WASHINGTON — In his first formal response to impeachment charges, President Donald Trump misrepresented the testimony of a key witness who described an exchange of favors in the Ukraine matter. The claim marked a week of frequent exaggeration and distortion by the president heading into the opening statements of his impeachment trial. Just...
Newly Released Texts Tie Nunes Aide Closer to Ukraine Plot
WASHINGTON — New documents released by House Democrats suggest that Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, was more deeply involved than was previously known in efforts by allies of President Donald Trump to dig up dirt in Ukraine on former Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats...
Iran's Top Leader Strikes Defiant Tone Amid Month of Turmoil
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader lashed out at Western countries as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in eight years, dismissing “American clowns” who he said pretend to support the Iranian nation but want to stick their "poisoned dagger” into its back. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...
Ukrainian Prime Minister Submits Resignation After Tapes
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine's prime minister submitted his resignation Friday, days after he was caught on tape saying President Volodymyr Zelenskiy — a former sitcom star with no previous political experience — knows nothing about the economy. The scandal comes at a fraught moment for Zelenskiy, who has found himself...
Watchdog: White House Violated Law in Freezing Ukraine Aid
WASHINGTON — The White House violated federal law in withholding security assistance to Ukraine, an action at the center of President Donald Trump's impeachment, a federal watchdog agency said Thursday. The Government Accountability Office said in a report that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law in holding up...
Pelosi Names Schiff, Nadler as Prosecutors for Trump Trial
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi named House prosecutors for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Wednesday ahead of votes to send the charges to the Senate, even as new information about the president's Ukraine efforts intensified pressure for more witnesses. The seven-member prosecution team will be led by the chairmen...
AP Fact Check: Trump Says Pelosi, Dems Defended Iran General
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's relentless attacks on the impeachment investigation and Democrats' stance on Iran strained the truth on various fronts, from claiming that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani to asserting that even Ukraine's president said Trump did nothing wrong in withholding military aid. In weekend tweets...
AP Fact Check: Pence Misleadingly Links Iran General to 9/11
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump closed out the old year by reprising a selection of his most familiar falsehoods and putting a few of his predecessor's accomplishments in his own win column. His vice president, seeking to justify the U.S. military’s targeted killing of a top Iranian general, helped begin...
Trump Blasts Christian Magazine That Called for His Removal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump blasted a prominent Christian magazine on Friday, a day after it published an editorial arguing that he should be removed from office because of his “blackened moral record.” Trump tweeted that Christianity Today, an evangelical magazine founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham, “would rather have a...
McConnell Blasts House Impeachment, Pledges Senate Action
WASHINGTON — The top Senate Republican on Thursday denounced the "most unfair" House impeachment of President Donald Trump and reassured Trump and his supporters that "moments like this are why the United States Senate exists.” Signaling in the strongest terms yet that the GOP-controlled Senate will acquit Trump, Majority Leader...