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   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: fucktrump@trysno.org   
      
   Trump wanted to hear 'investigations, Biden and Clinton' on Ukraine call,   
   diplomat says   
      
      
      
      
   There were three words U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to hear from   
   Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky: "Investigations, Biden and   
   Clinton." That's according to a transcript, released Thursday, of an   
   impeachment inquiry interview with career State Department official George   
   Kent.   
      
   "[Trump] wanted nothing less than President Zelensky to go to the   
   microphone and say investigations, Biden and Clinton," Kent testified.   
      
   "That was the message.… Zelensky needed to go to a microphone and   
   basically there needed to be three words in the message, and that was the   
   shorthand," he said.   
      
   Kent told investigators that this was his understanding of what Trump   
   wanted Zelensky to say in public, based on conversations relayed to him by   
   others in the administration who were in contact with Ambassador Gordon   
   Sondland.   
      
   Clinton, he clarified, was "shorthand" for the 2016 election. It was a   
   reference to Trump's view, pushed by his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani   
   but outside of mainstream U.S. intelligence, that Ukraine played a role   
   interfering in the U.S. presidential election.   
      
   Top diplomat changes testimony in impeachment probe   
   Trump impeachment inquiry: What's been said so far, and what could trip up   
   the Democrats' case   
      
   George Kent also testified that Rudy Giuliani's allegations against former   
   ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch 'were without basis, untrue,   
   period.' (Alex Wong/Getty Images)   
   Kent also told congressional investigators that Giuliani conducted a   
   "campaign full of lies and incorrect information" against Marie   
   Yovanovitch before she was recalled from her post as ambassador to   
   Ukraine, according to the transcript of his testimony.   
      
   "His assertions and allegations against former ambassador Yovanovitch were   
   without basis, untrue, period," Kent told lawmakers, during a closed-door   
   session on Oct. 15 as part of the impeachment probe of Trump.   
      
   Kent, who had served as a top diplomat in Ukraine, also said he was   
   subject to attacks by Giuliani and was told to "keep his head down" by a   
   senior State Department official.   
      
   House investigators are releasing key transcripts from hours of closed-   
   door interviews in the impeachment inquiry as they prepare for public   
   sessions with witnesses next week. Kent, along with William Taylor — the   
   top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine — will testify publicly on Nov. 13.   
   Yovanovitch will testify on Nov. 15.   
      
   Adviser to VP testifies, Bolton a no-show   
   Earlier, congressional committees met for the first time with an adviser   
   to Vice-President Mike Pence, but former national security adviser John   
   Bolton failed to heed a request to appear.   
      
   Jennifer Williams, a career foreign service officer and special adviser to   
   Pence for Europe and Russia, was testifying in a closed-door hearing in   
   front of members of the foreign affairs, intelligence and oversight   
   committees of the House after receiving a subpoena.   
      
   Lawmakers were seeking information from Williams about how much Pence knew   
   about efforts by Trump and those around him to pressure Ukraine to   
   investigate former vice-president Joe Biden and his son Hunter, as well as   
   look into possible Ukraine interference in the 2016 U.S. election.   
      
      
   Jennifer Williams, a special adviser to U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence for   
   Europe and Russia, and also a career foreign service officer, arrived for   
   a closed-door interview on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. (Susan   
   Walsh/The Associated Press)   
   The House investigation is focused on a July 25 phone call in which Trump   
   asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden, a leading   
   Democratic rival at the November 2020 presidential election. Williams was   
   one of a handful of U.S. officials who listened in on the call.   
      
   They are trying to determine whether Trump froze $391 million US in   
   security assistance for Ukraine to put pressure on Zelensky to conduct the   
   investigation, misusing U.S. foreign policy for his personal gain.   
      
   Bolton, who was fired by Trump in September, was called to appear on   
   Thursday, but Bolton's attorney said he would not testify voluntarily, and   
   he has not yet been subpoenaed.   
      
      
   The Washington Post, citing people familiar with Bolton's views, said he   
   is willing to testify but wants to see how a court battle between Congress   
   and the White House over the constitutionality of the subpoenas shakes out   
   first.   
      
   The battle could go to the Supreme Court and spill into next year.   
      
   Members of the committees conducting the inquiry have said they want to   
   see if Bolton will corroborate previous witnesses's testimony that he was   
   alarmed at Trump asking a foreign government to get involved in domestic   
   politics.   
      
   Shutdown complication looms   
   Senate Republicans have so far shown little appetite for ousting the   
   president. Republicans in both Houses have variously blasted what they've   
   deemed a partisan process, denied there was a quid pro quo attached to the   
   disbursements of aid or suggested that such tradeoffs are typically part   
   of international diplomacy.   
      
   Democrats have countered that any quid pro quos are usually in furtherance   
   of U.S. interests abroad, not the personal interests of a president   
   looking to damage a potential 2020 election rival.   
      
   A potential complication to the timeline is looming on Nov. 21, a date on   
   which additional funding is needed to avoid a partial government shutdown.   
      
      
      
   The public impeachment hearings for U.S. President Doanld Trump will start   
   on Nov. 13 and will include testimony from witnesses who previously gave   
   their account of what happened on the a phone call with Ukraine. 2:07   
   Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the U.S. House intelligence panel,   
   has asked Republicans to submit witness requests by Saturday ahead of next   
   week's public hearings.   
      
   Schiff, in a statement released Thursday, said Democrats do not intend to   
   request public testimony from every witness who has provided depositions   
   in closed-door sessions with lawmakers.   
      
   If the Democratic-controlled House votes to impeach Trump, the Republican-   
   controlled Senate would then hold a trial on whether to remove him from   
   office.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)