THE NEWS THREAD (New Readers Start at Post 20)

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Part 2 (September 11-17, 2019):

September 11, 2019:

Trump ordered Mick Mulvaney to have NOAA repudiate a tweet by weather forecasters that contradicted his statement that Hurricane Dorian posed a significant threat to Alabama . Mulvaney then called Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to tell him to have the forecasters disavow their position that Alabama was not at risk. Ross, in turn, threatened to fire top employees at NOAA if the situation was not addressed. Trump, meanwhile, denied ordering Mulvaney to direct Ross to pressure NOAA to rebuke scientists who contradicted his hurricane claim, saying “I never did that — I never did that,” dismissing the situation as “a hoax by the fake news media.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology opened an investigation into Ross pressuring the acting administrator of NOAA into supporting Trump’s false claim about Hurricane Dorian . The committee also demanded documents and information related to the unsigned statement that NOAA issued that was perceived as rebuking its own scientists for contradicting Trump’s claim that Dorian would hit Alabama “harder than anticipated.” (New York Times)

The Trump administration will not grant temporary protected status to Bahamians displaced by Hurricane Dorian . Temporary protected status would have let Bahamians work and live in the U.S. until it is deemed safe to return home. (NBC News)

Trump’s trade war with China has reduced U.S. employment by 300,000 jobs through a combination of eliminated jobs by companies struggling with tariffs and jobs that would have been created but weren’t because of reduced economic activity. Moody’s Analytics forecasts that the job toll from the trade war will hit about 450,000 by the end of the year, if there are no changes in policy. (Yahoo Finance)

Trump called on the “boneheads” at the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to “ZERO, or less” and again blamed the Fed for a slowing U.S. economy. Trump also called on the Fed to “start to refinance our debt” despite there being no modern precedent for the refinancing of federal debt. The U.S. is currently $22.5 trillion in debt, $16.7 trillion of which is owed by the public. The federal debt burden has grown by 13% – $2.6 trillion – under Trump, due in part to the 2017 tax cut Trump pushed through Congress. (CNBC / Washington Post / Politico)

Trump tweeted “never forget” to mark the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terror attacks, but after first attacking the “Amazon Washington Post/ABC” over an unfavorable poll , which he called a “phony suppression poll.” Trump also tweeted about the Federal Reserve and pressuring it to lower interest rates, congratulating Republicans in a North Carolina special election, and ranting about China and his trade war. (HuffPost)

September 12, 2019:

The Trump administration repealed Obama’s landmark clean water protections that had placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands, and other bodies of water . The Obama-era Waters of the United States rule was designed to limit pollution in about 60% of the nation’s bodies of water, protecting sources of drinking water for about one-third of the U.S., and extended existing federal authority to limit pollution in large bodies of water. The EPA plans to also establish a stricter legal definition of what qualifies as “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act before the end of the year. The existing rules would be replaced with a much narrower definition of the types of tributaries, streams, and wetlands that are subject to protections. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CBS News)

The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can continue to deny most Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. while a legal battle over the issue plays out in the lower courts . The Court issued a brief, unsigned order that says the administration can enforce new rules that generally refuse asylum applications from migrants who failed to apply for it in another country after leaving home but before arriving at the southern border. For instance, migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador cannot seek asylum in the U.S. if they didn’t first ask for it in Mexico. A separate lawsuit to overturn the new rules is still working its way through the lower courts. (New York Times / NBC News / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)

The Trump administration discussed offering China a limited trade agreement that would delay or roll back some U.S. tariffs increases set to take effect in October and December in exchange for Chinese commitments on intellectual property and agricultural purchases. Several of Trump’s top economic officials are reportedly trying to resurrect the deal they were previously negotiating with China that officials said was “90 percent” done. A senior White House official, however, said the U.S. is “absolutely not” considering an interim trade deal with China. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC)

The FBI and other federal agencies accused Israel of placing cell phone surveillance devices near the White House within the past two years . The devices were likely intended to spy on Trump, according to senior U.S. officials, but it is unclear whether the attempts were successful. When Trump administration officials heard about the surveillance devices, however, they didn’t rebuke Israel, which is usually the case when incidents of foreign spying are discovered on U.S. soil. A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy called the claims “absolute nonsense,” and insisted that “Israel doesn’t conduct espionage operations in the United States, period.” (Politico)

The Justice Department recommended indicting former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over his alleged “lack of candor” during an internal watchdog probe in 2017. McCabe authorized the FBI to investigate possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election. The grand jury hearing the case was recalled this week after going months without meeting but left without revealing any immediate signs of an indictment. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / CNN / New York Times)

The House Judiciary Committee approved a resolution defining the rules for its impeachment investigation into Trump . The measure also triggers a House rule that gives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler the ability to deem committee hearings as impeachment hearings, allowing staffers to question witnesses for an hour at the end of every hearing, gives Trump’s lawyers the ability to respond in writing to public testimony, and allows the committee to collect information in secret “executive sessions.” The Judiciary Committee believes it has identified five areas of potential obstruction in Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, in addition to the hush-money payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump, and allegations that Trump has used his public office to benefit his private business. The resolution passed along party lines, 24-17. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Reuters)

September 13, 2019:

A federal appeals court revived a previously-dismissed lawsuit that accused Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause . The lawsuit claimed that Trump’s “vast, complicated and secret” business arrangements violate the Emoluments Clause, which bars presidents from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the permission of Congress. The case was originally dismissed by a lower-level federal judge in December 2017. Earlier this year, Trump won a separate emoluments suit by the Democratic attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia when the case was dismissed by another federal appeals court’s. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Axios)

Trump plans to pay for his border wall using funds from more than four dozen Air Force construction projects poses a variety national security risks , according to a report composed by the Air Force. Some of the affected Air Force projects include money for a project to build facilities to store more than $1 billion in munitions at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, replacing a boiler at a base in Alaska, “whose failure is ‘imminent’” and could result in the evacuation of the base, a new entry-control point at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey to protect troops, and construction in support of the European Defense Initiative, a program to boost U.S. military presence and discourage Russian aggression. (NBC News / Axios)

The Air Force sent crews to Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland on 40 different occasions since 2015 . That number is much higher than previously known, and it represents the preliminary results of an Air Force review launched last week after news reports about the Air Force sending crews to Trump’s properties. The preliminary tally does not indicate how many of the stays at Trump properties occurred since Trump became president, but the Air Force significantly increased the number of stops in Scotland under Trump after signing a deal with the Prestwick Airport at the end of the Obama administration. (Politico)

Trump is not planning to name Mike Pompeo as national security adviser while also keeping him as Secretary of State . Trump confirmed that he spoke to Pompeo about the idea, but said that Pompeo “likes the idea of having somebody in there with him, and I do, too.” Trump said he has 15 other candidates in mind to replace John Bolton, who Trump fired as national security adviser earlier this week. (Politico)

The U.S. is preparing to send 150 troops to patrol northeastern Syria . Trump announced a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria last December, but the new troop deployment is part of an expanding series of military and diplomatic steps the U.S. has taken in recent weeks to defuse tensions with Turkey, which opposes U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish fighters. The U.S. currently has around 1,000 troops in Syria. (New York Times / The Hill)

Ivanka Trump told a crowd of high-end donors that she got her moral compass from her father after being asked to name the personality traits she inherited from her parents. Ivanka said that Melania gave her an example of how to be a powerful, successful woman. (Politico)

Trump complained that energy efficient light bulbs make him “always look orange.” Trump also complained that energy-efficient light bulbs are “many times more expensive than that old incandescent bulb.” (CNN / Mediaite)

September 16, 2019:

The Manhattan District Attorney subpoenaed eight years of Trump’s “personal and corporate tax returns” as part of its investigation into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Trump and his company reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 Cohen he paid Stormy Daniels just before the election to buy her silence about an affair she had with Trump. Cyrus Vance’s office is exploring whether the reimbursements violated New York state laws and whether the Trump Organization falsely accounted for the reimbursements as a legal expense. The subpoena was served last month to Mazars USA, which prepares Trump’s tax returns. (New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Axios)

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee accused the acting director of national intelligence of withholding a whistleblower complaint in order to protect a “higher authority” official . Adam Schiff said Joseph Maguire, the acting DNI, consulted the Justice Department about the whistleblower complaint prior to his decision to withhold the complaint – a departure from standard practice. Schiff added that the Committee “can only conclude, based on this remarkable confluence of factors, that the serious misconduct at issue involves the President of the United States and/or other senior White House or Administration officials.” (Business Insider / CBS News)

A previously unreported story about Brett Kavanaugh in college echoes Deborah Ramirez’s allegation that he pulled down his pants at a party and thrust his penis at her , prompting her to swat it away and inadvertently touch it. Former Yale classmate Max Stier told senators and the FBI last year about a separate episode where Kavanaugh had his pants down at a dorm party while his friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. The FBI failed to investigate the incident Stier described. During his Senate testimony, Kavanaugh said that if the incident had occurred, it would have been “the talk of campus.” Senate investigators at the time also concluded that Ramirez’s account lacked corroboration. However, at least seven people corroborated the incident before Kavanaugh became a federal judge, including two classmates who heard about it days after the party occurred. Ramirez’s lawyers also gave the FBI a list of at least 25 people who may have had corroborating evidence. The bureau declined to interview any of them. (New York Times)

A Democratic senator told FBI Director Christopher Wray last fall of the sexual misconduct allegation against Kavanaugh by Max Stier . In a letter to Wray, Sen. Christopher Coons said “several individuals,” including Stier, contacted his office wanting to share information with federal authorities about Kavanaugh, but said they had “difficulty reaching anyone who will collect their information.” The FBI supplemental background investigation into Kavanaugh did not include Stier’s allegation. (Washington Post / Los Angeles Times / Axios)

Several Democratic presidential candidates called for Kavanaugh to be impeached after new information about Ramirez’s allegations of sexual misconduct became public . Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Julián Castro called for Kavanaugh to be impeached after the authors of a new book wrote that they had found new corroboration for accusations that Kavanaugh exposed himself to Ramirez, a classmate at Yale. (New York Times / CBS News / NBC News / Washington Post)

Trump tweeted that Kavanaugh should “start suing people” or the Department of Justice “should come to his rescue.” Trump also accused news outlets of trying to “scare [Kavanaugh] into turning Liberal!” and that he should sue people for “liable” – misspelling the word “libel.” (Politico / CNBC)

The House Judiciary Committee is negotiating to secure Jeff Sessions’ testimony as part of its impeachment investigation of Trump . Democrats on the committee hope Sessions’ appearance will help bolster the inquiry, especially since Sessions has had a turbulent relationship with Trump. An attorney for Sessions said the former attorney general will not agree to testify unless he is subpoenaed. (Washington Post)

Trump threatened military action in response to an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities . Trump said the U.S. is “locked and loaded” and ready to respond, but was waiting to consult with Saudi officials before taking any action. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, however, blamed Iran, calling the incident “an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply.” He insisted that there was “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.” A senior Trump administration official said Iran launched nearly a dozen cruise missiles and over 20 drones from its territory in the attack on a Saudi oil facility. In response to the attack, Saudi Arabia cut its daily oil output in half. Trump responded by saying, “We don’t need Middle Eastern Oil & Gas,” but said the U.S. “will help our allies!” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Reuters)

September 17, 2019:

The Trump administration will revoke California’s right to set stricter air pollution standards for cars and light trucks than those required by the federal government . In July, California reached an agreement with Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW to support the state’s right to set its own fuel efficiency standards and to voluntarily produce cars averaging nearly 50 mpg by model year 2026. The rollback of California’s waiver will also affect 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which follow California’s emissions regulations. Last summer, the EPA proposed weakening fuel economy standards put in place by the Obama administration by freezing standards at roughly 37 mpg from 2020 to 2026. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the state intends to strike back with a lawsuit, which is expected to go to the Supreme Court. (Los Angeles Times / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)

Trump ordered two former White House aides not to testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing about Trump’s possible obstruction of justice . The White House asserted immunity for Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn, who were subpoenaed to appear in front of the committee today. Trump also ordered his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, not to answer questions about anything that happened after Trump was elected and to not provide any information beyond what is already in the Muller report. (CNN / Reuters / New York Times)

Corey Lewandowski refused to answer dozens of questions about potential obstruction of justice during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Presidential Obstruction of Justice and Abuse of Power.” Lewandowski did confirm that Trump asked him to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the scope of the Russia investigation, but he claimed he was never asked to do anything illegal. As the hearing started, Lewandowski demanded that Democrats read him the section of the Mueller report they were referring to. Democrats then gave Lewandowski a copy, who proceeded to read directly from the report. Republicans, meanwhile, forced a series of procedural votes. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / NBC News)

Lewandowski Hearing Transcript:

https://www.rev.com/blog/corey-lewandowski-house-testimony-transcript-opening-statement-full-transcript
Trump administration officials suggested charging immigrants $975 to appeal an immigration judge’s deportation ruling and $895 to request the Board of Immigration Appeals reconsider a case, according to a draft Department of Justice regulation. The current fee to apply for each of these requests is $110. (BuzzFeed News)

Construction of Trump’s border fence could damage or destroy up to 22 archaeological sites within Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument . The administration plans to convert an existing five-foot-high vehicle barrier to a 30-foot steel structure that could cause irreparable harm to the unexcavated remnants of Sonoran Desert people. (Washington Post)

Some Air Force crews that stayed at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland stayed for multiple nights and were given gifts during their stays . The resort gave high-ranking officers “Pride Pins,” which are reserved for VIP members. Low-ranking airmen received other gifts and welcome packages, including Scottish shortbread and other treats. Instead of being restricted to single-night refueling stops, Air Force crews sometimes stayed for multiple nights while the weather cleared up or their planes were repaired. (Politico)

Trump wants to put a proponent of torture in charge of U.S. human rights policy . Marshall Billingslea, who currently serves as assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing, was involved in Bush-era torture as a senior Pentagon official. During this tenure, Billingslea advocated for the use of torture techniques against the advice of top military lawyers, dismissed protests against the use of torture by the Army’s Judge Advocate General, and advocated for Donald Rumsfeld to approve more torture tactics than Rumsfeld had already approved. If confirmed, Billingslea would become the top U.S. executive branch official directly responsible for human rights policy: undersecretary of State for civilian security, democracy and human rights. (Politico Magazine)

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Part 3 (September 18-23, 2019):

September 18, 2019:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of having carried out an “act of war” with strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia . Trump, however, pushed back against American military response in the Middle East, saying wars are “very easy to start,” but that “there are many options. There’s the ultimate option and there are options a lot less than that.” U.S. military leaders have, however, presented Trump with a range of options for a retaliatory strike against Iran, including a cyber attack or a strike on Iranian oil facilities. Another option includes a strike by Saudi Arabia, with the U.S. providing intelligence, targeting information, and surveillance capabilities, but the U.S. refraining from actually firing any weapons. Other options include strikes on missile launch sites, bases, or other assets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. There are currently no indications that any U.S. military action is imminent. Pompeo was scheduled to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the attack and “coordinate efforts to counter Iranian aggression in the region.” (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / NBC News)

Trump directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “to substantially increase” U.S. sanctions on Iran . Trump’s comment came after Iranian news agencies reported that Iran had warned the U.S. that it would retaliate against any attacks. Trump later told reporters that his administration will “be adding some very significant sanctions” on Iran within the next two days and that he’s got time to devise a “dastardly” response to the attacks on Saudi oil facilities. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg)

The White House fired the Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel . John Mitnick will be replaced by Joe Maher, principal deputy general counsel. Mitnick’s job was to push back against policies that could put Homeland Security in a legally dubious position, such as the time the White House proposed releasing migrants into sanctuary cities to send a message to Democrats who opposed his immigration agenda. Mitnick was fired in part due to his opposition to Stephen Miller and his immigration policies. (New York Times / CNN)

The acting director of national intelligence refused testify before Congress or hand over a whistleblower complaint to lawmakers . The complaint was submitted on Aug. 12 by a member of the intelligence community involving conduct by someone “outside the intelligence community” who does not involve intelligence activity under the supervision of Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence. Maguire had told Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, that he would not provide the complaint “because he is being instructed not to” by “a higher authority” who is “above” the cabinet-level position of the director of national intelligence. (New York Times)

Trump picked the State Department’s top hostage negotiator to be his fourth national security advisor . Robert C. O’Brien will replace John Bolton and has no known experience managing an organization the size of the National Security Council. By Trump’s recounting, O’Brien won him over in part by praising him in the job interview and in tweets. Trump also dispatched O’Brien to help free rapper A$AP Rocky from Swedish prison earlier this year. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNBC)

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point – the second time since July . Officials also left the door open for another rate cut this year if the economy continues to weaken. Major U.S. stock exchanges dropped after the decision was announced. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has been publicly pressured by Trump to reduce rates to “ZERO or less.” The Federal Open Market Committee again cited “the implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures” as the primary rationale for the cut. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)

Trump criticized Powell and the Fed for having “no ‘guts,’” saying they “Fail[ed] Again.” Trump has previously called the Fed policymakers “boneheads” for not lowering rates to help boost economic growth. At one point he asked whether Fed Chair Jerome Powell or China’s president was “our bigger enemy.” (Bloomberg)

The military has spent nearly $200,000 at Trump’s Turberry golf resort in Scotland since 2017 . The spending paid for the equivalent of hundreds of nights of rooms over approximately three dozen separate stays since August 2017. The Air Force also confirmed last week that its crews had stayed up to 40 times at Trump’s property since 2015. (Politico)

September 19, 2019:

The whistleblower complaint by an intelligence officer was triggered by a “promise” Trump made to a foreign leader and involves a series of actions that goes beyond any single discussion. The formal complaint was filed with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who “determined that this complaint is both credible and urgent.” The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, however, has refused to turn it over to Congress. While it’s unclear to whom Trump was speaking at the time, White House records show Trump spoke to or interacted with Putin, Kim Jong Un, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the Emir of Qatar in the five weeks prior to the complaint being filed on August 12th. Trump, meanwhile, denied that he made any “promise” to a foreign leader, calling the formal complaint “Presidential Harassment!” and rhetorically asking if there is “anybody dumb enough to believe that [he] would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / NBC News)

The White House and the Justice Department both advised the director of national intelligence that the whistleblower complaint is outside intelligence activities . The Office of the Director of National Intelligence told lawmakers on September 13th that the complaint “involves confidential and potentially privileged communications by persons outside the Intelligence Community.” ODNI also noted that the agency would work toward “protecting Executive Branch confidentiality interests.” (CNN)

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff threatened to sue the Trump administration over its refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint that involves Trump’s interactions with a foreign leader. Schiff accused the White House and Justice Department of “trying to manipulate the system” to prevent the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, from sharing the complaint with Congress. Schiff issued a subpoena for the complaint last week, which Maguire has refused to turn over. (Politico / Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News / )

Trump sued his accounting firm and the New York district attorney to block eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns from being sent to state prosecutors . Trump’s lawyers argued that he cannot be criminally investigated while in office, because the Constitution effectively makes sitting presidents immune from all criminal inquiries until they leave the White House. Cyrus Vance’s office issued a subpoena last month to Trump’s accounting firm Mazars USA, which said in a statement this week that it “will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations.” Vance’s office is investigating the hush money payments made during the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, both of whom have alleged affairs with Trump, which he has denied. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Axios)

A federal judge temporarily blocked a California law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the primary ballot . U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. said he’d issue a final ruling in the coming days but took the unusual step of issuing a temporary injunction, saying there would be “irreparable harm without temporary relief” for Trump and other candidates. (Los Angeles Times / ABC News / Politico / Axios)

Mitch McConnell will now back a measure to provide states with an additional $250 million in election security funding . McConnell and Senate Republicans have repeatedly blocked Democratic efforts to bring election security legislation to the floor, including a measures that would have authorized funding to update voting equipment. (Washington Post / Politico)

The latest Fox News poll shows Trump losing to every Democratic frontrunner including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris. 52% of voters said they would support Biden if the 2020 election were held today to 38% who said they’d support Trump. 48% would support Sanders, 46% would support Warren, and 42% would support Harris, while 40% would support Trump. (Fox News / Newsweek)

September 20, 2019:

Trump pressured the leader of Ukraine eight times to investigate Joe Biden’s son . Trump used a July 25th phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky to repeatedly pressure the recently elected leader to work with Rudy Giuliani on an investigation that Trump believed would deliver political dirt against Biden. Trump told Zelensky that Ukraine could improve its reputation and “interaction” with the United States by investigating a Ukrainian gas company with ties to Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of directors. In June and August, Giuliani met with top Ukrainian officials about the prospect of an investigation. Toward the end of August, the White House considered blocking $250 million to support Ukraine’s military in its war against Russian-backed separatists. On Sept. 12, however, that funding was released. Separately, lawmakers have been investigating whether Trump or Giuliani tried to pressure the Ukrainian government to pursue probes in an effort to benefit Trump’s re-election bid. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast / CNN)

The whistleblower complaint about Trump made by an intelligence official involves Ukraine . In late July – two and a half weeks before the complaint was filed – Trump told Ukraine’s new president that he could improve Ukraine’s reputation and its “interaction” with the United States by investigating “corruption.” The complaint involved communications with a foreign leader and a “promise” that Trump made. (New York Times / Washington Post)

Rudy Giuliani denied asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden immediately before admitting that he actually had . In an interview on CNN, Chris Cuomo asked Giuliani if he had pressed Ukrainian officials to pursue investigations into Biden’s son. “No, actually I didn’t. I asked Ukraine to investigate the allegations that there was interference in the election of 2016 by the Ukrainians for the benefit of Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani said. “You never asked anything about Hunter Biden? You never asked anything about Joe Biden and the prosecutor?” Cuomo asked again. Giuliani replied that the “only thing” he asked was how the prosecutor got dismissed. “So you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden,” Cuomo said. “Of course I did,” Giuliani said. (CNN / Washington Post)

Trump dismissed the whistleblower complaint involving his conversations with Ukraine as a “ridiculous,” “partisan” attack . He then admitted that he didn’t know the identity of the whistleblower, but called a “political hack job” anyway. Trump then added that “It doesn’t matter what I discussed [with Ukraine’s president], but I’ll tell you this, somebody ought to look into Joe Biden’s statement.” Trump also defended his July conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky as “totally appropriate” while characterizing the conversation as “beautiful.” (Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)

California and 22 other states filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from blocking California’s authority to set emission standards for cars and trucks . Earlier this week, Trump revoked California’s authority, contending that the waiver was improperly granted because greenhouse gases don’t cause specific local or regional problems linked to traditional pollutants, like soot and smog. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)

Trump imposed terror-related sanctions on Iran’s central bank and sovereign wealth fund following the attacks on Saudi oil facilities , which the U.S. has blamed on Iran. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new sanctions would cut off the last source of funds for Iran. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

Trump suggested that he could end the Afghanistan war “very quickly” but it’d require killing “tens of millions” of people . Trump made a similar claimed in July, saying he could win nearly 19-year war “in a week,” but didn’t want to go that route, because “I just don’t want to kill 10 million people.” (Washington Post)

The Trump administration signed an asylum agreement with El Salvador . The deal could force Central American migrants who pass through El Salvador to first seek asylum there or be sent back to the country once they reach the U.S. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios)

September 23, 2019:

Trump admitted that he discussed getting dirt on Joe Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that he is withholding the whistleblower complaint from Congress . Trump pressed Zelensky to dig up potentially damaging information against Biden during a July 25th phone call, baselessly accusing the former vice president of corruption related to his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine and whether they affected his diplomatic efforts. Trump said that “it doesn’t matter” what he discussed with Zelensky and that while the he would “love” to release a transcript of the call, “you have to be a little bit shy about doing it.” Trump’s phone call with Zelensky occurred while Ukraine was awaiting $250 million in security aid, raising the possibility Trump was attempting a quid pro quo arrangement. The phone call led to the whistleblower complaint from within the intelligence community due to a “promise” that Trump made to Ukraine. Trump eventually agreed to release the money after coming under bipartisan pressure from Congress and immediately before the existence of the whistleblower complaint was revealed. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Bloomberg / CNN)

Trump insisted that he did “absolutely nothing wrong” and denied that he had withheld security aid from Ukraine in an effort to pressure its president to investigate Biden’s family . Trump repeated his debunked corruption claims against Biden and accused the media of being “crooked as hell” for not reporting the false accusations as fact. Trump added that “If a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair probably right now.” Earlier, Trump defended his “perfect” conversation with the Ukrainian President about investigating Biden’s family, saying there was “no quid pro quo, there was nothing.” Trump previously suggested that he had withheld military aid from Ukraine because he wanted to “make sure that country is honest” and “If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?” (Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / New York Times)

Rudy Giuliani “can’t say for 100%” that Trump didn’t threaten to cut off aid to Ukraine over an investigation into discredited allegations against Biden and his son . Trump asked Zelensky “about eight times” in the call to work with Giuliani to investigate the former vice president’s son Hunter over his past role with a Ukraine-based natural gas company. Throughout the spring and summer, Giuliani pressed the Ukrainian government behind the scenes to renew an investigation into Hunter Biden, gathering information about Biden and briefing Trump on his findings. (Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC / Washington Post)

The White House is considering whether to release the transcript of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian President . Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, however, said that releasing the transcript would set a “terrible precedent” and be “highly inappropriate,” because Trump said “he said nothing inappropriate.” (CNN / Talking Points Memo / HuffPost / The Hill)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Trump’s “grave new chapter of lawlessness” will “take us into a whole new stage of investigation” if acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire fails to deliver the whistleblower complaint when he testifies in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the House may have now have “crossed the Rubicon” when it comes to impeachment. Schiff added that “There is no privilege that covers corruption. No privilege to engage in underhanded discussions,” and that the “only remedy” to such behavior is impeachment. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Axios)

[nunnehi]

Part 4 (September 24-26, 2019):

September 24, 2019:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump . Pelosi told House Democrats in a closed door meeting she will support a formal impeachment inquiry, believing that Trump pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son and his administration’s subsequent refusal to share the whistleblower report with Congress has left the House with no alternative but to move forward with an inquiry. “It would be my intention with the consent of this caucus … to proceed with an impeachment inquiry,” Pelosi said. “He is asking a foreign government to help him in his campaign, that is a betrayal of his oath of office.” As of Tuesday afternoon, at least 166 Democrats supported some type of impeachment action — more than two-thirds of the 235-member caucus. Pelosi and top Democrats have privately discussed the creation of a special select committee – similar the one created in 1973 to investigate the Watergate scandal – to conduct the impeachment inquiry, rather than leaving the task with the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats are also discussing a resolution condemning Trump’s interaction with his Ukrainian counterpart to put lawmakers on the record. Trump, meanwhile, called the allegations a “witch hunt” and said impeachment will be “a positive for me in the election.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / The Guardian / The Hill)

Trump ordered Mick Mulvaney to withhold more than $391 million in military aid from Ukraine days before he pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden’s son . Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, passed the order through the budget office to the Pentagon and the State Department during an interagency meeting in mid-July, explaining that Trump had “concerns” about whether or not the aid was necessary. White House officials were ordered to tell lawmakers that the delays in funding were part of an “interagency process,” but were instructed to give them no additional information. Trump – despite confirming that he did indeed discuss Biden with Ukraine’s president – denied that he withheld aid from Ukraine in an attempt to press President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden, saying “No, I didn’t — I didn’t do it.” Trump also argued that releasing the transcript of the phone call public would set a bad precedent. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / Associated Press / Reuters)

Trump admitted that he withheld military aid from Ukraine, but blamed it on the United Nations for not contributing more to the Eastern European nation , naming Germany and France among the countries that should “put up money.” Trump also suggested he did nothing wrong, because “As far as withholding funds, those funds were paid. They were fully paid.” Trump told reporters that in addition to Mulvaney, he also told Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to hold the funds to encourage other nations to pay, but claimed, “there was no quid pro quo. There was no pressure applied, nothing.” Trump added that despite trailing the leading Democratic candidates in most polls, “I’m leading in the polls and they have no idea how to stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Reuters)

Trump authorized the release of the “complete, fully declassified and unredacted” transcript of the July phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he allegedly brought up investigating Biden and his son. Trump insisted that the call was “totally appropriate” and pledged to release the full text on Wednesday. (NBC News / Washington Post) / New York Times / Reuters)

The whistleblower has requested to speak to both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees . Adam Schiff said the whistleblower’s lawyer informed him the official “has requested guidance” from the acting Director of National Intelligence on his appearance, with potential testimony taking place “as soon as this week.” The Senate, meanwhile, opened its own inquiry and is seeking to interview the whistleblower who filed the initial complaint with the intelligence community’s inspector general. It was not immediately clear whether the White House will agree to let the official be questioned. (Axios / Politico / Yahoo! News)

The Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for the whistleblower’s complaint to be transmitted to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees . The GOP-controlled Senate approved the nonbinding but symbolic resolution put forward by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling on the Trump administration to immediately provide the two intelligence committees with a copy of the whistleblower complaint involving Trump. (Axios / Washington Post / New York Times)

Ukraine will likely pursue the cases that Trump pressured Zelensky to look into . Valentin Nalyvaichenko, the former head of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency and a member of Ukraine’s parliament, said the country will pursue an investigation related to Burisma gas company’s alleged multimillion-dollar corruption deals, but not because of Trump’s pressure. Rather, Ukraine wants to know whether the founder, Ukraine’s ex-minister of natural resources, had paid to quash earlier investigations into the way he acquired gas licenses. Nalyvaichenko said Ukraine should also be interested in an investigation into the “black ledger” that recorded slush-fund payments to Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. (Daily Beast)

September 25, 2019:

Trump urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to “do us a favor” and “look into” potential corruption by Joe Biden’s son , according to the White House readout of the July 25th call. Trump told Zelensky he’d have Attorney General William Barr and Rudy Guiliani contact him and help Ukraine “figure it out” and “get to the bottom of it.” Trump, before asking Ukraine to investigate Biden’s son, reminded Zelensky that the U.S. sends security aid to Ukraine. Trump also asked Zelensky to investigate Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election as it related to Ukraine, as well as to investigate whether he could locate a hacked Democratic National Committee computer server that contained some of Hillary Clinton’s emails. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico / NPR / CNN / ABC News / CNBC / HuffPost)

The White House released the whistleblower complaint against Trump to the House and the Senate intelligence committees , according to Richard Burr and Devin Nunes. The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, until now had blocked Congress from seeing the complaint. Separately, White House officials are working with intelligence officials on a deal to allow the whistleblower to speak with congressional investigators. (CNN / Business Insider / New York Times / CBS News / Politico / NBC News)

The acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign if he was not allowed to testify freely before Congress on Thursday about the whistleblower complaint regarding Trump’s conduct according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Joseph Maguire warned the White House that he was not willing to withhold information from Congress, forcing the White House to make a legal decision on whether it was going to assert executive privilege over the whistleblower complaint. McGuire later denied reports that he threatened to resign, saying that “at no time have I considered resigning my position since assuming this role on Aug. 16, 2019.” The White House also disputed the account. (Washington Post / CNBC)

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee called on Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself from overseeing any Justice Department’s involvement from any Ukraine-related investigations . “The President dragged the Attorney General into this mess,” Jerry Nadler tweeted. “At a minimum, AG Barr must recuse himself until we get to the bottom of this matter.” (The Hill / Reuters / The Week)

The House passed a resolution formally condemning Trump for initially refusing to share the whistleblower complaint . The nonbinding resolution criticizes the “unprecedented and highly inappropriate efforts” to question the whistleblower’s credibility. The vote was 421 to 0 with two lawmakers voting present. More than 200 members of the Democratic caucus — nearly enough to form a majority of the House — had embraced impeachment proceedings. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)

Trump called Nancy Pelosi shortly after she announced the start of a formal impeachment proceeding to see if they could “figure this out.” Pelosi replied: “Tell your people to obey the law.” Trump also told Pelosi that he wasn’t responsible for the whistleblower complaint being withheld from Congress. (Business Insider / Mediate / Washington Examiner / The Week / Newsweek)

The White House accidentally emailed House Democrats a list of proposed talking points intended for Trump allies about how to spin Trump’s July phone call with Zelensky . The White House then emailed Democrats a follow-up email recalling the message. (CNN / Washington Post)

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the U.N. General Assembly today in New York . The pre-planned meeting with Zelensky comes less than 24 hours after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House would begin a formal impeachment inquiry. Senior White House officials said Trump is planning to congratulate Zelensky on his latest election win and his “energy and success” so far when it comes to fighting corruption in Ukraine. Trump is also expected to bring up “his concerns about what he sees as some predatory Chinese economic activity in Ukraine.” (Axios / Washington Post / The Guardian / USA Today / CNBC)

Support for impeachment is at 36% – down one percentage point from last week . 49% of respondents say Congress should not begin impeachment proceedings against Trump, also down a point from last week. (Politico)

September 26, 2019:

The whistleblower complaint accused Trump of “abus[ing] his office for personal gain” by “[soliciting] interference” from Ukraine in the 2020 election and that the White House took steps to cover it up . Multiple White House officials were reportedly “deeply disturbed” by Trump’s July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and tried to “lock down” all records of the call. The complaint notes that White House lawyers were “already in discussion” about “how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials’ retelling, that they had witnessed the president abuse his office for personal gain.” White House lawyers “directed” officials to “remove the electronic transcript from the computer system” for Cabinet-level officials and instead put them on a computer system “used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature” that is managed by the National Security Council Directorate for Intelligence Programs. According to White House officials who informed the whistleblower, this was “not the first time” a transcript was put on the computer system reserved for code-word-level intelligence information due to concerns about politics, rather than national security. The whistleblower also described Rudy Giuliani as a “central figure in this effort,” which includes attempts at “pressuring a foreign country to investigate the President’s main domestic political rivals.” The complaint adds: “Attorney General William Barr appears to be involved as well.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press)

The acting Director of National Intelligence defended his decision not to immediately share the whistleblower complaint with Congress . Joseph Maguire told members of the House Intelligence Committee that he asked White House lawyers about the “urgent” whistleblower complaint involving Trump, saying it “seemed prudent” since conversations with foreign leaders are typically subject to executive privilege. Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community and a Trump-appointee, deemed the complaint “urgent” and credible. Maguire, however, consulted with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which determined that the complaint did not meet the legal definition of “urgent” because it did not involve a member of the intelligence community and therefore fell outside his jurisdiction. Maguire also dodged questions about whether he spoke with Trump about the complaint, saying “My conversations with the president, because I’m the director of national intelligence, are privileged.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)

Trump accused the whistleblower of being “close to a spy” and threatened that “in the old days” spies were dealt with “a little differently than we do now,” while labeling the complaint an act of “treason.” Speaking at a private event in New York, Trump repeatedly referred to the whistleblower and condemned the news media reporting on the complaint as “crooked” “scum.” Trump also sent three dozen tweets and retweets defending himself over a two-hour period Thursday morning, warning Americans that the stock markets would crash if congressional Democrats impeach him and claiming that “OUR COUNTRY IS AT STAKE!” (New York Times / Los Angeles Times / NBC News / Politico)

The whistleblower is a C.I.A. officer who was detailed in the White House at one point . The man has since returned to the C.I.A., but his complaint suggests he was an analyst by training with an understanding of Ukrainian politics. The C.I.A. officer did not work on the communications team that handles calls with foreign leaders, but learned about Trump’s conduct “in the course of official interagency business.” (New York Times)

The whistleblower agreed to testify about the complaint to Congress , but only if Maguire gives the whistleblower’s attorney the proper clearances to accompany their client. “This is a reasonable request that the Committee strongly supports and expects your office to fulfill immediately,” Adam Schiff wrote in a letter to Maguire. (CNN)

Zelensky told Trump during the July phone call that he had stayed at Trump Tower in New York . “Actually, last time I traveled to the United States, I stayed in New York near Central Park, and I stayed at the Trump Tower,” Zelensky told Trump, according to a rough transcript of the July 25 call. It’s the first known example of a foreign leader trying to influence Trump by spending money at his properties and telling him about it. Other Ukrainian officials have also patronized Trump properties: A top Zelensky aide met Rudy Giuliani at Trump’s D.C. hotel in July. A lobbyist who registered as an agent of Zelensky’s with the U.S. government hosted a $1,900 event at the D.C. hotel in April. (Washington Post)

Trump’s part-time envoy for Ukraine set up an introduction between Giuliani and Zelensky so they could talk about having Ukraine investigate Joe Biden and his son . Ambassador Kurt Volker, who also worked at a lobbying firm that continued to represent the Government of Ukraine for almost two years after he started as special envoy, contacted Giuliani and put him “in direct contact” with Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Zelensky. The two eventually met face-to-face in Spain. Giuliani said he never received a security clearance to meet with Yermak in Spain. (NBC News)

A majority of the 435 members of the House of Representatives support impeachment proceedings against Trump . 218 lawmakers — 217 Democrats and Rep. Justin Amash — have indicated their support for some form of impeachment action. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)

43% of voters support beginning impeachment proceedings to remove Trump from office – up 7 points since last week. Among those voters who support impeachment now, 59% said Trump committed an impeachable offense. (Morning Consult)

[nunnehi]

Part 5 (September 27-October 1, 2019 [Congress leaves for recess on September 27, 2019):

September 27, 2019:

The White House and the Justice Department learned about the whistleblower complaint against Trump before the formal complaint was passed from the intelligence community . The whistleblower, reportedly a CIA officer, lodged the formal complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community on Aug. 12th. The whistleblower also shared information about potential abuse of power and a White House cover-up with the CIA’s top lawyer, Courtney Simmons Elwood, through an anonymous process. Elwood, following policy, told White House and Justice Department officials on Aug. 14th that she received anonymous information detailing concerns about a call between Trump and a foreign leader. The following day, John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, went to the White House to review a rough transcript of the call. Demers alerted the deputy attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, and Brian Benczkowski, the head of the department’s criminal division, to discuss how to handle the information. The Justice Department then blocked sending the whistleblower complaint to Congress. The inspector general presented the matter to the acting director of national intelligence on Aug. 26th. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

National Security Council attorneys directed the White House to move the Ukraine transcript to a highly classified system . The whistleblower said that moving the record of the call was unusual, because it was “used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive level” and evidence that “White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired” during the conversation. According to the whistleblower, “one White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.” The White House, meanwhile, claimed that because the transcript was already classified, there was nothing wrong with moving it to a highly classified system that contained intelligence secrets and military plans. (CNN / Associated Press)

The House foreign affairs, intelligence and oversight committees subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents related to Trump’s interactions with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky . The subpoena demands that Pompeo provide documents by Oct. 4th and was accompanied by a plan to also depose five State Department officials, including Ambassador Kurt Volker and Marie Yovanovitch. Volker reportedly arranged for Rudy Giuliani to meet with high-level Ukrainian officials, and Yovanovitch was removed as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine by Trump. In a joint letter to Pompeo, the chairmen of the three committees said a “failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry.” (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)

Two House committees requested information from the White House justifying why nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was suspended as Trump was pressing the country to investigate Joe Biden. In a letter sent by the House Appropriations Committee and the House Budget Committee to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, lawmakers said they were concerned that actions by the OMB to withhold military aid for Ukraine were “an abuse of the authority provided to the president to apportion appropriations.” (Wall Street Journal)

The House Intelligence Committee will continue working through a scheduled two-week congressional recess that ends Oct. 15th . The Intelligence Committee expects to have a hearing as soon as next Friday. (Politico / CNN)

Support for impeachment among Democrats jumped up 13 percentage points – from 66% to 79% – since the last poll . The general public is now evenly split between the 43% who think Congress should begin the impeachment process and 43% who don’t. 13% of voters remain undecided. (Politico / Morning Consult)

September 30, 2019:

Trump called the whistleblower “a fraud,” suggested that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff be arrested for “Treason,” and warned of a “civil war-like fracture” in America if he’s removed from office . Trump accused Schiff of “illegally” misrepresenting him during acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire’s testimony last week, saying “It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?” Trump also called for Schiff to be “questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason.” In a series of tweets, Trump retweeted a conservative evangelical pastor’s warning that a “civil war-like fracture” in America would happen “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / The Guardian / Reuters / Associated Press / USA Today / CNN)

The House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani for Ukraine-related documents as part of their impeachment inquiry . In a letter to Giuliani, the heads of three House committees asked for information going back to January 2017 related to efforts to get Ukraine’s government to investigate the Biden family, noting “a growing public record” of information appearing “to have pressed the Ukrainian government to pursue two politically-motivated investigations.” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings also said they are investigating “credible allegations” that Giuliani “acted as an agent of the president in a scheme to advance his personal political interests by abusing the power of the office of the president.” The chairmen gave Giuliani until Oct. 15th to comply. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)

Attorney General William Barr privately met overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking help in a Justice Department investigation that Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election . Barr previously met with British intelligence officials, and last week traveled to Italy to ask the Italians to assist John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who is tasked with reviewing CIA and FBI activities in 2016. It was not Barr’s first trip to Italy to meet intelligence officials. (Washington Post)

Trump pressured Australia’s prime minister to help Barr gather information for a Justice Department investigation into the origins of the Mueller investigation . Trump initiated the discussion – with Barr’s knowledge and at his suggestion – in recent weeks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison explicitly for the purpose of requesting Australia’s help in the Justice Department review that Trump believes will show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins. Similar to the call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion with Morrison shows Trump using high-level diplomacy to advance his personal political interests. The White House restricted access of the transcript to a small group of Trump’s aides. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / Associated Press)

The White House restricted access to Trump’s calls with Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman . With Putin, access to the transcript of at least one of Trump’s conversations were restricted, though it’s not clear if aides placed the Russian phone calls in the same highly secured electronic system that held the phone call with Ukraine’s president. There were no transcripts made of the phone conversations between Trump and the Saudi king or crown prince, which came as the White House was confronting the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The CIA concluded that bin Salman personally ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)

The attorney for the intelligence community whistleblower said he has “serious concerns” that Trump’s comments could put his client “in harm’s way.” On Sunday, Trump claimed that he “deserves to meet my accuser,” who he referred to as a “so-called ‘Whistleblower’” that had “represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way.” And, earlier today, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “we’re trying to find out” the identity of the whistleblower. In a letter to Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s lead attorney, said Trump’s call for “the person who gave the whistleblower the information” to be publicly identified “have heightened our concerns that our client’s identity will be disclosed publicly and that, as a result, our client will be put in harm’s way.” Bakaj also wrote that “certain individuals” had issued a $50,000 bounty for anyone with information relating to the whistleblower’s identity. (NBC News / New York Times / Axios / CNN / USA Today / Axios)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 25th phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . Pompeo said that he hadn’t yet read the whistleblower’s complaint, but claimed that actions by State Department officials had been “entirely appropriate and consistent” with the Trump’s administration efforts to improve relations with Ukraine. Three House committees subpoenaed Pompeo on Friday for documents related to the inquiry. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian)

Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he wasn’t concerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election , because the U.S. did the same in other countries. A memorandum summarizing the meeting was limited to select officials with the highest security clearances in an attempt to keep Trump’s comments from being disclosed publicly. (Washington Post)

The State Department’s special envoy to Ukraine resigned . Kurt Volker tendered his resignation to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday – hours after three House committees announced that he was among the State Department officials who would be compelled to testify. The committees are expected to examine Volker’s role in facilitating contacts between Rudy Giuliani and Ukrainian officials on Trump’s behalf this past summer. The unidentified intelligence official who filed the whistleblower complaint that brought the president’s actions to light identified Volker as one of the officials trying to “contain the damage” by advising Ukrainians how to navigate Mr. Giuliani’s campaign. The whistleblower also said Volker was one of the officials trying to “contain the damage” to U.S. national security from Giuliani’s foreign policy efforts. Volker plans to appear at his deposition next Thursday in front of the Intelligence, Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs committees. (The State Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)

Mitch McConnell said the Senate would have “no choice” but to put Trump on trial and vote on removing him from office if the House votes to pass articles of impeachment , addressing doubts he may circumvent Senate procedures. The Republican-held Senate, however, is unlikely to vote to convict Trump and remove him from office. The Constitution gives the Senate the power to try the president if he is impeached by the House, but it does not set a timetable for the process. (CNBC / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Yahoo News / Reuters)

55% of Americans approve of the impeachment inquiry into Trump , while 45% disapprove. 87% of Democrats approve of the inquiry, while 23% of Republicans feel the same. (CBS News)

47% of voters think Trump should be impeached and removed from office , while 47% disagree. (Quinnipiac)

47% of Americans support impeaching Trump and removing him from office , while 45% disagree. (CNN)

October 1, 2019:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told House Democrats that the five State Department officials scheduled depositions before the committees conducting the impeachment inquiry would not appear . Pompeo characterized efforts to depose officials as “an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly, the distinguished professionals of the Department of State.” Chairmen of the Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees responded to Pompeo, saying that “any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress – including State Department employees – is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry.” Four of the five officials scheduled to be deposed over the next two weeks – Ambassador Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch, Ambassador Kurt Volker, Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and Ambassador Gordon Sondland – were mentioned in the whistleblower complaint. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios)

The State Department’s inspector general is expected to give an “urgent” briefing on Ukraine to several House and Senate committees tomorrow regarding documents obtained from the Office of the Legal Adviser concerning the State Department and Ukraine. The briefing, expected to be conducted by Steve Linick, will be held in a secure location on Capitol Hill during a congressional recess, suggesting that it’s connected to the whistleblower complaint. [ Editor’s note: This was late breaking news. More tomorrow! ] (ABC News)

Trump asked why he was not “entitled to interview” the whistleblower despite laws designed to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers – a day after Trump said the White House was trying to find out the person’s identity. The whistleblower said he heard of the July 25 call with Ukraine’s president from multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of it, who said Trump was pressuring the Ukrainian leader to advance his own political interests, and that White House officials acted to conceal evidence of the president’s actions. In a tweet, Trump asked: “Why aren’t we entitled to interview & learn everything about the Whistleblower, and also the person who gave all of the false information to him.” The tweet prompted Michael Atkinson, the Trump-appointed intelligence community inspector general, to clarify that there is no requirement in federal law that a whistleblower possess first-hand knowledge of alleged misconduct. Atkinson added that he determined the whistleblower “had official and authorized access to the information and sources referenced in the complainant’s letter and classified appendix, including direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct, and that the complainant has subject matter expertise related to much of the material information provided.” The whistleblower is expected to testify before the House Intelligence Committee as soon as early next week. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

The White House upgraded the security of the National Security Council’s top-secret codeword system in the spring of 2018 to prevent leaks . The changes included a new log of who accessed documents in the NSC’s system. The White House began using the codeword system to restrict the number of officials who had access to transcripts following leaks in 2017. (Politico)

Lawyers for the House of Representatives believe that Trump lied to Robert Mueller about his knowledge of his campaign’s contacts with WikiLeaks , citing the grand jury redactions in the Mueller report. The attorneys made the suggestion in a court filing as part of the Judiciary Committee’s attempts to obtain the grand jury materials. The filing says the materials not only reveal Trump’s motives for obstructing Mueller’s probe, but “they also could reveal that Trump was aware of his campaign’s contacts with WikiLeaks.” To back up their claims, the legal team cited a passage in Mueller’s report about Paul Manafort’s testimony where he “recalled” Trump asking to be kept “updated” about WikiLeaks’ disclosures of DNC emails. (Politico)

Rudy Giuliani hired a former Watergate prosecutor to represent him in the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment investigation . Giuliani tapped Jon Sale after the committee issued a subpoena on Monday demanding details about Guiliani’s interactions with Trump administration officials. Giuliani will continue to represent Trump. (Politico / Axios)

54% of voters say the House should cancel its current two-week recess and begin impeachment proceedings immediately , while 46% disagree. (The Hill)

45% of voters believe Trump should be impeached – up 8 points since last week – while 41% believe he shouldn’t be impeached and 15% said they don’t know. (Reuters/Ipsos)

44% of Americans feel that Trump should be impeached and forced to leave office , while 52% disagree with this course of action. Trump’s overall job rating stands at 41% approve while 53% disapprove – similar to his 40% to 53% rating in August. (Monmouth University Polling Institute)

[nunnehi]

Part 6 (October 2-3, 2019):

October 2, 2019:

The House threatened to subpoena the White House if it doesn’t comply with its request for documents related to Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son . House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings notified committee members that the subpoena will be issued Friday, citing the White House’s “flagrant disregard” of previous requests for documents. Cummings said the committee has “tried several times to obtain voluntary compliance with our requests for documents” over the last several weeks, but the White House hasn’t responded. Separately, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said that any efforts by Trump and his administration to stonewall or interfere with their investigation “will be considered as evidence of obstruction of justice.” Schiff joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi in condemning Trump’s tweets and his demand to “meet” the whistleblower, calling it “a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses” and “an incitement of violence.” Later in the day, Trump argued that whistleblowers should only be protected if they’re “legitimate.” (New York Times / ABC News / Axios / Associated Press / CNBC)

Trump complained that House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is “BULLSHIT” that’s “wasting everyone’s time.” Trump also called Adam Schiff a “low life,” and a “dishonest guy” who “couldn’t carry” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “blank strap” – an apparent reference to a “jock strap.” Trump also blamed the impeachment inquiry for declines in the stock market and suggested staffers were inappropriately listening in on his phone calls. Trump’s tweets came after he suggested that the impeachment inquiry amounted to an attempted coup. At a joint news conference later in the day with Finland’s president, Trump attacked reporters who asked about the impeachment inquiry, calling it a hoax and a fraud, but said he would cooperate with the inquiry, claiming: “I always cooperate.” (NBC News Reuters / Washington Post / Talking Points Memo)

Trump repeatedly involved Pence in his efforts to pressure the Ukraine president at a time when Volodymyr Zelensky was seeking recognition and support from Washington . In May, Trump instructed Pence not to attend Zelensky’s inauguration, and, months later, Trump had Pence tell Zelensky that U.S. aid was being withheld while demanding for an investigation Biden and his son. Officials close to Pence insist that he wasn’t aware of Trump’s efforts to press Zelensky for damaging information. One of Pence’s top advisers, however, was on the July 25th call and should have had access to the transcript within hours. (Washington Post)

The whistleblower first contacted the House Intelligence Committee for guidance before sending the complaint to the Trump administration . Adam Schiff learned about the outlines of the whistleblower’s concerns that Trump had abused his power days before the whistleblower filed the complaint. Schiff’s office denied seeing the complaint in advance, but it also explains how Schiff knew to press for the complaint when the Trump administration initially blocked lawmakers from seeing it. Trump – without evidence – claimed that Schiff “probably helped write” the whistleblower complaint, calling Schiff “a shifty dishonest guy” and the complaint “a scam.” An attorney representing the whistleblower said that no one from House Intelligence Committee helped the whistleblower write their complaint. (New York Times / CNN)

Trump threatened to personally sue people involved in Mueller’s investigation into Russian inference in the 2016 election . While Trump did not name names, he said “I probably will be bringing litigation against a lot of people having to do with the corrupt investigation into the 2016 election. And I have every right to.” Guiliani, meanwhile, texted a reporter to say they plan to sue “The swamp. Trump v The Swamp.” When asked how he plans to sue “The Swamp,” Guiliani replied: “In federal court.” (Reuters / Vanity Fair / The Guardian)

Mike Pompeo admitted that he was on the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when Trump asked Zelensky to have Ukraine investigate Joe Biden and his son. “I was on the phone call,” Pompeo said during a news conference in Rome with Italy’s foreign minister. Pompeo’s admission was the first time he confirmed that he was on the call — after previously evading questions about what he knew about the conversation and news reports that revealed he was on the call. (CNN / New York Times)

Trump called Boris Johnson to ask for help discrediting the Mueller investigation . On July 26th – two days after the prime minister took office and one day after Trump spoke to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky – Trump called Johnson to ask for help gathering evidence to undermine the investigation into his campaign’s links to Russia. Attorney General William Barr arrived in London days after Trump’s call with Johnson and told British officials that he believed that information from British agencies led to the Mueller investigation. (The Times / The Daily Beast)

The Justice Department told the White House that they must preserve all notes regarding Trump’s meetings and phone calls with foreign leaders . In a two-page filing, the Justice Department told a judge in Washington that the Trump administration and executive office of the president “voluntarily agree […] to preserve the material at issue pending” litigation. The question of preserving the information arose in federal court following government transparency and historical archivist groups’ emergency request to maintain the notes from the Trump-Volodymyr Zelensky July 25th call, as well as other Trump discussions with world leaders. (CNN / Washington Post)

46% of voters said Congress should begin impeachment proceedings to remove Trump from office , compared to 43% who said they should not. 56% of voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance. (Politico)

40% of Republicans do not believe that Trump mentioned the possibility of an investigation into Biden during his call with the Ukraine president even though Trump acknowledged that he had . (Monmouth University Poll / USA Today)

October 3, 2019:

Trump urged China to investigate Joe Biden and his son despite already facing impeachment for using the office of the presidency to press Ukraine to investigate a political rival . Trump said he hadn’t directly asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to investigate the Bidens, but it’s “certainly something we could start thinking about.” Trump, Pence, and Attorney General William Barr have now solicited help from Ukraine, Australia, Italy, Britain, and China for assistance in discrediting Trump’s political opponents. Trump also doubled down on pressuring the Ukrainian president, saying that “if it were me, I would recommend that [Ukraine] start an investigation into the Bidens.” Trump’s efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate Biden in a July phone call set off the impeachment inquiry by House Democrats, who are looking at whether Trump abused the power of his office for political gain. (New York Times / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / Axios / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post)

Trump brought up both Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren during a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on June 18th . The White House record of the call was moved to the highly secured electronic system used to also store the phone call with Ukraine’s President. In that call, Trump also told Xi he would remain quiet about the Hong Kong protests as trade talks progressed. (CNN)

House investigators questioned the State Department’s former special envoy for Ukraine behind closed doors about his interactions with the Ukrainians and Rudy Giuliani . The whistleblower’s complaint alleged that Kurt Volker went to Kiev to advise the Ukrainians on how to “navigate” Trump’s demands and put Giuliani in touch with Zelensky aides. The House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees wanted to know what Volker knew – and when – about Giuliani’s work in Ukraine, Trump’s decision to withhold $391 million in security assistance while pressing for investigations into political rivals, and the Trump administration’s decision to recall the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Volker shared a September 9th text exchange with Congress in which Bill Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, alluded to Trump’s decision to freeze a military aid package to the country. Taylor told Gordon Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union and Volker: “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Volker resigned last week and has not been accused of taking part in Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine. (New York Times / ABC News / NBC News)

Two of Trump’s top envoys to Ukraine drafted a statement in August that would have committed Ukraine to investigating Hunter Biden . The statement, drafted by Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, would have also committed the Ukrainian government to look into what Trump and Giuliani believe was interference by Ukrainians in the 2016 election to benefit Hillary Clinton. The statement was written with the awareness of a top aide to the Ukrainian president, as well as Giuliani, but it’s unclear if it was delivered to Zelensky. (New York Times)

Giuliani personally gave Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a file of documents of unproven allegations against Biden on March 28th and claimed that he was told that the State Department would take up an investigation of those claims. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick gave Congress the 79-page packet Wednesday, which included nearly 20 pages of communications between State Department employees working to push back against the “fake narrative” that Giuliani was pushing. Linick told Congress that the department’s office of legal counsel had provided the documents to him in May, which he gave to the FBI. The documents were in Trump Hotel folders and included “interview” notes Giuliani conducted with Viktor Shokin, the former General Prosecutor of Ukraine who was pushed out at the urging of Biden because he didn’t prosecute corruption. (NBC News / CNN)

Giuliani was told that Ukrainian claims about the Bidens’ alleged misconduct were not credible . Volker told House investigators that he tried to caution Guiliani that his sources were unreliable and that he should be careful with believing stories by Shokin, Ukraine’s former top prosecutor. Trump and Giuliani contend that, as vice president, Biden pushed for the firing Shokin as part of a corrupt plot to stop investigations into a Ukrainian natural gas company that employed Biden’s son Hunter. (Washington Post)

Giuliani consulted with Paul Manafort through the federal prisoner’s lawyer about Ukraine . Giuliani was seeking information about a so-called “black ledger” to support his theory that the real story of 2016 was not Russian interference to elect Trump, but Ukrainian efforts to support Hillary Clinton. (Washington Post)

An Internal Revenue Service official filed a whistleblower complaint that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of either Trump’s or Pence’s tax returns . The whistleblower, a career official at the IRS, confirmed that he filed a formal complaint and sent it to the tax committee chairs in both houses of Congress and to the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration on July 29th. The existence of the complaint was revealed in a court filing months ago, but little about it has become public. (Washington Post)

45% of Americans support a vote by the House of Representatives to impeach Trump . Similarly, 44% said the Senate should convict Trump and remove him from office. (USA Today)

[nunnehi]

Part 7 (October 4-8, 2019):

October 4, 2019:

Text messages reveal how two U.S. ambassadors coordinated with Rudy Giuliani and a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to leverage a potential White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky into persuading Kiev to publicly commit to investigating Joe Biden . The House Intelligence Committee released the documents and text messages provided by Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine, which show Volker and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland repeatedly stressing that a White House meeting depended on getting the Ukrainians to agree to the exact language that Zelensky would use in announcing an investigation. In August, Volker proposed to Sondland that they have Zelensky cite “alleged involvement of some Ukrainian politicians” in interference in U.S. elections when announcing an investigation. Democrats say the texts are clear evidence that Trump conditioned normal bilateral relations with Ukraine on that country first agreeing “to launch politically motivated investigations.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Reuters / USA Today)

The CIA’s general counsel made a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the whistleblower’s allegations that Trump abused his office weeks before the complaint became public . Courtney Simmons Elwood first learned about the matter because the whistleblower, a CIA officer, passed his concerns about Trump on to her through a colleague. In a Aug. 14 conference call, Elwood told John Eisenberg, the top legal adviser to the White House National Security Council and the chief of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, John Demers, that the allegations merited examination by the Department of Justice. Attorney General William Barr was made aware of the call with Elwood and Eisenberg. Later, Justice Department officials said they didn’t consider the conversation a formal criminal referral because it was not in written form. The Justice Department later declined to open an investigation. (NBC News)

The Treasury Department’s inspector general is investigating how the department handled requests for Trump’s tax returns , which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to turn over. Acting Inspector General Rich Delmar said he will investigate who was consulted and how the department came to reject Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal’s demands for the records. Neil’s committee received information from a federal employee at the end of July alleging that there was “possible misconduct” and “inappropriate efforts to influence” the presidential audit program. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)

Trump blocked Sen. Ron Johnson in August from telling Ukraine’s president that U.S. aid was on its way . Johnson raised the issue with Trump in a phone call on Aug. 31, shortly before the senator was due to meet with Zelensky. In the call, Trump rejected the notion that he directed aides to make the nearly $400 million military aid to Ukraine contingent on Kiev investigating the 2016 presidential election and Biden. Johnson said he learned of a potential quid pro quo from Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Trump ordered the hold on the military aid a week before his July 25 call with Zelensky. (Wall Street Journal / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office is now reviewing a criminal case involving the owner of a natural gas company that employed Biden’s son . Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka said he intended to review 15 cases in all, including investigations of wealthy Ukrainians, like the owner of the natural gas company Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden served on the board until earlier this year. Ryaboshapka said the decision to review the closed cases came after he took office in August – after a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ryaboshapka didn’t say how long the audit would last, but at a news conference in Kiev he said “the key words were not Biden and not Burisma.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)

House Democrats subpoenaed the White House for documents about Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukrainian officials to target his political rivals . The subpoena was sent to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney by three Democratic committee chairmen, who now has a two-week deadline of Oct. 18 to comply with the document demand. “Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena, including at the direction or behest of the President or others at the White House, shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you and the President,” wrote chairmen Elijah Cummings, Adam Schiff, and Eliot Engel. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / Axios)

House Democrats demanded that Pence turn over documents as part of their impeachment investigation into Trump and his call with the Ukrainian president . A letter from the chairmen of the House committees on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight requested all of Pence’s records related to Trump’s calls with Zelensky, his communications about the calls with federal agencies, and Trump’s decision to cancel Pence’s trip to Zelensky’s inauguration in May. Pence has until Oct. 15th to comply. (CNN / The Guardian / CNBC)

The White House plans to reject Democrats’ request for documents as part of the impeachment inquiry , arguing that until there is a formal vote by the House to begin impeachment proceedings, Congress doesn’t have the right to the information. (NBC News)

Energy Secretary Rick Perry will step down from his post by the end of the year, pledging to cooperate with lawmakers investigating a whistleblower’s allegations about Trump’s communications with Zelensky . Perry met with Zelensky at least three times while in office. Perry is expected to return to the private sector once he resigns in November. He is among the longest-serving members of Trump’s Cabinet. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)

The Pentagon’s chief legal officer ordered Defense Department agencies to identify, preserve, and collect all documents related to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative , which included the $250 million in military aid to Ukraine that the Trump Administration froze in June. (CNN)

Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department have intervened in lawsuits where Trump has personally sued those investigating him . The department recently took Trump’s side in a federal lawsuit against the Manhattan district attorney attempting to block a subpoena for Trump’s tax returns. In other cases, the Justice Department supported Trump’s attempt to block a House Oversight Committee subpoena to his accountants, Mazars USA, seeking his tax returns, and subpoenas to two of Trump’s banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One, seeking documents related to his loans. (Washington Post)

The Supreme Court agreed to review a restrictive Louisiana abortion law that requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles . The Louisiana law, enacted in 2014, would leave the state with only one doctor eligible to perform abortions. The requirement is similar to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016, finding it posed an undue burden on a woman’s constitutional right to access an abortion. A decision is expected in the summer of 2020. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News)

Iranian hackers targeted Trump’s re-election campaign . Earlier in the day, Microsoft said that hackers, with backing from Iran’s government, had attempted to identify, attack, and breach 241 email accounts associated with current and former U.S. government officials, journalists, prominent Iranians outside Iran, and one U.S. presidential campaign. Microsoft said it had seen “significant cyber activity” from a group it believes “originates from Iran and is linked to the Iranian government,” who made more than 2,700 attempts to identify e-mail addresses between August and September. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)

October 7, 2019:

Trump announced that he plans to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria and allow the Turkish military to launch an attack against Kurdish militias in the area . Trump made the decision Sunday evening during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Early Monday morning, the 50–100 special forces troops currently operating in northeastern Syria received an urgent, unexpected alert ordering them to pull back from their posts in preparation for “departing the field.” The move surprised not just U.S. Kurdish partners in the fight against ISIS in northeastern Syria, but also senior officials at the Pentagon, State Department, and White House, as well as U.S. lawmakers from both parties. U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe were also unaware of Trump’s decision until after he agreed to pull the troops out during his call with Erdogan. On Twitter, Trump warned Turkey not to do “anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits,” during any military incursion against the Kurds or he will “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!).” (New York Times / NBC News / USA Today / Associated Press / NPR / CBS News / The Independent)

Leaders from both parties publicly criticized Trump for breaking promises the U.S. made to the Kurds by pulling U.S. troops out of the region . Lindsey Graham said the decision was “devastating for the good guys” and warned that “to abandon our Kurdish allies and turn Syria over to Russia, Iran, & Turkey will put every radical Islamist on steroids.” Mitch McConnell cautioned that a “precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime.” In response, Trump defended himself at a press conference where he said he was merely fulfilling a campaign promise by withdrawing U.S. forces, reminding reporters that he “got elected on that.” He added that the U.S. is “not a police force,” and reiterated that he “fully understand[s] both sides but I promised to bring our troops home.” (Washington Post / Axios / Fox News / Politico / Al Jazeera English / The Intercept / Associated Press / NPR)

Another whistleblower has come forward regarding Trump’s dealings with Ukraine . Attorneys representing the first whistleblower say “multiple” whistleblowers have come forward and that they are now representing at least one other whistleblower. “I can confirm that my firm and my team represent multiple whistleblowers in connection to the underlying August 12, 2019, disclosure to the Intelligence Community Inspector General,” Andrew Bakaj said in a tweet. The second whistleblower is also someone who works in the intelligence community and has already spoken to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson, but they have not yet filed a complaint. The newest whistleblower has “first-hand knowledge” that supports the allegations outlined in the original complaint, according to Mark Zaid, another member of the original whistleblower’s legal team. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / New York Times / The Guardian / NBC News)

The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees subpoenaed the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Management and Budget for documents related to Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son . The committees want to know whether Trump froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure its government to investigate Biden and his son over unsubstantiated corruption allegations. The agencies are required to turn over the documents by Oct. 15. (New York Times / Yahoo! News / Reuters / Axios)

Trump blamed Energy Secretary Rick Perry for his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . He told House Republicans that he made the call to Zelensky at the urging of Perry, claiming that he never wanted to make the call in the first place and that “the only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to.” Until now, Trump has repeatedly referred to his call with Zelensky as a “perfect phone call” and has insisted that he did nothing wrong. (Axios)

A federal judge rejected an argument from Trump’s legal team that sitting presidents are immune from criminal investigations, allowing the Manhattan district attorney’s office to subpoena eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns . In a 75-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero called Trump’s argument “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values,” and said that a president’s families and businesses are not above the law. In response, Trump’s lawyers filed an emergency notice of appeal in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted Trump a temporary administrative stay pending an expedited review of the case by a panel of the 2nd circuit. (Bloomberg / Yahoo! Finance / WNYC / Washington Post)

October 8, 2019:

A new bipartisan Senate report found that Russian actors were directed by the Kremlin to help Trump win the 2016 presidential election . The Senate Intelligence Committee released the 85-page report, which is the second volume of the committee’s investigation into election interference by Moscow. The report concludes that Russia deliberately singled out African Americans and the black community as prominent targets of its disinformation and social disruption campaign. “By far,” the panel concluded, “race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016.” The report’s findings mirror those of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s own report from earlier this year, which also found that the Kremlin directed Russian actors to help Trump win in 2016. The Senate report also includes recommendations for Congress: it urges lawmakers to pass new legislation to increase the transparency of political advertisements on social media and calls on Congress to examine “whether any existing laws may hinder cooperation and whether information sharing should be formalized” between U.S. counter-interference efforts. (The Hill / Daily Beast / NBC News / The Independent / Reuters / Washington Post / Politico)

The Trump administration ordered the U.S. ambassador to the European Union not to appear before House lawmakers for a planned deposition as part of the impeachment inquiry. Lawmakers want information about Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s activities related to Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his son. Sondland said he was willing and happy to testify, but he did not appear as scheduled this morning after he was ordered not to by the State Department. Sondland’s attorney said that, as a State Department employee, Sondland had no choice but to comply with the order. House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff called the White House’s move to block Sondland from testifying “further acts of obstruction of a coequal branch of government.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / CNBC)

The White House announced it will not cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry, calling it an illegitimate and partisan effort “to overturn the results of the 2016 election.” White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent an eight-page letter to House Democratic leaders, declaring the impeachment inquiry a violation of historical precedent. The letter says the inquiry represents such an egregious violation of Trump’s due process rights that neither Trump nor the executive branch will willingly participate by providing testimony or documents going forward. The letter was sent hours after the State Department blocked Gordon Sondland from appearing at a deposition in front of House Democrats, and it sets the stage for a constitutional crisis between the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News / Associated Press)

House Democrats plan to subpoena Sondland in order to compel him to testify and provide emails and text messages from one of his personal devices . The device and the corresponding documents and texts have already been turned over to the State Department, which has refused to release them to the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry. Trump said on Twitter that he “would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really good man and great American, to testify,” but Trump won’t let him because he “would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s [sic] rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public to see.” (Washington Post)

A White House aide who listened in on Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the call as “crazy,” “frightening,” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security,” according to a memo written by the whistleblower at the center of the Trump-Ukraine scandal. The memo was written a day after the call took place, and it says the official who listened to the call was “visibly shaken by what had transpired.” The memo also says White House attorneys were already trying to figure out how to deal with documentation from the call, because they knew “the president had clearly committed a criminal act by urging a foreign power to investigate a U.S. person for the purposes of advancing his own re-election bid.” (New York Times / ABC News)

Turkey’s vice president said his country would “not react to threats,” as it prepares to attack U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria . The statement comes a day after Trump warned Turkey via Twitter that he would “totally destroy and obliterate” Turkey’s economy if Turkish forces do anything that Trump “considers to be off limits” during the attack on the Kurds. “When it comes to the security of Turkey,” Vice President Fuat Oktay said in a speech, “as always, our president emphasized Turkey will determine its own path.” Erdogan and other Turkish officials have suggested for days that the military incursion could begin at any moment, and troop convoys have already started staging at the Syrian border. (Washington Post)

A majority of Americans support House Democrats’ decision to launch an impeachment inquiry against Trump . Nearly half of all adults also say the House should take the additional step of recommending that Trump be removed from office. (Washington Post / Schar School)

A majority of Americans say the allegations that Trump asked a foreign leader to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden are serious and need to be fully investigated. They also believe Trump hasn’t been honest and truthful about his actions, but are divided mostly along partisan lines when it comes to removing Trump from office: 43% supporting his removal given what they know today, while 49% oppose it. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

[nunnehi]

Edited To Change Congressional return from recess from October 14, 2019 to October 15, 2019.

Part 8 (October 9-11, 2019 [Congress returns from recess on October 15, 2019]):

October 9, 2019:

Turkey launched a bombing campaign against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria following Trump’s decision to abruptly withdraw U.S. forces from the region. The attacks are aimed at crushing Kurdish militias, which have been fighting for their independence from Turkey. The Turkish bombing campaign, which is being conducted in coordination with the Syrian National Army, immediately drew criticism and calls for restraint from European leaders. Kurdish-led forces in the area have been key U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his military is targeting both Kurdish fighters and ISIS extremists. “The Turkish Armed Forces,” Erdogan tweeted, “together with the Syrian National Army, just launched #OperationPeaceSpring against PKK/YPG and Daesh [Isis] terrorists in northern Syria.” (New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / The Guardian)

Trump invited Erdogan to visit the White House a day after giving Turkey the green light to attack the Kurds. Trump defended his decision on Twitter and insisted that “in no way have we abandoned the Kurds,” whom he described as “special people and wonderful fighters.” Trump also brought up the trade relationship between the U.S. and Turkey. “So many people conveniently forget,” he tweeted, “that Turkey is a big trading partner of the United States, in fact they make the structural steel frame for our F-35 Fighter Jet.” Trump said Erdogan will visit the White House on Nov. 13. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / MarketWatch / Washington Post / MSNBC)

Trump ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry and two top State Department officials to deal directly with Giuliani when setting up a May 23 meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump . Trump said that if Zelensky wanted to meet with him, they should circumvent official diplomatic channels and go strictly through Giuliani. Giuliani’s role in setting up Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was more direct than what was disclosed last week by one of the meeting’s participants in his statement to the House. (CNN)

American diplomats who pushed for the restoration of U.S. security aid to Ukraine were told by the White House to downplay the release of the money once it was finally approved . “Keep moving, people, nothing to see here,” wrote the acting deputy assistant secretary overseeing issues in Europe and Eurasia in a Sept. 12 email. The previously unreported internal State Department emails reveal that diplomats were frustrated with the unexpected freeze on funding that had already been approved by Congress. (New York Times)

A new book by journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy reveals another 43 allegations of inappropriate behavior by Trump, including 26 previously unreported allegations of unwanted sexual contact . The book, “All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator,” includes an allegation by Karen Johnson that Trump committed what amounts to an attack on her at a New Year’s Eve party in the early 2000s. Johnson says she was on her way to the bathroom when she was “grabbed and pulled behind a tapestry, and it was him.” Johnson says Trump grabbed her, pulled her close to him, “and he just kissed me.” (VICE / Esquire)

October 10, 2019:

Two men who worked with Giuliani to find damaging information about Biden and his son have been charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws that prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to U.S. campaigns . Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are two key subjects in the House’s impeachment inquiry. They were indicted and accused of making “secret agreements” to hide the fact that they were laundering foreign money into U.S. campaigns through a range of corporate identities by using “straw donors” to make the contributions. Parnas and Fruman allegedly used the agreements to hide their scheme from candidates and federal regulators. The indictment alleges that on one occasion, they lobbied a then-sitting member of Congress at the request of “one or more Ukrainian officials.” (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters / Associated Press / NBC News)

Trump and Giuliani pressured then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a meeting in 2017 to persuade the DOJ to drop a criminal case against one of Giuliani’s clients . The client was an Iranian-Turkish gold trader named Reza Zarrab, who was facing federal prosecution in New York on charges of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program. Zarrab also had ties to top Turkish government officials. Tillerson refused to help Trump and Giuliani make the case go away, arguing that doing so would be illegal and constitute interference in an ongoing investigation. Tillerson told then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly about the incident during a conversation in the hallway after the meeting ended, emphasizing that following through with Trump’s request would be a crime. “Suppose I did talk to Trump about it,” Giuliani said after initially denying that he ever raised Zarrab’s case with Trump. “So what?” Giuliani was not Trump’s personal lawyer at the time Trump made the request. (Bloomberg / CNN / Esquire / Vanity Fair)

Trump gave a politically appointed official the authority to withhold nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine after career staff at the Office of Management and Budget questioned the legality of delaying the funds. Trump shifted the authority over the funds to Michael Duffey, who serves as associate director of national security programs at OMB. The aid in question is at the center of the House’s impeachment inquiry, and it was put on hold just days before the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Duffey was also allowed to oversee the apportionment of funds for other foreign aid and defense accounts. “It is absurd to suggest,” said an OMB spokesperson in a statement, “that the president and his administration officials should not play a leadership role in ensuring taxpayer dollars are well spent.” (Wall Street Journal)

Rick Perry was subpoenaed by the House as part of the impeachment inquiry into Trump . The three House committees conducting the inquiry gave Perry until Oct. 18 to turn over “key documents” related to Trump’s Ukraine dealings. The committees want him to turn over a series of documents related to Perry’s knowledge of Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, which Perry reportedly encouraged Trump to make. The House also wants to know whether Perry tried to press the Ukrainian government to make changes to the advisory board of its state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz. (The Guardian / Fox News / Politico / Washington Post)

Trump said he “does not endorse” Turkey’s military offensive in Syria , despite giving Turkey the green light to launch the attack and withdrawing U.S. forces from the region. Trump released a statement and claimed that he “does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea.” He also called on Turkey to make sure “all ISIS fighters being held captive remain in prison and that ISIS does not reconstitute in any way, shape, or form.” Trump again defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region by saying the Kurds “didn’t help us in the Second World War; they didn’t help us with Normandy.” He added: “With all of that being said, we like the Kurds.” (The Independent / Business Insider)

October 11, 2019:

Trump lost his appeal to stop a House subpoena requiring him to turn over his tax documents to investigators . The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. upheld a lower court ruling that required Trump’s longtime accountant Mazars USA to turn over eight years of Trump’s personal tax returns. The judges ruled that the courts “lack the power to invalidate a duly authorized congressional subpoena merely because it might have been ‘better [if]…the full House’ had specifically authorized or issued it.” Courts, the ruling continues, don’t get a say in how each chamber conducts itself unless Congress “adopts a rule that offends the Constitution.” The case is the first major dispute between Trump and the House to have reached the appeals court level – one level below the Supreme Court. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / BuzzFeed News / CNN / CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg)

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the “public charge” rule , which would’ve made it easier to reject green card and visa applications from immigrants whom the government determines are or might become a financial “burden” on U.S. taxpayers. U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels in Manhattan issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the rule days before it was set to take effect on Oct. 15. Daniels said the government failed to explain why it was changing the definition of a “public charge” or why the change was needed. Daniels said the rule is “simply a new agency policy of exclusion in search of a justification,” calling it “repugnant to the American Dream.” (New York Times / The Hill / NPR / CBS News)

A federal judge ruled that Trump’s national emergency declaration to fund construction of his border wall is unlawful . U.S. District Court Judge David Briones in Texas agreed with the complainants, who argued that the declaration doesn’t qualify as an “emergency” under the definition in the National Emergencies Act. They also argued that Trump overstepped his authority by issuing the declaration in order to gain access to additional funding for the wall from the military, even though his administration already received $1.375 billion in funding from Congress. Briones asked complainants to propose the scope for a preliminary injunction against the declaration. (CNN / New York Post / The Hill)

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told lawmakers that Trump personally pressured the State Department to have her ousted from her position . Yovanovitch defied Trump’s ban on cooperating with the House impeachment inquiry and spoke to Congress during a closed-door deposition. She said she was “abruptly” recalled in May and told the president had lost confidence in her. Yovanovitch said she’d done nothing to deserve her dismissal and that she was confused when Trump “chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives,” referring to Giuliani and a group of former Ukrainian officials who saw her as a political and financial threat to their interests. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)

Giuliani’s business relationship with the two men accused of running an illegal campaign finance scheme is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation . The investigation by federal authorities in New York became public after Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested while attempting to flee the U.S. yesterday and named as witnesses in the House’s impeachment inquiry into Trump. Parnas has also been working for the legal team of Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who’s currently facing bribery charges in the U.S. Both Parnas and Fruman had worked in an unspecified capacity for Firtash before Parnas joined the Ukrainian’s legal team. (ABC News / New York Times / Vanity Fair / Reuters)

Turkey accidentally attacked a contingent of U.S. Special Forces in northern Syria during its ongoing bombing campaign against U.S.-allied Kurdish militias in the region . U.S. troops operating in the majority-Kurdish city of Kobani were bombarded by Turkish artillery fire. The Turkish Defense Ministry denied that its military intentionally targeted U.S. forces. A senior Pentagon official later confirmed the incident, saying Turkish forces should have precise knowledge of American positions. No injuries have been reported. (Newsweek / Yahoo! News)

Trump is sending thousands of U.S. troops to protect Saudi Arabia’s oil fields days after withdrawing U.S. troops and allowing Turkey to attack U.S.-allied Kurdish forces. The U.S., European, and Saudi Arabian governments blame Iran for a September attack on Saudi oil facilities, but Tehran insists they had nothing to do with it. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the deployment of 3,000 service members, two fighter squadrons, one air expeditionary wing, two Patriot Missile batteries, and one THAD missile defense system to protect the facilities. While plans for the deployment were first announced in Sept. shortly after the attack, they included “modest” reinforcements rather than the “thousands” announced today. (NBC News)

[nunnehi]

I understand there might be copyright concerns here, but each one of the blurbs I posted has a ‘share’ link next to them, so I’m fairly sure they will have no problems with what I’ve done here. I feel that is especially true since I attributed exactly where I obtained the sources from. If there are concerns, I will reach out to them and ask them if what I’ve done here can be given approval by them.

I’ll be posting updates about once a week from this point forward provided things don’t accelerate very quickly.

[nunnehi]

I wasn’t planning on doing another update for a few days, but it’s getting juicy. Source is the same as Post 20.

October 15, 2019:

The White House’s former top Russia adviser told impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani ran a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented U.S. officials and career diplomats in order to personally benefit Trump . Fiona Hill, who served as the senior official for Russia and Europe on the National Security Council, testified for about nine hours before three House panels regarding a July 10th meeting she attended with senior Ukrainian officials, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, and other U.S. officials in which the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who was working with Giuliani, raised the issue to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats, Joe Biden, and his son. Hill said she confronted Sondland about Giuliani’s actions, which were not coordinated with officials responsible for U.S. foreign policy. Hill resigned days before Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press / The Guardian / NBC News / Vox / NPR)

John Bolton was so alarmed by Giuliani’s politically motivated activities to get the Ukrainians to investigate Trump’s political opponents that he called it a “drug deal.” Hill testified that Bolton told her to report the situation to the top lawyer at the National Security Council, John Eisenberg, about the effort by Sondland, Giuliani, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, to extract damaging information about Democrats from Ukraine on Trump’s behalf. Hill testified that she met with Eisenberg briefly on July 10th, and that she had a longer meeting with Eisenberg on July 11th. Bolton referred to Giuliani as a “hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.” Trump fired Bolton in September. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico)

The former U.S. ambassador to the European Union intends to tell Congress that Trump personally assured him that there was no quid pro quo relationship between military aid for Ukraine and Trump’s request that the Ukrainians open investigations including into Joe Biden and his son. Sondland plans to tell lawmakers he doesn’t know why U.S. military aid to Ukraine was held up, nor who ordered it, and that he has no knowledge of whether Trump was telling him the truth, and that he relied on Trump’s assurances when he told a State Department colleague that there were “no quid pro quo’s of any kind” linking U.S. security assistance to Ukrainian investigations. Sondland is scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition today. He was originally supposed to testify October 8th, but the Trump administration initially blocked him from appearing. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Vox)

Rudy Giuliani was paid $500,000 to consult for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges . Lev Parnas’ company – Fraud Guarantee (!) – engaged Giuliani Partners around August 2018 to consult on technologies and provide legal advice on regulatory issues. Giuliani said the money came in two payments made within weeks of each other, but that he couldn’t remember the dates. He also said most of the work he did for Fraud Guarantee was completed in 2018, but that he has been doing follow-up work for more than a year. Federal prosecutors have been “examining Giuliani’s interactions” with Parnas and Igor Fruman, who was also indicted on campaign finance charges, since at least early 2019. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are also investigating whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his efforts to undermine the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled on Trump’s orders in May. Giuliani also denied that he was planning to visit Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who is currently wanted on corruption charges in the U.S., during a trip to Vienna he planned last week. (Reuters / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / USA Today / NBC News / Axios / ABC News)

Giuliani won’t comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to the impeachment investigation . He called the impeachment inquiry an “abomination” and dared House Democrats to take him to court, saying “if they enforce it, then we will see what happens.” Giuliani’s lawyer, Jon Sale, sent a letter to Congress, saying Giuliani wouldn’t comply with the subpoena because it was “overbroad, unduly burdensome and seeks documents beyond the scope of legitimate inquiry.” Sale, however, is no longer representing Giuliani, because, according to Giuliani, it would be “silly to have a lawyer when I don’t need one.” (ABC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Daily News)

Pence said he would not comply with a request from House impeachment investigators for documents related to Trump’s July 25th call with Zelensky . Pence’s lawyer accused the committees of requesting material that is “clearly not vice-presidential records.” The House investigators had asked for documents to be produced by October 15th. (New York Times / NBC News)

Trump authorized “powerful” sanctions against Turkey for its invasion into northeast Syria and called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to implement an immediate ceasefire. The executive order also stated that the Commerce Department would suspend negotiations on an unknown trade deal worth $100 billion. (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)

Trump faces bipartisan criticism for his decision to order a withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria . Lawmakers in both chambers plan to put forward a joint resolution urging Trump to undo his decision and “to do everything he can to protect the Kurds, to do everything that we must do to prevent ISIS terrorists from escaping, and make sure that Turkey respects existing agreements related to Syria and with the United States.” (Washington Post)

46% of voters say Trump should be impeached and removed from office , while 48% say he should not be impeached and removed. 51% call the impeachment inquiry a legitimate investigation, while 43% call it a political witch hunt. 59% disapprove of the way Trump is responding to the inquiry, while 32% approve of the way he’s responding. (Quinnipiac)

The majority of likely Democratic primary voters in early voting states believe that Trump should be impeached and put in jail . 53% of respondents in Iowa, 50% in New Hampshire, and 54% in South Carolina agreed with the statement: “Some members of Congress have stated that President Trump should not only be impeached, but also imprisoned.” (Axios)

October 16, 2019:

The White House is conducting its own investigation into why a rough transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Zelensky was placed into a secret server for secure storage . Trump’s advisers and White House lawyers began the fact-finding review to find out why deputy White House counsel, John Eisenberg, placed the rough transcript of the call in a computer system typically reserved for the country’s most closely guarded secrets. Eisenberg has said he limited access to the transcript over concerns about leaks. It is unclear who asked for or initiated the review, though acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has encouraged it and his aids are helping with it. Some officials fear the review is intended to assign blame for the impeachment inquiry. (New York Times)

Mick Mulvaney put Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry in charge of managing the U.S.-Ukraine relationship instead of diplomats at the National Security Council and the State Department . The State Department’s Ukraine expert, George Kent, testified during a closed-door hearing before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees that Mulvaney was responsible for stripping control of the country’s relationship with Ukraine from those who had the most expertise. Kent also told lawmakers that he had been told by a supervisor to lie low after he raised complaints about Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to undermine U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine. Current and former officials said Mulvaney met frequently with Sondland and that details of their discussions were kept from then-National Security Adviser John Bolton and other officials who were raising internal concerns about the hidden Ukraine agenda. Mulvaney was also the one who, at Trump’s direction, placed a hold on nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine leading up to Trump’s July 25 phone call to pressure Zelensky to pursue Giuliani’s agenda against the Bidens. (Washington Post / CNN)

The federal investigation into Giuliani’s business dealings with two men indicted last week on campaign finance charges in Ukraine includes a counterintelligence probe , suggesting that FBI and criminal prosecutors in Manhattan are looking at a broader set of issues. The counterintelligence probe relates to whether a foreign influence operation was trying to take advantage of Giuliani’s business ties in Ukraine and with wealthy foreigners to make inroads with the White House. New York attorney Kenneth McCallion said he was approached by federal investigators earlier this year about Giuliani’s connections to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, the two men indicted last week on campaign finance violation charges. McCallion said he was approached this spring about Giuliani’s business dealings again by FBI counterintelligence agents. (USA Today / CNN)

The House voted to condemn Trump’s withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria . The nonbinding resolution passed 354 to 60 – shortly before a bipartisan group of congressional leaders were scheduled to meet with Trump to discuss the incursion, and hours before Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were to travel to Turkey to call for a cease-fire. Trump, meanwhile, attempted to distance himself from the ongoing conflict “between Turkey and Syria” and his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region, saying that Turkey and the Kurds are fighting “over land that has nothing to do with us.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)

Trump vetoed a bill that would have ended his national emergency declaration at the southern U.S. border . The veto, which was expected, sends the bill back to Congress, where it is unlikely to meet the two-thirds majority needed to override Trump’s veto. Trump vetoed a nearly identical version of the bill seven months ago. (New York Times / Reuters)

The Trump administration has hired a lobbyist for every 14 political appointments made . The 281 lobbyists working in the administration is four times more than the Obama administration had six years into office. And former lobbyists serving Trump are often involved in regulating the industries they worked for. (ProPublica)

Trump’s businesses reported some expenses, profits, and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings to make them appear more profitable to the lender — and less profitable to the tax authorities. (ProPublica)

52% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office , while 46% say he should not be. (Gallup)

[nunnehi]

It’s time for an update. I know not much has happened in the news in the last 9 days, so this should be quick. This is a combination of lagged news by a day (except on weekends where it’s multiple days) and live updating news. The sources will say the days the stories happened. This is all from here: Archive | What The Fuck Just Happened Today?

(Part 1 of 2)

October 17, 2019:

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his political rivals . Mulvaney called the quid pro quo exchange “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney added: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney also told reporters the funds were withheld in part because of a request to have Ukraine investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries assisted Democrats in the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly denied that there was a quid pro quo arrangement linking his demand for an investigation that could politically benefit him to the release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)

The U.S. ambassador to the European Union told House impeachment investigators that Trump delegated American foreign policy on Ukraine to Rudy Giuliani . Gordon Sondland said he and other officials were “disappointed” by Trump’s directive for U.S. diplomats to work with Giuliani on matters related to Ukraine. Sondland testified that he contacted Giuliani at Trump’s direction after a May 23rd meeting at the White House and that Giuliani told him Trump wanted Ukraine’s new government to investigate both the 2016 election and a natural gas firm tied to Hunter Biden. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / The Guardian)

Sondland met privately with Ukrainian officials inside the White House, where he explicitly mentioned the Ukrainian gas company linked to Hunter Biden during negotiations over granting Ukrainian President Zelensky an audience with Trump . Sondland’s meeting just outside the Situation Room took place minutes after a larger West Wing meeting that included then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, who had been noncommittal about scheduling a meeting between Trump and Zelensky. Sondland directly contradicted Bolton during the larger meeting by telling the Ukrainians that Trump was in fact committed to meeting with Zelensky, but on the condition he open a corruption investigation. Bolton abruptly ended the meeting, but Sondland invited the Ukrainian officials to continue the conversation separately in a private room in the White House basement, where Sondland was overheard discussing Burisma Holdings and Hunter Biden. (NBC News)

Five more Trump administration officials are scheduled to be deposed next week as part of the impeachment inquiry : Kathryn Wheelbarger, acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary of European and Eurasian affairs, Alexander Vindman, director of European affairs at the National Security Council, Timothy Morrison, Russia adviser at the National Security Council, and Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer in Kiev. (NBC News)

Rick Perry spoke with Giuliani at Trump’s direction earlier this year about Ukraine . Perry said he called Giuliani to get a better understanding of Trump’s concerns about alleged Ukrainian corruption. Perry said that while Giuliani didn’t make any explicit demands during the May call, Giuliani did blame Ukraine for the Steele dossier, claimed that Ukraine had Hillary Clinton’s email server, and accused Ukraine of helping send Paul Manafort to prison. Mulvaney confirmed that Trump asked Perry to work with Giuliani on policies related to Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / MarketWatch)

Rick Perry informed Trump that he plans to resign . Perry had been expected to resign by the end of the year. (New York Times / ABC News)

The U.S. and Turkey agreed to a five-day ceasefire in Syria to allow Kurdish troops to withdraw. Trump sent Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the Turkish capital to broker the deal with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Politico / The Guardian / CNN / Washington Post)

Erdogan tossed Trump’s letter in the trash . In the letter dated October 9th and sent after U.S. troops were pulled out of Syria, Trump urged Erdogan not to launch a military offensive against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, saying: “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” (BBC)

Mitch McConnell said he wants the Senate to pass an “even stronger” resolution condemning Trump’s decision to pull troops from Syria than the one that passed by the House. (CNN)

Trump decided that the U.S. will host next year’s G-7 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club . The decision was announced by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who said Trump “has made it clear since he’s been here that he hasn’t profited since he’s been here.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Politico / CNN / Axios)

54% of Americans support the House’s decision to open impeachment inquiry , while 44% disapprove. (Pew Research Center)

October 18, 2019:

Mick Mulvaney tried to walk-back his claim that Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was in exchange for an investigation of the hacked Democratic National Committee server . Trump has repeatedly claimed his decision to hold up the aid was due to concerns about corruption in Ukraine and that European nations weren’t doing enough to help Ukraine. Trump was reportedly “not happy” with Mulvaney’s press briefing, in which his acting chief of staff said “We do that all the time with foreign policy” and that every one should “Get over it,” because “There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney later issued a statement, which was first reviewed by Trump, saying that “There was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election.” When Trump was asked to clarify Mulvaney’s statement, Trump responded: “I think he clarified it.” Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Mulvaney’s comments a “confession.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)

Associates of an indicted Ukrainian oligarch tried to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in exchange for Rudy Giuliani helping the oligarch avoid extradition to the U.S. Dmitry Firtash changed lawyers in July to Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who were supporters of Trump and associates of Giuliani. They hired Lev Parnas, also a Giuliani associate, as a translator. Parnas was arrested last week along with several associates and accused of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws. The Justice Department has described Firtash as an associate of “Russian organized crime.” (Bloomberg)

A career diplomat told congressional investigators he was ignored when he raised concerns in January 2015 about Hunter Biden working for a Ukrainian natural gas company that he believed could look like a conflict of interest. George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, testified that he had concerns that Ukrainian officials would view Hunter Biden as a conduit for currying influence with Joe Biden. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

Rick Perry won’t comply with a subpoena from the Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Relations committees , saying he would defer to Energy Department counsel, which said it was “unable to comply” with the subpoena for documents. (CNBC / Politico / CNN)

Trump will nominate Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry , who will leave at the end of the year. (Washington Post)

The Trump administration imposed new tariffs on a record $7.5 billion worth of goods from the European Union , including Airbus, French wine, and Scottish whisky. The tariffs went into effect just after midnight after talks between U.S. and European trade negotiators failed to reach a deal. Civilian aircraft will now cost 10% more when imported to the U.S., while the cost of wine, olives, certain cheeses, butter, and other consumer goods will also rise. (CBS News / MarketWatch / CNBC)

Trump’s top economic adviser warned Trump that continued escalation of the U.S.-China trade war could hurt the economy and his chances for re-election . Trump instead [said] the Federal Reserve should share blame for any economic downturn, and that it should be doing more to stimulate growth. (Wall Street Journal)

The Kurds say Turkey is violating the ceasefire brokered by the U.S. in northeastern Syria . The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Turkish shelling and artillery fire has continued despite Pence’s announcement that he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had brokered a five-day ceasefire in the region. (CNN / Associated Press)

Mitch McConnell called Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria a “grave strategic mistake,” but never mentions Trump by name. (Washington Post)

House Democrats are preparing a resolution to condemn Trump’s decision to select the Trump National Doral Miami for the next G7 summit , calling the selection inconsistent with the emoluments clause of the Constitution. (CNBC)

October 21, 2019:

Mick Mulvaney – again – tried to deny his public assertion of a quid pro quo in which the Trump administration held up an aid package to Ukraine because Trump wanted an investigation that could politically benefit him . During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Mulvaney insisted that he “didn’t speak clearly maybe on Thursday” and that there couldn’t have been a quid pro quo, because “the aid flowed.” Mulvaney also claimed that the administration only held up military aid to Ukraine because of the country’s corruption and because other countries weren’t giving more aid as well. On Thursday, however, Mulvaney told reporters to “Get over it,” calling quid pro quo “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney also claimed at the press conference last week that the Trump administration withheld military aid in part to secure cooperation with a Justice Department investigation into the origins of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. (Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast)

Trump’s allies are assembling a list of possible Mulvaney replacements . Among those said to be on the list are former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and veteran political operative Wayne Berman. (Bloomberg)

Rudy Giuliani asked the State Department and the White House to grant a visa to the former Ukrainian official who Joe Biden had pushed to have removed when he was vice president . Career diplomat George Kent told congressional investigators in his closed-door testimony that around January 2019 Giuliani requested a visa for Viktor Shokin, who had been pushed out as Ukraine’s top prosecutor in 2016 over concerns that he was not pursuing corruption cases. Giuliani, however, previously said he wanted to interview Shokin in person because the Ukrainian promised to reveal dirt on Democrats. (CNN)

The Justice Department confirmed that Trump Jr. and former White House counsel Don McGahn were never called to testify in front of a grand jury as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation . Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. said it was perplexing why Trump Jr. and McGahn were never subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. “The reason is not that the individuals were insignificant to the investigation,” Judge Howell wrote, “To the contrary, both of the non-testifying individuals named in paragraph four figured in key events examined in the Mueller Report.” (Politico)

Instagram profiles originating in Russia since the beginning of the year have been building a network of accounts designed to look like political groups in swing states . The profiles are linked to the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed troll group indicted by the U.S. for its alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. (CNN)

Trump won’t host next year’s G7 summit at his Trump National Doral Resort after all . Instead, Trump said his administration “will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately.” Trump abandoned his plan to host the summit at his private golf club after the decision alienated Republicans and became part of the impeachment inquiry. During calls with conservative allies over the weekend, Trump was told that Republicans are struggling to defend him. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Daily Beast / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Politico)

Trump claimed he’s the victim of the “phony emoluments clause,” as he defended his previous decision to host next year’s G7 summit at his Doral resort in Miami. (Politico / New York Times)

Trump insisted that he’s “trying to get out of wars,” but that “we may have to get in wars, too.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, said “We prefer peace to war,” but Trump is prepared to use military force if “needed.” The confusing and conflicting statements come as Trump weighs a Pentagon plan to keep a small contingent of American troops in eastern Syria to combat the Islamic State, and block the advance of Syrian government and Russian forces into the region’s oil fields. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that nearly all of the troops ordered to leave northeastern Syria will move to western Iraq and conduct operations against the Islamic State extremist group from there. (Politico / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

Trump’s top two picks to fill the Homeland Security Secretary job aren’t eligible under federal law . Ken Cuccinelli, head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Mark Morgan, the lead at Customs and Border Protection are Trump’s two favorites for the job, but both men are serving on an acting basis and have not been confirmed by the Senate for a permanent role. The federal statute that governs vacancies states that acting officials in cabinet-level positions must either be next in line for a position or hold a Senate-confirmed position. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)

The first House Republican expressed openness to voting to impeach Trump on Friday . On Saturday, however, Rep. Francis Rooney announced his retirement. (Politico / Washington Post)

51% of Americans support Trump’s impeachment and removal from office – up from 47% in September before the impeachment inquiry was announced. (Public Religion Research Institute)

October 22, 2019:

The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine told House impeachment investigators that Trump held up security aid and refused a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president until he agreed to investigate Tump’s political rivals . Bill Taylor said he was told that “everything” Ukraine wanted — a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and nearly $400 million in security aid — was dependent on publicly announcing an investigation into Burisma, the company that hired Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and Ukraine’s alleged involvement in the 2016 election. Taylor provided an “excruciatingly detailed” opening statement that described “how pervasive the [quid pro quo] efforts were” by Trump and his allies, which they have denied. People in the closed-door deposition described Taylor’s testimony as a “very direct line” between American foreign policy and Trump’s own political goals. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine came as he was being urged to adopt a hostile view of that country by Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban , who reinforced Trump’s perception of Ukraine as corrupt. Trump met with Orban on May 13th – and 10 days before a key meeting on Ukraine – over the objections of his national security team, who believed that Orban – an autocratic leader who has been ostracized by many of his peers in Europe – did not deserve the honor of an Oval Office visit. Trump then met on May 23rd with Rick Perry, Kurt Volker, and Gordon Sondland, who had returned from Zelensky’s inauguration. They assured Trump that Zelensky was a reformer who deserved American support. Trump, however, claimed that Ukrainians were “terrible people” who “tried to take me down” during the 2016 presidential election. (New York Times / Washington Post)

Trump compared the House impeachment inquiry to a “lynching.” Trump has previously called the investigation a “coup,” a “witch hunt” and a “fraud.” (The Guardian / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post)

Trump lectured reporters for more than 70 minutes during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, during which he made at least 20 false or misleading statements . Trump lied about the number of times Obama unsuccessfully attempted to call Kim Jong Un, crowd sizes at his rallies, his position on the Iraq War, and the ongoing impeachment. He also claimed that he was personally responsible for the capture of Islamic State soldiers, complained that people were criticizing him for receiving “emoluments” from foreign governments, and insinuated that Adam Schiff gave information to the whistleblower, who raised concerns about his administration’s actions toward Ukraine. Trump’s press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, later tweeted: “I hope we see honest reporting from today’s mtg.” (CNN / Washington Post)

50% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office . Overall, 41% approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency while 57% disapprove. (CNN)

[nunnehi]

(Part 2 of 2)

October 23, 2019:

Ukraine knew that Trump had frozen $391 million in security assistance by early August . The disclosure that the Ukrainians knew of the freeze by early August corroborates the claim made by the CIA whistleblower complaint. Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed there could not have been any quid pro quo because the Ukrainians didn’t know the assistance had been blocked. The Ukrainians, however, were advised by the first week of August to address it with Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff. At the same time, Rudy Giuliani, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, then the State Department’s special envoy to Ukraine, were pressing Zelensky to make a public commitment to the investigations for Trump’s political benefit. (New York Times)

The Trump administration repeatedly tried to cut foreign aid programs tasked with combating corruption in Ukraine , according White House budget documents. In 2019, the administration tried, but failed, to cut $30 million in aid directed to Ukraine down to $13 million under a program called International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement. In the 2020 budget request, the administration again tried to cut the program’s spending on Ukraine down to $13 million. “I don’t care about politics, but I do care about corruption. And this whole thing is about corruption,” Trump told reporters earlier this month." This whole thing — this whole thing is about corruption." Trump, Mulvaney, and other administration officials have insisted that their goal in delaying the military aid package to Ukraine was to ensure corruption was addressed in that country — not to produce political benefit to Trump. (Washington Post)

Roughly 30 House Republicans forced entry into a closed-door deposition and refused to leave the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility – a secure House Intelligence Committee space. The GOP lawmakers, who do not sit on the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry, demanded that they be allowed to see the closed-door proceedings. After five hours, the Republicans left and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper began her testimony. (Politico / CNN / Axios / Wall Street Journal)

House impeachment investigators are scrutinizing a National Security Council aide suspected of operating a second Ukraine backchannel . Fiona Hill, the National Security Council’s former senior director for Eurasian and Russian affairs, testified last week that she believed Kashyap Patel was improperly getting involved in Ukraine policy by sending information about Ukraine to Trump that could warp American policy. Senior White House officials reportedly grew concerned when Patel became so involved in the issue that at one point Trump wanted to discuss the documents with him, referring to Patel as one of his top Ukraine policy specialists. Patel is assigned to work on counterterrorism issues, not Ukraine policy, and was part of the Republican effort to undermine the Russia investigation. (New York Times / Politico)

A federal judge ordered the State Department to release Ukraine-related records within 30 days , including the communication records between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Giuliani. (CNN)

Two of Rudy Giuliani’s associates pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally funneling foreign donations to U.S. political candidates . Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman face charges of conspiring to violate the ban on foreign donations and contributions related to federal and state elections, and with making false statements and falsifying records. A defense lawyer for Parnas told the judge that some of the evidence gathered in the campaign finance investigation could be subject to executive privilege. Edward MacMahon Jr. said the potential for the White House to invoke executive privilege stemmed from the fact that Parnas had used Giuliani as his own lawyer at the same time Giuliani was working as Trump’s lawyer. (NPR / New York Times)

Federal prosecutors flagged Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman and their possible ties to a Ukrainian gas tycoon fighting extradition . Parnas had been working as an interpreter for the lawyers of Dmytro Firtash, who was charged with bribery in Chicago in 2013, since late July. At the same time, Parnas and Fruman were assisting Giuliani’s hunt for damaging information about Democrats in Ukraine. Firtash – at Parnas’s recommendation – hired Victoria Toensing and Joseph diGenova, two conservative attorneys who frequently appear on Fox News to defend Trump. They have also served as informal advisers to Trump’s legal team, including Giuliani. (Washington Post)

Trump’s lawyer argued that Trump is immune from prosecution while in office – even if he shot someone . William Consovoy, Trump’s lawyer, made the claim while arguing before a federal appeals court in their suit against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who has subpoenaed for three years’ worth of financial records from the Trump Organization and for Trump-related business records, including his personal tax record from the accounting firm Mazars USA. Consovoy argued that while in office, Trump “enjoys absolute immunity from criminal process of any kind,” but conceded that “once a president is removed from office” he could then be subject to a criminal investigation. Judges on the three-member panel expressed skepticism about the argument, with Judge Denny Chin asking whether “nothing could be done” while Trump remains in office, to which Consovoy replied: “That is correct.” As a candidate in 2016, Trump claimed he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not “lose any voters.” (Vox / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)

55% of voters support the impeachment inquiry , while 43% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)

45% of independents support impeachment , while 32% said they oppose it. (Reuters)

October 24, 2019:

House Democrats could take the impeachment inquiry public as soon as mid-November . Moving the largely closed-door investigation toward the public spotlight comes as the Trump administration has tried to block witnesses and withhold documents while his allies have cast the inquiry as a smear campaign against Trump. Yesterday, House Republicans delayed proceedings for more than five hours when about two dozen of them entered and refused to leave a secure room where Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper was set to testify about what happened to the military aid Trump ordered withheld from Ukraine. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)

The White House’s trade representative withdrew Ukraine’s trade privileges as Trump was withholding $391 million in military aid and security assistance . In late August, Robert Lighthizer pulled Ukraine’s trade privileges from a global trade program after John Bolton, then-national security adviser, warned him that Trump would probably oppose anything that benefited Kiev. (Washington Post)

Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine testified that the U.S. ambassador to the E.U. not only knew of a quid pro quo, but had also communicated the threat to Ukraine . William Taylor said he understood that on Sept. 1st, Gordon Sondland warned Andrey Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aide, that security assistance “would not come” unless Zelensky committed to pursuing the investigation into Burisma, the energy company where Joe Biden’s son held a board seat. On Sept. 9th, Sondland texted Taylor to say there was “no quid pro quos” of any kind authorized by Trump. Sondland’s attorney added that his client “does not recall” such a conversation. By Taylor’s account, however, Sondland already knew the terms of the quid pro quo and had relayed them to Zelensky’s aide a week earlier. (Washington Post / Politico)

Zelensky was concerned about pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Biden before before his July 25th call with Trump . Zelensky met with a small group of advisers on May 7th for a meeting that was supposed to be about Ukraine’s energy needs. Instead, the group spent three hours talking about how they were going to handle the calls for investigations coming from Trump and Giuliani, as well as how to avoid getting wrapped up in the U.S. election process. The meeting occurred before Zelensky was inaugurated, roughly two weeks after Trump called to congratulate him the night he won the April 21st election in Ukraine. (Associated Press / Axios)

An inspector general report revealed that a Veterans Affairs office designed to protect whistleblowers instead stifled claims and retaliated against employees . The VA’s Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection – created by Trump in 2017 – had “significant deficiencies,” according to the report, including poor leadership, skimpy training of its investigators, a misunderstanding of its mission and a failure to discipline misconduct. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)

The White House said Trump would veto a bill requiring federal election campaigns to report “illicit offers” of campaign assistance from foreign governments and their agents . Earlier in the day, the House approved legislation to better protect the country’s elections from foreign interference. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans blocked three other election security bills. (Law and Crime / CBS News / The Hill)

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his intelligence services told William Barr that they played no role in the events leading to the Russia investigation, contradicting an unsubstantiated theory pushed by Trump and his allies that the Mueller probe was launched with the help of a Western intelligence asset working with the Obama administration to spy on the Trump campaign. “Our intelligence is completely unrelated to the so-called Russiagate and that has been made clear,” Conte told reporters. Prior to the briefing, Conte spent hours explaining Italy’s discussions with Barr to Italy’s parliamentary intelligence committee. Barr met twice with Italy’s intelligence agencies after asking them to clarify their role in a 2016 meeting between George Papadopoulos and a Maltese professor named Joseph Mifsud, who told Papadopoulos that Russia had obtained damaging information about Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” (New York Times)

October 25, 2019:

A federal judge directed the Justice Department to hand over Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury evidence to the House Judiciary Committee , which Attorney General William Barr has withheld from lawmakers. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the impeachment probe is illegitimate, saying the material could help the House Judiciary Committee substantiate “potentially impeachable conduct” by Trump. The materials must be disclosed by Wednesday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico)

A top adviser on Trump’s National Security Council is expected to corroborate testimony that Trump pushed for Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into Joe Biden and his son , using the military aid as leverage. Tim Morrison’s testimony is expected to be significant because he was named 15 times during Bill Taylor’s deposition, which Democrats view as damning for Trump. Morrison was also listening in on the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Morrison is also expected to say that he didn’t see anything wrong with what the Trump administration did with regard to Ukraine. Morrison would also be the first currently serving White House official to testify. (CNN)

Lawyers for former national security adviser John Bolton have discussed a possible deposition with the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry . Bolton was reportedly so disturbed by efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political opponents that he called it a “drug deal,” calling Rudy Giuliani a “hand grenade.” Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia adviser, told lawmakers last week that she saw “wrongdoing” and that Bolton encouraged her to report her concerns to the National Security Council’s attorney. (CNN / CNBC)

The House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas to three of Trump’s top officials . Acting budget director Russ Vought, Michael Duffey, a senior official in the Office of Management and Budget, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, counsel at the State Department, all previously declined requests by investigators to testify voluntarily. (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg)

The Trump administration attempted to persuade a Pentagon official to not cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry . The day before Laura Cooper was scheduled to give voluntary, private testimony, she received a letter warning her that the White House had ordered executive branch officials not to give documents or testimony to Congress “under these circumstances.” Cooper nevertheless provided testimony to Congress about what she knew about Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rivals. (New York Times / Politico)

Lindsey Graham introduced a resolution condemning how House Democrats have conducted the impeachment investigation into Trump . The measure calls on House Democrats to hold a formal vote to open an impeachment inquiry to give the “same rights to Trump as Clinton and Nixon” had during their investigations. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said they will eventually release the transcripts of the closed-door proceedings and hold public testimonies. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said that such a vote, however, is unnecessary under House rules. (USA Today)

The White House is looking for a communications specialist to lead impeachment messaging efforts . Two people are currently under consideration for the job: Tony Sayegh, a former top Treasury aide, and Pam Bondi, the former Florida Attorney General. Sayegh was previously a candidate to become White House communications director after Hope Hicks left the White House last year. (Politico / CNN)

49% of Americans think Trump should be impeached and removed from office , while 49% percent are against it. Nine in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are against impeachment and 89% of Democrats and Democratic-leaners are in favor of impeachment. (NBC News / SurveyMonkey)