TODAY IN CONGRESS:
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
I have to say with the Record Breaking Pace of BREAKING NEWS on the Impeachment front it seems very difficult, if not impossible for me to keep up. So if I missed anything, let me apologize in advance. Maybe things will slow down when Congress comes back next week. HA!
NOTE: Except for the House Intelligence Committee, Congress is on a two week recess, so I will only be posting if something is happening on the Impeachment front with respect to that Committee. So since you are reading this post, something is happening.
I also will you these infrequent Congressional Recess posts to update you on any behind the scenes action with respect to the other Committees working on the Impeachment Inquiry (e.g., subpoenas, court proceedings, etc.) and to posts previous significant votes.
Here’s today’s schedule with the events I think may be the most interesting in bold. You can watch C-Span HERE. NOTE: Sometimes C-Span posts additional Congressional events not on my list, later in the day.
House & Senate: Nothing officially happening in front of the C-Span cameras today.
Yesterday’s Votes:
House & Senate — No Votes.
Comments:
Today’s Events – Nothing officially happening in front of C-Span cameras today. But you can watch this C-Span Stakeout out side the room where members and staff of the House Intelligence Committee are scheduled to depose former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
COMMITTEE SUBPOENA WARS & IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS —
Today’s Impeachment/Subpoena HeadlineS:
Deposition of Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch Scheduled For TODAY
Former Russian Aide Fiona Hill Scheduled to Testify Next Week
Two of Giuliani’s Henchmen Who Were Scheduled to be Deposed Have Been Indicted and Arrested
Rick Perry Gets His Congressional Subpoena
Gordon Sondland (Trump Hack) Unofficially Took Over For Recalled Ukraine Ambassador Yovanovitch
Trump Replaced Career White House Budget Officials in Charge of Ukraine Aid With Trump Appointee (Trump Hack)
Senior SoS Pompeo Advisor Resigns
Details below under “COMMITTEE ACTIVITY”.
COMMITTEE ACTIVITY:
Introduction: Before I get started with today’s long list of subpoena and impeachment activity, let me say that I have decided to do away with posting the repetitive “Background” section here on each Committee activity, in an effort to shorten an already too long post. Instead each background section will include a link to my September 26 Diary containing the full backgrounds for those who need to get up to speed. I will keep editing that Diary as time goes on to keep the background up to date. Below, I will post only recent developments (stuff that happened the day before) and any new developments.
Now on with the show. (New and Important stuff in bold)
House Judiciary Committee Barr Subpoena for Unredacted Mueller Report —
Background - CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — On Tuesday (October 8), lawyers for the House Judiciary Committee and the DoJ appeared before DC Circuit Court Judge Beryl Howell in a Hearing over the release to Congress of the Mueller Grand Jury transcripts. It didn't go well for the Trump DoJ whose claims for why the transcripts should not be shared with Congress were beyond the pale.
Shapiro [DoJ lawyer] argued that if the same Watergate road map arose today, there'd be a "different result" because the law has changed since 1974. She said the judge wouldn't be able to do the same thing absent changes to the grand jury rules and statutes.
To which Judge Howell responded with stunned skepticism. "Wow. OK".
The judge did not say when she would rule on this case, but she did order DoJ to disclose by this Friday whether the Mueller team disclosed grand jury information to foreign entities when it requested assistance from foreign countries during its investigation, in order to establish whether the Justice Department was refusing to give Congress information it had already disclosed to other nations.
New Developments — None, awaiting ruling from Judge Howell.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, waiting for October 31 Court Hearing.
House Judiciary Committee Hicks and Donaldson Subpoenas —
Background — CLICK HERE
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, apparently waiting on results of the McGahn case.
House Judiciary Committee Subpoenas of Sessions, Kushner and Other Trump Staff —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. Waiting to see if Nadler holds Lewandowski in Contempt.
House Judiciary Committee Rob Porter & Rick Dearborn Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, likely waiting for McGahn ruling on “Absolute Immunity”.
House Judiciary Committee Homeland Security Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. No word on what Nadler might do to enforce the subpoena apparently being ignored by McAleenan. Here’s another good candidate for Inherent Contempt.
House Intelligence Committee Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — No reports saying Flynn turned over the requested documents on September 18 nor on whether he showed up to testify yesterday (September 25) that I could find. I will continue looking, but my guess is the session was either postponed or he was a no show.
New Developments — None.
House Intelligence Committee Whistleblower Investigation —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — Here’s a brief summary of what has happened in recent days:
- Trump White House Issues Letter Making its Stonewalling Operation Official — On Tuesday the White House issued a letter to Congress saying they will be blocking all witnesses under their control and stop all documents from going to Congress in their effort to OBSTRUCT Congress’s Impeachment Investigation. Their reason was that this was not an official impeachment investigation since the House has not voted to open such an investigation. This is of course pure poppycock since neither the Constitution nor the Law require such a vote to start an impeachment process. Also, its likely even if Pelosi had the House take such a vote, Trump would just move the goalposts and come up with some other cockimanny excuse to prevent witnesses and documents from going to Congress.
- Sondland Deposition Blocked and Subpoena Issued — As part of its overall stonewalling campaign to give the House NOTHING, the Trump White House, at the last minute, blocked EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland from being deposed on Tuesday by Committee members and staff. Sondland’s lawyer told the Committees that his client would love to appear if he was not being blocked by the White House. But how cooperative a witness he would be is a matter of debate. Although he did travel from Europe to make his deposition, he is a Trump appointee who has shown nothing but loyalty to Trump so far. It was also revealed on Tuesday, that Sondland had turned over a number of personal e-mails and texts regarding the Ukraine matter to the State Department. Furthermore, it’s been revealed that Sondland spoke directly with Trump right before he texted Ambassador Taylor telling him there was no “Quid-Pro-Quo” between Trump and the Ukraine President and that any further discussion of the matter should only be verbal. Now the Committee has subpoenaed Sondland for his testimony and documents that they say are being withheld by the State Department. The subpoena demands those documents be turned over by Oct. 14, and that Sondland sit for a deposition on Oct. 16 before three congressional panels.
- Contents of Whistleblower Memo Leaked To Press — A Memo written by the Whistleblower the day after Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian President has been described to a Reporter by an unknown source. The memo, dated July 26, is based on a conversation the whistleblower had with an unnamed White House official who listened to the call. According to the memo, the White House official described the contents of the call as "crazy," "frightening" and "completely lacking in substance related to national security." The whistleblower said the official was "visibly shaken by what had transpired and seemed keen to inform a trusted colleague within the U.S. national security apparatus about the call."
New Developments — Once again a lot of new stuff to try to summarize:
- Yovanovitch Scheduled to be Deposed Today — Marie Yovanovitch (who is a well respected career diplomat, not a Trump Hack) who was recalled as Ambassador to Ukraine when she was getting in the way of Trump/Giuliani’s extortion scheme, is scheduled to be deposed today by members and staff from the Congressional Committees involved in the Impeachment investigation. According to this CNN Story:
Democrats are eager to question Yovanovitch about her time in Ukraine as well as specifically what she was told about military aid being withheld, as well as the circumstances surrounding her ousting.
But there's still drama over whether Yovanovitch, who is still a State Department employee, will appear for the deposition. The committees had scheduled US Ambassador to the European Union
Gordon Sondland to be interviewed on Tuesday, but the State Department
directed him not to attend early that morning. He's now received a subpoena to appear next week.
Trump on Thursday suggested he might not let Yovanovitch testify.
"I just don't think, you're running a country, I just don't think that you can have all of these people testifying about every conversation you've had," Trump told reporters when asked if he would let Yovanovitch testify.
Yovanovitch was still expected to testify before the three committees as of Thursday evening, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
Time will tell!
Also, we learned last night from The Rachel Maddow Show that Trump political hack, Gordon Sondland (who was blocked by the White House from testifying, but probably welcomed being blocked) unofficially took over Ukraine diplomacy after the Trump/Giuliani Hit Team had Ambassador Yovanovitch recalled for interfering with their extortion scheme. So effectively the career professional diplomat was replaced by an unqualified loyal member of the extended Trump Crime Family. Nice!
- Former US Russian Aide Fiona Hill Scheduled Scheduled to Testify Next Week — Hill, a hawk on Russian, became involved in the Ukraine mess, but left the State Department just before the President’s July 25 call. According to this NBC News Report:
Fiona Hill, who was until recently President Donald Trump’s top aide on Russia and Europe, plans to tell Congress that Rudy Giuliani and E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland circumvented the National Security Council and the normal White House process to pursue a shadow policy on Ukraine, a person familiar with her expected testimony told NBC News.
Hill’s appearance next week before Congress has stoked fear among people close to the president, said a former senior White House official, given her central role overseeing Russia and Ukraine policy throughout most of the Trump administration.
Hill plans to say that Giuliani and Sondland side-stepped the proper process for accessing Trump on Ukraine issues, the person familiar with her expected testimony said, including circumventing John Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser until September.
Congressional committees this week requested that Hill testify on Oct. 14, according to a letter obtained by NBC News, and she agreed. She has not been subpoenaed by Congress.
So far, the White House has not contacted her to assert privilege and try to prevent her from testifying, the person familiar said. But given the prospect that may occur, it’s possible that Hill may ultimately testify under subpoena from Congress, which would compel her to testify and serve as a powerful argument for her to comply with the request from Congress even if the White House does try to stop her.
If Hill does testify as planned, it could strengthen House Democrats’ hand to pursue testimony from many other former White House officials who would have insight into activities central to the impeachment inquiry— including from former officials who may be disgruntled. That could include Bolton and his former aides at the National Security Council who also departed when Trump fired Bolton last month.
Stay Tuned! If the Trump White House tries to block her testimony, it will be interesting to see if she defies the blockade and shows up to testify, since she is not a Trump loyalist and as a former employee there is no real legal way to stop her from testifying.
- Giuliani Ukraine Henchmen Indicted By DoJ SDNY and Jailed — Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Giuliani Associates who were working to get Ambassador Yovanovitch out of the way and were scheduled to be deposed yesterday and today before Congressional Committees, were arrested on Campaign Finance law charges as they attempted to board a plane with a one way ticket to Vienna. According to this ABC News Story:
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Soviet-born businessmen based in Florida, have been charged with four counts, including conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud, false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and falsification of records. Both Parnas and Fruman have been tied to the work done by the president's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in Ukraine where Giuliani has had significant business interests.
Two associates of Parnas and Fruman, David Correira and Andrey Kukushkin, were indicted along with Parnas and Fruman on Thursday. William Sweeney, FBI assistant director in charge of the New York Field office, said at the news conference that Kukushkin was taken into custody in San Francisco, while Correia had yet to be arrested.
Berman [Geoffrey Berman, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York] said the investigation is ongoing.
There are a lot more details to this story then I can post here. So check out the full ABC News Story. Also, check out the segment of last night’s Rachel Maddow Show on this story. She has an interesting angle to this story about how Rudy and his two henchmen were about to go to Vienna to possibly visit Ukrainian Billionaire Dimetry Furtash who is under House Arrest in Austria fighting extradition to the US, in order to get more phoney dirt on Joe Biden since Mr. Furtash previously gave Giuliani phoney Biden dirt.
But what intrigues me the most about all this is what’s going on behind the scenes at DoJ? In particular, what’s going on between the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, who obtained the indictments of the Giuliani Henchmen, and Trump’s Roy Cohn, AG Barr? Some have suggested that Berman was just following Barr’s orders to arrest these two clowns to prevent them from testifying to Congress. That’s even too crazy for me to believe. So, as I see it, we are left with two possibilities: 1. Berman proceeded in the tradition of an independent SDNY and had rudy’s guys indicted with little warning given to AG Barr. If this is the case, you can bet Trump and Barr are both blowing a gasket right about now; or 2. AG Barr has decided to start distancing himself from the sinking Trump ship and has quietly endorsed what Berman is doing. Personally, I think its #1.
- Rick Perry Gets His Congressional Subpoena — House Democrats issued a subpoena on Thursday to Energy Secretary Rick Perry as part of their impeachment inquiry. According to this POLITICO Story:
The subpoena demands a series of documents related to Perry's knowledge of President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump pushed his counterpart to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
[Specifically,] The subpoena demands records and communications related to the May inauguration of Zelensky, for which Perry led the U.S. delegation. It seeks records connected to a host of meetings abroad and at the White House that Perry attended along with senior Ukrainian officials. And it requests all records related to “proposed or actual transactions, investments, or projects relating to liquified natural gas (LNG) in Ukraine.”
The subpoena has a deadline of Oct. 18.
The White House gave a politically appointed official the authority to keep aid to Ukraine on hold after career budget staff members questioned the legality of delaying the funds, according to people familiar with the matter, a shift that House Democrats are probing in their impeachment inquiry.
While career civil servants put an initial hold on the aid, Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs in OMB, was given the authority for continuing to keep the aid on hold after the career staff began raising their concerns to political officials at OMB, according to the people familiar with the matter. Mr. Duffey also began overseeing the process for approving and releasing funds, called apportionment, for other foreign aid and defense accounts, according to a public document indicating the change.
Another example of Trump following a key Organized Crime Rule, make sure you have your loyal soldiers running the show.
- Pompeo Senior Advisor Steps Down — According to this story from The Hill:
Michael McKinley, a career diplomat who has held posts including ambassador to Afghanistan, Colombia and Peru, has stepped down, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
McKinley was serving as ambassador to Brazil last year before becoming a policy adviser to Pompeo, the Post reported. He has reportedly been involved on administration policy in Venezuela, Mexico, Southeast Asia and Afghanistan.
The newspaper reported that McKinley and others were disappointed in Pompeo's lack of public support for diplomats who have been asked to testify before the House as part of an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
The paper noted that there has been particular concern for former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was dismissed earlier this year and is slated to testify on Friday.
House Committees Issue Subpoenas to DoD and OMB -
Recent Developments — The deadline for producing the subpoenaed documents is October 15.
New Developments — None.
House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee Deutsche Bank and Capital One Subpoenas (Trump’s Banking Records) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — Deutsche Bank says it does NOT have President Trump’s tax returns. According to this report from The Hill:
The appeals court denied a motion from a group of media outlets — including The Associated Press, CNN and The New York Times — to disclose the names of individuals whose tax returns Deutsche Bank has in relation to Trump's lawsuit, which was filed in an effort to prevent Democrats from securing his documents.
The Democratic-led House Intelligence and Financial Services committees issued subpoenas earlier this year to Deutsche Bank for financial records, including tax returns, of Trump, his three oldest children and his businesses. Trump subsequently filed a lawsuit challenging the subpoenas, and the case is now before the U.S. Appeals Court for the 2nd Circuit.
Deutsche Bank said in a court filing in August that it has tax returns relating to the subpoenas, but the public version of the filing redacted the identities of the taxpayers.
However,
In its ruling Thursday, the appeals court said the unredacted version of Deutsche Bank's August letter "reports that the only tax returns it has for individuals or entities named in the subpoenas are not those of the President."
Since Deutsche Bank doesn't have Trump's tax returns, the identity of the individuals whose tax returns the bank has is not relevant for any issue the appeals court needs to decide in Trump's pending appeal of the case, the court said Thursday.
The revelation that Deutsche Bank doesn't have any of Trump's relevant tax returns is a setback for Democrats' efforts to obtain Trump's tax filings.
Democrats have filed a separate lawsuit in an effort to get the Treasury Department and IRS to comply with their requests and subpoenas for six years of Trump's personal and business tax returns.
So no Donald Trump Sr. tax returns from Deutsche Bank.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Mazars Subpoena (Financial Records) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, as far as I can tell we are still waiting for the Appeals Court decision in this case.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Subpoenas of White House Staff Documents —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. Subpoena has a deadline of October 18.
House Ways & Means Committee Subpoena (Trump’s Tax Returns) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, except for Deutsche Bank revelation above.
That’s All for today! If I missed some new development, I apologize. This this thing is now moving so fast in so many new directions I am finding it hard to keep up. I will continue to try my best.