Impeachment News, Nov 6: White House Punches Holes In Sondland's Revised Testimony

On a day damning transcripts from two top U.S. diplomats were released by the House committee conducting the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, the White House betrayed no signs of sagging morale and issued a statement saying the President had done nothing wrong. Tuesday's events were a clear indicator that Trump will fight back and displayed the broad contours of how the impeachment fight will pan out.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the transcripts showed "there is even less evidence for this illegitimate impeachment sham than previously thought.” The Republicans also continued to claim the impeachment inquiry was partisan. Sen. Lindsey Graham said the inquiry was "a bunch of B.S."

International Business Times brings the key developments Tuesday around the Congressional impeachment inquiry against President Trump.

Giuliani mentioned 430 times in transcripts of Sondland and Volker

Former New York City mayor and Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani featured prominently in the deposition of U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and former U.S. Special Representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker. Guiliani's name was mentioned 430 times by the diplomats, showing the influence he had over the U.S. - Ukraine talks, according to a tally done by NBC News.

At one point, Sondland mentioned that Giuliani’s demands "kept getting more insidious as [the] timeline went on."

According to the testimonies, Giuliani helped form Trump’s view of Ukraine policy and caused problems for State Department officials and diplomats through his shadow foreign policy.

Sondland reverses testimony, says President’s dealings amounted to quid pro quo

Sondland, who had previously asserted that Trump did not ask for political favors from Ukraine by using military aid as leverage, reversed that in his revised testimony.

Sondland, who is a Republican donor-turned-ambassador, said in an addendum to his testimony that he told a top Ukraine official that Trump would “likely” withhold U.S. military aid to Ukraine unless the country’s leaders agreed publicly to launch anti-corruption investigations that could benefit the President politically.

“By the beginning of September 2019, and in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I presumed that the aid suspension had become linked to the proposed anti-corruption statement,” Sondland’s revised testimony read.

Republicans not sidelined in impeachment inquiry

Despite the public complaints from Republicans, who have called the impeachment investigation partisan, they are not being sidelined in the impeachment inquiry, reported CNN.

In the four transcripts of the closed-door depositions that were released, CNN noted that Republicans had ample time allotted for questioning the witnesses, which they spent questioning the validity of the impeachment inquiry.

"This is a partisan investigation," declared Rep. Jim Jordan at the start of the closed-door deposition of Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

"If we're going to continue this circus, I, at least, would like to know what time the circus begins," complained Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, before the interview with a witness was set to begin.

Trump has done nothing wrong, White House says

The White House released a statement Tuesday claiming that there was even less evidence against President Trump now, after the transcripts had been released.

“Both transcripts released today show there is even less evidence for this illegitimate impeachment sham than previously thought,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. “No amount of salacious media-biased headlines, which are clearly designed to influence the narrative, change the fact that the President has done nothing wrong.”

The statement was released after Sondland made changes to his testimony.

“Ambassador Sondland squarely states that he ‘did not know, [and still does not know] when, why or by whom the aid was suspended.’ He also said he ‘presumed’ there was a link to the aid — but cannot identify any solid source for that assumption,” Grisham said.

Lindsey Graham calls impeachment inquiry a "bunch of B.S."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) took a swipe at the impeachment inquiry, claiming it was nothing more than a "bunch of B.S."

When asked by reporters whether he would read the new transcripts of Sondland and Volker's testimonies, Graham said he had written off the entire process.

"This, to me, is a manufactured issue created by some unknown whistleblower who needs to be known, and the phone call is the basis for the impeachment allegation," Graham said. "I don’t think the President did anything wrong."

Mick Mulvaney asked to testify later this week

Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has been asked by the impeachment investigators to testify on Friday, Nov. 8.

Investigators aim to obtain firsthand details about Trump’s decision to leverage military aid to Ukraine to coerce the country's government to launch investigations into his political rivals.

Last month while speaking to reporters, Mulvaney suggested there could be a quid pro quo on Ukraine.

"We do that all the time with foreign policy," he said. "And I have news for everybody. Get over it. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy.” He later tried to walk back those comments.

Sources close to the acting chief of staff have suggested that he would skip the deposition.

Joe Biden’s campaign accuses Trump of violating his power

A statement released by former vice president Joe Biden’s campaign accused Trump of violating his oath of office.

"This is a historic moment that underscores how tragic Donald Trump's misconduct, debasement of his office, and betrayal of American values really is. It also reveals even more about the appalling depths to which Donald Trump was willing to sink in order to escape facing Joe Biden next year — directly undermining American national security for the sake of his re-election,” the statement said.

“Donald Trump's dangerous unfitness to serve as President has been obvious long before we learned of this, but the abuse of power he committed is unprecedented and it is undeniable that he has violated his oath of office and insulted the trust the American people must have in a commander in chief.”

What happens Wednesday

Energy secretary Rick Perr along with other top administration aides, including Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, State Department counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl and Undersecretary of State for political affairs David Hale are scheduled to testify in the impeachment inquiry. But it is not clear whether they would attend the sessions; their offices have previously said they would not testify.