A top US diplomat at an impeachment hearing has said that President Trump directly asked about a Ukrainian probe into his Democrat rival Joe Biden.
In previously unheard testimony, Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, said a member of his staff was told Trump was preoccupied with pushing for a probe into Biden.
He was speaking at the first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry.
Republicans branded the Democrat-led hearings a televised "spectacle".
Trump is accused of withholding US military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country's new president to publicly announce a corruption inquiry into Mr. Biden, among the favourites to take him on in the 2020 presidential race.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and describes the impeachment inquiry as "another witch hunt".
[Source:BBC]
