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Führer Trump’s Impeachment Inquiry Thread. Update: The Senate completes the coverup

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CNN: Dems, Republicans Were At Each Other’s Throats During Stormy Hearing

Things reportedly got ugly during National Security Council official Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's deposition in the House impeachment investigation on Tuesday. According to CNN…
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CNN: Dems, Republicans Were At Each Other’s Throats During Stormy Hearing

Things reportedly got ugly during National Security Council official Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s deposition in the House impeachment investigation on Tuesday.

According to CNN, Democrats and Republicans got into a brawl over the identity of the whistleblower who had first triggered the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

Five unknown sources told CNN the clash began when House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) accused his Republican colleagues of using the hearing to sniff out the whistleblower’s identity, a charge the Republicans denied.

That’s reportedly when Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) got into a shouting match, which snowballed as others jumped in.

During a break in the hearing, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told CNN that Republicans were trying to wheedle Vindman into revealing the whistleblower’s identity, even though he had testified that he didn’t know who the whistleblower was.

“They are trying to, through the back door and through process of elimination by their questions, they are attempting to get him to reveal that, and they have been unsuccessful,” said Wasserman Schultz.

An anonymous GOP lawmaker didn’t deny the Democrats’ accusations in an interview with CNN.

“I think we would like to know — with whistleblower protections in mind — we would like to hear from the whistleblower and we would also like to know who the whistleblower talked to,” they said.
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Witness Sheds Light On WH’s Delayed Response To 2018 Russia-Ukraine Conflict

A State Department official who is testifying in the House's impeachment inquiry Wednesday shed light on the White House's sluggish response to a November 2018 Russian attack on Ukrainian ships.
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Witness Sheds Light On WH’s Delayed Response To 2018 Russia-Ukraine Conflict


A State Department official who is testifying in the House’s impeachment inquiry Wednesday shed light on the White House’s sluggish response to a November 2018 Russian attack on Ukrainian ships.



According to the opening remarks of Christopher Anderson, a Ukraine expert who was aware of concerns within the intelligence community about President Trump’s shadow smear campaign, the State Department had drafted a statement condemning the Nov. 25 incident. Release of that statement, however, was blocked by “senior officials in the White House,” Anderson testified.

Anderson instead drafted a tweet that was posted to the account of Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine.

The attack was an escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Russia fired upon Ukrainian ships traveling through a strait connecting Ukraine’s ports to the Black Sea and seized three of the vessels. Russia did not deny the incident took place, but claimed that the Ukrainian ships had violated its borders.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then-U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley condemned the incident soon after it happened.

President Trump ultimately canceled a meeting scheduled the following weekend with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing Russia’s capture of the ships. The administration also, a month later, announced $10 million in military support for Ukraine. Still, experts and the press described the White House’s initial response as “muted.” Eventually, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Russians involved in the attack as well.

The White House did not immediately respond to TPM’s inquiry about Anderson’s claim. Anderson also told House investigators, according to his prepared remarks, about his and others’ concerns about the narrative being pushed by Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani about the country, including Giuliani’s calls for specific investigations into alleged Ukraine corruption.

Here is the portion of Anderson’s testimony about the November 2018 statement, via NPR:

On November 25, 2018, Russia escalated the conflict further when its forces openly attacked and seized Ukrainian military vessels heading to a Ukrainian port in the Sea of Azov. While my colleagues at the State Department quickly prepared a statement condemning Russia for its escalation, senior officials in the White House blocked it from being issued. Ambassador Volker drafted a tweet condemning Russia’s actions, which I posted to his account.
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State Dpt Official: Bolton Warned Of Giuliani’s Influence

Christopher Anderson will testify that former NSA John Bolton warned about Rudy Giuliani’s influence on the President with regards to Ukrainian policy.
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State Dept. Official To Testify That Bolton Warned About Giuliani’s Influence On Ukraine


Christopher Anderson, former assistant to special envoy to the Ukraine Kurt Volker, will testify Wednesday that former NSA John Bolton warned about Rudy Giuliani’s influence on the President with regards to Ukrainian policy.

According to his prepared remarks obtained by CNN, Anderson will say that during a meeting in mid-June, Bolton drew his attention to the unofficial backchannel actually running U.S.-Ukraine relations.

“He cautioned that Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the President on Ukraine which could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement,” Anderson is expected to relate of his conversation with Bolton.

Anderson is also expected to detail an episode where the White House blocked a statement condemning Russian aggression towards Ukraine.

In addition to Anderson, his successor, Catherine Croft, is slated to speak Wednesday.

According to her prepared remarks, she will tell of a lobbyist’s attempts to oust former US Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, an effort spearheaded by Giuliani when Yovanovitch was not being receptive to the pressure campaign.

She will also relate her experience being on a video call when an Office of Management and Budget official said that acting director and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney put an “informal hold” on military aid to Ukraine at the President’s direction.
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Kilmeade Defends Vindman Remark

The “Fox & Friends” co-host doesn’t understand all the fuss over his suspicions that Vindman has an “affinity to the Ukrainian people.”
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Kilmeade On Defense After Questioning NSC Official’s ‘Affinity’ For Ukraine

“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade doesn’t understand all the fuss over his suspicions that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who has served on the National Security Council since 2018, has an “affinity to the Ukrainian people.”

During a Wednesday morning segment on “Fox & Friends,” Kilmeade pushed back on the heat he’s gotten for the remark he made on Vindman Tuesday morning. Vindman’s testimony recounted how he alerted a top White House lawyer twice about his concerns over the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Ukraine.


Kilmeade dismissed the notion that his Vindman skepticism is “not patriotic” and called the blowback he’s received “farcical.”

“It’s a joke that people think if you have questions to the lieutenant colonel because he’s a great warfighter, that you’re somehow not patriotic or don’t like the military, which is the blowback that we’re getting from our show and others,” Kilmeade said. “I think that’s farcical.”

Kilmeade then doubled down on his suspicions about Vindman’s supposed Ukrainian allegiance.

“There is no doubt about it, this lieutenant colonel was born in Ukraine. He came here,” Kilmeade said, before noting that the Ukrainian government reportedly reached out to him about Rudy Giuliani working as an envoy for Trump. “And to think that maybe he was going to come forward with an additional point of view and can’t be challenged because he served in the military, it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
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Gaetz Files Delusional Ethics Complaint Against Schiff

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed an ethics complaint against Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) Wednesday.
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Gaetz Files Delusional Ethics Complaint Against Schiff

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who has been practically jumping up and down for President Donald Trump’s attention lately, filed an ethics complaint on Wednesday against Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Among his accusations are that Schiff “distorted” Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that the chairman won’t allow Gaetz to bust into any impeachment inquiry hearings he pleases.

Gaetz led a legion of House Republicans to storm the SCIF in which a hearing was taking place last week, furious that he was being kept from it. He seemed unswayed by the fact that dozens of his Republican peers sit on the committees overseeing the inquiry and are themselves more than welcome in the committee rooms.

Gaetz, as always, is performing for an audience of one.
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Trump Begrudgingly Following McConnell’s Advice To Lay Off GOP Senators

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) advised President Trump to chill on attacking Republican senators who would likely be deciding his fate
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Trump Begrudgingly Following McConnell’s Advice To Lay Off GOP Senators

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) advised President Trump to chill on attacking Republican senators who would likely be deciding his fate, Politico reported.

During a private meeting between McConnell and Trump at the White House last week, the pair discussed several other topics, including the situation in Syria, but the bulk of the meeting was focused on Trump’s meandering thoughts about impeachment. McConnell reportedly warned Trump explicitly to stop attacking Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), whom he recently called a “pompous ass.”

The warnings appear to have worked slightly. Trump’s reportedly been communicating with McConnell more regularly in recent weeks and has pulled back from attempting to lobby some key senators like Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), according to Politico. He’s also stopped berating Romney regularly on his Twitter feed.

But Trump hasn’t fully laid off courting those Republicans who called his conversation with Vlodymyr Zelensky inappropriate. During a meeting with 10 Republicans last week who’ve indicated publicly they weren’t happy with the call, Trump reportedly vented about impeachment for some time after the group discussed Middle East policy.

“He said he thought the process was unfair and he hadn’t done anything wrong. And he wanted us to know that,” an attendee told Politico, adding that Trump didn’t criticize anyone in the room.
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WaPo: Vindman Told Eisenberg That Trump’s Behavior On Ukraine Call Was ‘Wrong’

Einsenberg quickly placed President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president in a secure vault after an alarmed Vindman told him he thought Trump’s behavior during the call was “wrong,”
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WaPo: Vindman Told Eisenberg That Trump’s Behavior On Ukraine Call Was ‘Wrong’


White House lawyer John Einsenberg quickly placed a transcript of President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president in a secure vault after an alarmed Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told him he thought Trump’s behavior during the call was “wrong,” the Washington Post reported.

According to people familiar with Vindman’s testimony before lawmakers, Vindman was “disturbed,” in the Post’s words, over Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rivals. Vindman reportedly told Eisenberg that “what the President did was wrong,” in the Post’s words.

Eisenberg took notes on their conversation on a yellow legal pad, according to the Post, and then suggested putting the transcript to the classified server.

It’s been previously reported that Eisenberg was the one to put the call transcript in the highly classified vault and that he did it after Vindman raised concerns about the conversation, which he listened in on. But it was not known that Vindman told lawmakers that he thought Trump’s behavior was wrong.
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Fox News: Don’t Trust NYT Vindman Report

Now Fox News hosts are taking issue with the New York Times’ reporting on Vindman’s actual testimony.
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Fox News Hosts Now Raising Questions About NYT’s Reporting On Vindman Testimony

First, Fox News cast doubt on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s allegiance to the U.S ahead of his congressional testimony. Now hosts on the network are taking issue with the New York Times’ reporting on his actual testimony.

During a segment on Fox’s “Outnumbered” Wednesday afternoon, the hosts went after the Times for reporting that Vindman, who listened in on President Trump’s July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, testified Tuesday that the White House left out some details from the conversation in the memorandum it released of the call.

Co-host Melissa Francis particularly took issue with the Times’ reporting that she said “felt like a bombshell” and didn’t live up to the hype.

“I read this New York Times article closely because that is a big charge. And I hate to say it, but it’s The New York Times. They have reported stuff like this before that felt like a bombshell, and then it’s turned out not to be true,” Francis said, without clarifying the bombshells she was referring to. “So I don’t know in reading … you need someone to corroborate this. I didn’t see that, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

Co-host Emily Compagno agreed with Francis’ sentiment, saying that Francis was “illustrating a pattern that keeps repeating itself, which is word of a bombshell and then we wait with bated breath while the details don’t necessarily support it.”

“Because the information that we have at this point doesn’t have that specificity that we need,” Compagno said. “So you failed to correct it, well then remember, we are hearing reports that he struggled to identify exactly where, and then what exactly was omitted? Or what was mischaracterized? We need that specificity for the average American to understand what’s going on. At this point we are simply being led along without knowing the truth.”

Both NBC News and CNN confirmed the Times’ reporting.

Earlier Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. continued the attacks against Vindman’s testimony by accusing the National Security Council official of being a “leftist” during a segment on “Fox & Friends.”

“You only get total absolution if you are a leftist veteran. Not a veteran, just a leftist. If you’re on their side, you can do no wrong,” Trump Jr. said, before “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade abruptly pointed out that “we don’t know if he’s a leftist.”
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