I'm always amazed at how the days and weeks speed by, between having to spend time getting caught up on pre-winter and now early-winter chores (we do live in the country and our little cabin is heated by wood) so there's work that needs to be done. Plus the 500 mile trip down to spend a week with family and our young grandson. Too much going on. Enough time to get caught up on news, vent by starting yet more potential projects, while not enough to concentrate on getting any of them finished. Now it's time to get back to it.
The following is a collection of links to resources provided by Matt and friends over at the blog, What The Fuck Just Happened Today, which has been tracking and compiling Trump news since day one, so that We The People have a record to learn from, to use and retain for future reference. And me?, it simply seems like a patriotic duty to share and hopefully help spread this information.
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Impeachment Watch: Day 4.0 (and Day 3.0)
WTF Community Leader
1/ The U.S. ambassador to the European Union testified that he and senior administration officials “followed the president’s orders” to work with Rudy Giuliani to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations into Joe Biden and the discredited conspiracy theory that the country helped Democrats in the 2016 election. Gordon Sondland testified that he, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and special envoy Kurt Volker coordinated with Giuliani at the “at the express direction of the president of the United States” to pressure Ukraine into launching investigations.
Sondland said he directly communicated the “quid pro quo” arrangement to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sondland also provided House impeachment investigators with emails and texts showing that acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Perry, and others were all aware that Trump conditioned a White House meeting for Zelensky on his willingness to launch investigations. “They knew what we were doing and why,” Sondland said. “Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret.”
- Quotables: Gordon Sondland.
- “Again, everyone was in the loop.”
- “Was there a quid pro quo? … YES.”
- “… we knew these investigations were important to the president.”
- “… we followed the president’s orders.”
- “I followed the directions of the president.”
- ANALYSIS: 4 things we learned from Gordon Sondland
- ANALYSIS: 5 takeaways from Gordon Sondland’s testimony
- READ: Gordon Sondland’s opening statement
- Live blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN
2/ Sondland testified that he told Pence before his Sept. 1 meeting with Zelensky that he “had concerns that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations.”
(CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Sondland testified that he kept Secretary of State Michael Pompeo informed of the key developments in the campaign to pressure Zelensky to appease Trump and announce investigations.
4/ The FBI asked to interview the CIA whistleblower over concerns with the Justice Department declining to investigate the complaint after a criminal referral was sent from the inspector general of the Intelligence Community.
(Yahoo News / NBC News 1 / CNN)
5/ Trump described Sondland’s testimony as “fantastic” and said it proves he “did absolutely nothing wrong.”
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Impeachment Watch: Day 3.0
WTF Community Leader
1/ Two national security officials testified publicly that Trump’s July 25 call with the Ukrainian president was “improper,” “unusual” and overtly political. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine specialist on the National Security Council, and Jennifer Williams, an adviser to Mike Pence on Russia and Europe, both listened in on Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump ignored official talking points about fighting corruption to instead “demand” an investigation tied to Joe Biden. Vindman told the House Intelligence Committee that “What I heard was inappropriate and I reported it […] out of a sense of duty” because “the connection to investigate a political opponent was inappropriate and improper.”
Vindman also testified that he interpreted Trump’s request that Zelensky undertake investigations as a demand, saying “the power disparity between the two leaders – my impression was that in order to get the White House meeting, President Zelensky would have to deliver these investigations.” In her opening statement, Williams said she found the call “unusual” because it “involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.” Vindman and Williams are the first White House officials to testify in public as part of the impeachment inquiry.
(Politico / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
- Who testified today: National Security Council staffer Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, former NSC staffer Tim Morrison, and former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker.
- Who testifies on Wednesday: Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs, and David Hale, the undersecretary of state for political affairs.
- Who testifies on Thursday: Fiona Hill, the former NSC senior director for Europe and Russia, and David Holmes, U.S. Embassy in Ukraine official.
- Live blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg
- ANALYSIS: Six takeaways from Vindman’s and Williams’s testimony
- BRIEFING Who is Alexander Vindman?
- BRIEFING Who is Jennifer Williams?
- READ: Alexander Vindman’s opening statement
- READ: Jennifer Williams’ opening statement
- READ: Adam Schiff’s opening statement
- READ: Devin Nunes’ opening statement
2/ The former special envoy to Ukraine testified that he didn’t realize the push for a probe into a Ukrainian gas company was connected to Joe Biden and that he was out of the loop during Trump’s pressure campaign.
(New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian / CNN / New York Times)
3/ Tim Morrison testified that he was “not concerned that anything illegal was discussed” during Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, but worried it would cause a political storm if the transcript became public.
(Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / New York Times)
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General Congressional Impeachment News November - December 2019
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General Congressional Impeachment News: September - October 2019
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All Things Trump/Russia! (Resources)
One-stop shopping for Trump/Russia resources:
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This interactive tracks the publicly known developments of the investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether anyone from Donald Trump’s campaign was involved.
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CIR is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization helping Americans recognize and understand the gravity of Russia’s continuing attacks on our democracy.
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Today, we know much more about Russia’s social media disinformation operations than we did in 2017 when we launched the Hamilton 68 dashboard. The dashboard’s summative outputs mirrored criminal complaints and indictments filed by the Special…
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Investigating Trump’s involvement in Russian attacks on our Democracy.
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How we got here, and what it could mean for President Trump.
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CNN has compiled a list of the growing and diverse cast of characters related to Russia's efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.
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Pulling together what Trump said about Putin, interference — and what his campaign and administration were doing.
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Other Resources:
- Amy Siskind’s Weekly Authoritarianism List 5
- Official Unclassified DNI/Intelligence Community Report 10
- WaPo Trump Fact Checker 6
- Additional Trump trackers 5 of his tweets, insults, WH visitors, etc.
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Public Impeachment Hearings
- 11/13/19 Impeachment Hearing with William Taylor and George Kent 3
- Featured Clips - Ambassador Taylor Reveals Details of July 26 Call Between President Trump and Ambassador Sondland 5
- 11/15/19 Impeachment Hearing with Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch 1
- Featured Clips
- 11/19/19 Impeachment Hearing with Lieutenant Colonel Vindman and Jennifer Williams
- Featured Clips
- 11/19/19 Impeachment Hearing with Ambassador Kurt Volker and National Security Aide Tim Morrison
- Featured Clips
- 11/20/19 Impeachment Inquiry Hearing with E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland
- Featured Clips
- 11/20/19 Impeachment Inquiry Hearing with Laura Cooper and David Hale
- Featured Clips
- 11/21/19 Impeachment Hearing with Fiona Hill and David Holmes 3
- Featured Clips
- Fiona Hill Opening Statement 2
- David Holmes Opening Statement
- Fiona Hill Says Ambassador Sondland was Involved in "Domestic Political Errand"
- Former NSC Official Warns Against Pushing Russian "Fictional Narrative" on Ukraine
- Ukraine Embassy Official Recounts July 26 Sondland-Trump Call
- Adam Schiff Closing Statement 1
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