Donald Trump balances a chocolate bar on child's head dressed as a minion at White House Halloween party
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
The House impeachment inquiry investigating Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine heard on Tuesday that the White House cut key details from its transcript of the 25 July call between the president and Volodymyr Zelensky, including several references to 2020 rival Joe Biden and the Ukrainian gas company his son worked for.
The behind-closed-doors testimony of National Security Council expert Alexander Vindman was described afterwards as “extremely disturbing” by one exiting congresswoman in a hearing disrupted by a shouting match that erupted when House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff reportedly accused Republicans of trying to unmask the CIA whistleblower who first sounded the alarm.
In the prepared remarks, Mr Vindman said that if Mr Zelenskiy did as Mr Trump asked in the 25 July call and investigated Mr Biden, it would “undermine US national security.”
Mr Vindman, a veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart, was the first current White House official to testify in the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, which was largely prompted by a whistleblower report on the call between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskiy.
On the call, Mr Trump pressed Mr Zelenskiy to investigate Mr Biden, a former vice president and a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination to run against Trump in 2020.
Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal
Show all 26
“I was concerned by the call. I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine,” Mr Vindman said in his prepared statement.
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Mr Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Russia, told senators at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he did not know of any attempt by the president or others to press Ukraine to open a corruption probe into Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
He said he knew that Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had spearheaded a campaign to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from her post, but said he didn't know details, including why he was doing it.
"My knowledge in the spring and summer of this year about any involvement with Mr Giuliani was in connection with a campaign against our ambassador to Ukraine," Mr Sullivan said.
Mr Sullivan had the job of informing Ms Yovanovitch in late March that she was being recalled early from her post. He said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had told him only that Ms Yovanovitch had lost the confidence of the president. He said he was given no other explanation and told Ms Yovanovitch that he did not believe she had done anything to warrant her removal.
Mr Sullivan said he had reviewed a package of negative information about Ms Yovanovitch that was given to the department by "someone at the White House" after he and Mr Pompeo had inquired about complaints against her. But Mr Sullivan said he concluded it contained nothing that would warrant action against her.
Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events
"It didn't provide to me a basis for taking action against our ambassador, but I wasn't aware of all that might be going on in the background and to be cautious I asked that the packet of materials ... be looked at by the inspector general and by the Justice Department," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our live blog to load
The Trump administration says it still expects to sign an initial trade agreement with China next month despite the cancellation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Chile, where officials had hoped to finalise the pact, spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Wednesday.
The White House said it appeared the APEC forum did not yet have an alternate location planned for its 11-17 November meeting after Chile canceled its plan to host world leaders as a result of security concerns, with mass protests ongoing against president Sebastian Pinera's government.
In other summit news, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross will represent Trump at two regional gatherings in Thailand this weekend, a move that will widely be viewed in the region as a snub.
Over at the House Oversight Committee, Missouri Democrat Lacy Clay has been sticking it to acting director of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli over the inhumanity the administration is answerable for at the US-Mexico border.
The US economic growth slowed in the third quarter of the year, giving Donald Trump a headache as he gears up for his 2020 re-election campaign.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annualised rate of 1.9 per cent growth in the third quarter of the year, the US Commerce Department on Wednesday.
That was down marginally from 2 per cent in the previous three months and marked the third successive quarter of slowing growth for the American economy - though the pace was faster than the 1.6 per cent forecast by analysts.
Donald Trump tweeted out a message of support to several car companies backing his calls to prevent California from creating its own emissions standards -
Donald Trump has posted a fake image of him awarding a medal to the dog who helped US special forces take down Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, writing in a caption: "AMERICAN HERO!"
Breaking: The Federal Reserve has announced yet another rate cut - the third this year - amid signs of an economic slowdown and possible oncoming recession:
The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by a quarter point, in an expected move as a part of what chairman Jerome Powell has characterised as a "mid-cycle adjustment" amid a maturing economic expansion.
The central bank's decision lowers the central bank's benchmark by 25 basis points, and puts it in the range of 1.5 to 1.75 per cent. The move had been expected by those in the financial industry.
In announcing its decision, the Federal Open Market Committee changed the language it used to describe its future plans, and cut a clause that said the Fed is committed to "act as appropriate to sustain the expansion" of the economy. The phrase was used by Mr Powell to set the stage for a July rate cut, and has been used in official documents since.
John Sullivan, who has been nominated as the next US ambassador to Russia, reportedly defied Donald Trump in an appearance on Capitol Hill, telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he did not believe asking foreign governments to investigate political rivals was "in accord with our values" -
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments