Open impeachment hearings begin Nov 13th, with Bill Taylor, American diplomat still stationed in Kyiv, former US Army commander, Bronze Star Vietnam-vet, testified previously that, “President Trump told his appointees to establish a quid pro quo with Ukraine, trading much-needed US military assistance for political favors from president Zelensky”. The career-diplomat testified that “freezing the aid was harmful to US national security and freezing assistance to Kyiv could embolden Russia to be even more aggressive toward Ukraine”. Full transcripts from the closed-door hearings have been made available for the public to read. George Kent, Deputy Asst. Secretary of State, top Ukraine policy official, is to testify Weds, Nov 13th also. Next Friday, Nov 15th, Marie Yovanovitch, former ousted-Ambassador to Ukraine, is scheduled to testify in open-hearings. Why are they testifying again? The preliminary hearings gathered facts and evidence, and the open-hearings expand on that information before the trial goes to the Senate. More impactful than reading the transcripts is tuning-in to witness the compelling testimonies, just as many of us did with the Nixon hearings and the Clinton impeachment.
David Hale, highest-ranking career diplomat in the foreign service, testified on Nov 6th; “reportedly planned to say the State Department worried about the reaction from Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who was one of the strongest advocates for removing the ambassador”; several officials opposed the dismissal of Yovanovitch, who testified that she “asked Hale to get Pompeo to issue a statement defending her”. Hale was expected to say that, “Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and other senior officials, determined that publicly defending the Ambassador would hurt the effort to free-up U.S. military assistance to Ukraine.” Pence aide, Jennifer Williams, assigned to work on European and Russian issues with the vice president’s office, was another witness listening on the July 25th phone call; she testified Thursday, Nov 7th, and is now protected as a whistleblower; was expected to testify as to what Pence knew about the shadow Ukraine policy.
Trump, supposedly, lobbied Barr in the last couple weeks, to hold a news conference saying that the president broke no laws in his phone call with Ukraine leader; Barr declined to do so, and Trump disputes that he asked Barr to intervene. William Barr, Attorney General, Department of Justice, did just that before the Mueller report was released; fixer Barr basically exonerated Trump, and few Americans bothered to read the report.
Trish Forsyth Voss
Nov 11 2019
Open impeachment hearings begin Wednesday,Nov 13th.
Open impeachment hearings begin Nov 13th, with Bill Taylor, American diplomat still stationed in Kyiv, former US Army commander, Bronze Star Vietnam-vet, testified previously that, “President Trump told his appointees to establish a quid pro quo with Ukraine, trading much-needed US military assistance for political favors from president Zelensky”. The career-diplomat testified that “freezing the aid was harmful to US national security and freezing assistance to Kyiv could embolden Russia to be even more aggressive toward Ukraine”. Full transcripts from the closed-door hearings have been made available for the public to read. George Kent, Deputy Asst. Secretary of State, top Ukraine policy official, is to testify Weds, Nov 13th also. Next Friday, Nov 15th, Marie Yovanovitch, former ousted-Ambassador to Ukraine, is scheduled to testify in open-hearings. Why are they testifying again? The preliminary hearings gathered facts and evidence, and the open-hearings expand on that information before the trial goes to the Senate. More impactful than reading the transcripts is tuning-in to witness the compelling testimonies, just as many of us did with the Nixon hearings and the Clinton impeachment.
David Hale, highest-ranking career diplomat in the foreign service, testified on Nov 6th; “reportedly planned to say the State Department worried about the reaction from Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who was one of the strongest advocates for removing the ambassador”; several officials opposed the dismissal of Yovanovitch, who testified that she “asked Hale to get Pompeo to issue a statement defending her”. Hale was expected to say that, “Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and other senior officials, determined that publicly defending the Ambassador would hurt the effort to free-up U.S. military assistance to Ukraine.” Pence aide, Jennifer Williams, assigned to work on European and Russian issues with the vice president’s office, was another witness listening on the July 25th phone call; she testified Thursday, Nov 7th, and is now protected as a whistleblower; was expected to testify as to what Pence knew about the shadow Ukraine policy.
Trump, supposedly, lobbied Barr in the last couple weeks, to hold a news conference saying that the president broke no laws in his phone call with Ukraine leader; Barr declined to do so, and Trump disputes that he asked Barr to intervene. William Barr, Attorney General, Department of Justice, did just that before the Mueller report was released; fixer Barr basically exonerated Trump, and few Americans bothered to read the report.
Trish Forsyth Voss
By spiritspeak • Letter to the Editor 0