Our live coverage of the impeachment inquiry has ended for the day. Read up on the latest news below.
An official working on the impeachment inquiry tells CNN that State Department aide David Holmes received a subpoena prior to beginning his closed door testimony this evening.
The subpoena read as follows:
Attorney General Barr, in a fiery speech to the conservative Federalist Society, defended presidential power and slammed progressives’ “breathless attacks on the unitary executive theory.”
He accused “the left” of “waging a scorched earth no holds barred war of resistance against this administration,” and of being “engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and undermining the rule of law.” He also slammed what he called the Senate’s “unprecedented abuse of the advise and consent process.”
He said Democrats “have decided to drown the executive branch with oversight demands for testimony and documents.” He added that while he doesn’t “deny that Congress has some implied authority,” the volume of investigations and “avalanche of subpoenas … is plainly designed to incapacitate the executive branch and indeed is touted as such.”
He accused opponents of Trump of launching the “resistance,” saying “they rallied around an explicit strategy of using every tool and maneuver to sabotage the functioning of the executive branch and his administration.”
State Department aide David Holmes said in September, before the hold on Ukraine military aid was lifted, diplomat Bill Taylor told him that the US was insisting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky make a statement about specific investigations, contrary to what diplomats on the ground had been advising the Ukrainians.
“Now they’re insisting Zelensky commit to the investigation in an interview with CNN,” Holmes testified, describing what Taylor told him.
A few days later, the possibility of Zelensky doing an interview to announce the investigations was still a possibility. Holmes and Taylor ran into a top aide of the Ukrainian president and Taylor stressed the importance of “staying out of the US politics and said he hoped no interview was planned.”
Holmes testified that the top aide “shrugged in resignation and did not answer, as if to indicate they had no choice. In short, everyone thought was going to be an interview.”
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White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham criticized the second hearing of the House impeachment inquiry, calling it “useless and inconsequential.”
“The second public hearing of Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Schiff’s impeachment charade was as useless and inconsequential as the first,” she said. “Zero evidence of any wrongdoing by the President was presented.”
Grisham continued:
Among those who overheard the July 26 phone call between President Trump and US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was Suriya Jayanti, a US official in Kiev, CNN has learned.
The phone call was revealed by top US diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor in his testimony before the House Intelligence committee Wednesday. Taylor said one of his aides overheard the call between Trump and Sondland in which Trump asked about “investigations” at a restaurant.
That aide, State Department official David Holmes, is testifying today.
Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, told reporters that, along with Holmes, at least two more witnesses overheard the Sondland and Trump conversation.
Rep. Jackie Speier, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, said a second person has come forward.
A person with knowledge of the call said Jayanti also overheard the call, but it’s unclear if she’s the person who approached the committee.
At one point, Jayanti was listed to appear for an Oct. 25 private deposition with the committees looking into impeachment, but ultimately did not meet with lawmakers for a formal deposition.
The Associated Press first reported that Jayanti also overheard the July 26 call.
Jayanti did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
David Holmes, the aide to diplomat Bill Taylor who overheard President Trump’s conversation with European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland, said that Sondland told the President that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would do “anything you ask him to,” and that he confirmed the Ukrainians were going to “do the investigation.”
Holmes explained that Sondland placed the call to Trump, and he could hear Trump because the call was so loud in the restaurant where they were with two others.
“While Ambassador Sondland’s phone was not on speakerphone, I could hear the President’s voice through the earpiece of the phone. The President’s voice was very loud and recognizable, and Ambassador Sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time, presumably because of the loud volume,” Holmes testified.
Holmes also confirmed Taylor’s testimony about the President’s thoughts on Ukraine, saying he asked Sondland “if it was true that the President did not ‘give a s—t about Ukraine.’”
Holmes said Sondland responded Trump only cares about “big stuff.” When Holmes said that the Ukraine war was big, Sondland responded “‘big stuff’ that benefits the President, like the Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing,” Holmes said.
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President Trump’s week was filled with equal parts history and bad news.
And the start of televised impeachment inquiry hearings — alleging Trump’s abuse of power — were not the only headache for the chief executive this week. His longtime political adviser Roger Stone was found guilty on five counts of lying to Congress, one of witness tampering and one of obstructing a congressional committee proceeding.
The President was also handed another loss when an appeals court ruled Congress can seek his tax returns. And another court ruled he cannot sue New York state in Washington, D.C.’s federal court to stop the release of his tax returns.
The tax return issue has now been elevated to the nation’s highest court: On Wednesday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to block a subpoena for his tax returns.
Meanwhile, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani faces mounting questions about his role in the conversations and actions that led to the impeachment probe.
This week’s first two rounds of public testimony highlighted Giuliani’s central role — which Giuliani says was done as part of his legal defense of Trump. Giuliani has been largely silent about the situation, though he is apparently planning to release a podcast with his thoughts on the impeachment process as things continue to heat up.
A US diplomat told lawmakers behind closed doors that he did overhear the July 26 phone conversation between President Trump and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, and that on the call Trump asked Sondland if Ukraine was going to do the investigation, according to two sources familiar with the testimony.
Sondland replied that they were going to do it, the sources said.
David Holmes, the counselor for political affairs at the US Embassy in Ukraine, was able to hear the call because Sondland held the phone away from his ear due to how loud Trump was talking, the sources said.
Holmes also confirmed there were others at the table at the restaurant where he heard the call, according to the sources.
Asked about Holmes’ testimony, Rep. Gerry Connolly told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he was going to be “careful about what I just heard in closed session, but… I would say that the adverb used ‘allegedly’ is not accurate. It is not alleged. It happened. And it is a matter public record that Mr. Holmes heard this conversation and recognized the President’s voice loud and clear.”
Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, told reporters at least two more witnesses overheard a conversation between President Trump and US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
Lieu said the two witnesses are in addition to David Holmes, an aide to diplomat Bill Taylor who is testifying behind closed doors this evening about the conversation.
We we know: According to Taylor, who testified Wednesday, Holmes overheard Trump ask Sondland about the status of “investigations” during a cellphone conversation in a Kiev restaurant.
The conversation between Trump and Sondland took place the day after Trump spoke with the Ukrainian president by phone in July, Taylor testified.
Taylor did not name Holmes, but sources tell CNN that he is the member of the embassy staff Taylor was referencing.
In today’s episode of “The Daily DC: Impeachment Watch” podcast, CNN National Security Analyst Sam Vinograd looks at:
Vinograd is joined today by CNN senior reporter Vicky Ward and CNN’s global affairs analyst Max Boot.
Former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s testimony today marked the second day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump
Let us catch you up on the biggest takeaways:
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Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee said “it’s possible” that the House will include witness intimidation in the articles of impeachment.
Earlier today, while ex-ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, President Trump tweeted attacks against her. Committee Chairman Adam Schiff suggested it was witness intimidation, and when he asked Yovanovitch about the tweets, she said they were “very intimidating.”
“The President is clearly engaged in a number of activities to try to obstruct this investigation, including now potentially intimidating a witness,” Kildee said
He continued:
Before heading into diplomat David Holmes’ closed-door deposition, Rep. Mark Meadows said he wants specifics about a call Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in the country, mentioned during his testimony.
According to Taylor’s testimony, Holmes overheard President Trump ask the US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about the status of “investigations” during a cellphone conversation in a Kiev restaurant. Taylor did not name Holmes, but sources tell CNN that he is the member of the embassy staff Taylor was referencing.
Meadows said he specifically wants to learn more about how much others were actually able to hear on call.
Meadows said he wasn’t opposed to Holmes testifying publicly but didn’t know what the deposition would entail.
He also defended Trump on his call to Sondland.
GOP lawmakers dodged the question when asked whether it was OK for Rudy Giuliani to mount a smear campaign against former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
Rep. Jim Jordan, who has been an active participant in the impeachment hearings, went silent at one point when asked.
Some context: Yovanovitch, who was unexpectedly removed from her position as ambassador to Ukraine by President Trump, testified that she was accused, without evidence, by Rudy Giuliani and others of trying to undermine the President and blocking efforts to investigate Democrats like former Vice President Joe Biden.
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During the hearing today, ex-ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and at least one congressman referred to the death of a prominent anti-corruption Kateryna Handziuk, who died in 2018 following an acid attack.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from New York, asked Yovanovitch, “Why would somebody attack her with acid? There are easier ways to kill people. Why did they do it with acid?”
“That’s what happens when you go up against corrupt people in Ukraine?” Maloney asked.
“It is something that can happen,” Yovanovitch said.
What we know about Handziuk’s death: According to the prosecutors in the case, in late July 2018, the perpetrator poured over a liter of sulfuric acid on Handziuk next to her house. She suffered severe chemical burns to 30% of her body and had to undergo over ten surgeries. Initially, a criminal case was launched under “hooliganism” offense but reclassified as “assault with the intent of intimidation” due to public pressure, Ukrainian news agencies reported at the time.
A few weeks prior to her death, Handziuk recorded an anti-corruption message from hospital bed saying “I know I look bad now… but I’m sure that I look much better than fairness and justice in Ukraine.”
Earlier this year, then-prosecutor Yuri Lutsenko said in a televised statement that the main suspect who ordered the acid attack is a local political in a Ukrainian town of Kherson Vladislav Manger. The possible motive was a TV story accusing him of large scale corruption and other investigations into corruption in Kherson that Handziuk worked on along with others.
Manger was arrested but eventually was released on bail. He denies any involvement but is still a suspect in the case. In June 2019, a court in Dnepropetrovsk convicted five men who participated in obtaining acid and carrying out the attack.
Why they talked about this today: On April 25, 2019 — when Yovanovitch got the call telling her to leave Kiev — Yovanovitch was awarding her the “Woman of Courage” award postmortem. Handziuk’s father received it on her behalf.
Deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley defended President Trump’s release of rough transcripts of his calls with the Ukrainian president, saying he did it “so that every American can see he did nothing wrong.”
Here’s what Gidley said:
Talking to the press this afternoon, President Trump ridiculed Democrats for their conduct during the public testimony of former US ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
“It’s really sad when you see people not allowed to ask questions,” Trump said, seemingly referring to a moment during the testimony when Devin Nunes, the Republican ranking member of the House intelligence committee, attempted to give some of his time for opening questions to Rep. Elise Stefanik.
“They’ve taken away the Republican’s rights. And I watched today as certain very talented people who wanted to ask questions, and they weren’t even allowed to ask questions.”
Chairman Adam Schiff, however, did not allow Stefanik to ask any questions during that time.
“Under the House Resolution 660 you are not allowed to yield time except to minority counsel,” Schiff said.
Facts First: Under the House rules for these hearings, Nunes is not allowed to give his time to other members of the committee. Additionally, later on in the hearing Stefanik was still given – as all members are – five minutes to question Yovanovitch.
On October 31, the House passed the resolution governing how the impeachment hearings would be conducted. In that resolution, it lays out that “only the chair (Schiff) and ranking minority member (Nunes), or a Permanent Select Committee employee if yielded to by the chair or ranking minority member, may question witnesses during such periods of questioning.”
Both Nunes and Schiff yielded part of their time of questioning to an employee. The rules are clear that other members of the committee (e.g. Stefanik) can’t be given part of that time.
Instead, each member has five minutes of questions. So it’s incorrect to suggest that Stefanik was “not allowed to ask questions.”
Two Trump campaign sources, one inside the re-election team and one surrogate, said it was a mistake for the President to tweet about former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovich during her hearing today.
One of the sources, a longtime Republican operative and surrogate for the campaign, offered a scathing response to Trump’s tweet, saying it made Yovanovitch more sympathetic, working against the President’s interests.
Ousted ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testified under oath that a “smear campaign” was levied against her by the President’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his associates.
Asked moments ago in the hallway if he believed her claims of a “smear campaign,” Republican Rep. Jim Jordan shook his head.
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