Laura Cooper testifies that she expressed concern over Trump’s freezing of congressionally approved aid

Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke out on Monday against ongoing clashes in Boliva that lead to the ousting of president Evo Morales this week.

Donald Trump previously hailed the ouster of the Leftist president as a “significant moment for democracy” even as others alluded to it being a coup.

The US has condemned “unjustified use of deadly force” in the latest Hong Kong violence and urged police and civilians alike to de-escalate the situation, a senior Trump administration official said on Monday.

The statement, given under condition of anonymity to Reuters, comes after clashes in pro-democracy protests across the Chinese-ruled territory, a former British colony, stepped up over the weekend.

Democratic impeachment investigators in the House released a transcript Monday of the testimony of Laura Cooper, deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia.

Lawmakers are investigating whether Trump violated his oath of office by attempting to influence the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic rivals, including Joe Biden.

Laura Cooper’s testimony reveals how Trump froze Congressionally-approved aid to Ukraine. Cooper raised concerns about this hold, as did others.

She also told us how Volker implied the hold might be resolved if the Ukrainians issued a statement.

Read: https://t.co/xSN6c8ttFD

Hello readers, Kari Paul in San Francisco taking over for the next few hours. More news to come.

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

Trump is once again complaining about the whistleblower who kicked off the Ukraine scandal and demanding the anonymous official publicly testify, as some of his Republican allies have also called for.

“Where is the Whistleblower who gave so much false information? Must testify along with Schiff and others!” Trump wrote on Twitter. He added in a separate tweet, “To think I signed the Whistleblower Protection Act!”

The VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act – referenced in the tweet – applies to…the VA.

Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state under George W Bush, said she found reports of Rudy Giuliani’s shadow diplomacy in Ukraine to be “deeply troubling.”

“What I see right now troubles me. I see a state of conflict between the foreign policy professionals and someone who says he’s acting on behalf of the president but frankly I don’t know if that is the case,” Rice said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. “It is troubling. It is deeply troubling.”

The Quinnipiac poll included some disappointing news for Michael Bloomberg’s potential White House bid. According to the poll, very few New Hampshire voters would consider voting for the former New York mayor.

More specifically, only 2 percent of the state’s likely Democratic primary voters said they would definitely cast ballots for Bloomberg, while 37 percent said they would consider voting for him. More than half, 54 percent, said they would definitely not vote for Bloomberg.

Joe Biden is clinging on to a narrow lead in New Hampshire as Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders also attract double-digit levels of support in the early voting state, according to a new poll.

The Quinnipiac poll found Biden attracting the support of 20 percent of the state’s Democrats compared to Warren’s 16 percent, Buttigieg’s 15 percent and Sanders’ 14 percent.

The debate ramifications: @TulsiGabbard now needs one more poll to qualify for the December debate in the next month and change (she still needs donors, too). @AndrewYang is also halfway through the polling threshold, and already has the donors https://t.co/RKRRj3Glu9

Everybody wants in on the impeachment podcast game ⁠— including the president’s personal lawyer who plays a key role in the inquiry. Rudy Giuliani is reportedly considering launching his own impeachment podcast.

CNN reports:

Giuliani was overheard discussing the plans with an unidentified woman while at a crowded New York City restaurant, Sant Ambroeus, over lunch on Saturday. The conversation, which lasted more than an hour, touched on details including dates for recording and releasing the podcast, settling on a logo, and the process of uploading the podcast to iTunes and other podcast distributors.

Two people who overheard Giuliani’s discussion reached out to CNN and provided a recording they decided to make of the conversation. They contacted CNN unprompted after reading a recent story about Giuliani and the President’s ongoing relationship. The people asked not to be identified and provided the audio recording on the condition that it not be published. …

A lawyer for Charles Kupperman, the former deputy to John Bolton at the national security council, argued that Mick Mulvaney’s admission of a quid pro quo (which he later walked back) made him ineligible to join Kupperman’s lawsuit seeking a judge’s ruling on whether to comply with a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry.

Attorney for Kupperman argues in new filing that Mulvaney should not be allowed to join suit over subpoenas noting differences in their circumstances _ including raising the question of whether Mulvaney’s ‘quid pro quo’ press conference waived the immunity he’s now asserting.

The House and Charles Kupperman, a former deputy to John Bolton at the national security council, have filed briefs opposing Mick Mulvaney’s effort to join Kupperman’s lawsuit seeking a judge’s ruling on whether to testify in the impeachment inquiry.

JUST IN: The House & Kupperman have filed separate briefs OPPOSING Mulvaney’s motion to join Kupperman’s lawsuit seeking a judge’s ruling on the House’s subpoena. pic.twitter.com/vcdvPNV0nP

People close to Bolton and Kupperman said the two were flabbergasted by Mulvaney’s surprise request to join the lawsuit because they and others on the national security team considered Mulvaney a critical player in the effort to get the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations into Trump’s political opponents.

Their objection is twofold: Bolton views Mulvaney as a key participant in the pressure campaign, a situation that the then-national security adviser referred to derisively as ‘a drug deal,’ according to congressional testimony by his aides. The two men were barely on speaking terms when Bolton left his post in September, according to White House officials.

A federal judge in Washington has dismissed Trump’s lawsuit challenging the House ways and means committee’s ability to obtain his state tax returns from New York officials.

Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, ruled that the president had not met his burden of establishing why his complaint could be taken up in the US district court for DC. The case could be refiled in New York.

The ruling is that a DC based federal court lacks jurisdiction over the New York officials because they don’t have sufficient ties to DC. And because it’s too speculative right now that NY will send Trump’s tax returns to DC

House Republicans’ campaign arm offered reassurances that the congressional seat of Pete King, the longtime representative who announced his retirement this morning, would remain in GOP control.

.@RepPeteKing has been a political institution in Long Island politics for a generation and we wish him well. This will remain a Republican seat thanks in no small part to the insane socialist agenda of Democrats in both Washington and Albany. #NY02

Here’s where the day stands so far:

A Washington Post reporter shared a video of two Trump supporters clashing with a Bernie Sanders voter in New York, shortly after the president spoke at the city’s Veterans Day parade.

The Sanders supporter referenced Trump’s claim during the 2016 campaign that he could get away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, as well as his offensive comments in the “Access Hollywood” tape about groping women.

A Bernie Sanders supporter and two Trump supporters argue on Fifth Avenue. He asks if Trump can shoot someone right here and get away with it, and they defend Trump’s “grab ‘em” slur. pic.twitter.com/2jwhehNPah

Two of Rick Perry’s political supporters were reportedly awarded an oil and gas deal in Ukraine after the energy secretary recommended one of them as a potential adviser to the country’s new president.

The AP reports:

Perry’s efforts to influence Ukraine’s energy policy came earlier this year, just as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s new government was seeking military aid from the United States to defend against Russian aggression and allies of President Donald Trump were ramping up efforts to get the Ukrainians to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Ukraine awarded the contract to Perry’s supporters little more than a month after the U.S. energy secretary attended Zelenskiy’s May inauguration. In a meeting during that trip, Perry handed the new president a list of people he recommended as energy advisers. One of the four names was his longtime political backer Michael Bleyzer.

The announcement of Republican representative Pete King’s retirement once again throws a spotlight on the high number of departures and defeats in the House GOP caucus since Trump took office.

When President Trump took office in January 2017, there were 241 Republicans in the House.

Since then, 101 have either been defeated/retired/otherwise left office or are retiring in 2020. (h/t @Dchinni)

One name under discussion for Rep. Peter King’s seat: Democratic Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini.

Demonstrators who protested Trump’s Veterans Day speech in New York criticized the president’s treatment of veterans and called for his impeachment.

Trump has now concluded his appearance at New York’s Veterans Day parade, where he addressed attendees amid protests on Fifth Avenue.

“This nation is forever in your debt and we thank you all.”

President Trump is the first president to deliver remarks at the New York City Veterans Day Parade. https://t.co/s5XgPCE3k0 pic.twitter.com/qlkyAzS7os

Trump is now speaking at the Veterans Day parade in New York, taking the podium to cheers as demonstrators loudly protested just outside Madison Square Park.

.⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ speaks at Veterans Day event in New York, and recognizes ⁦@BilldeBlasio⁩, the mayor he has previously disparaged. Protests can be heard in the streets near the park, including chants of “Lock Him Up!” pic.twitter.com/HlZ2a3y2Fa

A handful of Trump’s allies have adopted a new (and dubious) argument to push back against the impeachment inquiry. They argue that the president encouraging a foreign country to launch an investigation of his political rival, Joe Biden, does not constitute an impeachable offense.

.@martharaddatz presses Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Mac Thornberry on the Republican strategy to manage the substance of allegations in the impeachment inquiry: “I believe it was inappropriate, I do not believe it was impeachable.” https://t.co/kLSp2fgDiG pic.twitter.com/iA9seNehYW

Trump will soon speak at New York’s Veterans Day Parade in Madison Square Park, and one building nearby marked his appearance by putting a sign calling for his impeachment in the window.

In windows of building overlooking Trump’s Veterans Day speech site pic.twitter.com/tMYSnaNrv7

As Trump challenged the accuracy of the impeachment transcripts without providing any evidence, an MSNBC correspondent noted that several Republicans affirmed the documents’ authenticity last week.

Multiple Republicans on the impeachment inquiry committees told me last week they believed the released transcripts were real & complete. https://t.co/DkEIvSXFW5

Trump is pushing back against the release of transcripts from the closed-door interviews in the impeachment inquiry by questioning the documents’ accuracy without providing any evidence.

“Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts,” the president tweeted. “Republicans should put out their own transcripts!”

Trump tweets that “Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts.“ At no point have House Republicans who were present for the depositions & combed over the transcripts which were released, contested the authenticity of any of the transcripts.

Representative Pete King, a New York Republican who has served in Congress since 1993, announced this morning that he would not seek reelection next year.

After talks w my family I will not seek re-election in 2020. Difficult decision as my 28 yrs in Congress have been extremely fulfilling while fighting for my constituents: 9/11 & Sandy funding/combating terrorism & MS-13. I thank residents of NY2 for allowing me to represent you.

Pete Buttigieg praised the accomplishments of Barack Obama’s presidency after an LA Times report misquoted the Democratic presidential candidate as lamenting the “failures of the Obama era.”

I appreciate this reporter’s swift and honest correction of a misquote on my views of the Obama presidency. From health care to DADT repeal to the rescue of the auto industry, my appreciation of the great leadership of Barack Obama comes from a very personal place. https://t.co/eWvSDtcpTQ

A new report emerged yesterday that falls into the “big if true” camp: the president’s personal lawyer directly tied Ukraine’s frozen military aid to an investigation of Joe Biden, according to one of Rudy Giuliani’s associates.

The New York Times reports:

Not long before the Ukrainian president was inaugurated in May, an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s journeyed to Kiev to deliver a warning to the country’s new leadership, a lawyer for the associate said.

The associate, Lev Parnas, told a representative of the incoming government that it had to announce an investigation into Mr. Trump’s political rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and his son, or else Vice President Mike Pence would not attend the swearing-in of the new president, and the United States would freeze aid, the lawyer said.

Good morning, live blog readers!

This week could be one of the most pivotal yet for Donald Trump’s presidency, with public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry set to begin on Wednesday.

Continue reading…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump

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