The latest on the Trump impeachment inquiry

Philip Reeker, the acting assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, testified that on March 21 he issued a “stern démarche” to the deputy chief of mission at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington saying it “was unacceptable, to have Government of Ukraine figures maligning our Ambassador in this way,” referring to unfounded attacks in the press against former US ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

A démarche is a formal diplomatic message conveying concern. 

Those government figures included a Ukrainian prosecutor who alleged that Yovanovitch created a “do-not-prosecute list” — a claim he later recanted. This appears to be a reference to former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, who other witnesses have said met with Rudy Giuliani in February 2019 to “throw mud” at Yovanovitch.

Reeker told lawmakers that there had been “follow on press” related to these allegations made by Ukrainian officials and that Giuliani was one of the main voices amplifying those claims in US media. Joseph diGenova, who in March 2018 was being considered as a candidate for President Trump’s legal team, also helped push those claims, Reeker said.

Reeker said the Ukrainian deputy chief of mission was “mortified” when he delivered the démarche.

After the démarche was delivered, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs put out a statement, saying how: “The ministry fruitfully cooperates with the U.S. Ambassador and thanks the American diplomat and her team for their contribution to building strategic partnerships between our states. So that was an important piece,” according to Reeker. 

That statement came three days before the State Department decided not issue a show of public support for Yovanovitch.

Office of Management and Budget official Mark Sandy was asked if he was aware of anyone in the OMB’s legal division “resigning or leaving OMB… at least in part because of Ukraine security assistance.”

Sandy said he was. The person was not named and part of the subsequent testimony is labeled as “off the record” in the transcript.

He went on to say, “This person expressed to me concerns about actions vis-à-vis the Impoundment Control Act.” Asked if that was in the context of Ukraine security assistance and the hold, Sandy responded, “Yes,” though he added the caveat that he would “never want to attribute that as the, you know, sole purpose for an individual’s actions,” but said that he was “aware of their frustrations in that area, yes.”

Sandy was then asked, “Did this person at OMB legal tell you that they were leaving or resigning from OMB at least in part because of their concerns or frustrations about the hold on Ukraine security assistance?”

He responded, “Yes, in terms of how — yes, in terms of that process, in part.” Sandy later said, “the individual did note a disagreement on this topic,” clarifying that the topic referred to the hold on Ukraine security assistance.

Additionally, when asked if he knew of anyone “resigning or leaving OMB under any circumstances at least in part because of the manner in which OMB was handling Ukraine security assistance,” Sandy said he was aware of one other OMB colleague who left in September, but was “reluctant to speak to someone else’s motivations.” However, he confirmed the person “expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold” on security assistance to Ukraine. This person is also not named.

CNN’s Sara Murray reported a senior administration official disputed the notion that OMB officials resigned over the hold on Ukraine assistance, insisting that none of the officials who left OMB during that time frame did so because of the security assistance hold.

At least one of the OMB officials mentioned by Sandy left for a position elsewhere.

CNN has reached out to OMB for comment.

Philip Reeker, the acting assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, testified to the House inquiry that he was under the impression that US security assistance to Ukraine was “being held by Mr. [Mick] Mulvaney, the White House Acting Chief of Staff.”

Reeker, however, said he did not have “definitive knowledge that Mulvaney was behind the holdout.”

“The understanding was that, without definitive knowledge, but my understanding, or our operating understanding was that this was being held by Mr. Mulvaney, the White House Acting Chief of Staff,” Reeker said.

Reeker also said he has never met Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.

Mark Sandy, a career official at the Office of Management and Budget, said he wasn’t given a reason until September on why US military aid was frozen, despite asking in July and August.

The freeze was imposed on July 25, the same day as President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Sandy told lawmakers that he spoke around that time with Michael Duffey, a political appointee at OMB, and was not given a reason for the holdup, but that Duffey was interested in getting to the bottom of things. 

“He certainly said that if he got additional information he would share it with us,” Sandy said of Duffey. Duffey was subpoenaed by House Democrats to testify in the inquiry, but like most political appointees, he ignored the subpoena.

It wasn’t until early September when Duffey got back to Sandy with more information.

By that time, the Trump White House already knew about the Ukraine whistleblower and public news reports had revealed the freeze in military assistance. Later in September, after the whistleblower complaint was released, Trump and other White House officials publicly said one reason for the holdup was because European nations weren’t giving enough money to Ukraine.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney offered that explanation in a news conference last month, when he admitted that Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate conspiracy theories about Russian meddling before he would unlock the nearly $400 million in military and security assistance. 

House impeachment investigators released the final closed-door deposition transcripts from the impeachment inquiry today with the interviews of State Department official Philip Reeker and Office of Management and Budget official Mark Sandy.

Sandy is a career official at OMB who was part of the freezing of the $400 million in US security aid to Ukraine, before the process was taken over by a political appointee to sign the documents delaying the release of the aid.

Reeker, meanwhile, testified last month that he did not know about the push for Ukraine to announce investigations into President Trump’s political rivals, and that top officials under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blocked an effort to release a statement of support for ousted US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

The transcripts released today are the final batch of closed-door deposition interviews put out by the committee as Democrats move onto the next phase of the impeachment proceedings against Trump. The House Intelligence Committee is preparing a report summarizing its findings from the 17 officials who testified. That report will be sent to the Judiciary Committee soon after Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess next week.

The House resolution that passed earlier this month and set the ground rules for impeachment hearings spells out what the procedures are for the President and his counsel during House Judiciary Committee’s proceedings.

The upshot is that Trump’s counsel may question witnesses and raise objections, but House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler has a lot of discretion on what he can allow.

Here’s what resolution says:

The courts have weighed in on the impeachment inquiry.

A federal judge sided with Congressional Democrats, asserting that the White House can’t block the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn. What are the other implications of the historic decision? Plus, why does a debunked conspiracy theory keep coming up?

CNN senior writer Zach Wolf guest hosts and previews the next stage of the inquiry with CNN reporters Katelyn Polantz and Marshall Cohen in today’s episode of “The Daily DC: Impeachment Watch” podcast.

Listen to the podcast here.

Facing the prospect of impeachment, President Trump met last week with Mark Penn, the former pollster and political strategist to the last President to be impeached, Bill Clinton.

Trump met with Penn in the Oval Office last Monday alongside Vice President Mike Pence and adviser Kellyanne Conway, two sources familiar with the meeting said. During the meeting, Penn went over polling data and doled out impeachment advice to Trump.

Penn advised Trump not to respond to every aspect of the impeachment proceedings and counseled him to follow Clinton’s lead by focusing on his day job of governing and traveling the country while impeachment consumes Washington. The Washington Post first reported on the Trump-Penn meeting.

Penn went to the White House at the urging of former New York City Council President and Trump friend Andrew Stein, who also attended the meeting.

Stein said that Trump listened intently as Penn went over polling data and shared some advice stemming from his experience with the Clinton impeachment, but said he was unsure if Trump would ultimately follow the advice.

“Donald is his own adviser,” Stein said. “But he’s asking a lot of people for their advice.”

Penn told CNN that the meeting did not mean he was working for Trump or advising him going forward.

“I am not in any way working for Donald Trump and not counseling him,” Penn said in an email on Tuesday.

Still, the meeting is not the first time Trump and Penn have met. Penn also visited Trump at the White House in February alongside Andrew Stein, a friend of Trump’s and a former New York City Council president, the New York Times reported at the time.

Though he is a former Clinton adviser, Penn has drifted to the right in recent years and has publicly praised Trump and was a vocal critic of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

President Trump joked about the impeachment inquiry as he pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys — named Bread and Butter — at the White House this year.

He claimed that House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff wants to talk to the birds.

“They’ve already received subpoenas to appear in Adam Schiff’s basement on Thursday. It’s true,” Trump joked, alluding to GOP criticism that the first part of the House impeachment inquiry featured depositions behind closed doors.

Trump continued:

Throughout the impeachment inquiry, President Trump has defended himself, claiming he hardly knows some of the witnesses Democrats have brought forward.

Watch the moment:

The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled its first impeachment hearing next week as the House moves another step closer to impeaching President Trump.

The committee announced that it would hold a hearing on Dec. 4 on the “constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment,” which will have a panel of expert witnesses who will testify “on the application of the constitutional framework of high crimes and misdemeanors to the very serious allegations regarding the conduct of the President,” according to a Democratic aide.

The committee, in a letter to Trump, said the President or his counsel have been invited to attend the hearing or ask to question witnesses.

House Democratic aides said today that White House counsel will be able to participate in the hearing. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler, plans to send a letter to the President today notifying him of the hearing and the ability of his counsel to question witnesses.

The aides declined to say what additional hearings they would be scheduling as part of the impeachment proceedings.

The Democratic aides said the first hearing would be a “legal hearing” that would include some history of impeachment, as well as evaluating the seriousness of the allegations and the evidence against the President.

The hearing announcement comes as the House Intelligence Committee plans to release its report summarizing the findings of its investigation to the House Judiciary Committee soon after Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess next week.