Fiona Hill's #Trumpeachment testimony at 10+ hours means trouble for #RudyColludy and Individual-1
4 min read
Undoubtedly she was able to corroborate the event timeline for Don & Rudy’s “secret government” show.
“As the first former White House aide to testify in the impeachment inquiry, Hill could be in a position to describe internal, and apparently heated, conversations among diplomats and security officials that led to (Ambassador) Yovanovitch’s departure.”
The WH got told to pound sand in terms of matters already in the public domain.
Rep. Heck says Fiona Hill’s testimony, which is still going on after 10+ hours (!) was the most substantive he’s ever seen and what the witnesses have been saying “ain’t good” for Trump. “It feels like the dam is breaking.” #inners
— Laffy (@GottaLaff) October 15, 2019
Looming ominously for the White House is the scheduled testimony on Thursday of Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union. A previous attempt by Sondland to testify was blocked by the state department, as part of a blanket White House defiance of the impeachment inquiry.
NEWS: Sondland will also testify that after he attended Zelensky’s inauguration in May, he met with Trump, Rick Perry and Kurt Volker in the Oval Office. Trump told them that any in-person meeting between Trump and Zelensky would have to be approved by Giuliani. – @JoshNBCNews
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) October 15, 2019
Fiona Hill told House committees today that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, appeared to be coordinating his efforts on Ukraine with Mick Mulvaney. (WSJ)
NEW: Fiona Hill told House committees today that she and other White House officials grew so alarmed about efforts to push Ukraine to open certain investigations that they raised their concerns with NSC lawyer John Eisenberg. w/@aviswanatha@nataliewsj https://t.co/F5Abu0nJNF
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) October 15, 2019
Congress is also due this week to receive relevant documents from an array of the most powerful figures in the administration, including the vice-president, the defense secretary and the White House chief of staff.Out of the flow of new information, congressional investigators hope to fill in the picture of the Trump administration’s dealings in Ukraine, and answer the question of whether Trump’s conduct rises to the “high crimes and misdemeanors” cited in the constitution as grounds for impeachment.
[…]
Hill’s testimony could significantly add to allegations of wrongdoing by Trump and Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor commonly described as the president’s personal lawyer, who headed up the president’s personal agenda in Ukraine while working on behalf of local clients of his own. Both Trump and Giuliani have denied wrongdoing.
Hill’s testimony was expected to center on the recall of Yovanovitch, a widely respected diplomat who worked under six presidents and who defied the state department gag order to testify herself last Friday.
Rep. Denny Heck on Fiona Hill hearing: "After thousands of hours of hearings, I have never had a witness that came across as substantive per minute as she did." pic.twitter.com/yvoIBbaMX9
— The Hill (@thehill) October 15, 2019
“Rudy Giuliani has clearly been a leading force for the administration in defining a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told reporters after emerging from Hill’s testimony, though he declined to say whether Hill testified to that effect. “There was an official foreign policy, which was attempting to counter corruption in Ukraine, and then there was Rudy Giuliani and the gang that couldn’t shoot straight who worked for him, who were involved precisely [in] connecting with corruption in Ukraine and promoting corruption in Ukraine.”
[…]
Republicans also have argued that full transcripts of the depositions should be made public, a request that Democrats have so far declined. The Constitution gives the House broad authority to conduct an impeachment and says nothing about how proceedings should be held.Speaking at an event Monday evening in New York, Schiff said that lawmakers would release all transcripts of the depositions, adding that some witnesses who have testified behind closed doors may return in open session.
It appears the WH and lawyers for Fiona Hill had a full back-and-forth about potential privilege issues with her testimony in the run-up to today.
Here's the WH letter warning Hill not to disclose classified or privileged information. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/VyVCkkJHYw
— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) October 15, 2019
Hill’s lawyers wrote back to the White House, making a legal argument that executive privilege disappears when there’s reason to believe there was government misconduct.
I have been waiting for 3 years for one of Trump’s former subordinates to have a lawyer write this letter to the White House.
FINALLY. https://t.co/BAK1aKUh6M
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) October 15, 2019
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.@kwelkernbc, "Fiona Hill is former official. The fact she's there testifying today under subpoena, underscores the WH can't block everyone from testifying. Sondland is expected to be there later this week. That raises some questions about how solid the strategy is." #AMRstaff
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) October 14, 2019
