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The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

  • About 90 former officials say whistleblower did the right thing, is entitled to protection

A group of former national security officials expressed their support for the anonymous U.S. official who blew the whistle on President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, even as Trump and his allies continued to try to discredit the whistleblower.

In an open letter published by the Wall Street Journal, about 90 officials, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, said the whistleblower did the right thing, and called on the government and the media to protect his or her identity.

“We are former national security officials who proudly served in a wide array of roles throughout the U.S. Government,” they wrote. “We are writing about the Intelligence Community whistleblower’s lawful disclosure, which was recently made public. While the identity of the whistleblower is not publicly known, we do know that he or she is an employee of the U.S. Government. As such, he or she has by law the right — and indeed the responsibility — to make known, through appropriate channels, indications of serious wrongdoing. That is precisely what this whistleblower did; and we applaud the whistleblower not only for living up to that responsibility but also for using precisely the channels made available by federal law for raising such concerns.

“A responsible whistleblower makes all Americans safer by ensuring that serious wrongdoing can be investigated and addressed, thus advancing the cause of national security to which we have devoted our careers. What’s more, being a responsible whistleblower means that, by law, one is protected from certain egregious forms of retaliation. Whatever one’s view of the matters discussed in the whistleblower’s complaint, all Americans should be united in demanding that all branches of our government and all outlets of our media protect this whistleblower and his or her identity. Simply put, he or she has done what our law demands; now he or she deserves our protection.”

Officials who signed the letter include former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. It also included a number of former ambassadors and former officials at the CIA, State Department and Defense Department.

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They link the actual letter, too, which is pretty neat, though not, it seems, the WSJ’s version of it.

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Wut. :unamused:

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday that he “absolutely” asked President Donald Trump “multiple times” to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but about energy – not the Bidens – and said he is not leaving his role in the administration.

Speaking at a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Perry said that he told Trump that it was in the best interest of the two nations to have discussions regarding energy issues. His response comes on the heels of reports that Trump told lawmakers Perry urged him to make the July 25 call that has become a key focus of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into the President.

"Absolutely, I asked the president multiple times. 'Mr. President, we think it is in the United States and in Ukraine’s best interest that you and the President of Ukraine have conversations and discuss the options that are there,” Perry said Monday. "So absolutely yes."

CNN previously reported that some text messages released by former US Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker showed that Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was working to set up the call with Zelensky. The texts also show that several other US diplomats, including Volker, were working to arrange the conversation.

The Energy Department confirmed on Sundaythat Perry “supported and encouraged” Trump to speak with Zelensky on matters related to energy and the economy.

Energy issues, though, were not discussed during the July phone conversation between the two leaders, according to a rough transcript of the call released by the White House. The transcript instead revealed Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Joe Biden and the activities of the former vice president’s son, Hunter, who had been on a board of a Ukrainian natural gas company.

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Pentagon and OMB Subpoenaed in House Impeachment Inquiry

Subpoenas Demand Documents on President’s Decision to Withhold Critical Military Assistance Provided By Congress To Help Ukraine Counter Russian Aggression

Washington, D.C. (Oct. 7, 2019)—Today, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, sent a letter to Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Mark Esper and a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Russell Vought conveying subpoenas for key documents as part of the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

“Pursuant to the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, we are hereby transmitting a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 15, 2019,” the Chairmen wrote.

The Committees are investigating the extent to which President Trump jeopardized national security by pressing Ukraine to interfere with our 2020 election and by withholding military assistance provided by Congress to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression, as well as any efforts to cover up these matters.

According to multiple press reports, at some point in July 2019, President Trump ordered Acting OMB Chief Mick Mulvaney to freeze the military aid to Ukraine, and Mulvaney reportedlyconveyed the President’s order “through the budget office to the Pentagon and the State Department, which were told only that the administration was looking at whether the spending was necessary.”

“The enclosed subpoena demands documents that are necessary for the Committees to examine this sequence of these events and the reasons behind the White House’s decision to withhold critical military assistance to Ukraine that was appropriated by Congress to counter Russian aggression,” the Chairmen wrote.

According to press reports, “Administration officials were instructed to tell lawmakers that the delays were part of an ‘interagency process’ but to give them no additional information.”

Officials at the Departments of State and Defense reportedly were “puzzled and alarmed” after learning about the White House’s directive. Defense Department officials reportedly “tried to make a case to the White House that the Ukraine aid was effective and should not be looked at in the same manner as other aid,” but “those arguments were ignored.” State and Defense Department officials reportedly contacted Congress to inform them of the freeze imposed by the White House.

In August 2019, Senator Ron Johnson was informed by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, that if Ukraine would “get to the bottom of what happened in 2016—if President Trump has that confidence, then he’ll release the military spending.” Senator Johnson stated: “At that suggestion, I winced.” He also stated: “My reaction was: Oh, God. I don’t want to see those two things combined.”

On September 9, 2019, the Committees wrote a letter to the White House requesting documents relating to “the actual or potential suspension of military assistance to Ukraine.” The White House never responded to this request, resulting in the issuance of a subpoena last Friday.

However, two days later, on September 11, 2019, the White House released its hold on the military assistance to Ukraine.

Click here to read the letter and subpoena schedule to DOD.

Click here to read the letter and subpoena schedule to OMB.

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House Democrats on Monday issued subpoenas for documents from the Pentagon and White House budget office as part of their rapidly expanding impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The subpoenas, which demand documents by Oct. 15, are intended to unearth details of the administration’s decision to freeze military aid to Ukraine in July — a move that came as Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were urging Ukraine’s new president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/10/07/politics/democrats-subpoena-pentagon-omb-impeachment/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

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Bookmark this impeachment calendar :spiral_calendar:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/impeachment-calendar/

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Awesome! Have been looking for something like this. It’s hard to keep up with the blizzard of events – what just happened and what’s queued up.

UPDATE: I’d call this a “must read” – or at least a “must browse.” It describes each upcoming impeachment event – hearings, depositions, subpoena deadlines, etc. and describes which ones are being blocked by the White House. It also indicates whether a hearing is open or closed door. A gold star resource.

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Florida businessmen with Giuliani, Ukraine ties won’t comply with impeachment inquiry

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article235876792.html


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Cross-posting

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@Keaton_James
It’s everything I’ve ever been looking for in a webpage. :heartpulse:

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In the five stages of grief, this is bargaining.

Trump aide calls drug price deal possible if impeachment fades

The aide said Democrats were making it harder to achieve the goal while being “distracted” by impeachment

Trump’s Sunday Nightmare: A New ABC News/Ipsos Poll Found That 64% of Americans Believe He Shook Down Ukraine For Biden Dirt

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The number of Americans who support impeachment has shot up since the process kicked into high gear; it currently sits at 58% in favor of the proceedings, and 49% in favor of removing him.



Romney rejecting donors’ calls for him to primary Trump, but he’s planning to rally Senate Republicans to vote against Trump in impeachment trial.



American ambassador to the European Union, Gordon D. Sondland, Witness in Trump-Ukraine Matter, Ordered Not to Speak in Impeachment Inquiry




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Who could have predicted? :crystal_ball:

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This is a bizarre twist:

Lindsey Graham has invited Rudy Giuliani to testify before his Senate Judiciary Committee. Nobody knows what to make of this, but it seems likely it will be a chance for Giuliani to spread more propaganda.

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I just want to expand on that NYT article. Good catch!

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration directed a top American diplomat involved in its pressure campaign on Ukraine not to appear Tuesday morning for a scheduled interview in the House’s impeachment inquiry.

The decision to block Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, from speaking with investigators for three House committees is certain to provoke an immediate conflict with potentially profound consequences for the White House and President Trump. House Democrats have repeatedly warned that if the administration tries to interfere with their investigation, it will be construed as obstruction, a charge they see as potentially worthy of impeachment.

Democrats from the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees did not immediately respond on Tuesday.

But in making the decision, hours before he was scheduled to sit for a deposition in the basement of the Capitol, the Trump administration appears to be calculating that it is better off risking the House’s ire than letting Mr. Sondland show up and set a precedent for cooperation with an inquiry they have strenuously argued is illegitimate.

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump attacked the impeachment inquiry.

“I would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really good man and great American, to testify,” he wrote on Twitter, “but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s rights have been taken away.”

Robert Luskin, Mr. Sondland’s lawyer, said in a statement that as a State Department employee, his client had no choice but to comply with the administration’s direction. He said Mr. Sondland had been prepared and happy to testify, and would do so in the future if allowed.

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@Windthin

Lindsey Graham invites Giuliani to testify before Senate Judiciary panel

Sen. Lindsey Graham has invited President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his efforts to convince the Ukraine government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

The South Carolina Republican’s offer comes as Giuliani appears poised to defy a subpoena to provide documents to the Democrat-led House Intelligence Committee. Giuliani has also indicated he may decline to testify to the House committee, which is run by Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Graham seized on Giuliani’s reluctance to testify to the House to seek Giuliani’s testimony himself.

“I have heard on numerous occasions disturbing allegations by Rudy Giuliani about corruption in Ukraine and the many improprieties surrounding the firing of former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin," Graham said in a statement. “Given the House of Representatives’ behavior, it is time for the Senate to inquire about corruption and other improprieties involving Ukraine."

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What a lame, lame, lame situation…T is being impeached, all his loyalists will not cooperate, and the subpoenas are refuted. There’s going to be a showdown I hope soon - get some R’s stirred up (Turkey situation may rock them to speak up) and mark up more articles of impeachment on OBSTRUCTION of justice.

The clowns are all in the car…waiting for them to come out, and take off their masks and speak truth to power plz (my editorial.)
:clown_face:

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https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/10/08/politics/gordon-sondland-house-impeachment/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fcurrentstatus.io%2Fall

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff on Tuesday called the State Department’s blocking testimony of a key witness “strong evidence of obstruction” of Democrats’ impeachment investigation, and the move is prompting House Democrats to issue a subpoena for the testimony in response.

The State Department on Tuesday directed US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland not to testify before Congress, scrambling Democrats’ impeachment investigation and raising questions about whether they will be able to obtain testimony from other witnesses. But Schiff’s sharp response to Sondland’s absence is a sign of the escalating impeachment fight between the White House and Democrats.

"The failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions of Congress," Schiff told reporters.

In addition to blocking Sondland’s testimony, Schiff said the ambassador indicated he had text messages or emails on a personal device provided to the State Department that State was withholding from Congress, which Democrats also planned to subpoena.

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US Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Russian active measure’s campaigns and interference in the 2016 U.S. Election Volume 2: Russia’s use of social media with additional views

News:

Bipartisan Senate report calls for sweeping effort to prevent Russian interference in 2020 election

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/10/08/bipartisan-senate-report-calls-sweeping-effort-prevent-russian-interference-election/

A bipartisan panel of U.S. senators Tuesday called for sweeping action by Congress, the White House and Silicon Valley to ensure social media sites aren’t used to interfere in the coming presidential election, delivering a sobering assessment about the weaknesses that Russian operatives exploited in the 2016 campaign.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, a Republican-led panel that has been investigating foreign electoral interference for more than two and a half years, said in blunt language that Russians worked to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton while bolstering Republican Donald Trump — and made clear that fresh rounds of interference are likely ahead of the 2020 vote.

“Russia is waging an information warfare campaign against the U.S. that didn’t start and didn’t end with the 2016 election," said Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee’s chairman. “Their goal is broader: to sow societal discord and erode public confidence in the machinery of government. By flooding social media with false reports, conspiracy theories, and trolls, and by exploiting existing divisions, Russia is trying to breed distrust of our democratic institutions and our fellow Americans.”

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The more they stonewall, the worse it looks, the more obvious the obstruction is, and information is STILL pouring out despite all of that.

Let them drag their feet. It’s their one and only strategy right now aside from the Mike Pence Anti-Impeachment Town Halls, and I can’t WAIT to see how long those last after the first few hecklers get through with him.

Pence going after Democrats over impeachment — in their districts

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