Top State Department official says ousting ambassador to Ukraine was a White House priority

[babylonsister]

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/26/20933914/impeachment-inquiry-ukraine-aid-quid-pro-quo-reeker


Top State Department official says ousting ambassador to Ukraine was a White House priority
Philip Reeker testified about Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s removal and withheld military aid in impeachment inquiry hearings Saturday.
By Anya van [email protected] Oct 26, 2019, 5:31pm EDT


Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, became the latest State Department official to testify on Capitol Hill in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump Saturday.

Although the testimony occurred behind closed doors, the Wall Street Journal reported that Reeker testified that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo actively neutralized support for ousted US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch before she was abruptly removed from her post in May. Reeker also reportedly described concerns raised in a July White House meeting about defense aid being withheld from Ukraine.

When she appeared before lawmakers, Yovanovitch said her removal had been political, testifying that it had been a “concerted campaign against me,” led by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and supported by the president himself. Some of the president’s critics are concerned Yovanovitch was removed because she was seen as an obstacle to White House efforts to pressure Ukraine into launching investigations into Democrats and one of Trump’s potential 2020 rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden.

It is not clear whether Reeker provided any testimony to support or invalidate that concern; he did, however reportedly tell lawmakers he defended Yovanovitch, a respected career diplomat who he had known for 25 years, before and after she was relieved of her duties. According to the testimonies of Yovanovitch, Reeker, and others, that removal came following a whisper campaign within the State Department — allegedly orchestrated by Giuliani — that presented her as disloyal.

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Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) told the Wall Street Journal Saturday afternoon that Reeker’s testimony served to support the statements of previous witnesses; and though he refused to elaborate, Lynch suggested lawmakers are finding the assistant secretary to be a valuable resource.

“He’s being helpful in some respects, he is corroborating previous witnesses and their testimony,” Lynch said of Reeker. “It’s a much richer reservoir of information that we originally expected.”

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. When looking at the totality of Trump's interest in Ukraine, it was obvious

that he was doing Putin's bidding. Remember the Ukraine defense plank that was removed from the Republican platform. Before the election. Putin's puppet.

[Indykatie]

2. The Ukraine Shenanigans Dates Back to the Rupub Convention When The GOP Platform Was Changed

to reflect a new posture dealing with Ukraine. I can only assume that those changes didn't have an impact on the specific crimes we're talking about now.