CUT THE B.S.
Trump rages at Democrat ‘bulls***’ over impeachment probe – as Putin says there was ‘nothing compromising’ in Ukraine call
DONALD Trump today blasted his political rivals by labelling their impeachment probe into his controversial call with the leader of Ukraine "BULLS***".
Just two hours after he let rip, Vladimir Putin spoke out to say he believes the US leader did nothing wrong during the chat with Volodymyr Zelensky.
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The under-fire US president used Twitter to accuse those Democrats calling for him to be impeached ahead of the 2020 election of wasting everyone's time.
He wrote: "The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLS***, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306.
"Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it!"
Earlier Mr Trump targeted the Democratic head of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam Schiff.
He said: "This is a hoax....This is a fraudulent crime on the American people but we will together with shifty Schiff and Pelosi and all of them."
And tonight he doubled down with unproven claims Schiff helped the phone call whistleblower write the complaint against him.
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When the whistleblower's attorney, Mark Zaid, was asked by CNN if Schiff or the Intel Committee helped with the complaint in any way, his response was: “Absolutely not.”
The US president faces the renewed threat of impeachment over claims he tried to enlist the help of Zelensky to dig dirt on rival Joe Biden.
The Democrats last week launched an official inquiry to gather evidence in a renewed bid to force him out of office.
However, Vladimir Putin tonight said there was "nothing compromising" in transcripts of the call.
"I see nothing compromising in the conversation between Trump and Zelensky," he said.
"President Trump turned to a colleague with a request to investigate possible corruption relating to members of the former administration. Any head of state would have had to do the same."
What is impeachment and how does it work?
IMPEACHMENT is a formal charge of serious wrongdoing against a holder of public office in the United States.
It is one of the few ways a sitting president can be kicked out of the White House before an election.
The US Constitution states a president "shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours".
The "sole power of impeachment" is held by the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress.
A simple majority is required - i.e. more than half of Representatives must vote to impeach the president.
Then the case would be tried by the Senate, the upper chamber of Congress, where a two-thirds majority is needed.
While the Senate is still controlled by the Republicans, with 53 of the 100 seats, the Democrats have control of the House of Representatives, with 235 of the 435 seats.
This means that it's possible for the House of Representatives to pass a vote to impeach the president.
However, a two-thirds majority of 67 Senators voting to impeach Trump would still be needed in the Senate when it is tried.
"They have already been using any excuse to attack President Trump. Now it's Ukraine."
Putin then took aim at the Mueller Report, which concluded that Russia tried to swing the 2016 election in Trump's favour but did not establish evidence of collusion between the Trump camp and Moscow.
"He didn't find any evidence of us colluding with Trump in the past, but said there was a risk we might do so in the future... It would be funny if it weren't so sad," said Putin.
Asked if Russia would try to meddle in the US 2020 presidential election, Putin joked: "I'll let you into a secret ...yes! We absolutely will... Just don't tell anybody."
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Tonight Mr Trump announced he may bring lawsuits against some of the people involved in pushing the controversial Mueller investigation.
The White House last week released a transcript of a call this summer between Trump and newly elected elected Zelensky.
It showed Trump asked him to probe Biden and the Democrats are looking into whether Trump used a delayed $400 million aid package as leverage.
Vladimir Putin JOKES about meddling in the 2020 US elections and defends Donald Trump's Ukraine call