Two more witnesses are testifying Wednesday in the ongoing impeachment inquiry — including one who previously told investigators about the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch as ambassador to Ukraine.
Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine, previously testified about the frantic effort within the administration to get the withheld Ukraine released. And top State Department official David Hale in early November told impeachment investigators about Yovanovitch’s recall.
…….
A senior Defense Department official shared some startling information during her opening statement in Wednesday’s impeachment inquiry hearings: evidence that Ukrainian officials may have known about a hold on U.S. assistance well before news of it broke in late August.
Laura Cooper said that as early as July 25 — the same day President Donald Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — her staffers received two emails indicating the Ukrainians were aware of the hold.
The revelations could undermine efforts by Republicans to paint Ukrainians as being ignorant of a hold on the aid, and thus arguing that they could not have felt pressure to conduct investigations of Trump’s political rivals as a result.
“My staff showed me two unclassified emails that they received from the State Department,” she said. “One was received on July 25th, at 2:31 P.M. That email said that the Ukrainian embassy and House Foreign Affairs Committee are asking about security assistance.”
She added: “The second email was received July 25th at 4:25 P.M. That email said the Hill knows about the [Foreign Military Financing] situation to an extent and so does the Ukrainian embassy.”
Cooper, who said she’d learned of these emails only after her private deposition, also added: “Sometime during the week of August 6-10, a Ukraine officer told a member of my staff a Ukrainian official might raise concerns about security assistance in an upcoming meeting.”
- Discussion
-
BREAKING: A senior Pentagon official updated her testimony and offered evidence that Ukrainian officials may have known about a hold on U.S. assistance well before news of it broke in late August https://t.co/Mx7WhiWWSo
— POLITICO (@politico) November 20, 2019
Laura Cooper says on July 25, House Foreign Affairs Committee emailed asking about Ukraine security assistance. 2 hours later, another email was sent saying "the Hill knows about the FMF [Foreign Military Financing] situation to an extent, and so does the Ukrainian embassy."
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 20, 2019
Defense official Laura Cooper testified that later in the day of the Trump-Zelensky call, Ukrainian embassy staff asked, "What is going on with Ukrainian security assistance?" She confirmed to Schiff that this connoted that they were concerned something was going on with it.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 20, 2019
It's an impeachable act to hold up the aid for personal reasons, but Republicans have argued that Ukraine would have had to know about it for it to be impeachable.
Okay, Ukraine knew.
Your move, bootlickers. https://t.co/scbyG9I4XX
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 20, 2019
CONAWAY: Ms. Cooper, you just blew up the foundation of our defense, so let me ask complicated questions about the contracting process that will make it seem to the folks back home that a basic story about attempted extortion and bribery is just too complicated to understand.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 20, 2019
DASD Cooper just confirmed Trump’s own Pentagon certified the security assistance funds in May. Did Trump think Giuliani was a better judge?
— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) November 20, 2019
Okay, since the Republicans are going down this road, a quick explainer.
GOP questioners are saying that the President has the right to hold up legally-approved aid.
He does. But that's not what happened here. They're counting on their supporters being too stupid to know it. /1— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 20, 2019
But those are *public* conditions in the aid package, usually made as a determination after interagency working groups have advised the President that Country X is or isn't in compliance with the conditions of the aid. Congress, if it disagrees, can query WH officials. /3
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 20, 2019
In other words, Ukraine had met the conditions specified when Congress passed the law to grant the aid, but Trump wanted his own set of conditions that amounted to a promise by the Ukrainian president to embarrass Joe Biden on U.S. national television. /5
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 20, 2019
This is soliciting a bribe…worse, *extorting* a country under attack by Russia, not a normal "hold" on aid. Every member of Congress in that room knows this. They *know* it. But they are counting on their viewers over on Fox not to know it. Hideous. /7x
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 20, 2019
BREAKING: The Ukrainians apparently knew military aid was on hold on July 25.
This destroys a key GOP talking point. pic.twitter.com/V2dx4ASesJ
— Zac Petkanas (@Zac_Petkanas) November 20, 2019
Schiff tells Laura Cooper she's the third witness to testify "the Ukrainians found out a problem or hold on the security assistance prior to it becoming public—but you're the first to indicate that that may go back as early as the date of the president's call" with Zelenskiy. pic.twitter.com/LrcxptI6IG
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) November 21, 2019
The more you pay attention, the less complicated it is.
POTUS and his lawyer ran an extortion op on Ukraine, holding up military aid and a WH visit in exchange for Ukraine announcing an investigation into a potential election opponent.
Simple. https://t.co/WTxPxTMeXc
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) November 20, 2019
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.