When last we left our story, Army Lt. Col. Andrew Vindman was going to testify to the impeachment inquiry and had released some of what he intended to say. On Fox News, the deplorable Laura Ingraham broke the news on her show, picked out an inconsequential portion of the New York Times article on the subject--a throwaway mention of the fact that Vindman spoke Russian and Ukranian--and concluded from it that Vindman was some sort of operative against Trump, something one of her guests described as "espionage":
UPDATE (29 Oct., 2019) - "Shortly after [Vindman's] statement was released, Laura Ingraham covered his story on her Fox News show.
"'This is buried in the New York Times piece tonight,' Ingraham said. 'He’s a decorated colonel, by the way, in the Iraq War. "Because [Colonel Vindman] emigrated from Ukraine along with his family when he was a child and is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, Ukrainian officials sought advice from him on how to deal with Mr. Giuliani, though they typically communicated in English."'
"She went on: 'Here we have a U.S. national-security official who is advising Ukraine while working inside the Ukraine, apparently against the president’s interest, and usually they spoke in English. Isn’t that kind of an interesting angle to this story?'
"Ingraham’s comment is spurious in several ways. First, it was Vindman’s job to speak with Ukrainians. Second, it is of course useful for foreign-policy professionals to speak the language of the foreign countries they handle. Third, other officials, including Sondland and Ambassador William Taylor, have recounted offering advice to Ukrainians about navigating their relationship with Rudy Giuliani. Fourth, there is no evidence that Vindman was acting against the president’s interest; indeed, he was trying to execute official U.S. foreign policy regarding Ukraine, even as Giuliani ran a rogue and dubiously legal shadow foreign policy.
"John Yoo, a former official in George W. Bush’s administration and a law professor at UC Berkeley, reacted to Ingraham’s prompt by casually accusing Vindman of treason.
"'I find that astounding, and some people might call that espionage,' Yoo said."
Yoo is a war-criminal who, under Bush Jr., authored the infamous "torture memos." A man of exactly the kind of moral fiber for which Fox looks in its frequent commentators.
"The attacks continued Tuesday morning. On CNN, the newly hired contributor and former Representative Sean Duffy baselessly accused Vindman of dual loyalty or treason.
"'It seems very clear that he is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense,' Duffy said. 'I don’t know that he’s concerned about American policy, but his main mission was to make sure that the Ukraine got those weapons. I understand that. We all have an affinity to our homeland, where we came from... He’s entitled to his opinion. He has an affinity for the Ukraine, he speaks Ukrainian, and he came from the country, and he wants to make sure they’re safe and free. I understand that.'
"Host John Berman, astonished, asked, 'Are you saying a decorated war veteran isn’t looking out for America first, yes or no?'
"'I don’t know what he’s doing,' Duffy replied, suddenly losing the ability to read Vindman’s mind, though he had demonstrated it moments earlier.
"On Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade added, 'We also know he was born in the Soviet Union, emigrated with his family, young. He tends to feel simpatico with the Ukraine.'"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/appalling-attack-alexander-vindman/601000/
And of course, the shitstain-in-chief himself had to excrete his usual substance all over the matter:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-calls-white-house-official-trumper-ahead-impeachment/story?id=66607913
UPDATE (29 Oct., 2019) - As the impeachment inquiry is about to go public, House Democrats have released their resolution outlining how this new phase will be conducted.
"The eight-page resolution calls for public hearings and lays out their general format, and specifically permits staff counsels to question witnesses for periods of up to 45 minutes per side, Democrats and Republicans. The resolution gives the minority the same rights to question witnesses that the majority has, 'as has been true at every step of the inquiry,' Democrats said in a fact sheet about the measure.
"'The House impeachment inquiry has collected extensive evidence and testimony, and soon the American people will hear from witnesses in an open setting. The resolution introduced today in the House Rules Committee will provide that pathway forward,' said the Democratic chairmen of four House committees involved in the impeachment process"... The measure also would allow the president or his counsel to participate in impeachment proceedings held by the House Judiciary Committee, which has the authority to advance articles of impeachment against the president. The resolution explicitly states that the Judiciary panel will decide whether articles should be reported to the full House.
"If the president 'refuses to cooperate' unlawfully with congressional requests, Democrats say that the measure says '...the Chair shall have the discretion to impose appropriate remedies, including by denying specific requests by the President or his counsel.'
"Following complaints from Republicans that Democrats have not released transcripts of closed-door depositions held in the impeachment inquiry so far, the resolution authorizes the Intelligence Committee to make those transcripts public with appropriate redactions.
"More broadly, the resolution appears to put in writing what several House committees handling investigations into Trump are already doing."
The bill is being marked up in committee on Wednesday and a vote on it is expected on Thursday:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/house-democrats-release-impeachment-resolution-n1073456
UPDATE (29 Oct., 2019) - The text of the resolution under which the House will conduct the public part of the impeachment inquiry:
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20191028/BILLS-116-HRes660.pdf
UPDATE (29 Oct., 2019) - Catherine Croft, a Foreign Service officer who worked on the Ukraine at the NSC, is testifying to the impeachment inquiry today. A longrunning Ukraine specialist, Croft was brought into the NSC in July 2017, where she worked for a year. She has released her opening statement to the press and it has some interesting tidbits.
"During my time at the NSC, I received multiple calls from lobbyist Robert Livingston, who told me that Ambassador Yovanovitch should be fired. He characterized Ambassador Yovanovitch as an 'Obama holdover' and associated with George Soros. It was not clear to me at the time--or now--at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch. I documented these calls and told my boss, Fiona Hill, and George Kent, who was in Kyiv at the time. I am not aware of any action that was taken in response."
Bob Livingston was a congressman from Louisiana for 22 years. He was a loud proponent of impeaching Bill Clinton over an extramarital blowjob who was then exposed as, himself, having cheated on his wife. Up until then, he'd been picked as the successor to Newt Gingrich as House Speaker. When these revelations were made pubic, he was forced to give that up and leave congress, at which point he went through the corrupt revolving door and founded the Livingston Group--a lobbying firm. Croft's opening doesn't make clear when Livingston called her with these insane claims about Ambassador Yovanovitch but Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, seeing the anti-corruption Yovanovitch as an obstacle to their Ukraine schemes, waged a smear-campaign against her that eventually had her removed. Livingston's angle on this isn't clear but he was repeating Team Trump's lies, so they're the source of his complaints.
In May 2019, Croft went to work as Advisor to Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to the Ukraine.
"I spent the month of June embedded in our Embassy in Kyiv to prepare and then spent the week of July 8 overlapping with my predecessor, Christopher Anderson. That week was the first time I became aware that Ambassador Volker was in touch with Rudolph Giuliani. However, Ambassador Volker’s conversations with Giuliani were separate from my work, and I was generally unaware of when they spoke or what they spoke about. I have never had contact with Rudolph Giuliani."
On 18 July, Croft says an OMB representative told a video conference in which she participated that Trump had placed a hold on the aid package to Urkaine. She says she'd heard about that before that date but the video conference firmly established it. A not-insignificant fact that continually comes up in this whole affair is that the aid suspension came from Trump himself and lacked any policy rationale (because it was intended to extort fake "investigations" from the Ukrainians for Trump's own benefit, not serve any national security purpose). The people who are supposed to be in charge of handling policy on such matters had no idea why it was done. Croft didn't either, and says the OMB rep didn't provide one and just said "the order came at the direction of the President."
Croft's statement:
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/read-it-new-impeachment-inquiry-witness-catherine-croft-releases-opening-statement-and-implicates-trump-and-giuliani
UPDATE (30 Oct., 2019) - The decision by the White House and much of the press to refer to the notes on Trump's telephone conversation with Zelensky a "transcript" of the call has led many to believe it's just that--a verbatim account of the conversation. The document itself, however, warns that it "is not a verbatim transcript of a discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty Officers and NSC policy staff assigned to listen and memorialize the conversation in written form as the conversation takes place."
When it was announced that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman of the NSC would be testifying to the impeachment inquiry, Trump had a Twitter tantrum:
"Why are people that I never even heard of testifying about the call. Just READ THE CALL TRANSCRIPT AND THE IMPEACHMENT HOAX IS OVER! Ukrain said NO PRESSURE."
To the extent that it's to be taken seriously, the notion that Trump had "never even heard of" Vindman--his own top Ukraine expert on the NSC--is either comical or horrifying. Most likely, it's just another lie (last week, Trump denied knowing Bill Taylor, his own acting ambassador to the Ukraine, whom Trump had coaxed out of retirement to take that post). Shortly after claiming he'd "never even heard of" Vindman, Trump suddenly knew so much about the Lt. Col. that the knew Vindman was a "Never Trumper," a claim for which there's no evidence whatsoever:
"Supposedly, according to the Corrupt Media, the Ukraine call ‘concerned’ today’s Never Trumper witness. Was he on the same call that I was? Can’t be possible! Please ask him to read the Transcript of the call. Witch Hunt!"
And...
"How many more Never Trumpers will be allowed to testify about a perfectly appropriate phone call when all anyone has to do is READ THE TRANSCRIPT!"
Here's why all of this is particularly funny: Vindman was one of those assigned to listen in on the call and make notes. He was one of the people who created the very "transcript" Trump is referencing.
When Vindman testified, he noted that at least two of his edits to the "transcript" were left out. The notes released to the public contained ellipses, which the White House had previously explained were just places where the conversation trailed off. Actually, testified Vindman, at least one of them indicated omitted content--Trump told Zelensky there were tapes of Biden, an apparent reference to Biden's public recounting of how he was tasked with getting Viktor Shokin, Ukraine's corrupt Prosecutor General, replaced. Vindman tried to have that included in the transcript; it was never put in and as Trump and his underlings immediately recognized what Trump had done on the call was criminal, they quickly moved it to a top-secret computer system to keep it locked away.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/us/politics/alexander-vindman-trump-ukraine.html
UPDATE (31 Oct., 2019) - The House has passed the impeachment resolution:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/politics/house-impeachment-vote.html
UPDATE (1 Nov., 2019) - Dmytro Firtash is that Ukranian oligarch and high-level Russian Mafia figure currently tucked away in Vienna and resisting extradition to the U.S..
"This summer, [Giuliani associate Lev] Parnas told potential business associates that his company began receiving payments from the oligarch, Dmytro Firtash, who is living in Austria while fighting bribery charges in the US, the sources told CNN.
"Parnas also told these people he met with Firtash several times over the summer while in Vienna. In June, according to one of these sources, Parnas vouched to Firtash for two well-known Washington lawyers who later brought up Firtash's plight in a face-to-face meeting with Attorney General William Barr."
Parnas has a big mouth:
"In private conversations with would-be business associates before his arrest this month, Parnas boasted that his newfound luxurious lifestyle was bankrolled by Firtash, two sources told CNN. Beginning in mid-August, this included around-the-clock bodyguards, two luxury SUVs for his entourage, and at least six private charter flights in the past several months, according to the sources as well as documents exclusively obtained by CNN.
"Giuliani was on at least one of those flights, according to the documents.
"Parnas now has private security guards outside of his home in Florida, according to a source familiar with the matter.
"Firtash's lawyers have downplayed the relationship between their client and Parnas. In statements, they describe Parnas as merely an interpreter hired to communicate with Firtash, who does not speak English... But two sources who spoke with Parnas tell CNN that he talked about how he was cultivating Firtash for his own business interests. 'I'm the best-paid interpreter in the world,' Parnas joked to the sources who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity."
Parnas was the fellow who convinced Firtash to hire Trump apologists Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing as his lawyers in his effort to block being extradicted to the U.S.
"Parnas vouched for them directly to Firtash at a meeting in Vienna in June, specifically touting their personal ties to Giuliani, a source close to the lawyers told CNN."
Firtash hired the duo. A few weeks after Parnas recommended them, Firtash sent two representatives to meet, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, with Toensing, diGenova, Parnas, his partner Igor Fruman and their partner David Correia, who has also been indicted as part of the Parnas/Fruman campaign finance scheme. DiGenova has known Attorney General William Barr for decades; he managed to arrange for a face-to-face meeting with Barr and other Justice officials on behalf of Firtash and asked that the charges against the oligarch be dropped but Barr reportedly declined to intervene.
Paras, meanwhile, was living a lavish lifestyle, crowing about it, paying off some old debts. On 19 August, Parnas and Correia held a meeting at the Club Monte Cristo in Boca Raton--Fruman was supposed to be there but apparently got stuck in traffic--at which they "tried to sell an American energy magnate, whom Parnas cultivated through Giuliani, on a deal involving their new patron. Correia asked if the businessman would open a letter of credit to buy gas from Qatar, where they claimed to have a contact. Firtash, Correia explained, would in turn sign a letter of credit to him and buy the gas at a mark-up.
"Correia, Parnas and Fruman would take a share of the profits. Firtash, they claimed, would be a natural partner for the project given his history selling Russian gas into Ukraine. While Parnas gave the impression the Qatar deal was Firtash's idea and had his blessing, according to two sources who spoke to CNN, it's unclear what if anything Firtash actually knew of the proposal. His lawyers have stated that he had no business relationship with Correia, Parnas or Fruman.
"In the end, the American businessman balked over concerns about working with an indicted oligarch, and ultimately declined the offer."
On 9 August, Parnas and Fruman lunched with Rudy Giuliani then, later that day, were arrested at Dulles with one-way tickets to Vienna--where Firtash is residing. Giuliani was also scheduled to fly to Vienna less than 24 hours after Parnas and Fruman were to depart.
"The purpose of their trip to Vienna, as CNN previously reported, was to meet up with Giuliani and former Ukrainian prosecutor general Victor Shokin, a major player in the widening Ukraine scandal because of his discredited claims against the Bidens... Shokin was already involved in Firtash's case. Shokin had submitted an affidavit to an Austrian court supporting Firtash's arguments against extradition, claiming there was political interference by the US.
"It was in that affidavit that Shokin first made the unfounded claims about Biden, which Giuliani promoted for months after speaking with Shokin earlier this year. That conversation happened over Skype after Giuliani unsuccessfully lobbied the State Department and White House to grant Shokin a visa so they could to meet face-to-face... Parnas and Giuliani hoped to book Shokin for a Fox News interview in Vienna, where he could levy his allegations against Biden for the first time on American television, according to four sources. It never happened."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/01/politics/parnas-firtash-giuliani-ties/index.html
UPDATE (1 Nov., 2019) - Tim Morrison, the top Russia and Europe adviser on the National Security Council, testified to the impeachment inquiry on Thursday. He reportedly testified that "he was advised by then-White House official Fiona Hill to stay away from the parallel Ukraine policy being pursued by Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, according to one of the sources." Morrison was one of the officials assigned to listen in on Trump's now-infamous call to Zelensky. Reportedly, he told investigators he was concerned the notes on the Zelensky conversation would leak, though he said he didn't think Trump what Trump had done on the call was illegal.
Bill Taylor, the acting ambassador to the Ukraine, had previously provided what was described as some of the most damning testimony against Trump and Morrison "backed up last week's testimony from Taylor, currently the top US diplomat in Ukraine, about interactions the two had regarding the President's efforts to press for investigations while US aid to Ukraine was held up. While he did deviate from Taylor on some details, Morrison testified that Sondland told him the President would release the aid if the Ukrainian prosecutor general announced an investigation, according to sources.
"'I reviewed the statement Ambassador Taylor provided this inquiry on October 22, 2019. I can confirm that the substance of his statement, as it relates to conversations he and I had, is accurate,' Morrison said."
Morrison described the notes on the call as a "fair representation" of its contents.
"One difference Morrison had from Taylor's account was when Taylor testified that Morrison had relayed to him that Trump told Sondland he wanted Zelensky to 'go to a microphone' and announce an investigation into the Bidens and the 2016 election.
"But in describing his conversation with Taylor, Morrison said that Sondland indicated it would have been sufficient for Trump if the Ukrainian prosecutor general announced the investigations he sought, according to one source.
"Another detail that Morrison said was different was the location of an interaction, sources said.
"At times, Morrison's attorney has instructed his client not to answer questions about interactions with the President, multiple sources said."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/31/politics/tim-morrison-deposition-house-impeachment-inquiry/index.html
UPDATE (1 Nov., 2019) - "John Sullivan, the deputy secretary of state, said on Wednesday that President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was involved in a smear campaign to oust the ambassador to Ukraine, publicly confirming a key part of the saga behind the impeachment inquiry.
"Jumping into an impeachment fight that so far has been waged in the House behind closed doors, Senate Democrats used Mr. Sullivan’s nomination to be President Trump’s next ambassador to Russia to bring the drama into the open. Mr. Sullivan, testifying under oath and on camera before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, corroborated private testimony from one of House Democrats’ central impeachment witnesses, Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine.
"Pressed on whether he believed it was appropriate for the president to demand investigations into domestic political opponents, Mr. Sullivan said, 'I don’t think that would be in accord with our values'... While Mr. Sullivan did not reveal significant new information, he testified on camera, and became the highest ranking official to publicly affirm that Ms. Yovanovitch had served 'admirably and capably.' He also went on the record with his belief that Mr. Giuliani helped to coordinate an effort to denigrate her.
"'My knowledge in the spring and summer of this year about any involvement of Mr. Giuliani was in connection to a campaign against our ambassador in Ukraine,' Mr. Sullivan said.
"Asked by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, whether he believed Mr. Giuliani was 'seeking to smear Ambassador Yovanovitch, or have her removed,' Mr. Sullivan replied: 'I believed he was, yes.'"
Sullivan confirmed recalled Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch's testimony about a conversation she had with him about her dismissal.
"In detailing the campaign against the former envoy, Mr. Sullivan also brought clarity to a bizarre episode that unfolded on Capitol Hill this month, after the State Department’s independent watchdog briefed lawmakers on a mysterious packet containing conspiracy theories and smears against multiple figures, including Ms. Yovanovitch. Mr. Giuliani had previously confirmed that some of the documents in the packet, which laid out a record of contacts between Mr. Giuliani and Ukrainian prosecutors, were his.
"That packet was given to Mr. Sullivan by a counselor at the State Department, who in turn received it 'from someone at the White House,' he testified. Mr. Sullivan said he referred the folder to his department’s inspector general and the Justice Department out of caution, so officials could investigate 'who was giving it to us to influence us' and whether it contained any factual information.
"'It didn’t provide, to me, a basis for taking action against our ambassador,' Mr. Sullivan said."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/us/politics/trump-ukraine-senate.html
UPDATE (2 Nov., 2019) - The American system of government, as presently constituted, is built on a game of "Let's Pretend." Let's pretend as if the huge-dollar donations that well-heeled interests use to purchase politicians aren't bribery. They're just "campaign donations" offered out of some random sense of patriotic duty (or something), and the fact that those who offer them then tend to get exactly what they want from said politicians doesn't indicate a problem. Everyone knows this is false. Some are trying to address it. But that's the premise of the current American system of government.
Donald Trump has just given another indication of how pernicious this fiction can be. Trump is facing an inquiry that is almost certain to lead to his impeachment, at which point the matter is turned over to the Senate for trial. The senators will be the jury on the case. If a defendant in a criminal trial was caught bribing jurors, he'd be prosecuted and locked up but because of that "Let's Pretend," Trump can use--and is now openly using--his fundraising network to raise money for Republican senators who are facing tough re-elections fights this cycle, if they sign a resolution condeming the impeachment inquiry as "unprecedented and undemocratic."
"On Wednesday, the Trump reelection campaign sent a fundraising appeal to its massive email list urging donors to provide a contribution that would be divided between the president and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. Each of the senators are supporting the anti-impeachment resolution despite being endangered in 2020.
"'If we don’t post strong fundraising numbers,' the message warned, 'we won't be able to defend the President from this baseless Impeachment WITCH HUNT.'
"Next week, Trump will lend a hand to Georgia Sen. David Perdue, a staunch ally who has also spoken out against impeachment. On Nov. 8, the president will host an Atlanta fundraising lunch that will jointly benefit his campaign, the Republican National Committee, and Perdue’s reelection effort. Attendees are being asked to give up to $100,000, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.
"Trump is also set to appear next week at a reception for Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC closely aligned with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and party leadership."
And so on.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins is facing a tough re-election campaign but she's been critical of Trump at times and hasn't taken a position on impeachment because, as a prospective juror, she doesn't want to "predudge" the matter. She was left out of Trump's fundraising efforts. Arizona Sen. Marth McSally, also vulnerable, has actually signed on to the resolution but was passed over anyway because "she has frustrated Republican officials over her reluctance to exclusively use WinRed, a Trump-endorsed online fundraising tool. Party officials are trying to turn WinRed into a centralized hub of small-donor giving ahead of the 2020 election..."
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/31/trump-impeachment-senators-donor-062084
WinRed was founded by Trump crony Gerrit Lansing, who was Trump's original chief digital officer before losing the job in 2017 because he failed his background check. For more than a decade, Republicans have used Anedot, a non-partisan fundraising company that, in the last four years, has served over a thousand federal election clients, but Trump has pushed hard for Republicans to go with WinRed instead. While Anedot has large numbers of Republican clients, Trump had the RNC send a cease-and-desist letter to the company demanding that it no longer use "RNC", "GOP" or the Republican elephant logo. While WinRed is more expensive than Anedot, those who use it aren't making a Trump crony wealthy. Here's another amusing factoid about it: 2/3 of the processing fee it charges go toward paying Stripe, a credit card company of which Joshua Kushner--the brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared--owns a chunk.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-winred-kushner_n_5d27bcf8e4b0060b11e9cbf5
UPDATE (4 Nov., 2019) - The three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry released the transcript of the testimony, a few weeks ago, of Marie Yovanovitch, ousted U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine.
In it, Yovanovitch recounts how she asked Gordon Sondland, the Ambassador to the EU, how to respond to attacks on her by right-wing media and Trump.
"He said, 'You know, you need to go big or go home. You need to, you know, tweet out there that you support the president, and that all these are lies and everything else.'"
Yovanovitch never did this, of course. "It was advice that I did not see how I could implement in my role as an Ambassador, and as a Foreign Service officer."
"Yovanovitch testified to House investigators Oct. 11 that Trump had personally pressured the State Department to remove her, even though a top department official assured her that she had 'done nothing wrong'... Yovanovitch said she had wanted [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo to issue a statement that said she had his 'full confidence,' but the request was turned down. Yovanovitch, according to the transcript, said that acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker told her they were exercising 'caution' because any statement 'could be undermined' by the president."
She says she was in the dark about Rudy Giuliani's activities in the Ukraine but "she believed he was unhappy that she recommended against granting a U.S. visa to the former Ukrainian general prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Shokin--who was ousted over his failure to crack down on corruption--now claims he was really fired for investigating an energy company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden.
"'The embassy had received a visa application for a tourist visa from Mr. Shokin, the previous prosecutor general. And he said that he was coming to visit his children, who live in the United States,' Yovonavich said. Embassy officials believed he 'was ineligible for a visa, based on his, you know, known corrupt activities,' she said.
"She recommended the embassy turn down the visa.
"'And the next thing we knew, Mayor Giuliani was calling the White House as well as the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, saying that I was blocking the visa for Mr. Shokin, and that Mr. Shokin was coming to meet him and provide information about corruption at the embassy, including my corruption,' she testified."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/ousted-ukraine-ambassador-yovanovitch-says-she-was-told-tweet-praise-n1076156
The transcript of Yovanovitch's testimony:
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/CPRT-116-IG00-D003.pdf
UPDATE (4 Nov., 2019) - The House committees carrying out the impeachment inquiry today released the transcript of the testimony of Michael McKinley, former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"While Pompeo told ABC News last month that McKinley never raised the idea of issuing a statement of support for Yovonovitch, McKinley directly contradicted that statement while under oath, telling lawmakers he mentioned it on three separate occasions.
"Specifically, McKinley who testified behind closed doors on October 16, said that he raised the Yovanovitch matter with Pompeo three times and proposed releasing a statement of support for the former diplomat, who was abruptly recalled from her post, but did not receive a response from the secretary of state, including when he told Pompeo he was leaving the department.
"'I said: We've seen the situation that's developing outside. Wouldn't it be good to put out a statement on Yovanovitch? Since my impression is the Department, you know, at least tried to keep her in Ukraine. I had gotten that from the newspapers,' McKinley said. 'He listened. That was it. Sort of , 'Thank you.' That was the limit of the conversation.'
"McKinley told lawmakers that he raised the issue on two other occasions, including during a phone call to discuss his resignation.
"'I spoke with the Secretary again when he called from Europe to discuss my resignation,' McKinley said. 'I was pretty direct. I said, "You know, this situation isn't acceptable. We need to you know, I've already made my recommendation, but... I am resigning." And that was the conversation. Again, I didn't get a reaction on that point.'
In an interview last month with ABC News after McKinley's testimony, Pompeo flatly denied McKinley had ever expressed any concerns with him about what was happening with Yovanovitch:
"'From the time that Ambassador Yovanovitch departed Ukraine until the time that (McKinley) came to tell me that he was departing, I never heard him say a single thing about his concerns with respect to the decision that was made," Pompeo said of McKinley. "Not once ... did Ambassador McKinley say something to me during that entire time period.'
"McKinley testified that he chose to resign because of what he saw as the use of ambassadors 'to advance domestic political objectives' and a failure of the State Department to offer support for those officials caught up in the impeachment inquiry.
"'The timing of my resignation was the result of two overriding concerns: the failure in my view, of the State Department to offer support to Foreign Service employees caught up in the impeachment inquiry; and, second, by what appears to be the utilization of our ambassadors overseas to advance domestic political objectives,' McKinley said. 'To see the emerging information on the engagement of our missions to procure negative political information for domestic purposes, combined with the failure I saw in the building to provide support for our professional cadre in a particularly trying time, I think the combination was a pretty good reason to decide enough, that I had no longer a useful role to play.'"
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/04/politics/pompeo-mckinley-contradiction/index.html
UPDATE (5 Nov., 2019) - Rather than showing any concern for learning the facts or independently evaluating any of the information being developed by the impeachment inquiry, congressional Republicans have chosen to act as Trump's defenders. But they aren't, for the most part, defending him on the substance of the allegations against him. Instead, they've chosen to focus on largely meaningless complaints about the process. In recognition that Trump's own insistence that there never was any quid pro quo is utterly untenable, it seems this may be changing. On Friday, 1 Nov., the Washington Post reported a shift in tactics as "a growing number of Senate Republicans are ready to acknowledge that President Trump used U.S. military aid as leverage to force Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his family as the president repeatedly denies a quid pro quo.
"In this shift in strategy to defend Trump, these Republicans are insisting that the president’s action was not illegal and does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense as the Democratic-led House moves forward with the open phase of its probe.
"But the shift among Senate Republicans could complicate the message coming from Trump as he furiously fights the claim that he had withheld U.S. aid from Ukraine to pressure it to dig up dirt on a political rival, even as an increasing number of Republicans wonder how long they can continue to argue that no quid pro quo was at play in the matter.
"The pivot was the main topic during a private Senate GOP lunch on Wednesday, according to multiple people familiar with the session who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the meeting. Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) argued that there may have been a quid pro quo but said that the U.S. government often attaches conditions to foreign aid and that nothing was amiss in Trump’s doing so in the case of aid to Ukraine, these individuals said.
"Inside the lunch, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who ran against Trump in 2016, said a quid pro quo is not illegal unless there is 'corrupt intent' and echoed Kennedy’s argument that such conditions are a tool of foreign policy.
"'To me, this entire issue is gonna come down to, why did the president ask for an investigation,' Kennedy, who worked as a lawyer, said in an interview. 'To me, it all turns on intent, motive... Did the president have a culpable state of mind?... Based on the evidence that I see, that I’ve been allowed to see, the president does not have a culpable state of mind.'... One senior Republican aide cautioned that acknowledging a quid pro quo is unlikely as a strategy for the Senate GOP, even if some conservatives like the idea.
"Such a step would also undercut Trump’s central talking point on impeachment — and would clash with House Republicans’ strategy. Trump’s Capitol Hill allies and Republican leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.), are sticking with Trump’s line that there was no proposed trade-off with Ukraine."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/growing-number-of-gop-senators-consider-acknowledgingtrumps-quid-pro-quo-on-ukraine/2019/11/01/72084a3e-fcc4-11e9-9534-e0dbcc9f5683_story.html
And with that shift in strategy kicking around, Gordon Sondland--who has apparently realized it would be difficult to run his hotels from a prison cell--pops up to do a 180 on his own previous testimony:
"In a significant reversal, a top US diplomat revised his testimony to impeachment investigators to admit there was a quid pro quo linking US aid to Ukraine with an investigation into President Donald Trump's political rivals.
"US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland sent the committee a three-page addition to his testimony on Monday, saying he had remembered a September 1 conversation that occurred on the sidelines of a meeting between Vice President Mike Pence and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he told a top aide to Zelensky that the security aid and investigations were linked.
"'I now recall speaking individually with Mr. (Andriy) Yermak, where I said resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks,' Sondland said."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/05/politics/gordon-sondland-kurt-volker-transcripts-impeachment-inquiry/index.html
UPDATE (7 Nov., 2019) - Trump's efforts to extort Zelensky into manufacturing a baseless "investigation" into Trump's political rivals caused a great deal of turmoil in the Ukrainian government, reports the New York Times.
"In a flurry of WhatsApp messages and meetings in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, over several days, senior aides debated the point. Avoiding partisan politics in the United States had always been the first rule of Ukrainian foreign policy, but the military aid was vital to the war against Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, a conflict that has cost 13,000 lives since it began in 2014.
"By then, however, Mr. Zelensky’s staffers were already conceding to what seemed to be the inevitable, and making plans for a public announcement about the investigations. It was a fateful decision for a fledgling president elected on an anticorruption platform that included putting an end to politically motivated investigations... [I]nterviews in Kiev with government officials, lawmakers and others close to the Zelensky government have revealed new details of how high-level Ukrainian officials ultimately decided to acquiesce to President Trump’s request--and, by a stroke of luck, never had to follow through.
"Aides were arguing in favor of 'bowing to what was demanded,' said Petro Burkovskiy, a senior fellow at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation who has close ties to the Ukrainian government. They were willing to do so, he said, despite the risk of losing bipartisan support in the United States by appearing to assist Mr. Trump’s re-election bid. 'The cost was high.'"
In his now-infamous 25 July phone call with Trump, Zelensky had said he'd look into the matters Trump wished. "But a public statement that raised doubts about Russian meddling and Mr. Biden, whom the president regarded as the greatest threat to his re-election, would be far more useful politically to Mr. Trump. Not only would it smear Mr. Biden, it could also appear to undermine the Mueller investigation into Russian electoral interference by pinning some blame on Ukraine.
"A tug-of-war ensued between a senior aide to Mr. Zelensky, Andriy Yermak, and another of Mr. Trump’s envoys to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, over the wording of the proposed public statement. Mr. Volker went so far as to draft a statement for Mr. Zelensky that mentioned both investigations.
"Mr. Yermak pushed back, suggesting language that mentioned investigations but in general terms, so as not to antagonize the Democrats. Late in the negotiations, the American diplomats consented to dropping mention of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election... The trade soon became explicit. They [the Ukrainians] were approached in September by Mr. Sondland" who "explained in blunt terms to Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Yermak, there was little chance the aid would be forthcoming until they made the public statement on the investigations."
Some of Zelensky's aides, noting Trump's instability, cautioned against anything that could be seen as a partisan move that could undermine bipartisan support for Ukraine in the U.S., but "Nearly all Mr. Zelensky’s top advisers favored his making the public statement, said one of the officials who participated in the debate. United States military aid, they agreed, as well as diplomatic backing for impending peace talks to end the war outweighed the risks of appearing to take sides in American politics.
"There was a lone holdout — Alexander Danyliuk, the director of the national security council. Mr. Danyliuk, who resigned in late September, told the Ukrainian news media that the Zelensky administration would now need to 'correct the mistakes' in relations with the United States and 'in particular their own.'
"Finally bending to the White House request, Mr. Zelensky’s staff planned for him to make an announcement in an interview on Sept. 13 with Fareed Zakaria, the host of a weekly news show on CNN."
But on 9 Sept., the Intelligence Community Inspector General finally alerted congress as to the existence of the whistleblower compliaint. Two days later--4 days before Zelensky was to appear on CNN--Trump realized the jig was up and released the aid. Zelensky promptly canceled the interview.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/world/europe/ukraine-trump-zelensky.html
UPDATE (9 Nov., 2019) - In an unconscionable effort to attack Marie Yovanovitch--a continuation of the smear-campaign already carried out against the former Ambassador to the Ukraine by Team Trump to justify recalling her--right-wing media have been telling their followers that Yovanovitch communicated with a House Democratic staffer then perjured herself about this during her testimony to the impeachment inquiry.
"But the story quickly crumbles. Even Fox’s own report included part of the testimony explaining that the Democratic staffer was the one who started the communication by sending a message to Yovanovitch’s personal email. Furthermore, Yovanovitch never told the committee that she hadn’t responded at all to the staffer, but instead said she had pursued official channels."
Yovanovitch referred thes staffer to the State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and so told the committee.
This is the kind of slime that awaits every witness that cooperates with the inquiry.
https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/no-fox-news-impeachment-witness-didnt-hold-secret-talks-dem-staffer
UPDATE (11 Nov., 2019) - "For weeks, House Republicans ignored the legitimate reasons why so much of the impeachment inquiry was being conducted behind closed doors and pretended to be outraged by the secrecy. For GOP members, 'transparency' became the buzzword of choice for a while.
"All of which led to some confusion when Donald Trump suggested on Friday morning that the one thing his allies said they wanted – public hearings – was something the president said shouldn’t happen. From the official White House transcript:
"Q: [W]hat do you expect for the public hearings next week?
"TRUMP: Well, they shouldn’t be having public hearings. This is a hoax. This is just like the Russian witch hunt. This is just a continuation.
"A day later, the Republican said those who’d quoted him accurately had 'misreported' what he said. In fact, as of Saturday morning, Trump told reporters he no longer cared whether the hearings were public.
It’s all a bit confusing, in part because the president and his allies have taken both sides of so many issues.
"A month ago, for example, Trump had a very high opinion of Gordon Sondland, a Republican megadonor the president chose to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union. Trump described him as 'a really good man' and a 'great American.'
"That changed on Friday, when the president said, 'Let me just tell you, I hardly know the gentleman.'
"What’s more, in September, Trump said he didn’t want to release a call summary of his phone meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Then he did want to release it, assuming it was exculpatory, when it was actually incriminating. (The president has spent weeks insisting people read the transcript, despite the fact that it’s not a transcript, and despite the fact that it makes him appear quite guilty.)"
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-struggles-keep-his-story-straight-impeachment-hearings
UPDATE (12 Nov., 2019) - Trump demands loyalty from everyone around him but Lev Parnas recently got a taste of how he extends loyalty to them; Trump denied even knowing Parnas and his partner Fruman.
"One of Rudy Giuliani's aassociates arrested last month in connection with shady activities in Ukraine appears to have flipped on Donald Trump and his personal attorney. Lev Parnas, who has agreed to comply with investigators, is claiming that he personally offered a quid pro quo to the incoming government in Kiev at Giuliani's direction, undercutting the president and his lawyer's claims of innocence and suggesting their pressure campaign in Ukraine went further than previously known.
"According to an attorney for Parnas, he traveled to Kiev just ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky's swearing-in in May to deliver an ultimatum: investigate Joe BViden, or Vice President Mike Pence will not attend Zelensky’s inauguration, and Congressionally-approved military aid will be held up. The account to the New York Times, which was strenuously denied by Giuliani and others potentially implicated, suggests that the effort to extort Zelensky into conducting politically-motivated probes on Trump’s behalf began earlier than previously known and included threats beyond the suspended aid and a denied White House visit. It also puts the spotlight back on Giuliani, who rebutted Parnas’s accusation. 'Categorically, I did not tell him to say that,' Giuliani told the Times. The other two people at the meeting this spring--Igor Fruman, the other Giuliani associate arrested last month, and Serhiy Shefir, a member of Zelensky’s inner circle--also denied Parnas’ claims.
"Of course, it’s probably in their best interest to do so. Parnas’ account, which he plans to deliver to House lawmakers as part of their impeachment inquiry, draws all parties involved deeper into the scandal that has engulfed the White House and left several in the president’s orbit exposed to potential legal jeopardy... Parnas... reportedly had a change of heart after being spurned by Trump who, despite having met the failed businessman-turned-Trump enthusiast several times, claimed not to know him: 'I don’t know them,' the president told reporters after the arrest of Parnas and Fruman, who helped Giuliani pursue his Ukraine-related conspiracy theories. 'I don’t know about them. I don’t know what they do.' Parnas was 'very upset' about the disavowal, his lawyer, Joseph Bondy, said this month. Betrayed by his former hero, Parnas is now willing to cooperate with investigators, according to Bondy, who challenged Shefir’s denial in an interview with the Times. 'It would simply defy reason for Mr. Shefir to have attended a meeting with Mr. Parnas if he did not believe Mr. Parnas spoke for the president, and also for Mr. Parnas not to have conveyed the president’s message at the meeting,' Bondy said.
"Trump, of course, has a long history of denying that he knows people he clearly does know once their acquaintance becomes inconvenient. In this case, his stonewalling could come back to haunt him, with a guy previously in his corner now flipping on him and his embattled personal attorney."
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11/giuliani-crony-lev-parnas-is-going-full-kamikaze-on-ukraine
UPDATE (12 Nov., 2019) - "Two political supporters of U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry secured a potentially lucrative oil and gas exploration deal from the Ukrainian government soon after Perry proposed one of the men as an adviser to the country’s new president... Ukraine awarded the contract to Perry’s supporters little more than a month after the U.S. energy secretary attended Zelenskiy’s May inauguration. In a meeting during that trip, Perry handed the new president a list of people he recommended as energy advisers. One of the four names was his longtime political backer Michael Bleyzer.
"A week later, Bleyzer and his partner Alex Cranberg submitted a bid to drill for oil and gas at a sprawling government-controlled site called Varvynska. They offered millions of dollars less to the Ukrainian government than their only competitor for the drilling rights, according to internal Ukrainian government documents obtained by The Associated Press. But their newly created joint venture, Ukrainian Energy, was awarded the 50-year contract because a government-appointed commission determined they had greater technical expertise and stronger financial backing, the documents show.
***
"Bleyzer and Perry’s ties go back at least a decade. As governor, Perry appointed Bleyzer in 2009 to serve as a member of a Texas state advisory board overseeing state funding to emerging technology ventures. The following year, Bleyzer contributed $30,000 to Perry’s 2010 campaign for Texas governor... Bleyzer also has ties to Giuliani. In 2008, Bleyzer’s company hired Giuliani’s former Houston-based law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, to help it acquire and consolidate cable holdings in 16 Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, according to an announcement at the time. The same year, Bleyzer donated $2,300 to Giuliani’s presidential campaign."
Bleyzer is the founder of SigmaBleyzer Investment group, "a private equity firm that specializes in developing corporate stakes in Eastern Europe." Morgan Williams is the CEO of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, "which promotes the interests of American businesses operating in Ukraine." Bleyzer's company is the primary funder of the Business Council.
"On June 5--while Bleyzer and Cranberg’s proposal was under review--Williams met with a key Zelenskiy adviser, Oleg Ustenko, and told him that significant expansion of oil and gas production in Ukraine could only be achieved with investments from private companies, including ones from the United States, according to a summary of the meeting posted on the business council’s website.
"In an apparent dig at the company competing against Bleyzer and Cranberg for the gas deal, Williams also told Ustenko that the 'participation of the state monopoly player' undermined the chances of private companies to win, according to the summary.
"What the council’s media release failed to mention is that, like Williams, Ustenko serves dual roles. In addition to advising the Ukrainian president, the economist is the longtime executive director of The Bleyzer Foundation, a Kyiv-based nonprofit organization founded by Bleyzer in 2001. The group’s website describes its mission as promoting private-sector investment in Ukraine.
"Less than four weeks later, Ukraine Energy was named the winner of the Varvynska block over the Naftogaz subsidiary."
Cranberg also has deep ties to Perry and Repubicans:
"Cranberg was appointed by Perry in 2011 to serve a six-year term on the [University of Texas in Austin] system’s board of regents. He is a generous political donor, giving more than $3 million since the mid-1980s primarily to Republican candidates and fundraising committees, according to federal and state campaign finance records.
"In the last 13 months, Cranberg has contributed just over $650,000 to two committees focused on electing Republicans to House seats, $637,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and $258,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He and his wife each gave $50,000 last April to Trump Victory, the joint entity that funds the president’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee.
"When Perry campaigned for president in 2011, federal disclosures show his campaign paid more than $16,000 to a holding company for a private jet used by Cranberg.
"Cranberg is also among those who entered through the VIP desk at the Energy Department, logging in with his wife for a visit in April 2018.
"Last year, his company hired Perry’s former campaign manager, Jeff Miller, as a lobbyist. Miller has been to the Energy Department’s headquarters at least a dozen times since Perry became secretary, according to the visitor logs. He mostly signed in through the VIP entrance."
https://apnews.com/6d8ae551fb884371a2a592ed85a74426
UPDATE (18 Nov., 2019) - "U.S. State Department officials were informed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was feeling pressure from the Trump administration to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden even before the July phone call that has led to impeachment hearings in Washington, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press.
"In early May, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, including then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, were told Zelenskiy was seeking advice on how to navigate the difficult position he was in, the two people told the AP. He was concerned President Donald Trump and associates were pressing him to take action that could affect the 2020 U.S. presidential race, the two individuals said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic and political sensitivity of the issue.
"State Department officials in Kyiv and Washington were briefed on Zelenskiy’s concerns at least three times, the two sources said. Notes summarizing his worries were circulated within the department, they said.
"The briefings and the notes show that U.S. officials knew early that Zelenskiy was feeling pressure to investigate Biden, even though the Ukrainian leader later denied it in a joint news conference with Trump in September.
The details:
https://apnews.com/139dd535eac749aa961bc0205d10e872
