On Sunday Trump took a victory lap press conference after the dead of the ISIS leader. It is a noted irony that the factors that lead to al-Baghdadi’s death are international alliances and cooperation that Trump has undermined, especially with the Kurds.
On Tuesday a DOD official, Alexander Vindman, who worked in the White House and was on the July 25 call testified before the House. In his opening statement, like Taylor last week, he stressed the geopolitical importance of Ukraine as a bulwark against Russia: “a strong and independent Ukraine is critical to U.S. national security interests because Ukraine is a frontline state and a bulwark against Russian aggression.” And he stresses the importance of support for the new Ukrainian president Zelensky: The U.S. government policy community’s view is that the election of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the promise of reforms to eliminate corruption will lock in Ukraine’s Western-leaning trajectory, and allow Ukraine to realize its dream of a vibrant democracy and economic prosperity.”
Like Tayler, he describes “outside influencers promoting a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency. This narrative was harmful to U.S. government policy.”
On the July 10 meeting with Ukaninan officials: “Sondland started to speak about Ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the President, at which time Ambassador Bolton cut the meeting short. Following this meeting, there was a scheduled debriefing during which Amb. Sondland emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma.”
Vindman testified that on the July 25 call with Zelensky Trump mentioned recorded calls of Biden Jr. discussing corrupt acts and Zelensky saying the name Burisma, both of which were stricken from the released record of the call.
Another detail that came out of the Vindman testimony is that after he went to White House lawyers to warn that Trump “did something wrong” on the July 25 call, John Eisenberg placed the call summary in the secret classified server: “Vindman’s account marks the first known instance in which a witness before the impeachment inquiry has provided a firsthand account linking Eisenberg to the decision to move the problematic transcript to a highly classified server.”
On Thursday (Halloween) the House voted to approve the next rounds of the impeachment investigation. No Republicans voted in support. Here is a list of what is in the House resolution. It moves the inquiry to its public phase, authorizing public hearings, the filing of a report and release of transcripts. It allows for an opening 45 minutes of questioning by staff lawyers before the regular members have to alternate between Democrat and Republican.
—
Trump Job Approval: 40.9%