Section: South China Morning Post (China)
Exit strategy: Mike Pompeo risks political future by sticking too close to Donald Trump
Testimony on Wednesday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played a more central role than previously known in President Donald Trump’s Ukraine dealings has fuelled uncertainty within the administration about the top diplomat’s future.Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union and a key figure in the Democratic-led...
US diplomat Gordon Sondland tells impeachment inquiry he followed Trump’s orders on Ukraine
A United States diplomat who is a pivotal witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he worked with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on Ukraine issues on “the president’s orders”, confirming Trump’s active participation in a controversy that threatens his presidency.Gordon Sondland,...
US officials tell impeachment probe of serious concerns over Trump’s call with Ukraine
US lawmakers heard Tuesday from two direct witnesses to the Ukraine call at the heart of the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, both of whom said in open session for the first time they were surprised and concerned by the president’s demands for investigations of Joe Biden.One of the witnesses, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, said...
Russia gives back three ships seized from Ukraine, foreign ministry says
Russia said on Monday it had handed back three Ukrainian naval ships seized off the Crimean coast a year ago, but Kiev did not immediately confirm the move.“On November 18 the handover took place to the Ukrainian side of three Ukraine naval ships that illegally crossed the Russian border in November 2018,” the foreign ministry said in a...
Russia set to return Ukrainian ships seized a year ago amid simmering tensions
Russia is set to return Ukrainian navy ships seized a year ago, as it prepares for a summit to try to resolve the wider conflict between them, Interfax news agency said Sunday.“In accordance with agreements concluded with the Ukrainian side, three Ukrainian ships … are being towed from the port of Kerch to an approved transfer point,” border...
Trump impeachment investigators question White House budget official over decision to withhold funding from Ukraine
Impeachment investigators met on Saturday with a White House official directly connected to US President Donald Trump’s block on military aid to Ukraine, the first budget office witness to testify in the historic inquiry.In a rare weekend session, lawmakers drilled into Trump’s decision – against the advice of national security...
Donald Trump launches ‘intimidating’ attack on impeachment witness Marie Yovanovitch midway through her testimony
A US ambassador ousted by Donald Trump told a riveting impeachment hearing on Friday she felt intimidated by the president as he launched an extraordinary, real-time attack midway through her testimony to Congress.Marie Yovanovitch was recounting to lawmakers how she was abruptly pulled from Ukraine after what she calls a smear campaign, when the...
Nancy Pelosi accuses Donald Trump of bribery as impeachment probe intensifies
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that President Donald Trump already has admitted to bribery in the Ukraine scandal at the heart of a Democratic-led inquiry, accusing him of an impeachable offence under the US Constitution.“The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation...
Investigators release call records linking MH17 suspects to top Russian officials
A Dutch-led investigation into the shooting down of flight Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine in 2014 released new intercepted phone calls on Thursday between high-ranking Russian officials and suspects facing trial over the crash.Investigators said they were making a “new witness appeal” based on “recorded telephone calls between the...
Why Republicans are finding it hard to defend Donald Trump’s ‘perfect’ Ukraine call
Republicans have no unified argument in the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, in large part because they can’t agree on how best to defend the president – or for some, if they should.That would require a level of consensus that Trump’s call with Ukraine president was “perfect”, as he insists. Or it would take a measure of...
