November 20, 2019
C.H.U.D. II:
How Republicans' star impeachment witness turned on them (Chris Cillizza, November 19, 2019, CNN)
Among the key changes Volker made to his original testimony:*He acknowledged that he lacked a full understanding of the fact that many people involved in the Trump administration's push for an investigation into an Ukrainian natural gas company on whose board Joe Biden's son, Hunter sat, viewed that pressure campaign as synonymous with a call to investigate the Bidens."I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, 'Burisma' as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden," said Volker. "I saw them as very different. The former being appropriate and unremarkable, the latter being unacceptable."*Volker initially said that investigations into Trump's conspiracy theories and the release of almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine were not mentioned in a July 10 meeting at the White House. But on Tuesday, Volker said he now knows that the investigations were mentioned.*Volker said in his October testimony that any conversations with the Ukrainians about making an announcement on the opening of an investigation into the Bidens had ended in August. But on Tuesday, Volker acknowledged that US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had told a top Ukrainian official on September 1 that he believed the military aid was tied to the announcement of an investigation.
A White House Now 'Cannibalizing Itself' (Peter Baker, 11/19/19, NY Times)
As Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman sat in a stately chamber testifying on Tuesday, the White House posted on its official Twitter account a message denouncing his judgment. His fellow witness, Jennifer Williams, had barely left the room when the White House issued a statement challenging her credibility.In President Trump's Washington, where attacks on his enemies real or perceived have become so routine that they now often pass unnoticed, that might not seem all that remarkable -- but for the fact that Colonel Vindman and Ms. Williams both still work for the very same White House that was publicly assailing them.With the president's allies joining in, the two aides found themselves condemned as nobodies, as plotting bureaucrats, as traitors within and, in Colonel Vindman's case, as an immigrant with dual loyalties. Even for a president who rarely spares the rhetorical howitzer, that represents a new level of bombardment.Mr. Trump has publicly disparaged cabinet secretaries, former aides and career officials working elsewhere in the government, but now he is taking aim at people still working for him inside the White House complex by name."This White House appears to be cannibalizing itself," said William C. Inboden, a former national security aide to President George W. Bush. "While many previous White House staffs have feuded with each other and leaked against each other, this is the first time in history I am aware of a White House openly attacking its own staff -- especially for merely upholding their constitutional duties."
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 20, 2019 12:00 AM