So much happened, here’s a roundup.
It looks like we have about two more weeks of depositions, and then we’ll love into the public hearing portion of the proceedings.
Tomorrow the House will vote on procedures and regulations going forward. The proposed rules for the Judiciary Committee are here.
I found this one interesting:
It makes sense to me. Trump can’t hide documents AND call in his own witnesses.
Also, consider how it all worked out for the Democrats (and how much it hurt Trump) when all those witnesses refused to testify. The Democrats didn’t have to deal with hostile (or adverse) witnesses, and the witnesses likely to lie for Trump didn’t show up.
Today’s Testimony
Two State Department Foreign Service Officers testified today. Their statements are here.
They add a few new details to the story we already have.
Nov. 25, 2018: When Russia attacked and seized Ukrainian military vessels heading to a Ukrainian port, Christopher Anderson (State Dept. Foreign Service Officer) prepared a statement condemning Russia for its escalation.
The White House blocked the statement from being released.
Catherine Croft (the State Dept. foreign Service Officer who replaced Anderson in July) testified that she received multiple calls from lobbyist Robert Livingston telling her that Ambassador Yovanovich should be fired.
Livingston characterized Yovanovich as an “Obama holdover” and associated her with Soros. Croft passed along the messages to her boss, Fiona Hill and George Kent.
June 13: Anderson attended a meeting with Bolton. Bolton was in favor of strengthening a US-Ukrainian partnership, but “cautioned that Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the President on Ukraine which would be an obstacle to increased White House engagement.”
June 18: At a meeting attended by Perry and Anderson, the group discussed how to address Giuliani’s continued call for a corruption investigation. They agreed on the importance of not calling for any specific investigations.
July 1-2: In Kiev, at a meeting attended by Anderson and Volker, Zelenskyy pushed for a date for the White House visit. Volker urged him to schedule a call with Trump to build a relationship and increase the chance of securing a date for the visit.
We all know what happened during that call. To sort all this out, I have been keeping notes. As a service, I made my notes public. You can see the entire timeline here.
So you can see how this new info fits into the narrative, the new stuff from today is in red.
Here’s a timeline of what has happened so far in the impeachment inquiry.
Trump’s Defense?
This evening, Giuliani posted this:
It looks to me like Trump’s defense will be something like this: Yes, all the testimony is accurate: Giuliani was in Ukraine conducting foreign policy as my personal lawyer to advance my own personal interests (and to debunk Mueller findings)— but there is nothing wrong with that.
