donald Trump attacked Texas Democrat Al Green, one of the first politicians to call for the president’s impeachment on the House floor.
“That’s a beauty,” he said. “He’s a real beauty, that guy.”
"Very innocent call, very, very innocent," Donald Trump said about his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He is now continuing to attack the media and Democrats, repeating several of the same lines he has already said in this press conference.
“I used to be the king of getting good press,” Donald Trump said, recalling how his family and himself all used to have good coverage in the news before he became president.
“But when you see what happened with the viciousness,” he added, “It’s so bad for our country.”
“It’s like putting on a suit,” Donald Trump said about receiving bad press coverage.
The president has concluded his press conference wrapping the United Nations summit.
Democratic congressman Mike Quigley, a member of the House intelligence committee, has seen the whistleblower complaint that led to the announcement of impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.
His administration had previously blocked Congress from seeing it but it was finally delivered to politicians this afternoon.
Mr Quigley told CNN that the complaint, made by a US intelligence officer about Mr Trump's phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, was "deeply disturbing" and that it "reinforces the concerns" that people have already expressed about the president's behaviour, adding that it was "extraordinarily detailed" and "lays out exactly what Congress needs to investigate".
Adam Schiff, Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, said all efforts would be made to protect the whistleblower.
In his rambling speech this afternoon, President Trump accused the Democrats of deliberately trying to embarrass him by announcing a formal impeachment process against him in the week when world leaders had flocked to New York for the United Nations general assembly.
Andrew Buncombe has the full story:
The memo describing the July conversation between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky raises a series of disturbing issues. Chris Stevenson takes a closer look:
The decision to impeach the president has electrified Washington but it is also having effects further afield. Some analysts suggest it is helping confirm policy-makers in Tehran in their belief that there is no point engaging with the US unless there is movement on the American side. Trump and Rouhani have completely different perspectives on a bilateral meeting, meaning it is very unlikely to happen, writes diplomatic correspondent Negar Mortazavi:
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