NEW: Trump's lawyers will argue that it was legitimate for him to bring up the Bidens during call with Ukrainian pres.
Source working with the president’s legal team says in briefing just now 'there plainly is' legislate reason to mention both Bidens + Ukraine election meddling
The argument goes like this...
The way Dems have framed their case is that mentioning Bidens/Burisma + Ukraine meddling is inherently illegitimate.
Trump's lawyers will argue against that, saying there are justifications for mentioning. [Eg meddling is national security issue.]
Another key argument Trump's lawyers will push again and again in the trial - no law broken.
They will argue every presidential impeachment has made claims a law was violated. That's not the case here.
Therefore impeachment articles are defective.
But what about the GAO report published last week saying Trump violated the law by holding back Ukraine aid?
Sources working with the president’s legal team argued it was not included in charges, so not formally part of the trial.
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🚨BREAKING: Rishi Sunak preparing a small reshuffle to be announced as early as tomorrow. To replace Nadhim Zahawi but also go wider.
Plans for a wider reshuffle may explain why it’s been more than a week + still no Zahawi replacement
Have been calls for Dominic Raab to be suspended while the bullying investigation carries on. (He’s always denied wrongdoing)
Source close to Raab says they’ve heard nothing
All tight-lipped at the centre tonight. But no denials of a reshuffle tomorrow from multiple No10 folk. Telegraph understands it’ll be a small one though.
THREAD
Rishi Sunak’s 5 promises are largely in line with current expectations. The OBR forecasts inflation to drop sharply this year. Growth is expected in 2024. Passing a law on small boats with a majority of around 80 is more than doable. The debt falling pledge… 1/5
…appears only to be over the medium term, so just needs forecasts to say it’s happening in year 5 to achieve. And ‘waiting lists falling’ is open to definition - there are many different ways to cut the numbers (eg Sunak said Tories have already eliminated 2yr waits). BUT…2/
…these pledges do also involve a fair degree of political risk. The last 12months a reminder of just how hard accurately predicting inflation can be. Changes in Ukraine conflict or Putin tightening gas exports could happen. Not impossible halving inflation in 2023 is missed…3/
1/ A new 'small boats command'
- Policing of Channel 'too fragmented'
- NCA folk, intel, etc coming together
- Use of drones, surveillance
- 700 new staff
- Doubling of relevant NCA funding
2/ Extra help for immigration officers
- Allowing them to focus on enforcement
- Increase raids on 'illegal working' by 50%
- Tackle bank account use by those here illegally
- Restart data sharing re bank accounts
3/ New approach on asylum seeker housing
- 'Appalling' £5.5m a day spent on hotels
- 'Range of alternative sites' looked at
- Unused holiday parks/student halls/military
- Already offers to house 10k people
- Places should be half cost of hotels
🧵Did Boris Johnson really get to 100 Tory MPs? The Rishi Sunak number crunchers believe not. Quick thread on why… 1/ telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/…
They started by taking the most generous possible interpretation of everyone’s support. Such as the Guido Fawkes list, which merged public endorsements with private backers. 2/
That left somewhere around 100ish Tory MPs whose positions were unknown. They then worked down the list of names, trying to deduce where those people would/may/could end up… 3/