Section: TPM (USA)
Trump For Some Reason Says Sondland’s Testimony Was A ‘Win’
President Trump had a positive reaction to the public testimony of EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland, despite the official’s damning testimony earlier Wednesday. During an Apple manufacturing facility tour in Austin, Trump told reporters that Sondland’s testimony was “fantastic” and that it proved that he “did absolutely nothing wrong.”...
Ukraine Was Aware Of Hold On Military Aid Far Earlier Than Previously Known
Ukrainian officials inquired about the hold in hundreds of millions of dollars worth of U.S. security assistance more than a month earlier than previously known, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper told the House impeachment inquiry Wednesday evening. Cooper told the House Intelligence Committee that a staffer of hers received an...
Vindman’s Lawyer Urges Fox News To Retract Espionage Claim
National Security Council official Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is defending himself from a Fox News guest accusing him of “espionage.” On Wednesday, Vindman lawyer David Pressman sent a letter to Fox News that requests a retraction or correction of a “a deeply flawed and erroneous” segment on Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show last month...
LIVEBLOG: A Pompeo Aide And A Defense Department Ukraine Expert Testify
A long day of impeachment proceedings continues Wednesday with the testimonies of David Hale and Laura Cooper. Hale is the highest ranking State Department official to testify so far, and he reports directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Cooper is the Defense Department’s Russia-Ukraine expert. In his private deposition, Hale described...
Sondland Impeachment Testimony Blows Up The GOP Defenses Of Trump
EU Ambssador Gordon Sondland was widely expected to be a bumbling mess at his testimony before the House on Wednesday. But, instead, he took aim at key bulwarks in the Republican defense of Trump. Sondland did not embrace the conspiratorial counter-narratives put forth by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) at the hearings in the impeachment inquiry....
Pompeo Gets Snippy When Asked About Sondland’s Bombshell Testimony
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a brief but testy response on Wednesday to Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s open testimony, which shed light on Pompeo’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scheme. “How do you respond to Ambassador Sondland’s evidence today that you directed and coordinated Ukraine policy with...
Giuliani Lashes Out As House GOP Attorney Tosses Him Under The Bus
Rudy Giuliani lashed out at the House GOP’s staff lawyer in the impeachment inquiry after the attorney made a subtle move to pin the Ukraine pressure campaign solely on Giuliani. Towards the end of Wednesday’s morning session, attorney Steve Castor pressed EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland on his communication with Giuliani. Sondland...
Rudy Contradicts Sondland Testimony On Ukraine Pressure Campaign
This post has been updated to reflect that, after deleting the tweet in question Wednesday, Rudy Giuliani posted another tweet with the same claims. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani tweeted a denial of a key detail in the ongoing impeachment inquiry, rejecting a witness’s testimony that Trump ordered him to work...
Trump Insists He Told Sondland He Wanted ‘Nothing’ From Ukraine
Amid EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s blockbuster impeachment hearing on Wednesday, President Donald Trump took pains to emphasize he had not told Sondland outright during a particular meeting in September to facilitate a pressure campaign against Ukraine. In response to Sondland’s testimony that the Ukraine scheme was carried out on...
Quid Pro Quo, The Critical Backstory
Clarifying many points in the Ukraine scandal drama requires simply stating the obvious. And nowhere more so than in this now notorious Trump/Sondland phone call in which the President barked “no quid pro quo” to Sondland multiple times and said he wanted “nothing” from President Zelensky of Ukraine. The President and his supporters have rather...
