It may have been the weekend, but the House’s work in its impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump didn’t rest.
Lawmakers on Saturday deposed yet another figure in the Ukrainian scandal threatening Trump’s presidency: Acting Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker.
- According to Bloomberg News, Reeker testified that he was upset that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn’t go to bat for Marie Yovanovitch, the Ukrainian ambassador who Trump pulled out of the job after Rudy Giuliani ran a smear campaign against her.
- Charles Kupperman, who served as a deputy to now-former national security adviser John Bolton, is scheduled to testify on Monday. However, Kupperman filed a bogus lawsuit demanding that a judge determine whether he is allowed to testify before he’ll sit with investigators, according to the Washington Post. Democrats say Kupperman’s lawsuit is a coordinated attempt with the White House to avoid testifying. House Democrats said Kupperman’s legal challenge is “lacking in legal merit,” according to Bloomberg News.
- While Kupperman is going to defy a subpoena, the rest of the week will be filled with other depositions, including from Tim Morrison, A Trump adviser on Russia and Europe, who according to CNN will corroborate some of the explosive pieces of Bill Taylor’s testimony alleging a quid pro quo. Morrison is a current White House staffer and is defying Trump’s attempt to block all testimony.
- It’s unclear whether House Republicans will stage more stunts to try to block the impeachment inquiry like the storming of a secure area last week, during which they endangered national security. Republicans claimed they are being kept in the dark and have no power in the investigation. However, over the weekend the Washington Post reported that Republicans have been asking questions during the depositions. Unsurprisingly, they are not trying to get to the bottom of what Trump did but instead are going after the whistleblower and pushing conspiracy theories.
Come back tomorrow for more impeachment news.
Published with permission of The American Independent.
