Trump says he's not concerned about impeachment testimony
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Where things stand now
More transcripts released: The House released transcripts of testimony from Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert.
Skipped testimony: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney refused to comply with a subpoena for a closed-door deposition in the House impeachment inquiry. His lawyers say he’s asserting “absolute immunity” from testifying.
Next week: House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff said public hearings will begin next week.
Our live coverage has ended, but you can scroll through the posts below to read more.
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How Democrats are prepping for public impeachment hearings
From CNN's Lauren Fox
ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images
After a week of riveting transcripts, Democrats are turning to the most public phase of their impeachment probe yet: open hearings.
Behind the scenes the preparations are exhaustive with one House Democratic leadership aide telling CNN that that the focus has been on everything from preparing lines of questioning and thinking through rebuttals to Republican talking points to hashing out a social media strategy that can be executed in real time.
The aide told CNN that the preparations are a “much bigger operation” and that the “coordination is on a whole other level” compared to what transpired before former special counsel Robert Mueller came to Capitol Hill to testify about his Russia investigation. There, Democrats sought to recapture momentum and change the public’s perception of a report that had been out for months. This time, Democrats view the moment is more urgent.
Even during the current recess, rank-and-file members received daily talking points this week, an effort to help them boil down the essence of the hundreds of pages of transcripts. Even the schedule for next week has been carefully curated.
First, the spotlight will be on the top diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor and State Department official George Kent. The leadership aide said the aim of their testimony is to paint a full picture of the events that transpired. Taylor — who took meticulous notes — is seen by Democrats as an iron clad witness who came to believe through conversations with National Security Council official Tim Morrison and US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland that “everything,” as Taylor said in his opening statement, was conditioned on Ukraine announcing public investigations into Trump’s political rivals. Kent is viewed by Democrats as someone who can shed light on the role the President’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani played in Ukraine.
On Friday, Marie Yovanovitch, a three-decade career diplomat who was removed from her post in the spring, will testify. She is the first political casualty of Giuliani’s efforts in Ukraine, a witness Democrats hope can display the toll that the President’s personal lawyer’s shadow foreign policy played there.
One Democratic member who has taken part in the depositions, told CNN that next week will be an opportunity for the public to see that the witnesses “are credible, apolitical, detailed, true patriots, and very specific about exactly what has transpired. The story that will be told, based on the facts, will show the President broke the law and that the set up and cover up are both far more extensive than originally thought.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are preparing to submit their list of requested witnesses for public hearings. They have already publicly said they would like to hear from the whistleblower, something Democrats are expected to reject.
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Catch up: Here are 5 developments in the impeachment inquiry today
With public hearings slated for next week, the House of Representatives is wasting no time in the ongoing impeachment investigation into President Trump.
Here are the key developments from today:
Mick Mulvaney did not appear for testimony: The acting White House chief of staff defied a subpoena from the House and did not show up for his closed-door testimony today. He cited “absolute immunity.” Mulvaney dramatically confirmed last month that Trump froze nearly $400 million in US security aid to Ukraine partially to pressure the country into investigating Democrats — and proceeded hours later to deny having said so.
White House officials blame Mulvaney for quid pro quo: White House officials Fiona Hill and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told lawmakers that Mulvaney coordinated the effort to use military aid to Ukraine as leverage for investigation in his boss’s political opponents, according to deposition transcripts released today.
What we learned from Hill: The White House’s former top Russia experttestified that she was shocked by the transcript of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian leader, calling Trump’s push for investigations “pretty blatant.” She also said Trump’s advisers “spent a lot of time” trying to convince him that the theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election was false.
What we learned from Vindman: The National Security Council’s Ukraine expert testified that there was “no ambiguity” ahead of Trump’s July call with his Ukrainian counterpart that the Ukrainians would have to start an investigation into Trump’s political rival in order to secure a US-Ukraine meeting. He also said he had raised concerns about the July 25 call to NSC lawyers, and that the process that was used for placing the call transcript on a highly secure server was abnormal.
Lawyers hint at John Bolton’s “relevant” information: Bolton’s lawyer said the former national security adviser has significant insights into matters being probed by the impeachment investigators. But Bolton’s attorney said his client will not testify until a court resolves whether he must obey a subpoena.
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Podcast: Will this "hand grenade" inadvertently take down Trump?
In today’s episode of “The Daily DC: Impeachment Watch” podcast, CNN Political Director David Chalian looks at:
The transcripts from interviews with Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert
New evidence that acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is at center of Ukraine deal
How President Trump is distancing himself from Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland
Why Rudy Giuliani was running “shadow foreign policy”
Ukraine’s plan to cozy up to Trump administration
Chalian is joined today by CNN congressional reporter Lauren Fox and Mark Mazzetti, a CNN contributor and investigative correspondent for the New York Times.
White House official testified Ukraine "did not interfere in our election in 2016"
From CNN's Michael Warren
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, was asked by Republican counsel about the allegation that Ukraine or Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats.
She was clear that Ukraine did not interfere in the 2016 election.
Pressed about the January 2017 Politico article at the center of the allegation, Hill said, “I’m aware of the reporting, but that doesn’t mean that that amounts to an operation by the Ukrainian Government.”
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Former Russia adviser said security aid was held at the direction of the chief of staff's office
From CNN's Michael Warren
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, described to lawmakers what she knew about the security aid to Ukraine that was withheld.
Hill said she was not told why the military aid to Ukraine was being held up but that “it actually came as a direction from the Chief of Staff’s office.”
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White House official testified that July call "pulled" Giuliani "into kind of an official role"
From CNN's Maegan Vasquez
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, described that before the July call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Trump, “Ukrainians were looking for clarity on [Rudy] Giuliani’s role.”
He added: “It wasn’t until that call that it became, that he was pulled into kind of an official role.”
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White House's top Ukraine expert said it "doesn’t take a rocket scientist" to see how Trump would benefit from investigation into Biden
From CNN's Maegan Vasquez
Lt. Col Alexander Vindman said it “doesn’t take a rocket scientist” to understand why Trump would want to damage his political opponent, Joe Biden.
“Do you think the President was trying to get the Ukrainian Government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden?” someone asked.
“Look … Counsel … It’s all in the future,” Vindman said. “I guess, look, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where the gain would be for the President in investigating the son of a political opponent.”
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Why the White House's top Ukraine expert was upset over discussions of a presidential meeting
From CNN's Michael Warren
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, testified that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, was “very upset” about the way ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was discussing a presidential meeting in front of the Ukrainian delegation at the White House on July 10.
Hill also said Vindman was “really uncomfortable with where the conversation was, and that’s also because it was in front of Ukrainians, that it was basically Ambassador Sondland getting very annoyed that he already had an agreement with the Chief of Staff for a meeting between the Presidents on the basis of these investigations.”
Vindman, she said, was “alarmed” that Sondland had mentioned meeting with Rudy Giuliani and discussing a presidential meeting in front of the Ukrainians.
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Former top Russia adviser was concerned what Giuliani was doing "might not be legal"
From CNN's Alex Rogers
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, testified that she was “extremely concerned” about Rudy Giuliani’s activities.
“I was extremely concerned that whatever it was that Mr. Giuliani was doing might not be legal, especially after, you know, people had raised with me these two gentlemen, [Lev] Parnas and [Igor] Fruman,” she said.
Hill said she spoke to her colleagues based in Florida, including the director for the Western Hemisphere.
“He’d mentioned that these people were notorious and that, you know, they’d been involved in all kinds of strange things in Venezuela and, you know, kind of were just well-known for not being aboveboard,” Hill said. “And so my early assumption was that it was pushing particular individuals’ business interests.”
Hill said former diplomat Amos Hochstein told her in May that a number of Ukrainians had complained to him about Giuliani discussing investigations and to change the board of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s geopolitically important state-owned oil and gas company.
Hill said in late May, after former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch had been removed, “it became clear” that Giuliani was pushing Ukrainians to open an investigation focused on Burisma.
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Hill said putting Ukraine transcript on classified system was not "appropriate"
From CNN's Allie Malloy
President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, Fiona Hill, alleged it was inappropriate for the transcript of President Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to be put on a highly-classified system.
She said “that’s not the appropriate place for these kinds of transcripts.”
“The only circumstances in which that would be conceivable would be if it dealt with highly classified information,” Hill told the committee.
Hill did not know who would have the authority to direct such a move, but said she was unaware if either former national security adviser H.R. McMaster or former national security adviser John Bolton had done so.
Hill said when she was unaware of transcripts being moved to the classified system while she was at National Security Council.
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Lawmakers clash during Vindman testimony
From CNN's Zach Cohen
Ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mark Meadows, clashed with Rep. Eric Swalwell after Democrats accused Meadows of trying to expose the identity of the anonymous whistleblower during Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s hearing, according to the transcript.
The tense exchange occurred after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, interrupted a GOP lawyer who was asking Vindman to name individuals with whom he discussed the July 10 meeting.
“Excuse me, let me just state this for the record. The whistleblower has a statutory right to anonymity,” Schiff said.
Meadows then interjected, while Schiff was still speaking, calling for a “point of order.”
Swalwell then jumped in, addressing Meadows directly in defense of Schiff, saying: “Hey Mr. Meadows, he’s the chairman, he finishes.”
After a brief back and forth, during which Swalwell again repeated that Schiff is the chairman and “he finishes,” Meadows responded: “Shut up.”
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Vindman testified there was no "malicious intent" to cover anything up in Trump's Ukraine call transcript
From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Zach Cohen
Lt. Col. Alexanader Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, downplayed the significance of his proposed edits that were not made to the rough transcript of the President’s July 25 call, which included adding a reference to Burisma and tapes of former Vice President Joe Biden that were not included in the transcript released by the White House.
Asked if the transcript was complete and “very accurate,” Vindman said it was. Vindman described the edits he proposed as “substantive,” but said he did not think there was any “malicious intent” or cover-up behind his proposed edits not being incorporated.
In addition to the two edits previously reported about Burisma and the Biden tapes, Vindman said that one of the ellipses in the transcript replaced President Trump saying of the Crowdstrike server: “They say you have it.” But Vindman he noted Trump also said in the next line: “They say Ukraine has it.”
Vindman explained that the ellipses sometimes — but not always — replaced words. “Like I said, in my notes, if it was a Ukrainian word on something that required some content and it was not in there, I’d replace it, but not every ellipses has something else with it,” he said.
Vindman told lawmakers that he reviewed the transcript of Trump’s July 25 call produced by the White House Situation Room, as is protocol at the NSC, and made “a couple of edits and suggestions.”
But while Vindman would typically see the final transcript of such calls after the review process is complete, he said he did not in the case of the July 25 conversation with Ukraine’s president.
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Hill warned of "open season on our diplomats"
From CNN's Haley Byrd
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, warned lawmakers that “we have permitted open season on our diplomats, and it could happen to anybody,” referring to the campaign against former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and conspiracy theories about herself.
She later added, “If nothing else, we should all agree that what happened to Ambassador Yovanovitch is unacceptable, and we should not be letting this happen to our public servants across the board because it could happen to congressional staff. It could happen to absolutely everybody.”
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John Bolton has "relevant" information on Ukraine probe not yet disclosed, lawyer says
From CNN's Adam Levine, Ariane de Vogue and Kevin Bohn
Former national security adviser John Bolton has significant insights into matters being probed by the impeachment investigators, his lawyer said in a letter to congressional leaders today.
But Bolton’s attorney said his client will not testify until a court resolves whether a subpoena to him must be adhered to.
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Hill said Rick Perry laid out Ukraine talking points at a meeting
From CNN's Mike Warren
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, testified that in the July 10 meeting with the Ukrainian delegation, Energy Secretary Rick Perry “laid out all of these talking points” about working with Ukraine to tackle corruption in the energy sector.
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton said this was encouraging and suggested they could start thinking about a meeting between Trump and President Trump Volodymyr Zelensky.
Bolton, Hill said, urged the Ukrainians to deal with the State Department and with Perry on that.
This is when, Hill testified, Gordon Sondland “did a redirect” of the conversation.
Hill continued by saying Sondland looked irritated and told the Ukrainian delegation to go back to the Ward Room and talk about the next steps for the presidential meeting. She said Bolton was “pretty furious” about this, and that it was her impression that Sondland had previously talked to the Ukrainians about planning the presidential meeting — even though Bolton and others had been “recommending against having a meeting at this juncture.”
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Biden: "This is about Donald Trump, not about me"
From CNN's Deanna Hackney
Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Liberty and Justice Celebration at the Wells Fargo Arena on November 01, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Former Vice President Joe Biden was asked if he would agree to appear if there was a Senate impeachment trial for President Donald Trump, as he spoke to reporters after filing for the New Hampshire Democratic primary.
“Number one, this is about Donald Trump, not about me. There’s not a single solitary thing that anybody has demonstrated that I didn’t do my job as the representative of the United States of America, representing America’s position,” he said.
Biden, who was a Senator during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, added that impeachment proceedings are “not fun”, but “there’s a constitutional responsibility.”
Remember: The whistleblower complaint that triggered the ongoing impeachment investigation centers around a claim that the President used military aid as a leverage to convince Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either of the Bidens.
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Hill said two diplomats pushed for investigations in exchange for White House meeting
From CNN's Alex Rogers
Fiona Hill, President Trump’s former top Russia adviser, reviewed the text messages between Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and then-special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker made public by the impeachment inquiry.
When asked if that was normal diplomacy, Hill testified, “No.”
Hill said that they were pushing for investigations “in exchange for a White House meeting.”
More context: “I think potus really wants the deliverable,” Sondland texted Volker on Aug. 9, as the two were talking about possible dates for a meeting between President Trump and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Hill: Advisers tried to convince Trump that Ukraine 2016 interference theory was false
From CNN's Alex Rogers
Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia adviser, testified that President Trump’s advisers tried to convince him that the theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election is false.
Hill said “we spent a lot of time” with Tom Bossert, Trump’s former Homeland Security advisor, former National Security Council advisor H.R. McMaster and others “trying to refute this one in the first year of the administration.”
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Ukraine was interested in a meeting, not aid, in exchange for investigation, Vindman testified
From CNN's Maegan Vazquez
Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, arrives at a closed session before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees on October 29, 2019.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the White House’s top Ukraine expert, spelled out to members of Congress that he believed the Ukrainians understood President Trump’s demand for investigations to be in exchange for a bilateral meeting — not aid to Ukraine.
Asked when the Ukrainians were made aware of the hold on US foreign aid, Vindman said:
“And just to be clear, is it fair then that when you related that opinion that the withholding of military aid was clearly not part of the demand during that July 25th phone call?” a member of Congress asked.
He responded: “I don’t think the Ukrainians were aware of it. So, my understanding is this was all about getting the bilateral meeting.”
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White House officials are not backing down from court battle over impeachment testimony
From CNN's Ariane de Vogue
A lawyer for two top White House officials suggested a federal judge still has to decide whether his clients must testify to impeachment investigators.
Charles Cooper, who represents former National Security Adviser John Bolton and former Acting National Security Advisor Dr. Charles Kupperman, told the House today that even if a court rules that Don McGahn can testify, such a holding would not automatically clear the way for his clients to do so.
Cooper penned the letter in response to a suggestion by House lawyers earlier in the week that a ruling in the McGahn case would apply to Kupperman and Bolton.
The letter suggested a more prolonged legal fight over the testimony of some top aides, and it could conceivably apply to others such as National Security Council legal advisor John Eisenberg and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
Cooper’s reiterated his position: the only way his clients can appear is if a Court says the White House’s immunity claim is invalid. Cooper says that because the House isn’t interested in McGahn’s views on sensitive national security issues in the case at hand, he is not in the same position as aides such as Kupperman and Bolton.
