Somebody finally calls it what it is –
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The three parameters House Democrats established for their public impeachment hearings
The three questions are:
• Did the President request that a foreign leader and government initiate investigations to benefit the President’s personal political interests in the United States, including an investigation related to the President’s political rival and potential opponent in the 2020 U.S. presidential election?
• Did the President – directly or through agents – seek to use the power of the Office of the President and other instruments of the federal government in other ways to apply pressure on the head of state and government of Ukraine to advance the President’s personal political interests, including by leveraging an Oval Office meeting desired by the President of Ukraine or by withholding U.S. military assistance to Ukraine?
• Did the President and his Administration seek to obstruct, suppress or cover up information to conceal from the Congress and the American people evidence about the President’s actions and conduct?
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Adrienne Cobb Strikes Again!
The brilliant and tireless collator of all things Trump has done it again. This time she has culled through all the impeachment transcripts and arranged the most damning quotations by category.
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CHRONICLING THE CHAOS
Adrienne Cobb
Impeachment Depositions by Topic
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Here’s a sample from the “Trump extorting/bribing Ukraine” category:
SONDLAND: Sondland pulled Zelensky’s aide, Yermak, aside after Pence’s Poland meeting (Sept 1) with the Ukrainian president. “I now recall speaking individually with Mr. Yermak, where I said resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.” (Addendum p 2)
SONDLAND: “…whatever the Ukrainians were going to promise in any context, he wanted it public.” (142-142)
VOLKER: In a text to Zelensky aide Yermak, Volker said that a meeting with Trump depended on a commitment to undermine Mueller’s investigation: “Good lunch — thanks. Heard from White House — assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate / ‘get to the bottom of what happened’ in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington. Good luck! See you tomorrow -kurt.”
KENT: “POTUS wanted nothing less than President Zelensky to go to microphone and say investigations, Biden, and Clinton… in shorthand 2016.” (268, 275)
TAYLOR: “Ambassador Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election… Sondland said everything was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted President Zelensky in a box by making [a] public statement about ordering such investigations.” (36)
TAYLOR: “By mid-July, it was becoming clear to me that the meeting President Zelensky wanted was conditioned on investigations of Burisma and alleged Ukrainian influence in the 2016 elections. It was also clear that this condition was driven by the irregular policy channel I had come to understand was guided by Mr. Giuliani.” (26)
TAYLOR: “That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the President [of Ukraine] committed to pursue the investigation.” (189)
etc., etc.
Other resources produced by Cobb:
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November 12, 2019
Debunked: Response to GOP Memo
Numerous witnesses told Congress that President Trump pressed Ukraine to intervene in the upcoming U.S. elections by initiating and public announcing investigations into (1) his political opponent (Biden); and (2) debunked conspiracy theories regarding foreign interference in the 2016 election.
The American people will hear first-hand from these witnesses beginning this week. In an internal memo released publicly today, the GOP makes four main arguments in support of the President. Below are facts that show their arguments are patently false.
FALSE: The July 25 call summary “shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure.”
FACT: The July 25 Call Shows Clear Evidence of Pressure and ConditionalityPresident Trump’s own words in the July 25 call record are the best evidence of the President applying pressure on Ukraine to benefit his own personal political interests at the expense of the national interest.
President Trump used his unrivaled power as the commander in chief of the most powerful country in the world to repeatedly press the leader of a foreign country to undertake politically-motivated investigations intended to benefit President Trump personally.
As one U.S. official made clear, the Ukrainian President – recently elected to lead a country that is heavily dependent on U.S. military, economic, and diplomatic support to fight of Russian aggression – could only view this as a “demand” by the American president.
President Trump, moreover, did not mention “corruption” once in the conversation, but instead repeatedly pressed Ukraine’s President to investigate “Biden.
Multiple U.S. officials have testified that the call, as well as meetings and discussions before and after the call, established a clear campaign of extortion: Ukraine’s President would not receive a White House meeting or vital military assistance until and unless Ukraine opened sham investigations that President Trump wanted.
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The House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday announced it will hear publicly from eight witnesses over three days next week, in another sign Democrats are pushing to complete their impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump before the end of the year.
The Intelligence panel announced it would hold five impeachment hearings next week over three days, all for officials who have already appeared for closed-door depositions:
- Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council aide next Tuesday morning
- Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a National Security Council aide, next Tuesday afternoon
- US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland on the morning of November 20
- Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense and David Hale, the under secretary of State for political affairs, on the afternoon of November 20
- Former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill on the morning of November 21
The hearing schedule released Tuesday shows that the House will hear publicly from at least 11 of the 15 witnesses who appeared for closed-door depositions over the past five weeks.
The hearing list includes three witnesses who were requested by Republicans: Volker, Morrison and Hale.
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Live Stream if the First Public Hearing Starts at 9am ET
Impeachment Hearing with William Taylor and George Kent
The House Intelligence Committee holds its first open hearing of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Lawmakers will hear testimony from William Taylor, Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent
https://www.c-span.org/video/?466134-1/impeachment-hearing-william-taylor-george-kent
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At donor dinner, Giuliani associate said he discussed Ukraine with Trump, according to people familiar with his account
What Trump Is Hiding From the Impeachment Hearings
The president’s efforts to prevent the House from doing its job are just as worrisome as the Ukraine scandal.
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Some other News sources to look at while listening to the Impeachment hearings…
and watching via C-Span
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During Ambassador Taylor’s testimony, some NYT’s commentary.
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Annie Karni
White House Correspondent
This is literally the movie version of the book. So far, it seems like he is reading directly from the transcript that has already been released.
11:05 AM ET
Maggie Haberman
White House Correspondent
This hearing has, as I said, not been good for Mulvaney so far.
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Taylor describes the two channels as initially on the same track, and then diverging.
11:05 AM ET 
Charlie Savage
Washington Correspondent
But some movie goers didn’t read the book, Annie.
11:06 AM ET
Michael S. Schmidt
Washington Correspondent
Taylor is describing something remarkable: two conflicting channels of American foreign policy being pursued toward one allied country.
11:06 AM ET
Nicholas Fandos
Congressional Correspondent
It is rare for a congressional hearing to include so much uninterrupted storytelling. This is helpful to hear Taylor’s full experience laid out.
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Worried about missing the hearings today? Never fear, C-Span is archiving everything!
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The House committees investigating President Trump and Ukraine have scheduled closed-door depositions for David Holmes, an official working at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and Mark Sandy, an official working in the Office of Management and Budget, later this week, according to a schedule distributed to committee staff and reviewed by Axios.
Why it matters: The depositions signal that the fact-finding phase of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is still not over, despite the first public impeachment hearings kicking off on Wednesday.
…
Holmes, the counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, is scheduled to appear on Friday, Nov. 15 at 3 p.m.
- Holmes worked at the embassy under former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who is scheduled to testify publicly in the impeachment hearings on Friday.
- He now works at the embassy with Yovanovitch’s successor, Bill Taylor, who is set to testify Wednesday.
Sandy, the director of national security programs at OMB, was initially scheduled to appear before the committees on Friday, Nov. 8; however, he was a no-show. He is now listed as appearing on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 10 a.m.
- It was not immediately clear as of Wednesday morning why Sandy was put back on the schedule.
Worth noting: It isn’t clear whether Holmes and Sandy have agreed to testify before the committees. The schedule solely reflects that House investigators have requested their appearance.
It would be a huge step forward for the inquiry if a representative from the Office of Budget and Management actually testified. They have stonewalled every request for information on who told them to withhold the aid and why. Will Sandy show up? 
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Cross-posting this here. There’s going to be overlap between these two topics – it’s okay. I needed a place to work-out today’s post in real time publicly.
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Update 8:40A/11:40EST - Amb Taylor implicates Trump - newsworthy
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Nicholas Fandos
Congressional Correspondent
Pay attention here. So far, Taylor’s testimony has mostly been a restating of what he told investigators privately. But he is now offering what appears to be significant new information.
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Specifically, he said that after his earlier depositions, an aide informed him that they had witnesses a call on July 26 between Trump and Sondland. The staff member could overhear Trump on the phone call asking Sondland about “the investigations.” This was the day after Trump’s call with Zelensky.
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“Following the call with President Trump, the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for.”
11:30 AM ET
Maggie Haberman
White House Correspondent
That’s newsworthy, Nick.
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FWIW…T of course says he is not watching…but he is retweeting some comments from Rep McCarthy (R-CA)…and as Peter Baker, NYT, said earlier in NYT Live Blog NYT Live Impeachment, T will be able to recount in granular detail what went on.
The White House claimed Trump is not watching the first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry. However, the president just retweeted 10 messages from Republican accounts pushing back against the inquiry, including this one with a clip from the hearing.
Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader)
WATCH: @DevinNunes: “After vowing publicly that impeachment requires bipartisan support, Democrats are pushing impeachment forward without the backing of a single Republican.” pic.twitter.com/KZ22RuByeF
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All of the re-tweets have the feel of his staff doing it; I think he’s watching and not saying anything, or watching with Erdogan. These tweets from his account don’t have the feel of him, and I keep a watch on it daily so tend to recognize his malignant touch. This is all just re-hash.
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I forgot he was visiting. What a weird day.
Also Nadler just did something cool in the House Judiciary Committee. Full mark-up on removing the deadline for the ERA. It’ll go to the full house now.
Yes House Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time. Or at least impeach the president and pass civil rights legislation at the same time. 
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That’s why I have all of those Turkey stories up. I’ve been following that line as well. Totally agreement, this is strange, strange day. The last time Trump tweeted himself seems to be this morning when he was binging Fox and Friends.
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A full-court press for the Dems…
The Impeachment hearings are informative, well-delivered, and adhering to a strong case against the Prez. Rep Schiff doing great…and mentioned Pelosi’s quote about Ben Franklin’s quote " “A republic , if you can keep it.”
And yes, great for Rep Nadler to push up the ERA vote.
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Here comes Republicans with Rep Nunes’ questions to Amb Taylor…trying to refute previous testimony…comments from NYT reporters.
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Nicholas Fandos
Congressional Correspondent
Nunes is trying to build a case that Ukraine was working closely with Democrats to harm Trump’s campaign in 2016. If true, his thinking goes, Trump is perfectly justified in asking Ukraine’s new government to investigate what happened.
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But it is important to remember Trump did not talk about the Politico story during his call with Zelensky. He did not talk about general cooperation between Democratic and Ukrainian officials. He talked about a debunked conspiracy theory about missing emails and a secret server supposedly in Ukraine that would absolve Russia from election meddling, and by extension, absolve Trump.
12:50 PM ET 
Michael S. Schmidt
Washington Correspondent
Nunes using a backdoor here. He is saying things he wants on the record and then asking Taylor whether he knew about them. Taylor responds by saying he doesn’t know anything about them. Nevertheless, the statements make it into the public.
12:50 PM ET
R’s Castor (lawyer for R’s) want to draw in DOJ’s investigation of the Mueller investigation…by Hunter…but Castor is trying to get Amb. Taylor to comment on what T’s motives might be…
Charlie Savage
Washington Correspondent
This line of inquiry by Castor echoes a line he sought to pursue in the Fiona Hill deposition. In a striking moment, Hill chastised him for conflating the efforts of an individual Ukrainian-American having a meeting at the Ukrainian embassy to raise alarms about Paul Manafort’s ties to the former pro-Russian government in Ukraine with the Russian government’s much broader policy decision to interfere with the 2016 election. Ms. Hill suggested that individual Ukrainian-Americans were also providing such information to Republican campaigns, like those of Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, in the primary season. Hill also declared, “It is a fiction that the Ukrainian government was launching an effort to upend our election” and told Mr. Castor that “if you’re also trying to peddle an alternative variation of whether the Ukrainians subverted our election, I don’t want to be part of that, and I will not be part of it.”
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