Trump impeachment: Is the end near for the US president? | UpFront (Headliner)

The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve procedural rules in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

The inquiry centres around a July phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On the call, Trump allegedly threatened to hold back $400m in military aid unless Zelenskyy investigated the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

“I agree that it’s not proper and, and was a mistake,” Chris Ruddy, a personal friend of Trump and CEO of the conservative news outlet Newsmax, told UpFront. “But I don’t think it’s a criminal act, and I don’t think it’s an impeachable act.”

Ruddy also added that it was “inappropriate” to ask a foreign government for help with a US political campaign.

“The president’s gotten a lot of bad legal advice,” said Ruddy. “If you look at this Ukrainian thing, a lot of it starts because his legal counsel at the time, Rudy Giuliani, told him to push the issue of corruption and investigating the Bidens.”

Trump has called the impeachment proceedings a “coup”, a “hoax” and a “witch-hunt”.

This week’s Headliner, a personal friend of US President Trump and Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy.

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