Tag: Ukraine

State sought to block Yovanovitch testimony, say Democrats

The Hill logoThe Trump administration sought to block the congressional deposition Friday of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, leading House Democrats to issue a subpoena for her appearance — and ultimately compelling her to testify Friday, according to Democratic committee leaders.

Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from Ukraine to Washington in May, arrived at the Capitol Friday morning and is testifying behind closed doors before members of the three House committees — Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs — leading the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Her appearance came just three days after the White House counsel issued a letter warning House Democrats that the administration will not cooperate with requests for documents or witness testimony as part of the ongoing probe. The missive raised questions as to whether Yovanovitch had been cleared by the State Department to appear on Capitol Hill or if she’d defied the White House at risk of potential retribution.

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

Ousted ambassador Marie Yovanovitch tells Congress Trump pressured State Dept. to remove her

Washington Post logoThe former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine whose abrupt ouster in May has become a focus of House impeachment investigators said Friday in remarks before Congress that her departure came as a direct result of pressure President Trump placed on the State Department to remove her.

The account by Marie Yovanovitch depicts a career Foreign Service officer caught in a storm of unsubstantiated allegations pushed by the president’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani and a cast of former Ukrainian officials who viewed her as a threat to their financial and political interests.

She told lawmakers that she was forced to leave Kiev on “the next plane” this spring and subsequently removed from her post, with the State Department’s No. 2 official telling her that, although she had done nothing wrong, the president had lost confidence in her and the agency had been under significant pressure to remove her since the summer of 2018.

View the complete October 11 article by John Hudson, Karoun Demirjian, Rachael Bade and Paul Sonne on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s EU ambassador to testify after Democrats’ subpoena

The Hill logoA key witness in House Democrats’ ongoing impeachment inquiry will testify next week despite the State Department’s objection.

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland will testify before the House on Thursday in compliance with a congressional subpoena, according to his counsel.

“Notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction to not testify, Ambassador Sondland will honor the Committees’ subpoena, and he looks forward to testifying on Thursday,” according to a statement from Sondland’s attorneys, Robert Luskin and Kwame Manley.

View the complete October 11 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

At least four national security officials raised alarms about Ukraine policy before and after Trump call with Ukrainian president

Washington Post logoAt least four national security officials were so alarmed by the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure Ukraine for political purposes that they raised concerns with a White House lawyer both before and immediately after President Trump’s July 25 call with that country’s president, according to U.S. officials and other people familiar with the matter.

The nature and timing of the previously undisclosed discussions with National Security Council legal adviser John Eisenberg indicate that officials were delivering warnings through official White House channels earlier than previously understood — including before the call that precipitated a whistleblower complaint and the impeachment inquiry of the president.

At the time, the officials were unnerved by the removal in May of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, by subsequent efforts by Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to promote Ukraine-related conspiracies, as well as by signals in meetings at the White House that Trump wanted the new government in Kiev

View the complete October 10 article by Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe on The Washington Post website here.

Scoop: EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland to testify next week

Axios logoU.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland will testify next Wednesday before the House committees investigating President Trump and Ukraine, despite being blocked by the State Department from appearing at a closed-door deposition this week, 4 congressional sources tell Axios.
Driving the news: Sondland’s lawyer confirmed Friday that the ambassador does plan to testify — “notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction not to testify.”

Why it matters: One source familiar with the rescheduling tells Axios that after the State Department pulled the plug on Sondland’s testimony, Republicans close to Trump encouraged the president to let the ambassador come before the committees. Trump’s allies believe Sondland’s testimony will be helpful to their side.

View the October 10 post by Alayna Treene on the Axios website here.

Trump distances himself from indicted Giuliani associates

The Hill logoPresident Trump said Thursday that he doesn’t know the two associates of his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who were arrested on campaign finance charges, but acknowledged he may have been photographed with them at some point.

“I don’t know those gentleman. Now, it’s possible I have a picture with them because I have a picture with everybody,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.

“I don’t know them, I don’t know about them, I don’t know what they do,” Trump added. “I don’t know, maybe they were clients of Rudy’s. You’d have to ask Rudy.”

View the complete October 10 article by Brett Samuels and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

House Democrats subpoena Rick Perry in impeachment inquiry

The Hill logoHouse Democrats on Thursday subpoenaed Energy Secretary Rick Perry for documentation of his involvement with President Trump‘s efforts to push the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
Perry is the latest Trump administration official to be issued a subpoena as part of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, which is examining the president’s efforts to persuade the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden, a leading Democratic presidential contender.
“Recently, public reports have raised questions about any role you may have played in conveying or reinforcing the President’s stark message to the Ukrainian President,” the chairmen of the three committees leading the House inquiry wrote to Perry.

View the complete October 10 article by Cristina Marcos on The Hill website here.

Two business associates of Trump’s personal attorney Giuliani have been arrested on campaign finance charges

Washington Post logoTwo associates of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani have been arrested on charges they schemed to funnel foreign money to U.S. politicians while trying to influence U.S.-Ukraine relations, according to a newly unsealed indictment.

The two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who had been helping Giuliani investigate Democratic presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden, were arrested Wednesday evening at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, where they had one-way tickets on a flight out of the country, officials said.

Parnas and Fruman have been under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan. After a court appearance Thursday in Alexandria, Va., the pair were approved for release on $1 million bond each, under the condition they remain at their Florida homes with GPS monitoring and third-party custodians. They will remain in jail until those conditions are met. They did not enter a plea to the charges.

View the complete October 10 article by Devlin Barrett, John Wagner and Rosalind S. Helderman on The Washington Post website here.

Putin seems to be enjoying the Trump impeachment show

MOSCOW — As the impeachment inquiry into President Trump heads into its third week, his outbursts have intensified. He’s accused members of Congress of treason. In news conferences, he’s interrupted world leaders to engage in heated exchanges with journalists.

And of course, there are the tweets. On Monday he bragged about his “great and unmatched wisdom.”

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be enjoying the show.

View the complete October 9 article by Sabra Syres on The Los Angeles Times website here.

Why are Republicans who voted to impeach Clinton so unmoved by Trump’s actions?

Washington Post logoClarification: An earlier version of this column said that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) failed “to deal with the Ukraine conduct” of President Trump. Rubio staff note that he has called allegations that Trump improperly pressured Ukraine’s president “very serious” and said of Trump’s request for a Ukrainian probe into former vice president Joe Biden and his son: “I don’t think he should have done that.” This version has been updated.

This is a column about two impeachments and the boundless human capacity for rationalization and self-delusion.

The first time I wrote about the prospect of a president being impeached was on Jan. 21, 1998. The Monica Lewinsky story had broken that morning, and, as a reporter on the national staff of The Post, I was asked to write an analysis of the potential legal risks to President Bill Clinton. My editors were reluctant to have a reference to impeachment in the lead of the article. They thought it sounded far-fetched. Continue reading “Why are Republicans who voted to impeach Clinton so unmoved by Trump’s actions?”