Tag: Trump White House

White House Obstruction Crumbling As Inquiry Moves Forward

When Democrats launched a full-fledged impeachment inquiry centering on President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal, the White House and the administration had one primary tactical response: obstruct. If the administration could block Congress from obtaining the information about the president’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, it seemed to believe, the air could be sucked out of the Democrats’ sails.

This strategy was reflected in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s letter to Congress, calling lawmakers’ request to depose officials “an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State.” He added: “I will not tolerate such tactics, and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State.”

But as the House of Representatives barrels forward with the inquiry, the strategy of obstruction is falling apart.

View the complete October 15 article by Cody Fenwick from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.

White House directed ‘three amigos’ to run Ukraine policy, senior State department official tells House investigators

Washington Post logoActing White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney organized a meeting this spring in which officials were determined to take Ukraine policy out of the traditional channels, putting Energy Secretary Rick Perry, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and special U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker in charge instead, a top State Department official told lawmakers Tuesday.

George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for Ukraine, told House investigators he was instructed to “lay low,” focus on the five other countries in his portfolio and defer to Volker, Sondland and Perry — who called themselves the “three amigos” — on matters related to Ukraine, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) told reporters Tuesday. Kent took that as a sign, Connolly added, that having been critical of the plan he was being pushed aside “because what he was saying was not welcome” at high levels of the government.

Mulvaney’s meeting, which Kent told lawmakers took place on May 23, according to Connolly, was just days after the administration recalled Marie Yovanovitch from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch spoke to House investigators last week about the campaign against her, which she and other former diplomats have said was organized by President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani.

View the complete October 16 article by Paul Kane, Karoun Demirjian and Rachel Bade on The Washington Post website here.

Pence, Pompeo, Barr and Mulvaney could be subpoenaed by House Dems — and also be impeached: Former GOP rep

AlterNet logoVice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General Bill Barr, and Trump White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney all may be subpoenaed by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, says ex-Republican Congressman David Jolly.

“This has been methodical and is building up, I think, to subpoenaing Mike Pompeo, possibly the Vice President of the United States, Mick Mulvaney, and Bill Barr, because this touches them,” Jolly said Tuesday morning on MSNBC.

“And so all questions center on who knew what, when,” he added, speaking about Trump’s Ukraine extortion scandal, “who was in the room when these conversations took place.”

View the complete October 15 aritcle by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.

Mick Mulvaney implicated by Trump official who testified before Congress on Monday: report

AlterNet logoActing White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was implicated by a former top National Security Council official during nine-hours of congressional testimony, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The newspaper reported, “In her testimony, she detailed a July 10 meeting she attended with senior Ukrainian officials, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, and other U.S. officials in which the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, raised the issue of the investigations, the people said.”

“People in the room took the comments to refer to an investigation that could implicate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, the people said. Both Ms. Hill and Mr. Bolton left the meeting with concerns about what had transpired, and Ms. Hill said Mr. Bolton instructed her to talk to NSC lawyer John Eisenberg,” the newspaper’s sources said.

View the complete October 15 article by Bob Brigham from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Mick Mulvaney implicated by Trump official who testified before Congress on Monday: report

AlterNet logoActing White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was implicated by a former top National Security Council official during nine-hours of congressional testimony, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The newspaper reported, “In her testimony, she detailed a July 10 meeting she attended with senior Ukrainian officials, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, and other U.S. officials in which the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, raised the issue of the investigations, the people said.”

“People in the room took the comments to refer to an investigation that could implicate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, the people said. Both Ms. Hill and Mr. Bolton left the meeting with concerns about what had transpired, and Ms. Hill said Mr. Bolton instructed her to talk to NSC lawyer John Eisenberg,” the newspaper’s sources said.

View the complete October 15 article by Bob Brigham from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

‘I sort of thrive on it’: The impeachment crisis shines a spotlight on Trump’s state of mind

Washington Post logoHe was hectoring and imperious. He was domineering and defiant. And he was audacious and cavalier.

In the three weeks since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) opened an impeachment inquiry, President Trump has struck a posture of raw aggression. His visceral defenses of himself — at the most vulnerable point of his presidency — have shined a spotlight on Trump’s state of mind.

Like an aging rock star, the president is now reprising many of the greatest hits from his hellion days. He has bullied and projected — at times leveling against others the very charges he faces — while simultaneously depicting himself as a victim. And he has turned to ominous depictions of America, and in moments sounded an authoritarian tone.

View the complete October 14 article by Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker on The Washington Post website here.

Inside Trump’s Botched Attempt to Hire Trey Gowdy

New York Times logoFor 24 hours last week, Trey Gowdy, the former South Carolina congressman best known for leading congressional investigations of Hillary Clinton, was the new face of President Trump’s outside legal defense and a symbol of a streamlined effort to respond to a fast-moving impeachment inquiry.

A day later, the arrangement fell apart, with lobbying rules prohibiting Mr. Gowdy from starting until January, possibly after the inquiry is over. Now, according to two people familiar with events, Mr. Gowdy is never expected to join the team. And Trump advisers are back to square one, searching for a different lawyer.

How a celebrated announcement quickly ended in disarray offers a rare public glimpse into the internal posturing — and undercutting of colleagues — that has been playing out in the West Wing on a daily basis since Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry last month. Even as the White House confronts a deepening threat to Mr. Trump’s presidency, it has struggled to decide how to respond, and who should lead that response.

View the complete October 13 article by Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni on The New York Times website here.

McMaster wasn’t aware of White House’s foreign call “lockdowns”

Axios logoThree former administration officials tell Axios that former national security adviser H.R. McMaster did not authorize and was not aware of the “locking down” of transcripts of conversations between President Trump and foreign leaders that were politically damaging but didn’t pose national security risks.

Why it matters: Congressional investigators want to learn how, when and at whose direction transcripts were moved out of the typical computer system and into a classified system meant for highly sensitive security matters.

    • That process was described in the whistleblower’s complaint about the July 25 call between President Trump and Ukraine’s President Zelensky.

View the complete October 13 article by Margaret Talev on the Axios website here.

White House accidentally sends Ukraine talking points to Democrats again

The Hill logoThe White House accidentally sent Democrats a list of talking points related to ex-Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s Friday House deposition, two sources with knowledge of the email told The Hill, the second time in a month the administration has sent its Ukraine talking points to Democrats.

The email included guidance for Republicans seeking to defend the president from potentially damaging witness testimony from an ambassador who was removed from her post in May under controversial circumstances

In copies of the guidance shared with The Hill, the White House encouraged Republicans to adopt a series of messages designed to turn the tables back on Democrats, including attacks on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) handling of the investigation.

View the complete October 11 article by Mike Lillis and Juligrace Brufke on The Hill website here.

Scoop: John Bolton to write Trump book, pairs with top agents

Axios logoPresident Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has decided to write a book about his time in the Trump administration, according to 2 people familiar with the matter. Bolton has agreed to be represented by Javelin’s Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn.

Why it matters: Given the fact that he wrote a book about his tenure in the George W. Bush administration, from the moment he left the White House, senior officials privately expressed concerns about what Bolton might say and reveal about his time serving Trump.

    • Latimer and Urbahn had previously represented former FBI Director James Comey and former Trump staffer Cliff Sims for their 7-figure book deals.
    • Bolton said last month that he had a “self-imposed restriction” on discussing specifics from his time in the White House.
    • The Daily Beast first reported that Bolton was speaking with literary agents.
    • Bolton did not respond to a request for comment.

The state of play: Bolton left the White House on bad terms with the president. Trump had tweeted that Bolton had been fired, but Bolton insisted that he’d resigned from his position at the White House.

View the complete October 10 article by Jonathan Swan on the Axios website here.