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Disclosures suggest Trump's WH politicized pretty much everything -- and there are lots of witnesses
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/11/series-disclosures-suggests-trumps-white-house-politicized-pretty-much-everything-there-are-lots-witnesses/
By Aaron Blake Oct. 11, 2019 at 10:04 a.m. EDT
The White House served notice this week that it would not cooperate with House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry in any way. And we’re starting to learn perhaps why.
Disclosures on Thursday suggest a White House that took very little care to separate official business from political and personal advantage and often circumvented established channels to benefit President Trump.
</snip>
First, there was the news that political appointees overrode the career officials in the White House budget office to put a freeze on military aid to Ukraine. The career officials were reportedly concerned, and the political appointees didn’t provide a reason for the hold, which evidence suggests might have been withheld for political leverage on Ukraine to pursue Trump’s favored investigations.
Second, the House is set to depose former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch behind closed doors Friday, and reports indicate she will say she was removed by Trump after insisting that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, relay his requests for investigations through official channels.
Former White House official Fiona Hill will also reportedly testify to similar effect. NBC News’s Josh Lederman reported that next week Hill will say that Giuliani and European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland, a former Trump donor, conducted a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented the White House’s National Security Council.
And third — and perhaps most remarkable — there is the matter of Trump’s request of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Trump asked Tillerson to work with Giuliani to help end the U.S. prosecution of a Turkish Iranian gold trader whom Giuliani had been representing.
</snip>
By Aaron Blake Oct. 11, 2019 at 10:04 a.m. EDT
The White House served notice this week that it would not cooperate with House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry in any way. And we’re starting to learn perhaps why.
Disclosures on Thursday suggest a White House that took very little care to separate official business from political and personal advantage and often circumvented established channels to benefit President Trump.
</snip>
First, there was the news that political appointees overrode the career officials in the White House budget office to put a freeze on military aid to Ukraine. The career officials were reportedly concerned, and the political appointees didn’t provide a reason for the hold, which evidence suggests might have been withheld for political leverage on Ukraine to pursue Trump’s favored investigations.
Second, the House is set to depose former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch behind closed doors Friday, and reports indicate she will say she was removed by Trump after insisting that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, relay his requests for investigations through official channels.
Former White House official Fiona Hill will also reportedly testify to similar effect. NBC News’s Josh Lederman reported that next week Hill will say that Giuliani and European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland, a former Trump donor, conducted a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented the White House’s National Security Council.
And third — and perhaps most remarkable — there is the matter of Trump’s request of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Trump asked Tillerson to work with Giuliani to help end the U.S. prosecution of a Turkish Iranian gold trader whom Giuliani had been representing.
</snip>
Good read!
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