Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
State department aide makes revelation in testimony, while Russia envoy nominee John Sullivan grilled at confirmation hearing
The White House blocked the US state department from issuing a statement condemning Russia for seizing Ukrainian military vessels, according to a state department official, in the latest example of the strain the Trump administration is under in pursuing conflicting policies towards the two countries.
Lt Col Vindman reportedly said omissions included references to Joe Biden and Burisma
A decorated army officer and the top Ukraine expert on the national security council has reportedly told House impeachment investigators that the White House transcript of a call between the presidents of the US and Ukraine left out important words and phrases.
The New York Times cited three sources familiar with Alexander Vindman’s testimony on Tuesday who said the omissions included Donald Trump making reference to recordings of the former vice-president Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy making reference to Burisma, the company for which Biden’s son Hunter worked.
In his opening statement before congressional impeachment investigators on Tuesday, Lt Col Alexander S Vindman planned to describe his concerns that Donald Trump’s plot to undermine Joe Biden was undermining US foreign policy in Ukraine.
Political tensions over an intensifying impeachment inquiry reached fever pitch on Wednesday as Republicans “stormed” a closed-door committee hearing on Capitol Hill disrupting a crucial deposition related to the Ukraine controversy was appearing – a day after devastating testimony from a key diplomat.
The impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump has heard some extraordinary testimony over the last month. From the first mention of Trump’s desired “deliverable” from Ukraine, successive layers of witnesses and documents have added to an indictment of the president’s conduct that only gets heavier, as Trump howls his defenses to the wind.
President attempted to discredit Ukraine diplomat with quote from John Ratcliffe: ‘You can’t have a quid pro quo with no quo’
Donald Trump launched a relatively lackluster attack on Wednesday morning against the impeachment inquiry into his dealings with Ukraine and the devastating testimony on Capitol Hill the previous day of the most senior US diplomat in Kyiv, Bill Taylor.
Unlike some of his aggressive and fiercely personal attacks on opponents, the US president appeared to be struggling early Wednesday in any attempt to discredit the explosive account given by Taylor – a career diplomat who discussed his role in detail with secretary of state Mike Pompeo earlier this year before accepting the post of acting ambassador to Ukraine.
The Ukraine diplomat said Trump put pressure on Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and gave the most detailed account so far
The US’s top diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, gave damning evidence on Tuesday to congressional committees in Washington investigating Donald Trump. Taylor told impeachment inquiry hearings that Trump had explicitly put pressure on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden – Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2020 election – and to pursue the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US election on the side of Hillary Clinton. Taylor released his version of events in a 15-page document, in the most detailed account of the scandal so far.
Bill Taylor, acting US ambassador to Ukraine, says he was told Trump made aid conditional until Ukraine publicly announced investigations into Biden and the 2016 election
Bill Taylor does not respond to questions as he leaves Capitol Hill following a deposition that lasted 9+ hours pic.twitter.com/FtQYNrNpo4
Here’s what Trump has done *just this week*:
- He called the constitutional ban on profiting from the presidency “phony.” - His Administration has defied lawful subpoenas and document requests. - He stood by his shakedown of a foreign government and called it “perfect.”
Even as House Republicans rally behind Trump and seek to discredit the impeachment inquiry, Pelosi is promoting a public petition to condemn Trump.
The mayor of Doral, Florida, a small town outside of Miami, was taken by surprise by the White House’s announcement that the G7 summit would be held at one of Trump’s own resorts there, the Washington Post reports.
The announcement, a clear example of using the power of the presidency to benefit Trump’s private interests, has sparked anger and widespread criticism.
I just talked to the mayor of Doral — who now needs to plan to host 8 world leaders and thousands of diplomats. He learned this when we did, by watching Mulvaney on TV. He still hasn’t gotten a call from the White House. https://t.co/7A9AekUhoy
In his final hours, Elijah Cummings, the son of sharecroppers who became an influential Democratic congressman from Baltimore, was still working to help immigrants with chronic medical conditions.
That’s what members of his staff told Massachusetts congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, she tweeted today.
As I was paying my respects to our forever Chairman, his staff told me that in his final hours he signed subpoenas to USCIS and ICE, pursuing justice for immigrants in my district & across the country with chronic medical conditions. A man of his word every moment of his life. pic.twitter.com/igzUPl1yPF
Donald Trump instructed US diplomats to go through his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to make the Ukrainian president’s access to the White House dependent on launching investigations into Trump’s political opponents, the US ambassador to the EU has testified.
In his opening statement to Congress on Thursday, Gordon Sondland, a wealthy hotelier and Trump donor, sought to distance himself from the president, saying he had been “disappointed” Trump had chosen to conduct an important strategic relationship through his lawyer.
Things are getting serious for Donald Trump. The swiftly unrolling Ukraine scandal could cause him to become only the third president to be impeached.But what is impeachment? How does it work? And how likely is it to happen? Adam Gabbatt has the answers
Pew research reveals very different views on whether countries are better off today
Thirty years on, few people in Europe’s former eastern bloc regret the monumental political, social and economic change unleashed by the fall of communism – but at the same time few are satisfied with the way things are now, and many worry for the future.
A Pew Research Center survey of 17 countries, including 14 EU member states, found that while most people in central and eastern Europe generally embraced democracy and the market economy, support was far from uniformly strong.
Ukrainian president calls on protesters to avoid violence as he is criticised for ‘capitulation’
Thousands of people have joined a march through Kyiv led by nationalist parties and veterans’ associations to protest against changes to a peace plan for east Ukraine that they have called a “capitulation” to Russia.
Police deployed around Ukraine’s capital closed off several major avenues for the demonstrations, as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged participants to avoid violence. He also warned that images from the protests could be used by Russian state media to discredit Ukraine.
Donald Trump’s secretary of defense said on Sunday the Pentagon would cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry, while cautioning that Trump may try to restrict his disclosure of information.
I want to thank the President for the opportunity to serve alongside the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security. With his support, over the last 6 months, we have made tremendous progress mitigating the border security and humanitarian crisis we faced this year... pic.twitter.com/A4rTcZgJKF
Kevin McAleenan has resigned as acting secretary of homeland security.
McAleenan had only been in the position since April, when he was appointed acting secretary to replace Kirstjen Nielsen. Nielsen succeeded John Kelly in the job when Kelly was tapped to be Trump’s White House chief of staff. (Update to clarify: Elaine Duke served as acting secretary for six months between Kelly and Nielsen.)
It is too soon to say whether her evisceration of the state department delivered behind closed doors, will mark a turning point in Donald Trump’s struggle to hold on to his office. There will without doubt be a counter-attack.
Donald and Eric Trump repeat claims of improper behaviour by Joe Biden’s son in sign of how 2020 campaign will be fought
Donald Trump sought to weaponise Democrats’ impeachment inquiry to his electoral advantage on Thursday at a typically crude-but-effective rally in which he declared Joe Biden “was only a good vice president because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama’s ass”.
In his first campaign stop since the inquiry was announced, the US president and a 20,000-capacity crowd staged a formidable show of defiance at a basketball arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Trump mesmerised his fans for 102 minutes with a verbal cannon of conspiracy theories, blatant falsehoods, profane insults and anti-refugee bigotry.
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren weighed in on the arrest of two Republican donors connected to Rudy Giuliani, arguing that their campaign-finance charges indicate the depth of corruption in Trump’s political world.
In addition to abusing and manipulating our diplomatic relationships for Trump's political gain, we can add corruption and campaign finance violations to the list. https://t.co/b57uGfVl3l
Here’s a midday summary of today’s news, which is slightly belated given the many developments the blog is tracking:
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo has announced visa restrictions on Chinese officials suspected of being involved in “a highly repressive campaign against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang).”
Earlier today, the US commerce department issued a list of 28 state security bureaus and tech companies in China that it said are being used to suppress muslims and other ethnic minorities.
Intelligence official was interviewed by watchdog to corroborate initial complaint about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, report says
A second intelligence official is reportedly considering filing a whistleblower complaint about Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine as the Democrats’ impeachment investigation into the president and his administration continues to escalate.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, also failed to meet a subpoena deadline to turn over documents related to the investigation, as House Democrats broadened their subpoena request to the White House, demanding documents after the executive branch ignored requests to provide them voluntarily.