And Trump himself attacked Vindman as a political opponent: “Supposedly, according to the Corrupt Media, the Ukraine call ‘concerned’ today’s Never Trumper witness,” the president tweeted Tuesday. “Was he on the same call that I was? Can’t be possible!”
View the complete October 29 article by Toluse Olorunnipa on The Washington Post website here.
More than 4 in 5 Americans (81 percent) say asking foreign governments for help in an election is wrong, according to a new Grinnell College poll released Tuesday.
The results are the same or higher among Trump’s political base.
The same poll shows 81 percent of Republicans, 85 percent of evangelical Christians, and 87 percent of rural voters agree that it is wrong to ask for such assistance.
View the complete October 29 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.
The testimony followed a blockbuster day in which Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert assigned to the National Security Council, gave lawmakers a firsthand account of Trump’s alleged attempt at a quid pro quo during a July 25 call with Zelensky. Partisan tensions were also building around procedural rules for impeachment drafted by Democrats, which were scheduled for a markup Wednesday afternoon ahead of an expected House vote on Thursday.
He fled Ukraine at age 3 and became a soldier, scholar and official at the White House. That’s where, he told impeachment investigators, he witnessed alarming behavior by President Trump.WASHINGTON — The twin brothers were 3 when they fled Ukraine, then a Soviet republic, with their father and grandmother, Jewish refugees with only their suitcases and $750, hoping for a better life in the United States.
In the 40 years since, the first-born twin, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, has become a scholar, diplomat, decorated officer in the United States Army and Harvard-educated Ukraine expert on the White House’s National Security Council.
And on Tuesday, Colonel Vindman’s past and present converged as he became a star witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, which is centered on the president’s dealings with the colonel’s native Ukraine.
View the complete October 29 article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg on The New York Times website here.
Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, who heard President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s president and was alarmed, testified that he tried and failed to add key details to the rough transcript.WASHINGTON — Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the White House transcript of a July call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president omitted crucial words and phrases, and that his attempts to include them failed, according to three people familiar with the testimony.
The omissions, Colonel Vindman said, included Mr. Trump’s assertion that there were recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. discussing Ukraine corruption, and an explicit mention by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of Burisma Holdings, the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden’s son Hunter.
Colonel Vindman, who appeared on Capitol Hill wearing his dark blue Army dress uniform and military medals, told House impeachment investigators that he tried to change the reconstructed transcript made by the White House staff to reflect the omissions. But while some of his edits appeared to have been successful, he said, those two corrections were not made.
President Trump‘s aggressive attacks on a White House official who testified about his concerns over Trump’s communications with Ukraine in the impeachment inquiry set off a furious backlash on Tuesday, with former Vice President Joe Biden calling the president’s remarks “despicable.”
Trump described Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an active-duty member of the military who attended his deposition in uniform, as a “Never Trumper,” while some allies questioned the Purple Heart recipient’s patriotism given the fact that he emigrated from Ukraine as a child.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called the attacks “absurd,” while Rep. Liz Cheney(Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in the House, admonished those who would question Vindman’s patriotism without naming names.
View the complete October 29 article by Morgan Chalfant and Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.
House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a resolution to outline the next phase of their impeachment inquiry that will bring their case before the public after weeks of closed-door witness testimony.
The resolution, unveiled by House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), sets up procedures for open hearings by the Intelligence Committee and releasing witness testimony.
It also allows Republicans to request witness testimony and documents, similar to previous impeachment inquiries. But Democrats on the Intelligence panel still have the ability to block the requests.
View the complete October 29 article by Cristina Marcos on The Hill website here.
Berkeley law professor John Yoo on Fox News Monday night suggested Purple Heart recipient Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert at the White House, is engaging in espionage. Laura Ingraham also tried to paint the current White House national security official, a decorated Iraq war veteran, as a double agent. There is nothing to suggest their accusations are true or valid.
Vindman, who was on Trump’s infamous July 25 call with the president of Ukraine and reported his concerns, is testifying Tuesday before House investigators.
“Here we have a U.S. national security official who is advising Ukraine, while working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interest, and usually, they spoke in English. Isn’t that kind of an interesting angle on this story?” Ingraham posited.
The words “conflict of interest” often come up in connection with President Donald Trump, who hasn’t been shy about encouraging the use of Trump properties for political events. And an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics shows just how profitable that encouragement has been for the president.
HuffPost’s Mary Papenfuss reports that according to the Center’s analysis of federal election spending records, Trump’s political campaigns and associated committees have spent roughly $16.8 million at his businesses since he launched his 2016 presidential campaign. The analysis was based on spending reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
In the 2020 election cycle alone, the Center for Responsive Politics notes, Republican campaigns and political action committees have spent $1.8 million at Trump properties. That $1.8 million, includes — among other things — $1.3 million spent by Trump’s campaign, $123,000 spent by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and $104,000 spent by the political action committee (PAC) Great America.
View the complete October 29 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.
President Trump on Tuesday railed against the impeachment inquiry into his alleged abuse of power ahead of key testimony from a White House official that threatens to deepen the president’s problems.
Trump tweeted or retweeted dozens of messages denying wrongdoing, chastising Democrats for their handling of the impeachment proceedings thus far and questioning the credibility of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council official who will meet behind closed doors with lawmakers on Tuesday.
“Supposedly, according to the Corrupt Media, the Ukraine call ‘concerned’ today’s Never Trumper witness,” Trump tweeted. “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!”
View the complete October 29 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.
As a White House national security official prepared to give damaging testimony in the House impeachment inquiry Tuesday, President Trump and some of his allies immediately began a push to attack the integrity and patriotism of the decorated Iraq War veteran.