TODAY IN CONGRESS:
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
Buckle Up And Pass The Popcorn!
It’s Impeachment Hearings Day One!
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.
Today’s Events:
House —
10:00 am — House Intelligence Committee Impeachment Hearing (The House Intelligence Committee holds its first open hearing of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Lawmakers will hear testimony from William Taylor, Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent)
Senate —
9:30 am — Senate Committee Hearing on Migration at the Southern Border (Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS), and others testify on migration at the U.S.-Mexico border before a Senate committee.)
10:00 am — Senate Session (The Senate meets with work expected on judicial nominations.)
Joint House & Senate —
11:00 am — Joint Committee Hearing on Economic Outlook (Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies on monetary policy and the economy before the Joint Economic Committee.)
Tuesday’s Votes: No significant votes in the House or Senate.
Comments:
Today’s Events – If you’re not watching the House Impeachment Hearing today, why the hell not! I delve into what to watch for under “Committee Activity” below, so I won’t go into that here. But if you’re trying to decide where to watch the Hearing in terms of televised media, might I suggest my favorite C-Span. There will be no annoying commercials or Media Pundits trying to spin what you just heard. C-Span allows uninterrupted viewing and allows you to think for yourself, which I think is GREAT! Now on to the Hearing Watch Parties and the LIVE Blog!
COMMITTEE SUBPOENA WARS & IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS —
Today’s Impeachment/Subpoena HeadlineS:
Public Impeachment Hearings Start TODAY With Ukraine Ambassador William Taylor & Deputy Secretary George Kent
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch To Testify on Friday (Nov. 15)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Impeachment Committees Release Witness List For Next Week (Nov. 18 — 22)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Schiff Announces “Quid-Pro-Quo” Is Out “Bribery” Is In
Yeah!
___________________________________________________________________________________
Details below under “COMMITTEE ACTIVITY”.
BTW — If you are looking to keep tabs on the fast moving developments on the Impeachment front, POLITICO is running continuous updates.
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 November 12, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the DoJ’s Appeal of the DC Circuit Court Judge’s Ruling granting Congress access to the Mueller Grand Jury Transcripts and the related Mueller Report redactions.
New Developments — As indicated above, there was supposed to be an Appeals Court Hearing yesterday on granting Congress access to the Mueller Grand Jury materials. However, so far, I have not been able to find any news reports as to what went on (all are too busy with the impeachment thing I guess). I will continue looking and will post anything I can find in a later update. If any of you come across any news on this court hearing, please post in a comment.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — Waiting on Judge’s ruling due any day.
House Judiciary Committee Hicks and Donaldson Subpoenas —
Background — CLICK HERE
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, waiting in McGahn ruling.
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 (McAleenan) Subpoena —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Intelligence Committee (Flynn) 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, Oversight & Foreign Affairs Committees’ Impeachment Investigation —
NOTE #1: This used to be the “House Intelligence Committee’s Whistleblower Investigation”, but I have changed the heading to include the other committees involved and to allow for a broadening of the scope of the investigation.
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — Here are some recent developments:
- Televised Public Impeachment Hearings Begin on Wednesday With Taylor & Kent — The first two impeachment inquiry witnesses will testify together publicly on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET: Kent, from the state department, and Taylor, the charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in Kiev. It is uncertain whether these Hearings will get the same level of viewership as the Watergate Hearings. As noted in this Washington Post Article, not only were the Watergate Hearings broadcast LIVE by all the major networks during the day, they were rebroadcast at 8:00 pm by PBS so working Americans could tune into the unfolding drama. While C-Span, PBS, the Cable News Networks and some or all of the broadcast networks (e.g. CBS, NBC, ABC) will broadcast the Impeachment Hearings LIVE during the day, evening prime time rebroadcasts will be limited. PBS said Friday the network will broadcast live during the day but will then offer the hearings on-demand on its digital platforms. PBS WORLD, a digital channel carried by 157 public television stations representing about 64 percent of U.S. TV households, will also replay the hearings during prime time, ensuring that “Americans have access to the replay of the hearings when and how they want to view them,” a spokeswoman told The Washington Post. How many Americans actually watch some or all of these Hearings remains to be seen. During Watergate the Hearings were the only thing on TV, now folks with Cable or Direct TV have hundreds of other things to watch. It’s also uncertain just what kind of crap House Republicans will try to pull. Unlike during Watergate where GOP Senators were basically well-behaved during the Senate and House Judiciary Committee Hearings, this class of House Republicans is BAT SHIT CRAZY and cable of just about anything.
- Alexander Vindman, Fiona Hill & Laura Cooper Transcripts Released — First, courtesy of CNN, here are the transcripts that have been released to date:
If you click on each name above, you can get that person’s transcript.
The first 2 recently released transcripts are Vindman’s and Hill’s. Here are some excerpts courtesy of the NY Times:
Vindman transcript, Page 29: “I heard him [Sondland] say that this had been coordinated with White House Chief of Staff Mr. Mick Mulvaney.”
Hill transcript, Page 69: “And Ambassador Sondland, in front of the Ukrainians, as I came in, was talking about how he had an agreement with Chief of Staff Mulvaney for a meeting with the Ukrainians if they were going to go forward with investigations. And my director for Ukraine was looking completely alarmed.”
Vindman transcript, Page 54: “President Zelensky specifically mentioned the company Burisma.”
Hill transcript, Page 45: “His [Bolton’s] reaction was pained. And he basically said — in fact, he directly said: Rudy Giuliani is a hand grenade that is going to blow everybody up. He did make it clear that he didn’t feel that there was anything that he could personally do about this.
Vindman transcript, Page 67: A. “She [Hill] said that he was upset with what Ambassador Sondland was attempting to orchestrate. And in her account to me, she did specifically say, you know, he was a live hand grenade, or something to that extent.”
Q. “Who was a live hand grenade?”
A. “So, I guess, let me complete that logic. So that Ambassador Sondland was trying to orchestrate an investigation being called by Mayor Giuliani, who was a live hand grenade.”
Look for more of this “pull no punches” testimony from Vindmand and Hill during the LIVE Hearings. Must See TV!
Now, most recently (late Monday), the transcript of Pentagon Deputy Assistant Secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, Laura Cooper has been released. According to this report from CNN:
She described Volker seeking a statement from the Ukrainians about opening investigations into election interference that would trigger a release in the aid.
"I knew from my Kurt Volker conversation and also from sort of the alarm bells that were coming from Ambassador (Bill) Taylor and his team that there were Ukrainians who knew about this," Cooper said, describing the Ukrainians as aware of the freeze on aid in August 2019. "The context for the discussion that I had with Ambassador Volker related specifically to the path that he was pursuing to lift the hold would be to get them to make this statement, but the only reason they would do that is because there was, you know, something valuable."
Cooper testified that at a meeting on July 26 — the day after Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — it first became clear to her that the military aid to Ukraine that was affected by the hold was related to the President's concerns about corruption and that "immediately deputies began to raise concerns about how this could be done in a legal fashion."
"The comments in the room at the deputies' level reflected a sense that there was not an understanding of how this could legally play out. And at that meeting the deputies agreed to look into the legalities and to look at what was possible," Cooper added.
Cooper testified that individuals at the Department of Defense and other agencies believed Ukraine was making progress in combating corruption, enough to continue providing the aid being challenged by OMB.
"It was unanimous with the exception of the statements by OMB representatives, and those statements were relaying higher level guidance," Cooper said.
What’s interesting to me about Cooper’s testimony is that for the first time she reveals that career officials were questioning the legality of Trump’s order to withhold aid that had been mandated by Congress through passage of an Appropriations “Law”. I hope House Dems. delve more into this legal issue during the public hearings. You can read the Cooper transcript
here.
- Croft Transcript Reveals Javelin Missiles to Ukraine Held Up To Not Offend Russia — The Bombshell mystery about the hold up of US Javelin missile sales to Ukraine which was eluded to by a Dem. Congressman a few weeks back as he left the SCIF, is now solved. According to this DK Front Page Post by Kerry Eleveld:
In another all roads lead to Russia revelation, a State Department official and former National Security Council member, told congressional investigators that then-budget chief Mick Mulvaney halted the sale of anti-tank Javelin missiles to Ukraine in late 2017 over fears that it would upset Russia.
Catherine Croft testified that the Mulvaney-led Office of Management and Budget (OMB) put a hold on the decision to sell the missiles to Ukraine over worries that "Russia would react negatively to the provision." Croft said that was how OMB director Mulvaney described the reasoning. Asked if any other agencies involved in approval of the sale were similarly concerned about such a transaction, Croft called OMB the "lone objector." Meanwhile, the National Security Council and State Department both supported selling the missiles to Ukraine, she testified, adding that in her opinion not providing the anti-tank missiles would serve Russia's interests.
Nancy is right! With Trump, “All Roads Do Lead To Russia.” I just hope Dems. in Congress have the courage to venture down those roads. You can read the full Croft transcript here courtesy of NPR.
- Bolton Testimony Still in Limbo — While Bolton continues to release juicy hints about what he says he knows through his attorney, he will not appear to testify without a Court enforced subpoena. According to this story from Vox:
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton claims to have information of interest to those leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, but is refusing to share those insights until a judge rules on a case involving the powers of the legislative and executive branches.
Bolton was involved in “many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed,” according to a letter to House attorneys Bolton’s lawyer Charles Cooper sent Friday. But Bolton will not testify until the completion of a lawsuit filed in October asking a judge to rule on whether witnesses should abide by the testimony requests of lawmakers or White House directives not to testify.That lawsuit was brought by Bolton’s former deputy Charles Kupperman after he was subpoenaed by lawmakers. The White House argued Kupperman could not be compelled to testify, claiming he had “constitutional immunity.”
And there’s this bit of shocking Bolton News from our own chloris creator:
Congressional appropriators were frustrated when their inquiry on Aug. 29 about the status of the State Department funds was greeted by silence. Days passed and on Sept. 9, when they asked again, the State Department’s Legislative Affairs office told them there was no hold on the $141 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.
What they didn’t know, according to one of the people, was that shortly before Sept. 9, Bolton had relayed a message to the State Department that the funding could go ahead. It’s not clear whether Bolton, who resigned from the job a week later, did so with Trump’s approval.
Bolton’s handling of the funding struck officials in the White House as violating protocol and caught Mulvaney by surprise, according to another person familiar with the matter. ✂️
I am still concerned why Schiff has decided to not subpoena Bolton. I get not suspending the impeachment process for months to wait for the Bolton & Kupperman case to wind its way through the entire Federal Court system, but I don’t see the harm in leaving the door open just in case the DC District Court decides in mid-December that they must honor Congressional subpoenas and both Bolton and Kupperman say they will testify immediately if subpoenaed?
- Mulvaney Defies Subpoena and Joins Kupperman Lawsuit — So now things are really starting to get weird, as if things weren’t weird before. Having defied a Congressional subpoena Mulvaney is now asking to join Kupperman’s (and sort of Bolton’s) lawsuit over whether they should honor a Congressional subpoena and testify or obey the White House’s directive against testifying. But unlike Kupperman who is asking for a Court ruling without prejudice to either argument, Mulvaney’s Court filing indicates he is seeking for the Court to uphold the President’s Absolute Immunity claim and rule against the validity of the Congressional subpoena. Which is part of the reason why Kupperman’s attorney is opposing Mulvaney joining their lawsuit. Kupperman claims in a court filing that Mulvaney shouldn't be allowed to join his lawsuit asking a court for help in a fight between the White House and the House of Representatives. Though Kupperman supports Mulvaney filing a separate lawsuit that would be heard by the same judge, Kupperman doesn't want to share his lawsuit with Mulvaney. Kupperman's lawyer also outlined how different his client's situation is from that of Mulvaney, telling the judge that the two shouldn't be lumped together. Kupperman is more neutral than Mulvaney, Kupperman's attorney said, describing Mulvaney as having made it "clear that he supports the Executive," according to the filing. Kupperman's team also says he is different from Mulvaney because he is a former official and Mulvaney is currently serving in the Trump administration. Kupperman's work in the White House also exclusively concerned national security and foreign affairs and so deserves extra protections, they say, whereas the bulk of Mulvaney's work does not concern national security. The House Committee is also opposed to Mulvaney joining the lawsuit.
UPDATE: Now we are told that Mulvaney has filed a notice of withdrawal of his motion to join an ongoing lawsuit filed last month.
- Alexander Vindman Fate at NSC Unclear — It was first reported here at DK by our own durrati that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman had been removed from the NSC. From TPM:
“On Sunday, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who gave a bombshell testimony in the House impeachment investigation last month on President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scheme, will be removed from his post at the White House National Security Council...”
My understanding is he’s–that Colonel Vindman is detailed from the Department of Defense,” O’Brien said. “So everyone who’s detailed at the NSC, people are going to start going back to their own departments and we’ll bring in new folks.”
Trying to make this sound like a routine rotation is laughable. However, this
CBS News Story has poured cold water on the removal:
After "Face the Nation" aired, Vindman's lawyer, Michael Volkov, told CBS News in a statement, "LTC Vindman is still detailed to the National Security Council. His detail ends July 2020. We are not aware of any change in his status. Obviously any retaliatory action against LTC Vindman on a day when we honor our military heroes would be reprehensible."
So is this a real removal or just a sadistic Trial Balloon?
New Developments — THE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS HAVE ARRIVED! And Other Stuff:
- Televised Public Impeachment Hearings Begin TODAY at 10:00 am With Taylor & Kent — Not much to say here that you probably haven’t already heard. So I will try to be brief so you can get to your respective Watch Parties. Here are just a few of my tidbits to chew on:
— Watch for Committee Republicans to pull some crazy procedural stunt early on, like within the first few minutes. Since their allotted time does not occur until hours after the Hearing begins, I don’t expect them to wait until then to pull their crap since they know some viewers will have tuned out by then. So while Schiff will attempt to block their crap, I would guess they will force him into some sort of procedural vote early on (maybe a vote on ordering pizza. HA!)
— The witnesses may or may not read opening statements. If they do, pay close attention, because such remarks will be a preview of how they will conduct themselves and will set the tone for the rest of the day.
— Since a lot has been testified to behind closed doors and transcripts of those testimonies have already been released, don’t be disappointed if there aren’t any new bombshell revelations. These Hearings are for the majority of the public who has not read the transcripts, not for us. So a lot of what they hear today will be new to them.
— Finally, if you're looking for a drinking game word for your watch Party, may I suggest “BRIBERY”. WARNING: If you use this word as your drinking cue, you may lose consciousness before the Hearing ends.
- The Impeachment Hearing Witness List is out for the rest of this week and next week — Here is the schedule as released by MSNBC:
— Friday (morning) Nov. 15 — Marie Yovanovitch, Fmr. US Ambassador to Ukraine
— Tuesday (morning) Nov. 19 — Jennifer Williams, Aid to VP Pence and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (in full Dress Blues I would assume), Director for European Affairs at the NSC
— Tuesday (afternoon) Nov. 19 — Ambassador Kurt Volker, Fmr. US Special Envoy to Ukraine and Tim Morrison, White House Aid within NSC Focusing on Europe & Russia
— Wednesday (morning) Nov. 20 — Ambassador Gordon Sondland, US Amb. to the EU
— Wednesday (afternoon) Nov. 20 — Laura Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine and David Hale, Under Secretary of State
— Thursday (morning) Nov. 21 — Dr. Fiona Hill, Former NSC Senior Director for Europe and Russia.
A very ambitious schedule to say the least. I have to say I am a little concerned that Dems. seem to be rushing things a bit. I worry that this may be all too fast & furious for the public to get and retain all the important facts. The highly successful Watergate Hearings went on for months and folks got a clear picture of Nixon’s crimes. I just hope Democrats are not speeding through this thing on some artificial timeline which does not allow for a pause should more incriminating facts or new crimes emerge. The facts should dictate the timeline, the timeline should not dictate the facts.
- Schiff Announces “Quid-Pro-Quo” Is Out “Bribery” Is In — As posted in this DK Diary by Jamess, courtesy of The Hill, Schiff had this to say:
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) suggested President Trump’s possible impeachable offenses include bribery in an interview set to air Wednesday with NPR’s Steve Inskeep.
[...]
In the interview, Schiff said bribery, one of the offenses the Constitution outlines as impeachable, had a different meaning at the time the Constitution was written than how it is commonly understood today.
“It was much broader. It connoted the breach of the public trust in a way where you're offering official acts for some personal or political reason, not in the nation's interest,” Schiff said. “Here you have the president of the United States seeking help from Ukraine in his reelection campaign in the form of two investigations that he thought were politically advantageous, including one of his primary rival.”
“It doesn't have to be cash. It can be something of value,” Schiff added, saying that conditioning foreign aid on political favors could be considered bribery even in the modern context.
This is great news for all the reasons I mentioned in my pet peeve yesterday. I hope they drive this home during the Hearings.
House Committees Issue Subpoenas to DoD and OMB -
Recent Developments — None.
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 — None.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Mazars Subpoena (Trump Financial Records & Taxes) —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None. But see Trump Tax Returns below.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Subpoena of White House Staff Documents —
Background — CLICK HERE.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Ways & Means Committee & Manhattan DA Subpoenas (Trump’s Tax Returns) —
Background — CLICK HERE. BTW — I know this gets confusing but there are really three (3) cases going on aimed at Trump’s tax returns. One is the case brought by the House Committee to get the IRS to turn over Trump’s taxes as required BY LAW. The second is the case brought by Trump against the Manhattan DA to block the DA’s subpoena of Mazars, Trump’s former accounting firm, to provide the DA with Trump’s tax returns as a part of a State criminal investigation. The third is a case brought by Trump against NYS to block his State tax returns from being turned over to Congress in accordance with a recently passed NYS Law. I hope this helps keep things straight!
Recent Developments — On Monday, November 11, a Federal DC Circuit Court Judge threw out the case of Trump vs. NYS over the releasing of Trump’s State tax returns to Congress. A Trump-appointed federal judge decided Monday that President Donald Trump can't sue New York state officials in a Washington, DC, court at this time to stop the release of his tax returns to Congress. If Trump wants to continue to challenge a New York state law that says Congress can request his state tax returns, he'll either need to wait for Congress to make the request or start over with a new lawsuit in a New York court, the judge, Carl Nichols of the federal district court in DC, said Monday.
New Developments — None.
That’s all for today. Corrections and Additions are always welcome! Now join me over at the Hearing LIVE Blog for some interesting commentary by all of us!