Donald Trump

Donald Trump has bemoaned the Senate impeachment trial rules set by Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell after realising the first day of his defence team’s opening argument will take place on Saturday, “which is called Death Valley in TV”, he noted, because viewer ratings are likely to be lower than they would be on a week night.

On Friday afternoon Mr Trump made history by becoming the first sitting president to attend the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington, DC, as he seeks to shore up conservative support ahead of November’s election.

Just before that speech, his administration announced that it would cut federal funding streams to California unless the liberal state revokes rules that require abortion coverage by health insurers.

During Mr Trump's speech to the anti-abortion group, he drew attention for claiming that unborn babies had never had a "stronger defender" in history, and pledged to maintain his support for religious liberties.

The Democratic impeachment managers have meanwhile continued to make the case against the president in the upper chamber on Thursday, focusing on abuse of power and accusing the administration and Fox News of pursuing “completely bogus, Kremlin-pushed” conspiracy theories as a pretext to cheat in 2020 by leaning on Ukraine for a political favour to damage possible rival Joe Biden.

Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan Show all 10 1 /10 Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan Donald Trump laughs with US troops after serving them Thanksgiving dinner at Bagram airbase during a surprise visit to Afghanistan AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan It was the president's first visit to Afghanistan AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan As is traditional with senior politicians, he was happy to help serve the troops – his vice-president Mike Pence did the same for US forces in Iraq a few days earlier AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan Mr Trump gets stuck in. He told troops he had only been able to have a mouthful of mashed potatoes – and no turkey – before being dragged off to address them AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan The president applauds as his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani addresses troops AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan Mr Trump said that he was willing to restart talks with the Taliban REUTERS Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan He told US troops: "The Taliban wants to make a deal. And we are meeting with them and we say it has to be a ceasefire and they didn't want to do a ceasefire and now they want to do a ceasefire, I believe. It will probably work out that way." AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan Mr Trump was accompanied on his trip by his national security adviser, Robert O'Brien. While it was his first trip to Afghanistan since becoming president in January 2017, he has been to a warzone once before when he visited troops in Iraq AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan The president told troops that he had flown 8,331 miles to be there to tell them the US has never been stronger. He said: "There is nowhere I'd rather celebrate Thanksgiving." AFP via Getty Images Trump makes surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan Mr Ghani and Mr Trump holding talks at Bagram airbase. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and more than 2,400 American service members have been killed since America's longest war began 18 years ago AP

Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced that dozens of US service members who were present when Iran attacked an Iraqi base suffered from brain injuries, contradicting Mr Trump's previous comments that they simply had headaches after the blast.

Many of those soldiers were transported to the United States for treatment, while others were taken to Germany.