 Photo: pri.org
Fiona Hill's opening statement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gmpdtbWB0 Full testimony of Fiona Hill and public testimony of David Holmes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKP5K8Pn6LU
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Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland testified on October 24 before the three House committees leading the probe into President Trump’s behavior regarding Ukraine. The State Department previously blocked him from testifying, so the committees issued a subpoena to compel his testimony. His opening statement is below. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sondland-testimony-read-the-full-text-of-eu-ambassadors-statement-in-impeachment-inquiry-today/ On November 5 he amended his testimony. He said he now remembers telling a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Ukraine would not receive U.S. military assistance until it publicly announced an investigation into the 2016 election and former Vice President Joe Biden. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/sondland-changes-testimony-acknowledges-delivering-quid-pro-quo-message-ukraine-n1076736  Photo: ABC News
 Photo: ABC NEWS
Ambassador Yovanovitch’s opening statement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK5yRVzKWXw https://www.npr.org/2019/11/15/779674990/read-former-ukraine-ambassador-yovanovitchs-opening-statement-to-congress Full testimony from CNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsVoiNRyznM  Friday afternoon’s deposition (November 15, 2019) with State Department aide David Holmes was held behind closed doors. His opening statement was obtained by CNN.
Opening statement of State Department Aide David Holmes: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/15/politics/david-holmes-testimony/index.html Excerpt from opening statement: During the lunch, Ambassador Sondland said that he was going to call President Trump to give him an update. Ambassador Sondland placed a call on his mobile phone, and I heard him announce himself several times, along the lines of "Gordan Sondland holding for the President." It appeared that he was being transferred through several layers of switchboards and assistants. I then noticed Ambassador Sondland's demeanor change, and understood that he had been connected to President Trump. While Ambassador Sondland's phone was not on speakerphone, I could hear the President's voice through the earpiece of the phone. The President's voice was very loud and recognizable, and Ambassador Sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time, presumably because of the loud volume. I heard Ambassador Sondland greet the President and explain that he was calling from Kyiv. I heard President Trump then clarify that Ambassador Sondland was in Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland replied, yes, he was in Ukraine and went on to state that President Zelenskyy "loves your ass." I then heard President Trump ask, "So, he' s gonna do the investigation?" Ambassador Sondland replied that "he's gonna do it," adding that President Zelenskyy will do "anything you ask him to.” Even though I did not take notes of these statements, have a clear recollection that these statements were made. I believe that my colleagues who were sitting at the table also knew that Ambassador Sondland was speaking with the President. The conversation then shifted to Ambassador Sondland' s efforts, on behalf of the President, to assist a rapper who was jailed in Sweden, and I could only hear Ambassador Sondland's side of that part of the conversation. Ambassador Sondland told the President that the rapper was “kind of f----d there,” and “should have pled guilty.” He recommended that the President “wait until after the sentencing or it will make it worse,” that the President should “let him get sentenced, play the racism card, give him a ticker-tape when he comes home.” Ambassador Sondland further told the President that Sweden “should have released him on your word,” that “you can tell the Kardashians you tried.” After the call ended, AmbassadorSondland remarked that the President was in a bad mood, as Ambassador Sondland stated was often the case early in the morning. I then took the opportunity to ask Ambassador Sondland for his candid impression of the President's views on Ukraine. In particular, I asked Ambassador Sondland if it was true that the President did not “give a s--t about Ukraine.” Ambassador Sondland agreed that the President did not “give a s--t about Ukraine.” I asked why not, and Ambassador Sondland stated that the President only cares about “big stuff.” I noted that there was “big stuff” going on in Ukraine, like a war with Russia, and Ambassador Sondland replied that he meant “big stuff” that benefits the President, like the Biden investigation Mr. Giuliani was pushing. The conversation then moved on to other topics. Upon returning to the Embassy, I immediately told the Deputy Chief of Mission and others at the Embassy about the call with the President and my conversation with Ambassador Sondland. I also emailed an Embassy official in Sweden regarding the issue with the U. S. rapper that was discussed on the call. July 26 was my last day in the office ahead of a planned vacation that ended on August 6 . After returning to the Embassy, I told Ambassador Taylor about the July 26 call. I also repeatedly referred to the call and conversation with Ambassador Sondland in meetings and conversations where the issue of the President's interest in Ukraine was potentially relevant. At that time, AmbassadorSondland' s statement of the President’s lack of interest in Ukraine was of particular focus. We understood that in order to secure a meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy, we would have to work hard to find a way to explain Ukraine's importance to President Trump in terms that he found compelling. Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake explains that Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland previously told Congress that he had no knowledge of President Trump and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s interest in Ukraine launching investigations into the Bidens: And now Holmes undermines a central claim in Sondland’s testimony: That Sondland didn’t know that Trump and his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani’s interest in investigating a Ukrainian company that employed Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden had anything to do with the Biden family. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/16/big-developments-david-holmess-testimony/ This could potentially lead to a charge of perjury against Ambassador Sondland, for lying in his testimony to Congress. Opening statement of acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/13/778824788/read-william-taylors-opening-statement-in-public-impeachment-hearing Opening statement of Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent https://www.npr.org/2019/11/13/778825628/read-opening-statement-of-deputy-assistant-secretary-of-state-george-kent Impeachment Hearing testimony with William Taylor and George Kent https://www.c-span.org/video/?466134-1/impeachment-hearing-william-taylor-george-kent  Since its creation in May of 2017, the Special Counsel’s Office has produced a remarkable number of guilty pleas and investigations referred to other law enforcement entities.
The Justice Department website has a list here of guilty pleas and indictments: https://www.justice.gov/sco Numerous investigations by the Special Counsel are ongoing, and, since there are no leaks coming from within the office, there is no official information about where the investigations are headed or when they will be completed. NPR’s Phillip Ewing made predictions about how the investigations may proceed in 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/01/678332805/heres-what-could-be-ahead-in-the-russia-investigations-in-2019 While he was Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III made a speech to the Citizens Crime Commission of New York that demonstrates his understanding of the global threat of organized crime. His understanding of the networks of organized money laundering, human trafficking, diamond smuggling, drugs, and gambling may be informing the work of his team now. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/01/678332805/heres-what-could-be-ahead-in-the-russia-investigations-in-2019 An article in The New York Times from November 2018 gives information about the member of the Special Counsel team and their areas of expertise. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/30/us/mueller-investigation-team-prosecutors.html  Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy has served in the Senate since 1974. Between 2001 and 2003, a Republican counsel on the Judiciary Committee named Manuel Miranda stole files from Democratic members of the committee that related to strategy on judicial nominations coming before the committee. Kavanaugh at that time was associate White House counsel and worked closely with Miranda on judicial nominations. Miranda, now a private attorney in Maryland, has stated that he may have shared information that he learned from the files with Kavanaugh, but that Kavanaugh did not know where the information came from. When Kavanaugh was nominated to serve as a federal judge in 2004 and 2006, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he knew nothing about the stolen emails. The 2004 nomination stalled. He was appointed to the appeals court in 2006. Documents released during the confirmation process for placing Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court cast doubt on that version of events. From the Chicago Tribune: "An email written by Miranda on March 18, 2003, and copied to Kavanaugh, had the subject line was "for use and not distribution." Miranda wrote that "Dem staffers say that they have confidential information," and he then listed "points they make." Leahy said the points came from a draft of a letter written by his office. "We have every reason to believe that was taken," Leahy said. The article from the Chicago Tribune can be found here.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-leahy-kavanaugh-stolen-documents-20180907-story.html A portion of the exchange between Leahy and Kavanaugh during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqYzQY6CyoM The four days of hearings can be found on the Senate Judiciary Committee website. The first day can be found here. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/nomination-of-the-honorable-brett-m-kavanaugh-to-be-an-associate-justice-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states Senator Cory Booker released 28 documents that had been labeled "committee confidential" by Senate Judiciary Committee leadership. The documents relate to abortion, affirmative action, and racial profiling.  A final statement from Senator John McCain, who died Saturday at 81, was read by his spokesman Rick Davis. A video of Rick Davis reading the statement can be found below. “My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for 60 years, and especially my fellow Arizonians, thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I've tried to serve our country honorably. I've made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them. I've often observed that I am the luckiest person on Earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I've loved my life, all of it. “I've had experiences, adventures, friendships enough for ten satisfying lives and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets but I would not trade a day of my life in good or bad times for the best day of anybody else's. I owe the satisfaction to the love of my family. One man has never had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America to be connected with America's causes, liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people brings happiness more sublime that life's fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but are enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves. “Fellow Americans, that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world's greatest republic. A nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the progress. We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been. We are 325 million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. “But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country, we'll get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do. Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening. I feel it powerfully still. Do not despair of our present difficulties, we believe always in the promise and greatness of America because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit, we never surrender, we never hide from history; we make history. Farewell fellow Americans. God bless you and God bless America.” Rick Davis reads Senator McCain's final statement:
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/sen-john-mccain-s-final-statement-read-by-close-friend-rick-davis-1307350083842?v=raila |
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