Trump impeachment hearings live updates – The Washington Post
The Intelligence Committee is expected to hear from White House and State Department officials about Trump’s actions toward Ukraine on what expected to be a lengthy and dramatic day of testimony.
November 19, 2019 at 3:30 p.m. GMT+1In the afternoon, testimony is expected to hear from Tim Morrison, another senior NSC official, and Kurt Volker, a former Trump administration envoy to Ukraine.
Democrats are seeking to prove Trump leveraged military assistance and an Oval Office meeting in exchange for investigations of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden and a debunked theory concerning purported Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
●Ukrainians ‘came to understand’ what Trump wanted, State Department aide David Holmes testifies.
●House is investigating whether Trump lied to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, its general counsel told a federal appeals court.
●Attacking witnesses is Trump’s core defense strategy in fighting impeachment.
What’s next in the inquiry | Who’s involved in the impeachment inquiry | Key documents related to the inquiry |
3:20 p.m.In opening statement, Schiff slams GOP and White House attacks on witnesses
In his opening statement, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) referred to a tweet from Trump calling Williams a “Never Trumper,” likening it to Trump’s attack on Ambassador Marie Yovanovich during her Friday testimony, which some Democrats said amounted to witness intimidation.
“Ms. Williams, we all saw the president’s tweet about you on Sunday afternoon and the insults he hurled at Ambassador Yovanovich last Friday. You are here today, and the American people are grateful,” Schiff said.
Schiff also brought up the Republican strategy to discredit Vindman as anti-Trump and therefore not a credible witness.
“Col. Vindman, we have seen far more scurrilous attacks on your character, and watched as certain personalities on Fox have questioned your loyalty. I note that you have shed blood for America, and we owe you an immense debt of gratitude,” Schiff said. “I hope no one on this committee joins those vicious attacks.”
Schiff went on to defend the witnesses as not being “for or against impeachment.”
Schiff said it is for Congress to decide whether Trump “abused his power and invited foreign interference in our elections, if he sought to condition, coerce, extort, or bribe an ally into conducting investigations to aid his reelection campaign and did so by withholding official acts.”
By Colby Itkowitz3:15 p.m.Three Republicans on panel are also military veterans
Vindman, a combat veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart, who will again testify in his uniform as he did during his closed-door deposition, will face a panel that includes three other veterans – all Republicans.
Mike Conaway (Tex.) served in the Army for two years from 1970 to 1972. Brad Wenstrup (Ohio) is in the Army Reserve and is an Iraq War veteran. And Chris Stewart (Utah) served in the Air Force for 14 years.
With the Republican strategy to discredit Vindman as a “Never Trumper,” it remains to be seen if the three GOP veterans will join the attacks.
By Colby Itkowitz3:08 p.m.Hearing gaveled open
House Intelligence Committee Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) has gaveled the hearing open. Williams and Vindman are expected to testify shortly.
By John Wagner3:05 p.m.Williams will say Trump-Zelensky call was ‘unusual,’ dealt with ‘domestic’ politics
Williams, a State Department official detailed to Pence’s office who listened to Trump’s July phone call with Zelesnky will testify that she found the call “unusual” because it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.”
Williams’s assessment is significant because Trump has argued that the call, which sparked the whistleblower complaint that spurred Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, was “perfect.”
Williams is scheduled to testify publicly alongside Vindman, who also listened to the call and was so alarmed by Trump pressing Zelensky to open an investigation into Biden that he immediately reported his concerns to a NSC lawyer.
Republicans would like to isolate Vindman and suggest his poor judgment and policy disagreements with Trump over Ukraine were the true sources of his displeasure with the call. They have noted that other Trump officials who listened in as the two presidents spoke were not similarly distressed. That effort, however, could be complicated by Williams’s similar, though milder, response to hearing Trump’s request.
In a closed door deposition earlier this month, she said she found the call’s reference to issues of domestic interest to Trump to be “inappropriate.” She said she was not surprised when the call proved controversial when its contents became public.
Unlike Vindman, however, Williams also said she did not report her concerns to her superiors or other officials. Still, coverage of her earlier comments prompted Trump to attack the career Foreign Service officer on Twitter over the weekend.
In an opening statement Williams plans to deliver Tuesday, she will say that in April 2019, around the time of a first friendly phone call between the two presidents, she listened as Pence also had a good conversation with Zelensky to congratulate him on his recent election.
She will say that Zelensky invited Pence to attend his inauguration and that plans began to be made for Pence to travel to Kyiv for the event at Trump’s instruction. Those plans ended, she will testify, on May 13, when she was informed that Trump had subsequently directed Pence to skip the event. She will tell Congress that she was never provided a rationale for the switch.
She will also testify that she learned on July 3 that security assistance money to Ukraine had been frozen but that she and other officials were never able to learn why.
When Pence was asked to fill in for Trump at a meeting with Zelensky in Warsaw on Sept. 1, Williams participated in briefings and discussions of the aid freeze in preparation for the discussion. But that no one ever suggested the money was being conditioned on the Ukrainians opening investigations into Biden or the 2016 election, Williams plans to testify.
Likewise, she will say that when Zelensky raised the issue directly with Pence at the meeting, which she attended, neither Pence nor Zelensky mentioned the issue. Pence instead responded that Ukraine had the United States’s “unwavering support” and “promised to relay their conversation to President Trump that night.”
By Rosalind S. Helderman3:00 p.m.Army is monitoring whether Vindman needs special protection, relocation
The Army has been monitoring security for Vindman and is ready to move him and his family to an Army base if necessary to protect them from threats, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
At the Army’s request, local police in the Virginia suburb where Vindman lives had stepped up drive-by patrols around his home last week, and Army officials continue to assess whether their national security aide needs to be relocated for additional protection.
Vindman sounded an early alarm about Trump’s July 25 call with the Ukraine president, and complained Trump’s request for an investigation of his political rival was improper and disturbing.
Vindman and his twin brother Yevgeny and their families have been concerned about their personal safety in the wake of President Trump’s denouncing Vindman as a “Never Trumper witness” and Fox News host Laura Ingraham described Vindman as “a U.S. national security official . . . working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interests. ”
On Monday night, before Vindman was set to testify, Republican lawmakers attacked his credibility as a witness in the impeachment inquiry.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he suspected Vindman was a member of the “Deep State” of career bureaucrats trying to under Trump.
Vindman’s lawyer, Michael Volkov, on Monday called Johnson’s assertion “such a baseless accusation, so ridiculous on its face, that it doesn’t even warrant a response.”
“Lt. Col. Vindman is a patriotic veteran, awarded the Purple Heart, who has selflessly served this country for over 20 years,” Volkov added.
By Carol Leonnig2:35 p.m.Meadows characterizes controversy as a policy dispute between Trump and ‘the swamp’
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a Trump ally, sought to blunt the impact of Tuesday’s upcoming testimony, characterizing the controversy as a policy dispute between Trump and long-serving government officials.
“He has the right to set foreign policy,” Meadows said of Trump during an appearance on Fox News. “What you’re seeing play out today is really all about the swamp trying to say, ‘We have a better idea than the president of the United States and the American people in terms of what should happen with foreign aid.’ ”
By John Wagner2:30 p.m.Williams arrives ahead of scheduled testimony
Williams has arrived at the Longworth House Office Building ahead of her scheduled 9 a.m. appearance before the House Intelligence Committee.
By John Wagner2:15 p.m.Vindman arrives in advance of scheduled testimony
Vindman has arrived at the Longworth House Office Building in advance of his scheduled 9 a.m. appearance before the House Intelligence Committee.
By John Wagner2:00 p.m.Vindman to testify amid signs GOP will try to discredit him
Vindman, a decorated combat veteran who serves as the Ukraine expert on the NSC and is considered a star witness by Democrats, will testify amid increased signs that Republican lawmakers will attempt to discredit him, despite his stirring personal story.
Some GOP members have suggested, as the president has said, that he is “an anti-Trumper,” inclined to resist the president’s policy objectives.
On Monday night, Rep. Douglas A. Collins (Ga.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, challenged Vindman’s credibility and his willingness to cooperate with investigators who quizzed him last month behind closed doors about the whistleblower whose complaint sparked the inquiry, as well as other matters.
When asked whether Vindman’s uniform would shield him from tough questioning at Tuesday’s hearing, Collins told reporters: “I don’t think it shielded Oliver North from hard questions.”
He was referring to North’s role in the Iran-contra scandal, which occurred during the presidency of Ronald Reagan and was investigated by Congress.
The complaints about Vindman from Republicans led a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. David N. Cicilline (R.I.) to issue a warning Monday evening to his GOP colleagues.
Cicilline told reporters: “If they attack the credibility of this patriot, they will suffer consequences in the eyes of the American people.”
By Tom Hamburger and Mike DeBonis1:30 p.m.Four witnesses scheduled for lengthy day of public testimony
The House Intelligence Committee expects to hear from four key witnesses over what is shaping up as a lengthy day of public testimony on Tuesday.
In a morning session, lawmakers are scheduled to hear from Vindman and Williams, two witnesses who listened in on the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky.
Vindman, the European affairs director at the NSC, testified in a closed-door deposition last month that he “did not think it was proper” for Trump to seek a Ukrainian investigation of a U.S. citizen. Vindman later reported his concerns to the lead counsel of NSC.
Republicans have signaled that they plan to try to discredit Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient and one of the most significant witnesses in the inquiry, by questioning his motives and his loyalty to the president.
In her deposition, Williams testified that she found Trump’s call with Zelensky “inappropriate” and politically motivated.
Williams is a State Department employee detailed to Pence’s staff and serves as his top Russia adviser. She also testified that it was her understanding Trump told Pence not to attend Zelensky’s inauguration, a move that deprived Ukraine’s new government of a high-profile statement of support from the United States.
Trump attacked Williams as a “Never Trumper” in a tweet over the weekend.
Morrison and Volker are scheduled to appear before the House committee in the afternoon.
Morrison was the top Russia staffer on the NSC until he resigned on the eve of his closed-door testimony last month.
He also listened to the call between Trump and Zelensky. Morrison has said he heard directly from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland that Sondland told Ukrainians that they would probably receive the withheld military assistance if the government announced investigations into Democrats.
Trump has said he does not know Sondland well and has tried to distance himself from the ambassador, a major Trump fundraiser whom the president gave a leading role on Ukraine policy even though Ukraine is not part of the European Union.
Volker is one of three men designated by Trump to steer Ukraine policy who dubbed themselves the “three amigos.” He testified behind closed doors that he knew Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was pushing unsubstantiated theories about Biden in Ukraine.
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