Watch Live: Day 3 of the Impeachment Inquiry Public Hearings

November 19, 2019 8:45 am EST Tiff Feature 1
President Trump and President Zelensky 9/25/19. Photo by The Presidential Office of the Ukraine.

On Tuesday morning the House Intelligence Committee is holding their 3rd Impeachment Inquiry Public Hearing.

As the News Blender reported President Trump took to Twitter to attack Vice President Mike Pence aid Jennifer Williams.

Williams offered testimony before the three House Committees handling the Impeachment Inquiry on November 7th. Her testimony was made public on November 16th.

According to her testimony Williams was present in the Situation Room when the July 25th phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky took place, asked if she took notes during the call she replied “yes.” (pg. 64.)

Also testifying on Tuesday morning is Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a Purple Heart recipient, who serves as the White House top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Vindman sat for his deposition on October 29th. His opening statement was publicly released shortly after testimony had begun.

In his opening statement Vindman explains that he was concerned by the call, adding that he did not think it proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a private U.S. citizen. He also testified that he reported his concerns to the NSC’s lead legal counsel.

I was concerned by the call. I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine. I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Biden’s and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained. This would all undermine U.S. national security. Following the call, I again reported my concerns to NSC’s lead counsel.

Vindman Opening Statement 10/29/19.

Following the public release of the opening statement the President took to Twitter to call Vindman, who he did not name, a Never Trumper.

For What It’s Worth.

Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and new House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jim Jordan (OH) requested that Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) offer firsthand knowledge of President Trump’s actions toward Ukraine between April 2019 and September 2019.

Johnson, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs wrote in a letter that was made public on the eve of testimony, that two specific points made during a meeting following the inauguration of President Zelensky stand out in his memory.

Sen. Ron Johnson Letter.

Johnson adds of Vindman and others that have expressed concerns over President Trump’s involvement in seeking an investigation into a political rival in exchange for military aid that if they are unable to carry out the President’s foreign policy they should resign.

Sen. Ron Johnson Letter.

Also testifying on Tuesday afternoon is former U.S. Special Envoy to the Ukraine Kurt Volker. Volker as CNN notes was the first witness to testify before the three House Committees handling the Impeachment Inquiry, on October 3rd. His testimony was released to the public on November 5th.

For What It’s Worth.

The New York Times is reporting that Volker, according to an account of his prepared testimony, is planning to tell lawmakers that “he was out of the loop” at key moments during President Trump’s campaign to pressure Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation into political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Testifying along side Volker is former NSC’s official in charge of overseeing Russia and Europe, Tim Morrison.

Morrison testified before the three House Committees handling the Impeachment Inquiry on October 31st. He testimony was made public on November 16th.

Morrison replaced Dr. Fiona Hill who is scheduled to testify on Thursday, according to his testimony Hill described Ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, who is scheduled to testify on Wednesday, as a “problem,” and that in some cases he considered Burisma to be sort of a “bucket of issues,” that he tried to stay away from.

Morrison Testimony.

Morrison also testified that the placement of the call between President Trump and President Zelensky to the high level secure server was a mistake.

Morrison Testimony pg. 54.
Morrison Testimony pg. 55.

On Monday ahead of this weeks public hearings, the House Intelligence Committee released two more depositions to the public. Foreign Service Officer David Holmes who testified on November 15th and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Ambassador David Hale who testified on November 6th.

Live Feed House Intelligence Committee.

Live Feed ABC News.

Live Feed PBS News Hour.

Authors Note: I do believe the feeds should carry both the morning and afternoon hearings.

Live Feed House Intelligence Committee [for Volker and Morrison testimony]

For a review of all publicly available documents regarding the Ukraine Impeachment inquiry @ Just Security.

The Washington Post now has a “sortable” Impeachment Inquiry timeline.

About the opinions in this article…

Any opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website or of the other authors/contributors who write for it.

About Tiff 2558 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.

1 Trackback / Pingback

  1. Trump Tweets: Open Thread Tuesday

Comments are closed.