Tag: Ukraine

Trump insisted that the rough transcript of his Zelensky conversation left nothing out. He might have ‘set the trap for himself’ by doing so

AlterNet logoThe word “rough” has often been used to describe the transcript of President Donald Trump’s now-infamous July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump, however, has insisted that it was a full transcript of the conversation. And Washington Post reporter Philip Bump, in an October 30 article, explains why Trump might have “set the trap for himself” by doing so.

The bottom of the page of the transcript, Bump notes, states that the missive is “not a verbatim transcript of a discussion.” But on October 11, Trump insisted that it was “an exact transcript of my call, done by very talented people that do this.”

Trump also claimed, “The transcript is a perfect transcript. There shouldn’t be any further questions.”

View the complete October 30 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

Meet Alexander Vindman, the Colonel Who Testified on Trump’s Phone Call

New York Times logoHe 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.

President Trump’s alternate reality on Ukraine

Washington Post logoPresident Trump often presents a funhouse-mirror version of events when he talks about Ukraine and the House impeachment inquiry, and then fogs up the discussion by repeating these fantasy claims. For example, this Four Pinocchio fact check is headlined, “Trump inverts time and invents conversations to thwart impeachment.”

We’re taking a look at some of the Trump claims that cross into alternate reality. Our custom is not to give Pinocchios when we round up several statements. Some of the claims below have received Pinocchios previously, yet the president keeps saying them over and over.

“I still ask the FBI: Where is the server? How come the FBI never got the server from the DNC? Where is the server? I want to see the server. Let’s see what’s on the server. So, the server, they say, is held by a company whose primary ownership individual is from Ukraine.” (Remarks at the White House, Oct. 16)

View the complete October 29 article by Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post website here.

NSC official testifies Trump undermined national security with Ukraine pressure

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who oversees Ukraine policy at the White House, is appearing before impeachment investigators Tuesday.

A senior White House official told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he believes President Donald Trump undermined national security when he appealed to Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rivals, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by POLITICO.

“I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine,” Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council official overseeing Ukraine policy, told investigators, referring to Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce probes into Joe Biden and his son.

Vindman, who became the first White House official to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry, also wrote that he reported Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky to the NSC’s top lawyer after listening in on the conversation from the White House Situation Room alongside other national security officials.

Diplomat says top leadership of the State Department rejected his entreaties to publicly support ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine

Washington Post logoPhilip Reeker, the diplomat in charge of U.S. policy for Europe, told House impeachment investigators Saturday that he appealed to top State Department leaders to publicly support the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who was the target of a conspiracy-fueled smear campaign, a person familiar with his testimony said.

Reeker expressed his concerns over the falsehoods about Marie Yovanovitch to David Hale, the third-highest-ranking official in the State Department, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, the closest adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose friendship began when they attended the U.S. Military Academy together, the person said. He never discussed Yovanovitch with Pompeo, and he eventually heard from staffers for Hale that there would be no public statement in her defense, the person said.

It remains unclear how much information they conveyed to Pompeo and what role Pompeo played in recalling Yovanovitch shortly after she was told she was doing such a good job that her posting was being extended.

View the complete October 26 article by Karoun Demirjian and Carol Morello on The Washington Post  website here.

State Dept. official broached Pompeo’s role in Ukraine in new testimony

The Hill logoA leading State Department official testified before Congress on Saturday and touched upon Secretary of State Mike Pompeo‘s role in the administration’s dealings with Ukraine — the issue at the center of the Democrats’ fast-evolving impeachment investigation into President Trump.

Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs, broached the topic of Pompeo while being deposed in the Capitol by the three House committees — Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs — leading the impeachment investigation, according to Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“I can’t get into the details,” Perry said, “but certainly there are questions.”

View the complete October 26 article by Mike Lillis on The Hill website here.

White House restores trade benefits for Ukraine after more than two months of delay

Washington Post logoThe White House trade representative restored some of Ukraine’s trade privileges Friday evening, reinstating benefits that were initially prepared for approval in late August.

The paperwork was expected to be routine at the time, but then-national security adviser John Bolton had warned U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer that President Trump would oppose any action that benefited Kyiv, said people briefed on the matter.

Following Bolton’s warning, the White House pulled the paperwork back. Bolton resigned in September but the paperwork continued to languish. It was finally approved Friday.

View the complete October 25 article by Reis Thebault, David J. Lynch and Josh Dawsey on The Washignton Post website here.

GOP lawmakers express concerns about Giuliani’s work in Ukraine

The Hill logoRepublican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee are expressing concerns about shadow diplomacy work by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine.

Even as conservative Republicans are making public shows of their defense of the president, calling the impeachment inquiry unfair and storming the committee hearing room Wednesday, members of the committee tasked with oversight on foreign affairs are skeptical of the former New York City mayor’s involvement in overseas policy.

Some say it’s not completely abnormal for diplomacy to go through back channels, but they said it should not be the norm. And several said it generally shouldn’t be done.

View the complete October 25 article by Laura Kelly on The Hill website here.

U.S. judge says he will order State Dept. to begin releasing Ukraine records in 30 days

Washington Post logoA federal judge said Wednesday that he will order the State Department to begin releasing Ukraine-related documents in 30 days, potentially making public sensitive records and communications at the heart of an ongoing House impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

The decision, by U.S. District Judge Christopher R. “Casey” Cooper of Washington, D.C., came in a public records lawsuit filed Oct. 1 by a government watchdog group, American Oversight.

The group in May asked the State Department for records related to alleged efforts by Trump and his administration to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political opponent, former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

View the complete October 23 article by Spencer S. Hsu on The Washington Post website here.

Bar Association Urges Barr To Recuse From Ukraine Case

The New York Bar Association has asked Attorney General William Barr to immediately recuse himself from any matters pertaining to President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal, believing that any further involvement would be a conflict of interest on the part of the head of the Justice Department.

In a statement Wednesday, the association explained: “Despite this commitment to the role of the attorney general, Mr. Barr’s actions in office have failed in precisely the role that he described with eloquence when nominated. That failure has jeopardized the confidence that the public can reasonably have in the DOJ as the place ‘where the rule of law, not politics, holds sway.’”

The statement goes on to assert, “Our concern has been brought to a head by Mr. Barr’s failure to recuse himself from the DOJ’s review — itself of uncertain propriety — of the ongoing ‘whistleblower’ complaint with respect to the president’s efforts during his July 25, 2019 telephone call to request the Republic of Ukraine to investigate Mr. Trump’s allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and former Vice President Biden and his son.”

View the complete October 24 article by Alex Henderson from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.