Trump impeachment: president's legal team to include Bill Clinton investigator Ken Starr – as it happened

We’re ending our live coverage now, thanks for following along. Some links and key events from the day:

• The White House unveiled Trump’s legal team for his Senate impeachment trial, a list of attorneys whose own controversies threaten to overshadow their efforts to defend the president.
• That list includes Alan Dershowitz, known for defending the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Kenneth Starr, the dogged prosecutor who led the investigation that culminated in the 1998 impeachment of Bill Clinton and lost a university post in 2016 for mishandling sexual assaults on campus.
• US secretary of state Mike Pompeo broke his silence on reports of alleged surveillance and threats to the former US ambassador to Ukraine.
• The House foreign affairs committee chair, Eliot Engel, scheduled a hearing for the end of the month to hear Pompeo’s testimony about the use of force in Iran and Iraq.
• A coalition of 13 states, New York City and Washington DC announced they are suing the Trump administration over new restrictions for food stamp benefits for unemployed Americans.
• The US supreme court decided it will consider allowing the Trump administration to enforce rules that enable employers to deny insurance coverage for contraceptives.
• Chris Collins, a former congressman and one of Trump’s earliest supporters, was sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison in an insider trading case.
• Police arrested three more men linked to a violent white supremacist group, charging them with conspiring to kill members of an anti-fascist group.
• Iran’s supreme leader delivered a rare sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran in which he described Trump as a “clown” who pretended to support the Iranian people but would push a poisonous dagger into their backs.
• An appeals court dismissed a lawsuit brought by 21 youth plaintiffs against the federal government over climate crisis, citing concerns about separation of powers.

The House intelligence committee has released new documents this evening relating to Lev Parnas, the close associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Parnas made headlines this week when he added to evidence that Trump personally directed an effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival.

The new records include contact between Parnas and a top aide to Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman and Trump ally:

Some more details on the new documents in this thread from a Politico reporter.

Police have arrested three men linked to a violent white supremacist group called The Base, charging them with conspiring to kill members of an anti-fascist group. The arrests come one day after three other alleged members of the neo-Nazi group were arrested on federal charges in Maryland and Delaware.

Authorities have alleged that members had discussed opening fire at a pro-gun rally in Virginia:

More from the AP:

A criminal complaint included details of how some of the men built an assault rifle using parts, purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition and traded vests that could carry body armor. They were believed to be planning to attend the pro-gun rally in Richmond, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to the AP.

In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices and their desire to create a white “ethno-state”, the FBI has said in court papers.

On Friday, police in Georgia confirmed that three other men linked to The Base were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal street gang. Authorities said the men planned to kill a married couple who were anti-fascist protesters and believed killing the couple would send a message to enemies of The Base.

Officials revealed today that 11 US troops were flown out of Iraq for evaluation of concussion-like symptoms after the Iranian missile strike. Trump previously had said that there were no injuries or harm caused to US forces. From the AP:

The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said defense secretary Mark Esper did not know of the injuries until he was told Thursday afternoon that the 11 troops had been sent for evaluation at US medical facilities — eight in Germany and three in Kuwait. Hoffman said the notification to Esper was in line with military procedures, which he said do not require notification of service member casualties to the Pentagon unless they involve the loss of life, limb or eyesight.

As recently as Tuesday night, Trump said he had been told no American had been harmed in the Iranian missile strike on 8 January. The question of American casualties was especially significant at the time because the missile attack’s results were seen as influencing a US decision on whether to retaliate and risk a broader war with Iran.

Earlier on Friday, Iran’s supreme leader delivered a rare sermon describing Trump as a “clown” who pretended to support the Iranian people but would push a poisonous dagger into their backs.

Some background on the 11 injuries:

Trump has arrived at Mar-a-Lago for his first fundraiser of the new year, 94th as president.

It’s apparently his 344th day at a Trump property as president.

Chris Collins, a former congressman and one of Trump’s earliest supporters, has just been sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison in an insider trading case. Collins was previously forced to resign and had admitted he helped his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed.

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From the AP:

Collins, 69, was sentenced by US district judge Vernon S Broderick in Manhattan after the Republican pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to law enforcement officials.

Collins broke down and apologized to his family and his former constituents and colleagues.

“I stand here today as a disgraced former member of Congress,” he said. “My life has been shattered.”

The sentence came even after Collins’ lawyers argued he was sorry and should face no prison time in the insider trading case.

Prosecutors asked for a five-year sentence.

There’s been another release of secret FBI documents from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, published by BuzzFeed, which sued the US government for the records:

The documents are heavily redacted, and reporters are currently reviewing them:

Trump is also tweeting about the conflict in Virginia, where an intense political fight over gun policy has escalated this month. The president claimed that the second amendment is “under very serious attack” in Virginia and that Democrats “will take your guns away”.

As my colleague Lois Beckett recently reported, the backlash to gun control efforts in the state have been fueled by conspiracy theories and misinformation:

Earlier this week, the FBI arrested three suspected members of a neo-Nazi group, with authorities alleging that they had built a machine gun and had hoped to spark violence before a planned gun-rights rally in Virginia. The governor had banned guns from the capitol before the rally and declared a state of emergency due to concerns of violence.

One Virginia legislator, who is a socialist, told the Guardian that he had been facing death threats over his bill that pro-gun activists wrongly interpreted as a threat to gun rights. The legislation was related to public school teachers and had nothing to do with guns.

Here’s a response this evening from a Virginia congressman to Trump’s tweet:

Trump has responded to the reports that Iran’s supreme leader called him a “clown” during a rare sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran, tweeting, “He should be very careful with his words!”

More on the earlier remarks from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei here:

Trump reportedly said he regretted that his administration got involved in vaping policy, according to a new report in Axios, citing sources familiar with the president’s private conversation:

According to Axios, the president told his health secretary, “I should never have done that fucking vaping thing.”

The president has pushed a ban on flavored vapes.

There’s new info out on the rules for the next Democratic debate, on 7 February in New Hampshire, which will be the first one after voting has begun.

Based on the new rules, the qualifying candidates appear to be Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren, according to ABC News, which is hosting the debate. That’s the same (all-white) group that debated earlier this week.

Sam Levin in Los Angeles here, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day.

The US supreme court has just decided it will consider allowing the Trump administration to enforce rules that enable employers to deny insurance coverage for contraceptives. The justices agreed that they will hear yet another case challenging Obama’s healthcare law, with arguments expected in April. More from the AP:

The high court will review an appeals court ruling that blocked the Trump administration rules because it did not follow proper procedures. The new policy on contraception, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, would allow more categories of employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious objections.

The policy also would allow some employers, though not publicly traded companies, to raise moral objections to covering contraceptives.

Employers also would be able to cover some birth control methods, and not others. Some employers have objected to covering modern, long-acting implantable contraceptives, such as IUDs, which are more expensive and considered highly effective in preventing pregnancies.

Some reactions and context:

Hello again, US politics watchers, the Guardian’s Sam Levin on the west coast will take over the blog now and keep you covered for the next few hours.

Main events this afternoon so far:

• The House foreign affairs committee chair, Eliot Engel, has scheduled a hearing for the end of the month to hear the testimony of the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, about the use of force in Iran and Iraq.
• A coalition of 13 states, New York City and Washington DC are suing the Trump administration over new restrictions for food stamp benefits for unemployed Americans.
• The US court of appeals for the ninth circuit struck down a lawsuit filed by 21 young people who sued the federal government claiming that it has failed to address the climate crisis.
• Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, is fighting the narrative she can’t run for president and participate in the Senate impeachment trial.

A delegation from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is in Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico today as part of an investigation into the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy and the use of tent courts to process those cases.

Nanette Barragán, a Democrat from California, said a child from El Salvador with Down syndrome and a heart condition was not being allowed to seek entry in the US, despite having family in Philadelphia. After being pressured by Congresspeople, Barragán said US Customs and Border Patrol admitted the child, who could seek parole for medical help.