Trâm

[Triển]

US envoy condemns 'irregular' pressure on Ukraine






Ambassador Bill Taylor testified before an impeachment inquiry that he was told Mr Trump wanted Ukraine to probe ex-Vice-President Joe Biden's dealings.

Mr Taylor said relations with Ukraine had been "fundamentally undermined" for "domestic political reasons".

President Trump insists there has been no quid pro quo in Ukraine policy.

Responding to the latest testimony in Congress, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement: "President Trump has done nothing wrong - this is a co-ordinated smear campaign from far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution".

One Democrat called Mr Taylor's testimony "the most damning testimony I've heard".

Mr Taylor, a career diplomat who has been the US envoy to Ukraine since June, is the latest witness to testify before lawmakers in the Democratic-led inquiry into suspected abuse of power by President Trump.

A transcript of a call Mr Trump made to Ukraine's new President Volodymyr Zelensky on 25 July shows he urged him to investigate discredited corruption allegations against Mr Biden and his son, Hunter.

While Mr Biden had a key role in US policy towards Ukraine as vice-president, Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma.

The company had been investigated by former Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin.

What did Taylor say?

Mr Taylor told lawmakers that the president had made it clear that he wanted a publicly announced inquiry into the Bidens and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US election.

"Our relationship with Ukraine was being fundamentally undermined by an irregular, informal channel of US, policy-making and by the withholding of vital security assistance for domestic political reasons," Mr Taylor said in opening remarks carried by US media.

The "informal" channel included US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

By mid-July, Mr Taylor said, it was apparent the meeting Mr Zelensky wanted with Mr Trump "was conditioned on the investigation of Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US elections".

"It was also clear that this condition was driven by the irregular policy channel I had come to understand was guided by Mr Giuliani."

Mr Taylor also noted that he heard a White House budget and management staffer say she was ordered not to release aid to Ukraine and realised "one of the key pillars of our strong support for Ukraine was threatened".

"I said on September 9 in a message to Ambassador Gordon Sondland that withholding security assistance in exchange for help with a domestic political campaign in the United States would be 'crazy'," Mr Taylor said. "I believed that then, and I still believe that."

Mr Taylor's remarks appear to contradict Mr Sondland's earlier statement before lawmakers, where he said he had had "no discussions" with state department or White House officials regarding the investigating the Bidens.

Text messages showed Bill Taylor had issues with the way the White House was conducting its foreign policy toward Ukraine. On Tuesday, he told Congress why - in damning detail.

Much of Mr Taylor's opening statement corroborates other reported accounts of White House efforts to get Ukraine to open investigations that could be damaging to Democrats, and Vice-President Joe Biden in particular. The acting ambassador to Ukraine fleshed out the picture, however, and added new perspective.

In one particular passage, Mr Taylor relates a conversation he had with Gordon Sondland - one of the co-ordinators of what he said was an "irregular, informal channel of US policymaking".

Mr Sondland, he said, told him "everything" - including military aid and a White House visit - was dependent on the Ukrainian president making a public statement that he would order these investigations.

In Latin they call that a "quid pro quo".

The president's defenders will try to undermine Mr Taylor's credibility, although the career diplomat makes for a compelling witness. They may eventually assert that even if Mr Taylor's claims are true, it's still within the president's foreign policy powers.

That will, of course, be up to members of the House - and, perhaps, senators in an impeachment trial - to decide.

What is the impeachment inquiry about?

Three committees in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives are investigating allegations of wrongdoing by the president.

Democrats accuse him of illegally pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on a political rival.

But there is a fierce debate about whether Mr Trump committed an impeachable offence - he himself says he has done nothing wrong.

If the House finds sufficient evidence, articles of impeachment will be put to a vote. If they are approved, proceedings will move to trial in the Senate, which is controlled by Mr Trump's Republicans.


What's the reaction?

Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz described Mr Taylor's appearance as "the most damning testimony I've heard".

"He drew a very specific direct line from President Trump to the withholding of foreign aid and the refusal of a [presidential] meeting."

Fellow Democrats echoed this idea and praise Mr Taylor's "meticulous" note taking.

Congressman Tom Malinowski said it was the "most thorough" account that filled in "details that some other witnesses, somehow, forgot".

But Republican congressman Mark Meadows, a staunch Trump ally, told reporters he did not hear "anything that has advanced the quid pro quo or the promise of anything with foreign aid".

"There's no-one who can be intellectually honest and come out of that deposition and suggest otherwise."

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Trump controversially called the inquiry "a lynching" - a term referring to historic killings by white mobs mainly against black Americans.

During a cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday, Mr Trump said Republicans should "get tougher and fight" impeachment proceedings.

/* src.: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50147223

[Triển]

Dân chủ kiểu mới: "Cộng hòa pizza, fast food"?

".... The invading Republicans remained in the hearing room into the early afternoon and even ordered pizza and fast food...."

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Chaos erupts as Republicans barge into Trump impeachment inquiry hearing

Group chanting ‘Let us in’ enter closed-door meeting where top Pentagon official who oversees Ukraine policy was to testify


Political tensions over an intensifying impeachment inquiry reached fever pitch on Wednesday as Republicans “stormed” a closed-door committee hearing on Capitol Hill disrupting a crucial deposition related to the Ukraine controversy was appearing – a day after devastating testimony from a key diplomat.

A group of Republican members of the House of Representatives, chanting “Let us in”, barged into a secure office suite in the bowels of the US capitol where Laura Cooper, a top Pentagon official who oversees Ukraine policy, was preparing to testify.

The chaos and confusion temporarily shut down the proceedings before the three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry as Republicans tweeted updates of the disruption from their cellphones, which are not typically permitted in classified areas. Their presence in the chamber reportedly erupted into yelling matches with committee members.

“BREAKING: I led over 30 of my colleagues into the SCIF where Adam Schiff is holding secret impeachment depositions. Still inside – more details to come,” tweeted Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican congressman and one of Donald Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, referring to secured areas of the Capitol known as Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, or SCIFs, and Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee leading the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry.

The Republicans who led the protest do not sit on the committees involved in the impeachment inquiry – Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs – and are not permitted to attend. Members of those committees already include Republican members of Congress, as well as Democrats, and both parties attend and ask questions at the hearings, whether public or, as in this case, closed to the public and the press.

But the members who staged protest on Wednesday have sought to attack the inquiry on procedural grounds, objecting to the private nature of the hearings and demanding access to the full breadth of the testimony that has rattled Washington in recent weeks.

Much of the testimony that has been made public, however, and news reports confirm key elements of a whistleblower complaint that set in motion the impeachment inquiry. The investigation centers on reports of Donald Trump withholding military aid and dangling a meeting at the White House for Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in return for favors that would benefit him in domestic US politics.

The invading Republicans remained in the hearing room into the early afternoon and even ordered pizza and fast food.

“Reporting from Adam Schiff’s secret chamber,” Republican congressman Andy Biggs began, in a series of tweets from inside the room. Biggs has accused Democrats of conducting a “Soviet-style” impeachment inquiry and demanded the testimony be made available to all lawmakers.

“When Republican members were in the SCIF, Chairman Schiff immediately left with the witness,” he tweeted. Biggs later clarified that he had “transmitted” to aides for publication, as the use of electronic devices in the secure area violates security protocols.

More than five hours after the standoff began, committee members were recalled to the room and Cooper’s deposition began.

Democrats were furious and, suggested the timing – days after Trump called on Republicans to “get tougher and fight” the impeachment inquiry amid mounting evidence of misconduct – was no coincidence.

“This is a stunt that corresponded very specifically to the president’s complaint that they weren’t fighting hard enough for him, and in direct response to devastating testimony yesterday from Ambassador Taylor,” Democratic congressman David Cicilline, a member of the House foreign affairs committee, said. “Republicans are playing to an audience of one, and the president’s proud of them, but we’re going to continue to do all the work.”

It was unclear if Republicans would attempt to disrupt future hearings.

“Their frustration was boiling over,” said Republican congressman Lee Zeldin, also on the foreign affairs committee, one of the three panels leading the inquiry. “I would imagine things would get worse not better if the process doesn’t improve.”

The dramatic escalation by Republicans on Capitol Hill came after Bill Taylor, the most senior US diplomat in Kyiv, testified for hours before House investigators on Tuesday, delivering an account that was so shocking to some lawmakers freshman Democrat Andy Levin described it as “my most disturbing day in Congress so far – very troubling”.

In a lengthy opening statement, Taylor said Trump wanted “everything”, including military aid to Ukraine, tied to a commitment by Ukrainian leaders to investigate Democrats and the 2016 election plus a company linked to the family of Trump’s leading 2020 Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

Taylor said Trump “wanted President Zelenskiy ‘in a public box’ by making a public statement about ordering such investigations”.

Trump emerged briefly on Wednesday to declare victory in enforcing what he called a “permanent” ceasefire along the northern Syrian border, after his abrupt withdrawal of US troops effectively opened the door for a Turkish offensive against Kurdish-led forces in that region, leaving scores of civilians and fighters dead and hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

Trump, who has denied wrongdoing in the impeachment inquiry, spent the morning on Twitter downplaying the investigation’s findings, including Taylor’s explosive testimony. He did not address the impeachment issues or take any questions after delivering his statement on Syria.

Later, leaving the White House for Pittsburgh to speak at a fracking conference, Trump was unusually quiet when heading to the Marine One helicopter on the lawn.

Meanwhile a report emerged noting that as early as 7 May the newly elected Zelenskiy told senior aides he was already worried about pressure from the Trump to investigate his Democratic rivals.

Zelenskiy’s group of advisers spent most of a three-hour meeting talking about how to navigate the insistence from Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for such an investigation, and how to avoid becoming entangled in the American elections, according to three people familiar with the details of the meeting.

Among the many defenses the White House has offered is that Ukraine had not been aware that Trump was withholding military aid that Congress approved unless it launched two investigations


/* src.: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...nquiry-hearing

[ốc]

Đỉnh cao trí tuệ bị mất trí? #STrumpid #DumboTrumpo

Trump mocked after saying he’s building a border wall in Colorado
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...a-border-state

“You know why we’re going to win New Mexico?” Trump told the crowd on Wednesday, talking about a bona fide border state, which he lost in 2016. “Because they want safety on their border. And they didn’t have it. And we’re building a wall on the border of New Mexico, and we’re building a wall in Colorado. We’re building a beautiful wall. A big one that really works, that you can’t get over, that you can’t get under.”

Trump habitually exaggerates the state of construction of his border wall, but the line qualified as impressively false even out of his mouth. The southern border of Colorado is about 400 miles from Mexico.

[Triển]

70 chưa chắc mình lành. Thỉnh thoảng lú lẩn ấy mà.

[ốc]

Vụ điều tra của anh Mueller vẫn còn tranh chấp pháp lý. Đồng bọn của Trâm trong Bộ Tư pháp vẫn cố ém nhẹm bằng chứng.

DoJ ordered to turn over evidence from Mueller grand jury
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-jury-evidence

In the ruling, the US district judge Beryl Howell says that while the department had argued that existing law barred it from sharing the materials with Congress, “DoJ is wrong”.

Howell wrote: “In carrying out the weighty constitutional duty of determining whether impeachment of the president is warranted, Congress need not redo the nearly two years of effort spent on the special counsel’s investigation, nor risk being misled by witnesses, who may have provided information to the grand jury and the special counsel that varies from what they tell [the House judiciary committee].”

But it also touched on another matter of debate in Congress. The House, Howell wrote, is legally engaged in an impeachment inquiry, despite claims by Trump and Republicans the the investigation is “illegitimate” because the House did not hold a formal vote authorizing it before it began.

“Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a House resolution has never, in fact, been required to begin an impeachment inquiry,” she wrote.

[ốc]

Hoa xinh tân ghẹo Trâm: Lock him up!



Lời Trâm đập tai Trâm
(Trâm ngôn)

[Triển]

Lời Trâm đập tai Trâm
(Trâm ngôn)

Thì đó, bảy mươi chưa chắc mình hổng lầm. Đi vô hang cọp đòi bắt cọp. Ở xứ Hoa Thịnh Đốn, là sẽ có nhiều lời hoa mỹ ....đốn giò. Nghe đồn (lại tin đồn) rằng ông tổng thống này lúc bầu cử chỉ nhận được 4% sự ủng hộ của dân chúng Hoa Thịnh Đốn mà thôi.

[Triển]

Clever Trumper hay là Never Trumper?
Thế nào đi nữa thì quá khứ "nhập cư" sẽ là rào cản,
đương sự mãi mãi nằm trong diện .... bị "xét lại".... lý lịch.

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Army Defends Lt. Col. Vindman Days after His Commander-in-Chief Called Him a 'Never Trumper'


Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, arrives at the U.S. Capitol on October 29, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) -- Military.com


(more)

[ốc]

Clever Trumper hay là Never Trumper?

Thế nào đi nữa thì quá khứ "nhập cư" sẽ là rào cản, đương sự mãi mãi nằm trong diện .... bị "xét lại".... lý lịch.

Vậy chắc vợ Trâm cũng thuộc diện bị xét lại.

Trump’s joke about Melania is just one of their many awkward moments
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...wkward-moments

Tuesday, at a private fundraising event for top Republican fundraisers, Donald Trump went a little rogue.

At first he was just reminiscing, thinking about that time the Louisana Republican Steve Scalise got shot – as you do.

But then he came out with this gem of a line: “Scalise’s wife cried her eyes out when I met her at the hospital that fateful day … I mean not many wives would react that way to tragedy, I know mine wouldn’t.”

Triệu người quen có mấy người ưa
Khi lìa trần có mấy người cry?
(Bài Không Tên số 45)

[Triển]

Vậy chắc vợ Trâm cũng thuộc diện bị xét lại.

Ngày phán xét cuối cùng sẽ rơi vào ngày thứ Sáu: Black Friday.