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Ukraine expert gives first-hand testimony on Trump-Zelenskiy call – live Democrats release Trump impeachment resolution outlining next steps – live
(about 5 hours later)
White House aide Robert Blair is expected to testify before a closed session of the House impeachment inquiry on Friday, Reuters reports, citing an official on the impeachment probe.
Blair is one of the officials who listened in on the phone conversation between Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that led to the whistleblower complaint and subsequent impeachment investigation, according to CNN.
His current title is assistant to the president and senior adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Prior to working in the White House, he was associate director for national security programs in the Office of Management and Budget, where he also served under Mulvaney.
The US House of Representatives just voted overwhelmingly to recognize the Armenian Genocide, with 405 yes votes and 11 noes.
The non-binding resolution marks the first time in 35 years that either branch of Congress recognized the early 20th century slaughter of up to 1.5m Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Turkish government has long refused to acknowledge the genocide, creating a diplomatic bind for its allies. But Turkey’s recent actions against Kurds near its border with Syria created a political opening for the resolution’s passage.
“Given that the Turks are once again involved in ethnic cleansing the population— this time the Kurds who live along the Turkish-Syrian border— it seemed all the more appropriate to bring up a resolution about the Ottoman efforts to annihilate an entire people in the Armenian genocide,” representative Adam Schiff, who sponsored the resolution, said to the LA Times.
Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in (thus far, thankfully) wildfire-free Oakland, California, picking up the blog for the rest of the day.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has responded to the House resolution on impeachment by calling it a “scam” and complaining that the Trump administration is being denied “basic due process rights”.
The full statement reads:
The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.
It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President.
The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written.
This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration.
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Julia Carrie Wong, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:Here’s where the day stands so far:
Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, is testifying behind closed doors to impeachment investigators. A draft of Vindman’s opening statement indicated he had serious concerns about Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president, which he listened in on. The House rules committee released its resolution outlining next steps on impeachment, which established that Adam Schiff’s intelligence committee would take the lead on public hearings.
The president dismissed Vindman, who has served under administrations of both parties and received a Purple Heart after an IED attack in Iraq, as a “never Trumper.” Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, testified behind closed doors to impeachment investigators. According to his opening statement, Vindman intended to testify that he had concerns after listening to Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.
A senior House Democrat voiced skepticism about holding a Thursday vote on the impeachment resolution, but Nancy Pelosi said the vote would take place as scheduled. The president attacked Vindman as a “never Trumper,” while some conservative commentators suggested that the Purple Heart recipient may not be entirely loyal to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union. (Some commentators later walked back those comments following intense criticism.)
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned. British MPs approved Boris Johnson’s proposal to hold a general election on December 12, giving voters another chance to weigh in on Brexit after the prime minister failed to withdraw the UK from the EU by his set deadline of October 31. Follow the UK politics live blog for more updates.
House Democrats who are participating in the deposition of Alexander Vindman accused Republicans of using their questions to try to unmask the identity of the whistleblower who first filed a complaint about the Ukraine call. Julia will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.
GOP members argue they are not trying to out the whistleblower. The back-and-forth led to a heated exchange between Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and GOP Rep. Mark Meadows, according to multiple sources. Other members joined in. Representative Bradley Byrne said he would not drop out of the Alabama Senate race, even if Jeff Sessions launched a bid to reclaim the seat he held for two decades.
Republicans denied this allegation, arguing that they had no means of outing the whistleblower because they don’t know who the person is. Alabama Rep. Bradley Byrne says he’ll stay in the Senate race even if Jeff Sessions gets in, per @AlexRogersDC. “No matter who’s in the race at 5:01pm on November 8, I’m in it."
.@DWStweets told reporters that Republicans in Vindman’s deposition are trying to use “front door or back door” tactics to reveal who the whistleblower is. But Rep. Mark Meadows pushes back. “It would be real hard to do that since we don’t know who the whistleblower is” Reports have emerged that Sessions, Trump’s former attorney general who had a falling out with the president over the Russia investigation, is seriously considering a Senate bid. Politico reports:
Senator Mitt Romney slammed attacks on the character of Lt Col Alexander Vindman as “disgusting” and “way off the mark”. Sessions would scramble the already crowded field of Republicans seeking to take on Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who won a 2017 special election to fill the remainder of Sessions’ term and is widely viewed as the most vulnerable senator on the ballot next year. ...
Sen. Romney responding to GOP attacks on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman: "It’s absurd, disgusting, and way off the mark. This is a decorated American soldier, and he should be given the respect that his service to our country demands." - via @frankthorp Five Republicans are already in the race: Rep. Bradley Byrne, former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, Secretary of State John Merrill, state Rep. Arnold Mooney and Roy Moore, the former state Supreme Court judge who lost the special election in 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Some conservative commentators suggested Vindman, who is testifying about the Ukraine call to impeachment investigators, may not have complete loyalty to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union and has become an expert on Ukraine. Sessions has some high-profile allies pushing him to run for his old seat, including the conservative Club for Growth.
However, the national security council official has also served in Iraq and received a Purple Heart after he was injured in an IED attack. Boris Johnson appears to have won his battle to hold a general election on December 12 after the British prime minister failed to withdraw the UK from the EU by his set deadline of October 31.
Representative Ted Yoho said this morning that he has chosen not to sit in on depositions in the impeachment inquiry against Trump, even though the Republican lawmaker is entitled to attend as a member of the House foreign affairs committee. MPs voted 438 to 20 to take the UK to the polls in about six weeks. The election will be the first held in December since 1923 and will provide the British public a chance to once again weigh in on Brexit as the EU separation looms.
“I see this as a side show,” Rep. Ted Yoho says about why he hasn’t attended depositions in the impeachment inquiry, adding that he will be going to today’s testimony from the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, Army Lt Col. Alexander Vindman https://t.co/7UFSc60Yry pic.twitter.com/GK0vmc5gsN To get the latest updates, follow Andrew Sparrow’s UK politics live blog.
The Florida Republican told CNN: “I see this as a sideshow.” He claimed the inquiry was not valid because Democratic leadership has not held a formal vote to launch it, echoing arguments from the president. The opening statement of Alexander Vindman, who is now testifying before impeachment investigators, has led at least one House Democrat to accuse Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, of perjuring himself before the committees.
Pressed by the CNN anchor Poppy Harlow on how he could criticize officials’ testimony without being present for it, Yoho said he intended to intended to attend Alexander Vindman’s deposition and had questions to ask the national security council official. Based on all the testimony so far, I believe that Ambassador Gordon Sondland committed perjury. https://t.co/lOGRj8s1yP
However, it is worth noting that, even as Republicans slam the inquiry for not being transparent and accessible to the GOP caucus, some of those members who could attend the depositions are choosing not to participate. Politico has more context on the Sondland controversy:
Nancy Pelosi confirmed that the vote on the impeachment resolution was still planned for Thursday, despite her deputy raising doubts about that timeline. Testimony from other witnesses has put the credibility of Trump’s most favorable witness into serious doubt as the White House struggles to define a response to the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry beyond simply refusing to cooperate with it.
Asked @SpeakerPelosi if the vote on the impeachment process resolution will be Thursday: “That is the schedule, yes.” Democrats have cited Sondland’s repeated memory lapses pertaining to central events surrounding Trump’s pressure campaign to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Joe Biden.
House majority leader Steny Hoyer told reporters this morning that he and other Democratic members have not yet seen the text of the resolution and appeared skeptical of plans to hold a vote on it in just two days. They raised similar questions about Sondland’s truthfulness following the testimony last week of acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who said Sondland had conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the release of U.S. military assistance aid was predicated upon Zelensky publicly committing to the investigations Trump demanded.
A new poll from New Hampshire shows Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic presidential primary in the early voting state. But it was the opening statement made public late Monday by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Trump’s top National Security Council adviser on Ukraine, that had Democrats questioning Sondland’s testimony most pointedly.
Sanders, who defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 New Hampshire primary, is attracting the support of 21 percent of the state’s Democratic voters, according to the CNN poll. Elizabeth Warren is closely behind him with 18 percent, while Joe Biden has slightly slipped to 15 percent. Pete Buttigieg has held steady at 10 percent, and no other candidate attracts double-digit levels of support. The House rules committees is expected to consider and possibly amend the impeachment resolution tomorrow afternoon, with a vote on the proposal still set for Thursday.
However, the most surprising part of the poll might be the three candidates hitting 5 percent: representative Tulsi Gabbard, senator Amy Kobuchar and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang. Meanwhile, the White House made clear that the resolution has not changed its opinion of the inquiry at all, dismissing the whole process as a “sham.”
The results give Gabbard another qualifying poll for the November debate, but she still needs two more to make the stage. The poll also indicates the race remains very fluid in the early voting state. Reaction from a White House official to the text of the House Democrats’ impeachment resolution: “Nothing has changed, this is a sham.”
Alexander Vindman reportedly told impeachment investigators that he took notes during Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president and made recommendations to the White House memo on the conversation. A Politico reporter noted that most of the newly released impeachment resolution is in line with current House rules about public hearings.
Source familiar with Vindman’s closed doors deposition says he has testified that he took notes during the July 25th phone call, and made two or so recommended edits to the summarized call transcript that weren’t used in the end (ie using company in place of Burisma) VERY LITTLE in this House resolution beyond what's already in House Rules. Here's what *already exists* in House rules, which allow staff questioning and rounds for the chair/ranking member that go longer than five minutes: pic.twitter.com/qFDG11sTuV
If the national security council official still possesses notes on the call that kicked off the formal inquiry, House Democrats may try to subpoena them. The Democratic chairs of four House committees – intelligence, judiciary, foreign affairs and oversight – have released a statement saying that the newly released resolution will provide a “pathway forward” on impeachment.
Steny Hoyer’s suggestion that the impeachment resolution may not be ready for the planned Thursday vote raises the possibility that the proceedings’ entire timeline could be slightly delayed. 4 Chairs stmt on Resolution for Open Hearings on Trump’s Abuse of Power - @RepAdamSchiff @RepJerryNadler @CarolynBMaloney @RepEliotEngel pic.twitter.com/Y5kAcKEMJ8
If the impeachment procedures vote were to slip, as Hoyer suggests it could, it would set the calendar back significantly. The House is scheduled to be away on recess next week, meaning no vote until 1/3 way into November. The chairs said: “The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a President who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election.
However, one Democratic aide said the resolution would be ready for a vote by Thursday because the chairs of the committees leading the inquiry are pushing for it. “Following in the footsteps of previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand about the President’s misconduct.”
Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, voiced skepticism that the resolution authorizing impeachment procedures would be ready for a Thursday vote. In a fact sheet on the newly released resolution, Democrats told their members that the outlined impeachment procedures would help to ensure “transparency” and give Trump “opportunities to participate.”
The Maryland Democrat told reporters on Capitol Hill that he and the rest of the caucus have not yet read the resolution. The text of the proposal was originally set to be revealed today, but Hoyer appeared skeptical of that timeline. Democrats just put out this fact sheet about the resolution highlighting key parts of it. This gives Republicans some of what they were demanding including President Trump and his lawyers having access to evidence and being able to cross examine witnesses. pic.twitter.com/qxviYkHJqG
New from @LeaderHoyer on timing of vote on resolution dealing with impeachment: I have not read it, members haven’t read it, we are going to have to consider whether or not it’s ready to go on Thursday The president and his allies have complained that the inquiry so far has been too secretive and denied Trump any chance to defend himself, but House Republicans are unlikely to support the resolution.
The questions over Democrats’ impeachment resolution threatened to take attention away from the testimony of Alexander Vindman, who reportedly intended to tell House investigators that he was concerned after listening to Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.
A current WH official is giving explosive testimony right now about Trump’s Ukraine calland yet Democratic leaders (Hoyer, Jeffries and Clark) spent most of their time with reporters trying to explain the merits of this impeachment resolution coming later this week.
The Washington Post has uncovered footage of Lt Col Alexander Vindman, whose family emigrated from the Soviet Union when he was a child, appearing alongside his twin brother in Ken Burns’ documentary series America for a segment on the Statue of Liberty.
The segment explores the statue’s power as a symbol to immigrants, like the Vindmans, who have adopted America as their home.
The twins answer at the same time — they came from Russia, from Ukraine. Then "our mother died, so we went to Italy. And then we came here."https://t.co/6h2VqLARbu pic.twitter.com/FVHCDvKf2O
According to a draft of his opening statement, Vindman intended to tell impeachment investigators today: “My family fled the Soviet Union when I was three and a half years old ... In spite of our challenging beginnings, my family worked to build its own American dream.
“I have a deep appreciation for American values and ideals and the power of freedom. I am a patriot, and it is my sacred duty and honor to advance and defend OUR country, irrespective of party or politics.”
All of this seems to contradict some conservative commentators’ doubts about Vindman’s loyalty to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union and has become an expert on Ukraine.