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Trump news: Giuliani accused of 'campaign of lies' in impeachment inquiry, as president ordered to pay $2m over misuse of foundation

New York

,Chris Riotta,Alex Woodward

Thursday 07 November 2019 23:13 GMT

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Donald Trump attacks Louisiana governor’s economic record: 'Louisiana is 50th out of 50 in economic growth...This is Louisiana, right?'

The House impeachment inquiry interviewed Mike Pence special adviser Jennifer Williams, a specialist on European and Russian affairs who listened in on Donald Trump’s “quid pro quo” call with Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, after issuing a subpoena commanding her to appear, circumventing White House objections to her giving testimony.

The president has meanwhile angrily denounced as “degenerate” a Washington Post report that he asked his attorney general, William Barr, to declare publicly that the Zelensky call of 25 July contained no illegality, only for Mr Barr to decline.

House investigators released the transcript of their interview with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, who accused Mr Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani of leading a campaign of “lies and deceit” against former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

Meanwhile, Mr Giuliani is lawyering up as federal investigators look into whether he violated lobbying laws in his attempts to dig up dirt on Mr Trump's political rivals.

Next week, the first televised witness testimonies in the impeachment proceedings begin with Bill Taylor, whose damning testimony contradicted the so-called quid pro quo arrangement between Mr Trump and Ukraine.

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

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1/26Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Donald Trump

Accused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election. He also believes that Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails - a key factor in the 2016 election - may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

The Whistleblower

Believed to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable. Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

The Second Whistleblower

The lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President's actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community's inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Rudy Giuliani

Former mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trump’s personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the president’s enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a “shadow” foreign policy. In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trump’s behalf and has called himself a “hero”.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Volodymyr Zelensky

The newly elected Ukrainian president - a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident - is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House. With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation. He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the “favour” he was asked for. Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin.

AFP/Getty

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Mike Pence

The vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later. However, Trump announced that Pence had had “one or two” phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trump’s actions. It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy - if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Rick Perry

Trump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didn’t even want to. The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas - although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Joe Biden

The former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trump’s opponent in the 2020 election. Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Biden’s son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done. However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Hunter Biden

Joe Biden’s son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Biden’s lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

William Barr

The attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trump’s preoccupations with the Biden’s and the Clinton emails. Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a “cover-up of a cover-up”.

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Mike Pompeo

The secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call - but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time. He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works. Gordon Sondland testified that Pompeo was "in the loop" and knew what was happening in Ukraine. Pompeo has been criticised for not standing up for diplomats under his command when they were publicly criticised by the president.

AFP via Getty

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Nancy Pelosi

The Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Adam Schiff

Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry. He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a “parody” of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call. He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint. The Washington Post awarded Schiff a “four Pinocchios” rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement.

Reuters

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman

Florida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October. Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine's gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts.

Reuters

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

William Taylor

The most senior US diplomat in Ukraine and the former ambassador there. As one of the first two witnesses in the public impeachment hearings, Taylor dropped an early bombshell by revealing that one of his staff – later identified as diplomat David Holmes – overheard a phone conversation in which Donald Trump could be heard asking about “investigations” the very day after asking the Ukrainian president to investigate his political enemies. Taylor expressed his concern at reported plans to withhold US aid in return for political smears against Trump’s opponents, saying: “It's one thing to try to leverage a meeting in the White House. It's another thing, I thought, to leverage security assistance -- security assistance to a country at war, dependent on both the security assistance and the demonstration of support."

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

George Kent

A state department official who appeared alongside William Taylor wearing a bow tie that was later mocked by the president. He accused Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, of leading a “campaign of lies” against Marie Yovanovitch, who was forced out of her job as US ambassador to Ukraine for apparently standing in the way of efforts to smear Democrats.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Marie Yovanovitch

One of the most striking witnesses to give evidence at the public hearings, the former US ambassador to Ukraine received a rare round of applause as she left the committee room after testifying. Canadian-born Yovanovitch was attacked on Twitter by Donald Trump while she was actually testifying, giving Democrats the chance to ask her to respond. She said she found the attack “very intimidating”. Trump had already threatened her in his 25 July phone call to the Ukrainian president saying: “She’s going to go through some things.” Yovanovitch said she was “shocked, appalled and devastated” by the threat and by the way she was forced out of her job without explanation.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Alexander Vindman

A decorated Iraq War veteran and an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Lt Col Vindman began his evidence with an eye-catching statement about the freedoms America afforded him and his family to speak truth to power without fear of punishment. One of the few witnesses to have actually listened to Trump’s 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, he said he found the conversation so inappropriate that he was compelled to report it to the White House counsel. Trump later mocked him for wearing his military uniform and insisting on being addressed by his rank.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Jennifer Williams

A state department official acting as a Russia expert for vice-president Mike Pence, Ms Williams also listened in on the 25 July phone call. She testified that she found it “unusual” because it focused on domestic politics in terms of Trump asking a foreign leader to investigate his political opponents.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Kurt Volker

The former special envoy to Ukraine was one of the few people giving evidence who was on the Republican witness list although what he had to say may not have been too helpful to their cause. He dismissed the idea that Joe Biden had done anything corrupt, a theory spun without evidence by the president and his allies. He said that he thought the US should be supporting Ukraine’s reforms and that the scheme to find dirt on Democrats did not serve the national interest.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Tim Morrison

An expert on the National Security Council and another witness on the Republican list. He testified that he did not think the president had done anything illegal but admitted that he feared it would create a political storm if it became public. He said he believed the moving the record of the controversial 25 July phone call to a top security server had been an innocent mistake.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Gordon Sondland

In explosive testimony, one of the men at the centre of the scandal got right to the point in his opening testimony: “Was there a quid pro quo? Yes,” said the US ambassador to the EU who was a prime mover in efforts in Ukraine to link the release of military aid with investigations into the president’s political opponents. He said that everyone knew what was going on, implicating vice-president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo. The effect of his evidence is perhaps best illustrated by the reaction of Mr Trump who went from calling Sondland a “great American” a few weeks earlier to claiming that he barely knew him.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Laura Cooper

A Pentagon official, Cooper said Ukrainian officials knew that US aid was being withheld before it became public knowledge in August – undermining a Republican argument that there can’t have been a quid pro quo between aid and investigations if the Ukrainians didn’t know that aid was being withheld.

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

David Hale

The third most senior official at the state department. Hale testified about the treatment of Marie Yovanovitch and the smear campaign that culminated in her being recalled from her posting as US ambassador to Ukraine. He said: “I believe that she should have been able to stay at post and continue to do the outstanding work.”

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Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

Fiona Hill

Arguably the most confident and self-possessed of the witnesses in the public hearings phase, the Durham-born former NSC Russia expert began by warning Republicans not to keep repeating Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories. In a distinctive northeastern English accent, Dr Hill went on to describe how she had argued with Gordon Sondland about his interference in Ukraine matters until she realised that while she and her colleagues were focused on national security, Sondland was “being involved in a domestic political errand”. She said: “I did say to him, ‘Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, this is going to blow up’. And here we are.”

AP

Trump impeachment: Who's who in the Ukraine scandal

David Holmes

The Ukraine-based diplomat described being in a restaurant in Kiev with Gordon Sondland while the latter phoned Donald Trump. Holmes said he could hear the president on the other end of the line – because his voice was so “loud and distinctive” and because Sondland had to hold the phone away from his ear – asking about the “investigations” and whether the Ukrainian president would cooperate.

REUTERS

Mr Taylor and Mr Kent appear on Wednesday.

On Friday, viewers will hear from Ms Yovanovitch.

In another blow to Mr Trump, a judge has ordered he must personally pay $2m following a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General alleging that his now-dissolved foundation twas used as a personal "chequebook" for his political and personal dealings. Last year, the president said on Twitter that he "won't settle" the case and called it a political attack from "sleazy" New York Democrats.

At a rally in Louisiana on Wednesday night, Mr Trump attacked the Democrats as “totalitarian”, labelling the inquiry into his conduct in office a “hoax” and reviving his attack on 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren, again deriding her claim to Native American heritage by labelling her “Pocahontas”.

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Trump angrily refutes Washington Post's Bill Barr story

Trump's first tweet of the day is another angry rebuttal of The Post's story about him wanting Bill Barr to speak out in defence of the Zelensky call. Not drastically different to his rant at the press last night.

Here's our breaking story.

Trump lashes out over report attorney general refused to publicly deny he broke laws with Ukraine call

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 12:35

Kentucky gubernatorial defeat turns up heat on McConnell

Following Republican governor Matt Bevin's defeat in the Kentucky election on Tuesday night (he still hasn't conceded), attention has turned to state senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader who prides himself on being known as the "Grim Reaper" for laying low Democratic bills and resolutions.

Democrat Andy Beshear has declared victory in the historically red state, a major upset, and, on Wednesday, #MoscowMitchIsNext was trending on Twitter among gleeful Democrats.

McConnell is seen by some Republicans as too close to Trump and not loyal enough to the president by others. His many opponents online were quick to note that challenger Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot, is outpacing him in fundraising terms at an alarming rate, which bears ill with an election just one year away.

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 12:50

Bill Gates mocks Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax

Trump attacked Elizabeth Warren in Monroe last night and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates isn't too fond of her either, it appears.

Asked about the 2020 candidate's proposed wealth tax, Gates told The New York Times's DealBook conference on Wednesday: "I’ve paid over $10bn (£7.8bn) in taxes. I’ve paid more than anyone in taxes. If I had to pay $20bn (£15.6bn), it’s fine."

"But when you say I should pay $100bn, then I’m starting to do a little math about what I have left over,” he said, joking.

Here's Samuel Osborne's report.

Bill Gates attacks Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax saying it would leave him 'counting what he had left over'

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 13:10

Trump campaign accused of running misleading Facebook competition

The Trump campaign is being accused of running a misleading competition on Facebook and via email to win breakfast with the president in New York.

"This is your LAST CHANCE to meet me this quarter, and I really want to discuss our Campaign Strategy for the rest of the year with you over breakfast," one of the Facebook ads in question read.

But the winner, Joanna Kamis, arrived at the restaurant in question on 26 September but the president was not there.

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 13:30

North Korea says nuclear talks 'on the verge of extinction'

Trump's efforts to bring North Korea in from the cold and abandon its nuclear programme appear to have come to nought after Pyonyang branded Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe "a moron" for planning joint military exercises with South Korea.

Here's Adam Withnall has more.

North Korea says nuclear talks on verge of extinction and hits out at 'moron' Shinzo Abe

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 13:50

Trump brands Washington Post 'degenerate'

The president, clearly still fuming, has just denounced The Washington Post as "degenerate" over its report about Bill Barr and the Justice Department.

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 14:00

Warren warns Twitter's ban on political advertising could muzzle activists

Elizabeth Warren has slammed Twitter's decision to ban forms of political advertising on its platform, saying the move would ultimately prevent activists from spreading awareness about climate change – while allowing major polluters to advance misinformation.

Here's Chris Riotta's report.

Elizabeth Warren says Twitter ban on political ads could muzzle climate activists but give polluters a free ride

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 14:10

Jennifer Williams arrives on Capitol Hill for deposition

Mike Pence's special adviser on Russia has arrived to speak to House impeachment investigators.

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 14:25

Whistleblower's lawyer hits out Republican trolls who named his suspected client online

Mark Zaid, the attorney for the CIA whistleblower at the heart of the impeachment inquiry, has attacked the likes of Don Jr and Breitbart News for naming a man they said was his client online in a bid to expose what they consider to be a deep state conspiracy againt the president.

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 14:40

Trump calls on Joe and Hunter Biden to testify

The president is now attempting to dictate who should appear before the House impeachment inquiry. I think that's really up to Adam Schiff isn't it?

The Senator Kennedy he is quoting, incidentally, was on stage with him in Monroe last night and had this to say about House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Joe Sommerlad7 November 2019 15:00

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