Former U.S. top diplomat Rice concerned by shadow diplomacy on Ukraine
Former U.S. top diplomat Rice concerned by shadow diplomacy on UkraineRice was critical of President Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run but has been more restrained since the Republican took office.
The Trump -Zelensky call and the pressure on the authorities in Kyiv to conduct investigations that could aid Trump ’ s 2020 campaign are at the heart of the impeachment hearings. Calling a president from a cellphone violates protocols set up to protect senior administration officials’ communications.
Call To Trump From A Ukraine Restaurant Big Security Breach: Ex-Officials. The call , in which Trump ' s remarks were overheard by a US Embassy "The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone " asking U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about "the
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On Sept. 25, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi initiated an impeachment inquiry against President Trump, following a whistleblower complaint over his dealings with Ukraine. The first public impeachment hearing begins on Nov. 13, in more than two decades where the Democrats hope to wrap up the hearings and hold an official vote prior to Christmas.
(Pictured) Donald Trump, accompanied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaks on Oct. 23 in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.
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Democratic Counsel Daniel Goldman (C), alongside Chairman Adam Schiff (R), Democrat of California, asks questions of witnesses U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent during the first public hearings held by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Nov. 13.
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Top US diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor testifies during the House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Nov. 13.
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Ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., talks to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, right, as Steve Castor, Republican staff attorney for the House Oversight Committee, center, listens during the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 13.
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Attorney Daniel Goldman questions Ambassador Bill Taylor, charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, during a House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 13.
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Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, asks questions of witnesses US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent during the first public hearings, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Nov. 13.
Trump denies knowledge of call mentioned in impeachment hearing
President Trump on Wednesday denied knowledge of a phone call that he allegedly had with U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland in July about investigations he sought from Ukraine."First time I heard it," Trump told reporters in the East Room during a press conference with the Turkish president when asked about the call, which was described by a U.S. diplomat in public testimony earlier Wednesday.Trump also dismissed the"First time I heard it," Trump told reporters in the East Room during a press conference with the Turkish president when asked about the call, which was described by a U.S. diplomat in public testimony earlier Wednesday.
WASHINGTON - A U. S . ambassador' s cellphone call to President Donald Trump from a restaurant in the capital of Ukraine last summer was a stunning breach of security, exposing the
The call , in which Trump ’ s remarks were overheard by a U.S. Embassy staffer in Kyiv, was disclosed Wednesday by the acting U.S. ambassador to New testimony ties Trump more directly to Ukraine pressure campaign. “The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone ” asking U.S
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Top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor, center, listens as career Foreign Service officer George Kent, testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 13.
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Protestors hold a signs outside Longworth House Office Building, where a top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor, and career Foreign Service officer George Kent, are testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 13.
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A quote from Ambassador Bill Taylor, charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, appears on a screen in Washington, on Nov. 13.
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Top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William B. Taylor Jr. testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 13.
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Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George P. Kent testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 13.
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George Kent (2nd R), the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs and Bill Taylor (C), the top diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine arrive to testify before the House Intelligence Committee for the first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump on Nov. 13.
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Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George P. Kent (L) and top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine William B. Taylor Jr. are sworn in before testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 13.
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U.S. Capitol police officers stand in front of a TV screen showing a world map during the first public impeachment hearing on Nov. 13.
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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13.
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Democratic Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Adam Schiff speaks to charge d'Affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine Bill Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia George Kent during the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, on Nov. 13.
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William Taylor, the top diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Ukraine arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee for the first public impeachment hearing on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13.
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Capitol Police gather before the House Intelligence Committee hearing in the Longworth House Office Building on Nov. 13.
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George Kent (C), the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee for the first public impeachment hearing on Nov. 13.
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The committee room in the Longworth House Office Building that is hosting the House Intelligence Committee's open impeachment hearings against President Trump on Capitol Hill on Nov. 12.
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Protesters outside on 5th Avenue with signs that say "Impeachment is PATRIOTIC" written in the American Flag while NYPD stand by after the 45th President Donald J. Trump gave his opening ceremony of the New York City 100th annual Veterans Day Parade and wreath-laying ceremony on Nov. 11.
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Actress and activist Jane Fonda, along with others, march on Pennsylvania Ave., protesting against climate policies and to impeach President Donald Trump, in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 8.
Ambassador’s cellphone call to Trump from Kyiv restaurant was a stunning breach of security, former officials say
Gordon Sondland’s conversation with the president probably was picked up by Russian intelligence, former U.S. officials said.The call — in which Trump’s remarks were overheard by a U.S. Embassy staffer in Kyiv — was disclosed Wednesday by the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William B. Taylor Jr., on the dramatic opening day of public impeachment hearings into alleged abuse of power by the president.
WASHINGTON — No one bothered to put special limits on the number of people allowed to sit in the “listening room” in the White House to monitor the phone call because it was expected to be routine. By the time the call was over 30 minutes later, it quickly became clear that it was anything but.
The Trump -Zelensky call and the pressure on the authorities in Kyiv to conduct investigations that could aid Trump ’ s 2020 campaign are at the heart of Calling a president from a cellphone violates protocols set up to protect senior administration officials’ communications. “It’s indicative of a lack of
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School students cheer to demonstrators as they pass their bus during the march on Pennsylvania Av.e., protesting against climate policies and to impeach Donald Trump, in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 8.
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Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) exits the U.S. House of Representatives Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) during a break in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump led by the House Intelligence, House Foreign Affairs and House Oversight and Reform Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 7.
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Jennifer Williams, a special adviser to Vice President Mike Pence for Europe and Russia who is a career foreign service officer, departs after a closed-door interview in the impeachment inquiry on President Donald Trump's efforts to press Ukraine to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 7.
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Former National Security Council Director for European Affairs Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, center, arrives to review his testimony before a closed-door interview in the impeachment inquiry on President Donald Trump's efforts to press Ukraine to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 7.
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People march on Pennsylvania Avenue protesting against climate policies and President Donald Trump, in Washington, on Nov. 8.
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Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, talks to reporters on the driveway outside of the White House Nov. 1, in Washington, DC. Conway fielded questions about the ongoing impeachment inquiry, Trump's decision to become a resident of Florida and a potential visit to the White House by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow speaks to the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, on Nov. 1.
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A women holds an umbrella as she walks past banners in front of the Capitol in Washington, on Oct. 31.
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US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi presides over the House vote on a resolution formalizing the impeachment inquiry against President Donald J. Trump on the House floor in the US Capitol, on Oct. 31.
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Former top national security adviser to President Donald Trump, Tim Morrison, arrives for a closed-door meeting to testify as part of the House impeachment inquiry into Trump, on Oct. 31.
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U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) walks to attend testimony from Timothy Morrison, National Security Council’s Russia and Europe Director, at a closed-door deposition, on Oct. 31.
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Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., right, speaks to members of the media as Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, left, looks on as they arrive for a closed-door meeting to hear testimony from Tim Morrison, on Oct. 31.
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Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., speaks to reporters as he leaves a closed door meeting where Catherine Croft, a State Department adviser on Ukraine, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper testify as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 30.
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The House of Representatives Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-MA) talks with an aide as he chairs a Rules Committee markup hearing to prepare a resolution directing House congressional committees to continue their ongoing investigations in the impeachment inquiry, on Oct. 30.
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Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi talks to reporters encountered as she walks near the room where witnesses are testifying in the impeachment inquiry led by the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform Committees on Capitol Hill, on Oct. 30.
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House Rules Committee members Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., right, work on the markup of the resolution that will formalize the next steps in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, on Oct. 30.
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Christopher Anderson (C), a State Department employee arrives for a closed-door deposition at the US Capitol, on Oct. 30.
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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) speaks to reporters outside the House Intelligence Committee SCIF as U.S. foreign service officer Catherine Croft, who once served as a deputy to then-Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker, testifies inside as part of the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry, on Oct. 30.
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The U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee holds a markup hearing to prepare a resolution directing House congressional committees to continue their ongoing investigations in the impeachment inquiry into the President Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 30.
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U.S. foreign service officer Catherine Croft, who once served as a deputy to then-Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker, arrives to testify as part of the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into the President Trump led by the House Intelligence, House Foreign Affairs and House Oversight and Reform Committees on Oct. 30.
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Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., a member of the House Rules Committee, argues a point during a markup of the resolution that will formalize the next steps in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, at the Capitol, on Oct. 30, 2019.
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Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) speak to reporters while Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, testifies as part of the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into President Trump led by the House Intelligence, House Foreign Affairs and House Oversight and Reform Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 29.
AP source: 2nd US official heard Trump call with Sondland
A second U.S. embassy staffer in Kyiv overheard a key cellphone call between President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the European Union discussing the need for Ukrainian officials to pursue “investigations,” The Associated Press has learned. The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor said one of his staffers overhead the call while Sondland was in a restaurant the day after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that triggered the House impeachment inquiry.
Trump is accused of pressing Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. I think I should run more often so you can call me more often and we can talk over the phone more often. 3 Mr. Trump said Attorney General William P. Barr would call the Ukrainian president about another investigation.
President Donald Trump repeatedly pushed for Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, during a July 25 phone call , according to a transcript of the conversation released by the White House.
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House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., arrives for a Democratic caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 29. Her panel is one of the key committees with jurisdiction in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
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U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) exits a closed-door deposition of U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland as part of the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Trump led by the House Intelligence, House Foreign Affairs and House Oversight and Reform Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 28.
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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, center, speaks with members of the media after former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman signaled that he would not appear as scheduled for a closed door meeting to testify as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Monday, Oct. 28, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Standing with Jordan are Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., left, and Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas.
Trump shows GOP senators summary of his first call with Ukraine president
President Donald Trump hosted a group of Republican senators Thursday afternoon for lunch and showed them an account of his first call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to three sources familiar with the matter. © Alex Wong/Getty Images President Donald Trump. The Republican senators who attended the lunch included Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Ted Cruz of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Jerry Moran of Kansas.
The idea that Trump would proactively release a document that showed him engaging in an explicit The rough transcript of Trump ' s call with Ukraine 's president. Trump soon adds: “The other thing It could also have been a trial balloon to see how the call was received before making a decision on
The phone call Taylor described could change all that. In the middle of Wednesday' s hearing, the House Intelligence Committee If either Sondland or Holmes supports Taylor' s account, it could undercut the president' s defenders who have suggested that Mr Trump was not closely involved in
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Senate Majority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell participates in a news conference on Oct. 29, in Washington. Republican Senators took the opportunity to criticize House Democrats' approach to an impeachment probe into President Donald J. Trump.
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A draft of a U.S. House of Representatives resolution formally laying out the next steps in the Democratic impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, authorizing public committee hearings and the public release of transcripts of closed-door depositions, is seen after its release on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 29.
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Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, arrives to testify as part of the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into President Trump led by the House Intelligence, House Foreign Affairs and House Oversight and Reform Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 29.
White House releases summary of Trump's first call with Ukraine's Zelensky
The White House has released a document summarizing President Donald Trump’s first phone call with newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in April of this year. © Danil Shamkin/NurPhoto via Getty Images Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky during a briefing in the office of the President in Kiev. Ukraine, Thursday, June 27, 2019 The tone of the call released Friday was much more congratulatory, as it took place hours after Zelensky’s historic landslide election, and was significantly shorter than the July 25 call at the center of the House impeachment inquiry.
Taylor revelation ties Trump to the extortion scheme beyond the lone July 25 call . Second call reveals deliberate strategy Trump himself was pursuing. During the first public impeachment hearings regarding Trump ’ s conduct toward Ukraine , we learned a damning new fact that explains why.
The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony He testified that his staffer could hear Trump on the phone asking Sondland about “the investigations.” Current and former U. S . officials say Sondland’ s use of a cellphone in a public place in Ukraine to
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Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) speaks to reporters before entering a closed-door deposition on Oct. 29.
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From left, Reps. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Scott Perry, R-Pa., conduct a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center outside the deposition of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, on Oct. 29.
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Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, leaves the Capitol in Washington after a closed-door interview on Oct. 26. Reeker took questions about President Donald Trump's ouster of the ambassador of Ukraine in May and whether he had knowledge about efforts to persuade Ukraine to pursue politically motivated investigations.
READ: Memo of Trump's first call with Zelensky
The White House on Friday released a memo of a call between President Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky that took place shortly after Zelensky's election earlier this year.The release came minutes before another public congressional hearing begins that is part of House Democrats' impeachment probe into Trump.
The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U. S Taylor was one of the first witnesses called Wednesday during the impeachment inquiry’ s initial open hearing. He testified that his staffer could
The Trump administration has released the much-anticipated transcript summary of President Trump ' s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr So whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it
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WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump was constructing the opulent Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan four decades ago, he was infuriated when he saw a thin layer of golden-hued marble lining the walls and column in the lobby, and ordered aides to make it appear twice as thick.
Sure, he had architects and engineers to handle those decorating details so that he could focus on the building’s multimillion-dollar budget and other big-picture concerns of a business empire that would teeter in and out of bankruptcy.
But when something bothers Trump, however small, he can obsess over it.
That tendency to become preoccupied by narrow interests is haunting him in the impeachment inquiry, which hit a milestone Wednesday when the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee held its first public hearing since the investigation began in September.
A second hearing is scheduled Friday, and eight more witnesses will testify over three days next week.
The first hearing provided compelling evidence of one of Trump’s most audacious fixations: getting Ukraine’s new president to announce investigations of Trump rivals, including potential 2020 opponent Joe Biden, after Trump had suspended $391 million in congressionally approved security aid to the government in Kyiv.
House Democrats argue that the evidence shows Trump hijacked foreign policy, and put national security at risk, to help his reelection bid. On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went further, saying for the first time that the president’s demands to Ukraine amounted to bribery.
White House: NSC Ukraine expert wrote summary of April Trump-Zelensky call that conflicts with rough transcript
The White House appears to be blaming Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for misleading reporters about the contents of an April 21 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. © Provided by MediaDC: Washington Newspaper Publishing Company, Inc.Vindman is the top Ukraine expert on the White House National Security Council. On Friday, the White House released a rough transcript of the call that appeared to conflict with a separate summary of the call sent to reporters in April.
Trump on Wednesday said he did not recall the July 26 call with Sondland. “No, not at all, not He testified that his staffer could hear Trump on the phone asking Sondland about “the investigations.” Current and former U. S . officials say Sondland’ s use of a cellphone in a public place in Ukraine to
“The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That’s bribery,” Pelosi told a news conference.
During the hearing Wednesday, William B. Taylor Jr., the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, revealed publicly for the first time that an embassy staffer had overheard Trump speaking to the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who had called the president on a cellphone from a restaurant in Kyiv after meeting senior Ukrainian officials.
Taylor said the aide, who was later identified as political counselor David Holmes, specifically heard Trump ask Sondland about “the investigations,” and that Sondland said after the call that Trump cared more about Biden than about U.S. policy toward Ukraine, an ally battling a Russian-backed insurgency.
© Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS U.S. President Donald Trump walks along the colonnade after greeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upon his arrival at the South Portico of the White House on November 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that a second U.S. diplomat, a foreign service officer based at the embassy in Kyiv, also heard Trump speaking on the call.
If confirmed, the cellphone conversation could place Trump and Sondland in jeopardy.
It contradicts Sondland’s previous sworn testimony about his direct interactions with the president, when he failed to mention the conversation, and potentially puts him at risk of perjury. Sondland is scheduled to testify publicly next Wednesday.
More importantly, it places the president more directly into the alleged scheme to demand political favors from Ukraine in exchange for U.S. assistance, a narrative that largely has been outlined by White House aides and U.S. diplomats so far.
As a side issue, it raises questions about why Trump was willing to risk security by taking a cellphone call from abroad.
Sondland’s call normally would be routed through a senior member of the national security staff or an assistant secretary of State, who might brief the president through a memo or verbally to a superior, who would then pass the information to the president.
“Nothing is particularly orthodox” in the way Trump runs diplomacy, said Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia.
Sondland’s ability to dial up the president in a public place was particularly alarming to U.S. security experts, who cited Russia’s well-documented efforts to undermine the fragile democracy in Ukraine, and its near-certain surveillance of American diplomats there.
“The fact that (Sondland) either didn’t know or knew but took a cavalier attitude — neither answer is a really good answer,” said Larry Pfeiffer, a former senior U.S. intelligence official who ran the White House Situation Room from 2011 to 2013.
Pfeiffer said calls to the president from a foreign country are supposed to be made from a secure area in an embassy to the White House switchboard or the Situation Room, and then patched through to the president.
He said President Barack Obama received some personal calls on his BlackBerry device from a very small group of friends, but they were not supposed to contain potentially sensitive information.
Placing a call from a restaurant is particularly brazen. Even with the best equipment, government employees are constantly warned that “your call is only as secure as the place you’re sitting,” Pfeiffer said.
Republicans contend that Trump did nothing wrong, or at least worthy of impeachment, and suggested that his aides may have been acting on their own. They also complain that few of the witnesses had direct conversations with Trump, and derided their accounts as hearsay.
For his part, Trump retweeted a Fox Business host who said the hearing amounted to a “policy dispute” that average Americans would not find impeachable.
In some ways, the cellphone conversation, as described, would confirm available evidence about Trump’s preoccupation with getting Ukraine to investigate his political opponents.
On July 25, a day before Sondland picked up his cellphone, Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call for a “favor” immediately after Zelenskiy had pleaded for U.S. anti-tank weapons.
Trump made clear that he wanted Zelenskiy to investigate a debunked theory that Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and to reopen an inquiry into Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company that had put Biden’s son Hunter on its board.
Since Biden effectively led U.S. policy to Ukraine as vice president, the arrangement appeared to pose a conflict of interest. But no evidence has emerged to suggest that Biden or his son committed a crime, and Trump has never said why, if he believes such evidence exists, that he asked a foreign power instead of the Justice Department to investigate U.S. citizens.
Trump’s obsession with “the investigations” is not new, although its meaning appears to have shifted over time.
He often brings up his upset victory in the 2016 election in his speeches before supporters, and still claims — without any credible evidence — that Democrats committed voter fraud. He beams when he mentions Hillary Clinton at his rallies and supporters chant, “Lock her up.”
And he complains bitterly about the “phony” special counsel investigation that concluded the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 election, in part to help him win, and that his campaign “welcomed” the Russian help. Federal prosecutors indicted 25 Russians for alleged hacking and other crimes.
Analysts said Trump’s eagerness to blame Ukraine, despite U.S. intelligence and Justice Department conclusions that Russia was responsible, is partly aimed at sowing doubt about the Russia inquiry that tarnished his presidency.
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White House: NSC Ukraine expert wrote summary of April Trump-Zelensky call that conflicts with rough transcript .
The White House appears to be blaming Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for misleading reporters about the contents of an April 21 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. © Provided by MediaDC: Washington Newspaper Publishing Company, Inc.Vindman is the top Ukraine expert on the White House National Security Council. On Friday, the White House released a rough transcript of the call that appeared to conflict with a separate summary of the call sent to reporters in April.
