Committees Release Vindman and Hill Transcripts as Part of Impeachment Inquiry
Source: House Intelligence Committee
Press Releases
Committees Release Vindman and Hill Transcripts as Part of Impeachment Inquiry
Depositions Reveal First-Hand, Direct Testimony on Instruments of Power Used for Political Gain
Washington, November 8, 2019
Washington, D.C. Today, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Acting Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, released transcripts from joint depositions of one current and one former White House official responsible for Ukraine policy: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and Dr. Fiona Hill.
The three Chairs issued the following statement announcing todays release:
Lieutenant Colonel Vindmanan active duty military officer who was awarded the Purple Heart after being injured by a roadside bomb in Iraqperformed another duty to the country by testifying before the Committees about presidential misconduct that he witnessed during his service at the White House. Lt. Col. Vindman testified that the July 25, 2019, call between President Trump and the Ukrainian president led him to report immediately to lawyers at the White House his serious concerns about political investigations the President pressed for on the call.
Lt. Col. Vindman also told the Committees that the demand by President Trump for the announcement of a politically-motivated investigation into a U.S. citizen by a foreign country forced him to make amoral and ethical judgment, and led to his concern that the act could undermine U.S. national security. He also detailed a pressure campaign waged by the President and his allies ahead of the call, and how he properly reported this activity to the same White House legal advisors.
Dr. Fiona Hilla respected Russia and Ukraine expert who served as Lt. Col. Vindmans supervisordetailed how senior officials at the White House, including National Security Advisor John Bolton, shared her serious concern about efforts prior to the July 25 call to push Ukraine to undertake these politically-motivated investigations, and about her efforts, at Mr. Boltons direction, to report this activity to senior White House officials.
Lt. Col. Vindman and Dr. Hilltwo courageous and patriotic Americanstestified despite pressure by the White House to silence their testimony. Their superiors in the White House have declined to cooperate with the inquiry, but transcripts released today show clearly that individuals close to the President were alarmed by a presidential scheme as illicit and corrupt as a drug deal.
The testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman can be found here.
Key excerpts of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindmans testimony can be found
here.
The testimony of Dr. Fiona Hill can be found here.
Key excerpts of Dr. Fiona Hills testimony can be found here.
Background:
H. Res. 660, which was passed by the House of Representatives on October 31, 2019, authorizes the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to make publicly available in electronic form the transcripts of depositions with appropriate redactions for classified and other sensitive information.
Pursuant to this resolution, and consistent with the Committees rules and longstanding bipartisan practice, the Committee has begun preparing transcripts from the impeachment inquiry for public release, which includes a thorough, nonpartisan security review to protect classified and other sensitive information.
As part of this process, the Committee is redacting (1) personally identifiable information; (2) the names of non-senior Executive Branch personnel and Intelligence Community employees; (3) the names of committee staff who did not ask questions or make on-the-record statements; and (4) classified or potentially classified information or other sensitive information not pertinent to the subject of the impeachment inquiry.
In addition, consistent with the Committees rules, each transcript has been made available to the witness for inspection, including to identify technical, grammatical, and typographical corrections. The Committee has also taken into consideration requested redactions from witnesses, if they fall within the parameters above.
Although the transcripts list Members of the three Committees who were present at the outset of a deposition, they do not necessarily reflect the attendance of all Members who may have joined or departed a deposition at different points.
The Committee will release individual transcripts on a rolling basis as this process is completed.
Read more: https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=815
Here is a link to the docs (PDFs) -
Vindman (full) - https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/CPRT-116-IG00-D011.pdf
Vindman (key excerpts) - https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20191108_-_vindman_transcript_excerpts_final_-_913864.pdf
Hill (full) - https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/CPRT-116-IG00-D010.pdf
Hill (key excerpts) - https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20191108_-_hill_transcript_excerpts_-_137591.pdf
ritapria
(1,812 posts)The GOP Senators will not vote to convict Trump but they will go down in history as villains of the highest order..
Imperialism Inc.
(2,495 posts)I haven't heard if the subpoenaed him or not.
BumRushDaShow
(128,446 posts)Just posted this - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142392995
The former national security adviser would be an important witness in the impeachment inquiry, but his lawyer wants a court to rule on whether he should testify.
By Peter Baker
Nov. 8, 2019, 2:12 p.m. ET
/snip
The House chairmen have withdrawn a subpoena for Mr. Kupperman and indicated they would not seek one for Mr. Bolton because they said they did not want to get dragged into lengthy court proceedings. Instead, Democrats have suggested that they may cite the refusal to testify by Mr. Bolton and Mr. Kupperman as evidence of obstruction of Congress by the president, which could form its own article of impeachment.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/us/politics/john-bolton-ukraine.html
Bolton's lawyer is doing a game of cat and mouse with the teasing. But he may lose in the end. Democrats know Bolton is pissed and Bolton wants to have his GOP street cred and eat the revenge cake too, but will have to do it on Democrats' terms.
ritapria
(1,812 posts)Of course , Bolton does not need permission from the Courts to testify ...The asshole should stop playing games like this ...Testify truthfully; or wait for his book to spill the beans on Trump ...The choice is his