The email is consistent with what an OPCW whistleblower earlier told an expert panel by the Courage Foundation last month. It also gives credence to a scolding story in CounterPunch, which said Robert Fairweather, the chief of cabinet of then-Inspector General Ahmet Uzumcu, of being the driving force behind the alterations.

CounterPunch apparently cites the same internal email as well as claims by a whistleblower, who said Fairweather allowed three US officials to have an impact on the drafting process. The Americans pressured the OPCW into blaming the Syrian government. The organization leadership then decided it needed to include a 'smoking gun' in the final report the whistleblower said.

Fairweather is the recipient of the email, though interestingly his name was redacted by the Mail on Sunday for unclear reasons. The British newspaper, however, provided some additional details into how the preparation of the report happened. It said four increasingly censored versions of the document had been produced as OPCW management fought off dissenting voices among the scientists. The final version was released in March this year.

Smile, Bob, you're on candid camera: Robert Fairweather, OBE

• European army in Syria? Germany and Denmark propose sending 35,000 troops
• US embassy's sordid role in stoking October protests in Iraq revealed in Lebanese paper
• A European army: Is it really so 'barmy'?

• 10 years of BRICS: What keeps 5 headstrong powers together in times of global disunion
• Alastair Crooke: Germany stalls and Europe craters
• 'Something's amiss': Risk of recession increasing, markets similar to last year's before the collapse - Morgan Stanley
• Russia-Africa 'Shared Vision 2030': The alternative to neo-colonial pillage
• 'We Are The Vaccine Against The Cancer of Unilateralism' - Delegates From 120 Nations Meet in Venezuela to Plot Escape From U$ Hegemony
• Pepe Escobar: Nazarbayev 'resigns' and Kazakhstan's pivotal role in Eurasian integration

• AG Avichai Mandelblit: 'It is my duty by law to indict Benjamin Netanyahu'
• Netanyahu cries leftist conspiracy over decision to indict him for bribery and corruption
• Netanyahu slams corruption indictment as an 'attempted coup', claims probe is 'tainted by foreign interests'

"President Trump wants to have a trial in the Senate because it's clearly the only chamber where he can expect fairness and receive due process under the constitution," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement on Thursday. "We would expect to finally hear from witnesses who actually witnessed, and possibly participated in corruption - like Adam Schiff, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the so-called whistleblower, to name a few."

The report claims that lawmakers present at the meeting told Trump administration officials that there is no guarantee that Republicans won't break ranks if a Senate vote is held to dismiss the impeachment articles. However, a White House official cited by the outlet said the motive behind Trump's desire to have a full-fledged trial is rather to prove "just how weak [the Democrats' case] is."

Trump added "the one I want to testify most is Shifty Schiff ... and what I want to know most is, why did he make up my statement?"

Trump has also slammed Schiff for conducting impeachment hearings with second- and third-hand witnesses who have thus far failed to provide concrete evidence that the president arranged a quid-pro-quo deal with Zelensky.