Section: Voice of America (USA)
Trump Adds Big Names to Impeachment Defense Team
President Donald Trump has assembled a made-for-TV legal team for his Senate impeachment trial. The team includes Ken Starr, the prosecutor whose investigation two decades ago resulted in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Also, former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz will deliver constitutional arguments meant to shield Trump from allegations...
Ukraine Launching Task Force to Investigate Alleged Surveillance of Former US Diplomat
The Interior Ministry of Ukraine tells VOA that a special task force involving U.S. and Ukrainian officials will be launched Monday to look into reports that the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine had been subjected to surveillance and threats in Ukraine.After meeting Friday with U.S. diplomats, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in...
Russia: Iran Was Spooked by Reports of US F-35s When it Downed Airliner
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Iran’s accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner last week occurred at a time when Tehran was spooked by reports of advanced U.S. stealth fighters in the area.”There were at least six (U.S.) F-35 fighters in the air in the Iranian border area (at the time). This...
Trump Impeachment Resumes Tuesday
The actors in the somber drama of U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment have a long weekend to contemplate their roles and responsibilities, thanks to the Martin Luther King national holiday Monday.The Senate issued a summons to Trump on Thursday, notifying him of the trial and the charges against him. He must respond in writing by...
Ukrainian Prime Minister Offers Resignation
Ukraine’s prime minister offered his resignation on Friday after an audio recording was leaked in which he was heard making disparaging comments about president’s understanding of the economy.Oleksiy Honcharuk said in a Facebook post that he took the job of prime minister to fulfill the program of the president, calling him “a model...
Ukraine Asks FBI to Help Probe Suspected Russian Hack of Burisma
Ukraine has asked the FBI in the United States for help investigating a suspected cyberattack by Russian military hackers on Burisma, an energy company caught up in the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump.The Ukrainian interior ministry on Thursday also announced an investigation into the possible illegal surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch,...
US Senate Begins Trump Impeachment Trial
The impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump began Thursday with a series of ceremonial procedures that set the stage for opening arguments early next week. For just the third time in U.S. history, senators will sit in judgment of an American president and hear evidence that will lead them to decide whether he should be removed from...
Pompeo Silent on Reports of Surveillance of Former US Ambassador to Ukraine
Ukrainian authorities say they have opened an investigation into whether Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Kyiv, was illegally spied on before U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly recalled her from her post last year. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the State Department have not replied to repeated requests for comment on the...
Iran’s Clerics, Elected Politicians Maneuver Ahead of Parliamentary Polls
The shooting down last week of a Ukrainian passenger over Tehran is at the center of rising tensions between Iran’s clerics and the country’s elected politicians.Amid public fury with the belated admission by authorities that a missile battery operator “mistakenly” shot down the aircraft, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has...
New Report: Trump Violated US Funding Law at Center of Impeachment Trial
U.S. President Donald Trump violated the country’s spending law last year when he temporarily withheld $391 million in congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine while at the same pressing Kyiv to launch investigations to benefit himself politically, a government watchdog agency concluded Thursday in a decision that is at the heart of...
