Vindman Asked About Job Offer From Ukraine: Impeachment Update

(Bloomberg) — The House Intelligence Committee began its second week of public impeachment hearings into President Donald Trump on Tuesday.Alexander Vindman, director for European Affairs on the National Security Council, and Jennifer Williams, special adviser for Europe and Russia in Vice President Mike Pence‘s office, are testifying in the morning.The afternoon session will hear from Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, and Timothy Morrison, NSC senior director for Europe and Russia.Here are the latest developments:Vindman Asked About Job Offer From Ukraine (12:13 p.m.)Under questioning from Republican staff lawyer Steve Castor, Vindman said he was offered the job as Ukraine’s defense minister while on an official trip to that country.“I’m an American, I came here as a toddler, and I dismissed the offer,” said Vindman, an immigrant from Ukraine. He called the offer “comical,” and said he reported the incident to his superiors.Later, Democrat Jim Himes accused Republicans of seeking to question Vindman’s loyalty to the U.S. by raising the matter.“They’ve accused you of espionage and dual loyalties,” Himes said.“That was designed exclusively to give the right-wing media an opening to question your loyalties,” Himes said. The questions about the job offer “may have come cloaked in a Brooks Brothers suit and in parliamentary language, but that was designed exclusively to give the right-wing media an opening to question your loyalties.” Asked by Himes whether he considers himself a “never Trumper,” Vindman responded, ”Representative, I’d call myself never partisan.”Vindman Rebuffs Nunes on Whistle-Blower (10:56 a.m.)Vindman rebuffed questions from top committee Republican Devin Nunes about the identity of the whistle-blower whose complaint led to the House inquiry.Nunes asked Vindman whether he discussed Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s president with anyone afterward. Vindman said he provided readouts to State Department official George Kent and “an individual in the intelligence community.”Nunes asked which agency in the intelligence community, but committee Chairman Adam Schiff cut him off, saying the committee is obligated by law to protect the whistle-blower’s identity. “These proceedings will not be used to out the whistle-blower,” Schiff said.Vindman said he doesn’t know the whistle-blower’s identity and that he’s been advised by his lawyer and instructions from the committee chairman not to provide any specifics about anyone in the intelligence community.Nunes responded, “You can answer questions or you can plead the Fifth.”Nunes noted that Republicans have tried to subpoena the whistle-blower to give a sworn statement, but that Schiff has rejected the request.At one point Nunes addressed Vindman as “Mr. Vindman,” and the Army officer responded, “Ranking member, it’s Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please.”Transcript Viewed as Sensitive, Vindman Says (10:27 a.m.)Vindman said the decision to put the rough transcript of the July 25 call into a secure server was made “on the fly” after he expressed concerns about it to a National Security Council lawyer.“My understanding is that this was viewed as a sensitive transcript,” Vindman said, and that to avoid leaks and “preserve the integrity of the transcript it should be segregated in a smaller group.” He said he wasn’t sure what officials meant by preserving the integrity of the transcript.Vindman said he didn’t take the decision as “anything nefarious” and that he also didn’t view it as a mistake.Vindman Says He Saw Trump Request as Demand (10:03 a.m.)Vindman said because of the “power disparity” between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he viewed Trump’s request for investigations as a demand.In military culture, “when a senior asks you to do something, even if it’s polite and pleasant, it’s not to be taken as a request, it’s to be taken as an order,” Vindman said.Because of Trump’s power over Zelenskiy, it was clear that “in order to get the White House meeting, President Zelenskiy would have to deliver these investigations,” Vindman said.“It was inappropriate, it was improper for the president to request, to demand an investigation into an political opponent,” Vindman said. “Especially a foreign power where there is at best dubious belief that this would be a completely impartial investigation.”“It was also clear that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma, it would be interpreted as a partisan play,” Vindman said. “This would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine U.S. national security, and advance Russia’s strategic objectives in the region.”Vindman Defends Career of Service to U.S. (9:50 a.m.)Vindman defended his career of service to the U.S., responding to Republicans and conservative media figures who raised questions about his loyalty. He recognized his father who brought Vindman and his family from the former Soviet Union to the U.S. 40 years ago.The decorated Iraq war veteran also recognized his two brothers, who also serve in the military.“Dad, my sitting here today, in the U.S. Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family,” Vindman said. “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.”Vindman Says He Reported Concerns Properly (9:47 a.m.)Vindman said he reported his concerns about the July 25 call “in official channels, to the proper authorities in the chain of command.”“My intent was to raise these concerns because they had significant national security implications for our country,” Vindman said.He also lambasted the attacks on his colleagues who testified.“I want to state that the vile character attacks on these distinguished and honorable public servants is reprehensible,” Vindman said. “It is natural to disagree and engage in spirited debate, this has been our custom since the time of our Founding Fathers, but we are better than callow and cowardly attacks.”Vindman Calls Giuliani Disruptive on Ukraine (9:40 a.m.)Vindman told the committee that last spring, he became aware of two “disruptive actors” in Ukraine — Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Ukraine prosecutor general Yuri Lutsenko. He said they were “promoting false information that undermined the United States’ Ukraine policy.““The NSC and its inter-agency partners, including the State Department, grew increasingly concerned about the impact that such information was having on our country’s ability to achieve our national security objectives,” Vindman said.Williams Describes Trump Call as Unusual (9:37 a.m.)Williams said in her opening statement that she listened to Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s president and found it “unusual because, in contrast to other presidential calls I had observed, it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.”She said she didn’t know whether Pence reviewed her update or the transcript of the call, and she didn’t discuss the call with him or any colleagues in the vice president’s office.Nunes Says Witnesses Identified No Crimes (9:27 a.m.)Top committee Republican Devin Nunes criticized the House investigation, saying the three officials who testified last week had only second- or third-hand knowledge and were “unable to identify any crime or impeachable offense that the president had committed.”He accused the news media of being “puppets of the Democratic Party” in covering the impeachment investigation. “They’ve learned no lessons” as they “try to stoke another partisan frenzy,” he said.Nunes again called for testimony from the whistle-blower whose complaint set off the investigation. The lawmaker asked about the whistle-blower’s biases and suggested the person had connections with Democratic politicians and the news media.Schiff Says Trump Acted for Personal Aims (9:14 a.m.)House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said in his opening statement that Trump “put his own personal and political interests above those of the nation.““He undermined our military and diplomatic support for a key ally, and undercut U.S. anticorruption efforts in Ukraine,” Schiff said.“How could our diplomats urge Ukraine to refrain from political investigations of its own citizens, if the president of the United States was urging Ukraine to engage in precisely the same kind of corrupt and political investigation of one of our own citizens?” the chairman said.House Hearing With Vindman, Williams Begins (9:08 a.m.)House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff gaveled in Tuesday’s hearing that will receive testimony from Vindman and Williams.NSC Aide Vindman to Open Week’s Testimony (8 a.m.)Lawmakers will ask Vindman at the morning hearing about his previous testimony that he listened to Trump’s July 25 telephone call with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and was so disturbed by the conversation that he reported it to the NSC’s legal counsel.Williams, who will appear with Vindman in the morning, was also on the July 25 call and previously testified that she found some of the discussion to be “unusual and inappropriate.” She said Trump mentioned the Burisma energy company, which had former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter on its board.During an afternoon hearing, lawmakers will hear from Volker, one of the “three amigos” designated by Trump to lead back-channel relations with Ukraine. Volker said earlier in closed-door testimony that he was never told why Trump withheld security aid from Ukraine.Morrison will be asked about his earlier statement that he wasn’t concerned that anything illegal was discussed during the July 25 call.Catch Up on Impeachment CoverageKey EventsGOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he doesn’t remember Trump telling diplomatic officials to talk to his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani about Ukraine during a meeting last May. U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland testified that Trump told U.S. officials to “talk to Rudy” about Ukraine policy.The Gordon Sondland transcript is here and here; former special envoy Kurt Volker’s transcript is here and here. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s transcript is here and here; the transcript of Michael McKinley, former senior adviser to the secretary of State, is here. The transcript of David Holmes, a Foreign Service officer in Kyiv, is here. The transcript of Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale is here. The transcript of William Taylor, the top U.S. envoy to Ukraine, is here and here. State Department official George Kent’s testimony is here and here. Testimony by Alexander Vindman can be found here, and the Fiona Hill transcript is here. Laura Cooper’s transcript is here; Christopher Anderson’s is here and Catherine Croft’s is here. Jennifer Williams’ transcript is here and Timothy Morrison’s is here.Taylor’s opening statement is here; Kent’s statement is here. Yovanovitch’s opening statement is here.–With assistance from Steven T. Dennis.To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at [email protected];Billy House in Washington at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at [email protected], Laurie AsséoFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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