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The Guardian - US
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Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco (now) and Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier)

Democrats release Trump impeachment resolution outlining next steps – as it happened

The resolution establishes that Republicans may ask to hear testimony from certain witnesses, but those requests will be declined or approved by Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee.
The resolution establishes that Republicans may ask to hear testimony from certain witnesses, but those requests will be declined or approved by Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Summary

That’s all for the live blog today. Here’s a summary of where things stand:

  • The House rules committee released its resolution outlining next steps on impeachment, which established that Adam Schiff’s intelligence committee would take the lead on public hearings.
  • Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, testified behind closed doors to impeachment investigators. According to his opening statement, Vindman intended to testify that he had concerns after listening to Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.
  • The president attacked Vindman as a “never Trumper,” while some conservative commentators suggested that the Purple Heart recipient may not be entirely loyal to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union. (Some commentators later walked back those comments following intense criticism.)
  • British MPs approved Boris Johnson’s proposal to hold a general election on December 12, giving voters another chance to weigh in on Brexit after the prime minister failed to withdraw the UK from the EU by his set deadline of October 31.
  • The House voted to recognize the Armenian Genocide for the first time in 35 years, in a rebuke of Turkey.

Hours after publishing an op-ed arguing that Facebook should not “decide which claims by politicians are acceptable”, Facebook has apparently decided to decide which politicians are acceptable.

CNN is reporting that Adriel Hampton, who registered to run for California governor in order to exploit Facebook’s policy allowing politicians to advertise false statements, will not be allowed to run those ads by Facebook. Hampton tells CNN that he is now considering filing a lawsuit against Facebook.

The House resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide passed with 405 yes votes, making the no and “present” votes stand out.

According to CNN reporter Haley Byrd, the 11 no votes and three present votes (an abstention) came from the following representatives:

Ilhan Omar, who is one of the first two Muslim congresswomen to serve in the House, and who has been a target of intense criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, explained her abstention in a statement to CNN:

She subsequently tweeted at MSNBC host Chris Hayes:

“My issue was not with the substance of this resolution. *Of course* we should acknowledge the Genocide. My issue was with the timing and context. I think we should demand accountability for human rights abuses consistently, not simply when it suits our political goals. My focus has and will always be to make sure our foreign policy is consistent, coherent and my votes will as well.”

Facebook has published another op-ed defending its decision to exempt politicians from its policy banning misinformation and false claims from paid advertising.

“Anyone who thinks Facebook should decide which claims by politicians are acceptable might ask themselves this question: Why do you want us to have so much power?” wrote Katie Harbath and Nell McCarthy in the piece, which was published in USA Today. “In our view, the only thing worse than Facebook not making these calls is for Facebook to make these calls.”

Harbath is Facebook’s public policy director for global elections. McCarthy is the director of policy management.

Their argument is unlikely to persuade critics in the US, who continue to push Facebook to reconsider the policy. Last night, senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging him to change his mind.

Hundreds of Facebook employees also disagree with the policy, as my colleague Kari Paul reported yesterday.

Like many Republican lawmakers, North Carolina senator Richard Burr has taken Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge”, committing himself to vote against new or increased taxes.

So it was surprising to see Burr propose a new tax on Twitter on Tuesday.

Burr is currently on the wrong side of what’s known on Twitter as “being ratioed”. His missive has been retweeted about 800 times, but users have responded (mostly angrily) nearly 14,000 times.

As CNBC pointed out, scholarships are already taxed as income.

College sports have been incredibly lucrative in the US for universities, coaches, broadcasters, sports apparel companies – pretty much everyone involved except the athletes themselves. My colleague Mario Koran wrote about a California law that might change everything earlier this month.

George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who served 14 days in prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators, has announced plans to run for the House seat recently vacated by Katie Hill.

Papadopoulos lied to investigators about his contacts with a Kremlin-linked professor who claimed that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton while he was working for the Trump campaign.

Hill was freshman congresswoman and rising Democratic star who resigned Monday amid allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship with a staffer and following the non-consensual release and publication of nude photographs.

I’ll leave it to you to decide what the symbolism of the scope view is on Papadopoulos’s campaign website. One result of his candidacy? He’ll now be allowed to promote misinformation in paid advertisements on Facebook.

White House aide Robert Blair is expected to testify before a closed session of the House impeachment inquiry on Friday, Reuters reports, citing an official on the impeachment probe.

Blair is one of the officials who listened in on the phone conversation between Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that led to the whistleblower complaint and subsequent impeachment investigation, according to CNN.

His current title is assistant to the president and senior adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Prior to working in the White House, he was associate director for national security programs in the Office of Management and Budget, where he also served under Mulvaney.

House votes to recognize the Armenian Genocide

The US House of Representatives just voted overwhelmingly to recognize the Armenian Genocide, with 405 yes votes and 11 noes.

The non-binding resolution marks the first time in 35 years that either branch of Congress recognized the early 20th century slaughter of up to 1.5m Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Turkish government has long refused to acknowledge the genocide, creating a diplomatic bind for its allies. But Turkey’s recent actions against Kurds near its border with Syria created a political opening for the resolution’s passage.

“Given that the Turks are once again involved in ethnic cleansing the population— this time the Kurds who live along the Turkish-Syrian border— it seemed all the more appropriate to bring up a resolution about the Ottoman efforts to annihilate an entire people in the Armenian genocide,” representative Adam Schiff, who sponsored the resolution, said to the LA Times.

Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in (thus far, thankfully) wildfire-free Oakland, California, picking up the blog for the rest of the day.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has responded to the House resolution on impeachment by calling it a “scam” and complaining that the Trump administration is being denied “basic due process rights”.

The full statement reads:

The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.

It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President.

The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written.

This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration.

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

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The House rules committee released its resolution outlining next steps on impeachment, which established that Adam Schiff’s intelligence committee would take the lead on public hearings.
  • Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, testified behind closed doors to impeachment investigators. According to his opening statement, Vindman intended to testify that he had concerns after listening to Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.
  • The president attacked Vindman as a “never Trumper,” while some conservative commentators suggested that the Purple Heart recipient may not be entirely loyal to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union. (Some commentators later walked back those comments following intense criticism.)
  • British MPs approved Boris Johnson’s proposal to hold a general election on December 12, giving voters another chance to weigh in on Brexit after the prime minister failed to withdraw the UK from the EU by his set deadline of October 31. Follow the UK politics live blog for more updates.

Julia will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.

Representative Bradley Byrne said he would not drop out of the Alabama Senate race, even if Jeff Sessions launched a bid to reclaim the seat he held for two decades.

Reports have emerged that Sessions, Trump’s former attorney general who had a falling out with the president over the Russia investigation, is seriously considering a Senate bid. Politico reports:

Sessions would scramble the already crowded field of Republicans seeking to take on Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who won a 2017 special election to fill the remainder of Sessions’ term and is widely viewed as the most vulnerable senator on the ballot next year. ...

Five Republicans are already in the race: Rep. Bradley Byrne, former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, Secretary of State John Merrill, state Rep. Arnold Mooney and Roy Moore, the former state Supreme Court judge who lost the special election in 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Sessions has some high-profile allies pushing him to run for his old seat, including the conservative Club for Growth.

UK MPs vote for December general election

Boris Johnson appears to have won his battle to hold a general election on December 12 after the British prime minister failed to withdraw the UK from the EU by his set deadline of October 31.

MPs voted 438 to 20 to take the UK to the polls in about six weeks. The election will be the first held in December since 1923 and will provide the British public a chance to once again weigh in on Brexit as the EU separation looms.

To get the latest updates, follow Andrew Sparrow’s UK politics live blog.

Vindman testimony casts spotlight on Sondland

The opening statement of Alexander Vindman, who is now testifying before impeachment investigators, has led at least one House Democrat to accuse Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, of perjuring himself before the committees.

Politico has more context on the Sondland controversy:

Testimony from other witnesses has put the credibility of Trump’s most favorable witness into serious doubt as the White House struggles to define a response to the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry beyond simply refusing to cooperate with it.

Democrats have cited Sondland’s repeated memory lapses pertaining to central events surrounding Trump’s pressure campaign to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Joe Biden.

They raised similar questions about Sondland’s truthfulness following the testimony last week of acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who said Sondland had conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the release of U.S. military assistance aid was predicated upon Zelensky publicly committing to the investigations Trump demanded.

But it was the opening statement made public late Monday by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Trump’s top National Security Council adviser on Ukraine, that had Democrats questioning Sondland’s testimony most pointedly.

The House rules committees is expected to consider and possibly amend the impeachment resolution tomorrow afternoon, with a vote on the proposal still set for Thursday.

Meanwhile, the White House made clear that the resolution has not changed its opinion of the inquiry at all, dismissing the whole process as a “sham.”

A Politico reporter noted that most of the newly released impeachment resolution is in line with current House rules about public hearings.

The Democratic chairs of four House committees – intelligence, judiciary, foreign affairs and oversight – have released a statement saying that the newly released resolution will provide a “pathway forward” on impeachment.

The chairs said: “The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a President who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election.

“Following in the footsteps of previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand about the President’s misconduct.”

In a fact sheet on the newly released resolution, Democrats told their members that the outlined impeachment procedures would help to ensure “transparency” and give Trump “opportunities to participate.”

The president and his allies have complained that the inquiry so far has been too secretive and denied Trump any chance to defend himself, but House Republicans are unlikely to support the resolution.

The impeachment resolution notes that, at the beginning of public hearings, the chairman and ranking member of the House intelligence committee – Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Devin Nunes – can ask witnesses questions for up to 45 minutes each before proceeding to other committee members. (They may also defer to a committee staffer.)

The resolution also allows for the public release of transcripts from interviews so far, “with appropriate redactions to protect classified and other sensitive information.”

Updated

The impeachment resolution also establishes that the House intelligence committee, which will handle public hearings in the inquiry, will issue a report on its findings and then transmit its records to the House judiciary committee.

The judiciary committee will then refer any potential articles of impeachment to the full House for a vote.

Democrats plan to vote on the resolution on Thursday, and it is likely to pass given the high level of support for the inquiry in the House Democratic caucus.

House Democrats release impeachment resolution

The Democratic chairman of the House rules committee has filed the resolution outlining next steps in the impeachment inquiry against Trump.

According to the resolution, the House intelligence committee will take the lead on planning public hearings as the inquiry advances.

The resolution also establishes that Republicans may ask to hear testimony from certain witnesses, but those requests will be declined or approved by Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee.

Mitch McConnell said he would not “question the patriotism” of any witnesses in the impeachment inquiry after some conservative commentators suggested Alexander Vindman may not be entirely loyal to the United States.

Some commentators are now walking back their comments about Vindman, a national security council official and a Purple Heart recipient.

Conservative commentators walk back Vindman criticism

Two conservative commentators who questioned the character of Alexander Vindman, the national security council official who is testifying in the impeachment inquiry, have walked back their comments.

Former Republican congressman Sean Duffy, who was criticized for suggesting that Vindman may have an “affinity for the Ukraine,” called the Purple Heart recipient “an American war hero” in a tweet.

John Yoo, a former DOJ official who served under George W Bush, appeared to indicate last night that Vindman may have participated in espionage.

However, Yoo said in a statement today: “I did not accuse Lt. Col. Vindman of committing the crime of espionage. I have tremendous respect for a decorated officer of the U.S. Army and a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

House impeachment resolution to be released shortly

The Democratic chairman of the House rules committee said he hopes to release the text of the impeachment resolution by 3 p.m. E.T.

That announcement comes as even the chairs of the committees leading the impeachment inquiry have voiced conflicting ideas about who will handle public hearings once the investigation advances to that stage.

The resolution, which is currently scheduled for a Thursday vote, will hopefully clear up any confusion around those next steps.

Updated

Although the text of the impeachment resolution has not yet been released, at least one House Democrat, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, is already voicing his likely opposition to it.

Van Drew has been vocal about his decision not to support the impeachment inquiry, telling reporters that he will be on the “right side of history.”

However, the freshman House member acknowledged that “not too many” of his Democratic colleagues were likely to join him in opposing the resolution.

Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic member of the House judiciary committee, said she expected witnesses in the impeachment inquiry to re-testify publicly once the resolution formalizing procedures is approved.

The Washington Democrat added that transcripts from the closed-door interviews would likely be publicly released at that point, too.

Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee, has just entered a secure area in the Capitol as he works with other senior House Democrats to finalize a resolution on impeachment procedures.

House Republicans have been demanding a chamber-wide vote on the impeachment inquiry since Nancy Pelosi announced its formal launch late last month.

However, some of Trump’s top congressional allies are now accusing Democrats of trying to “retroactively legitimize their illegitimate impeachment inquiry,” seemingly reversing their position.

There appears to be some confusion among House Democrats about which committee (or committees) will lead the public impeachment hearings once the inquiry advances to that stage.

Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, has suggested his panel would handle the hearings, but other chairs have cast doubt upon that.

This confusion may be part of the reason why House majority leader Steny Hoyer voiced skepticism this morning about voting on the impeachment resolution on Thursday.

Hoyer said he and other Democrat members have not yet seen the text of the resolution, which is supposed to outline the procedures surrounding next steps of the inquiry.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, is testifying behind closed doors to impeachment investigators. A draft of Vindman’s opening statement indicated he had serious concerns about Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president, which he listened in on.
  • The president dismissed Vindman, who has served under administrations of both parties and received a Purple Heart after an IED attack in Iraq, as a “never Trumper.”
  • A senior House Democrat voiced skepticism about holding a Thursday vote on the impeachment resolution, but Nancy Pelosi said the vote would take place as scheduled.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

House Democrats who are participating in the deposition of Alexander Vindman accused Republicans of using their questions to try to unmask the identity of the whistleblower who first filed a complaint about the Ukraine call.

Republicans denied this allegation, arguing that they had no means of outing the whistleblower because they don’t know who the person is.

Senator Mitt Romney slammed attacks on the character of Lt Col Alexander Vindman as “disgusting” and “way off the mark”.

Some conservative commentators suggested Vindman, who is testifying about the Ukraine call to impeachment investigators, may not have complete loyalty to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union and has become an expert on Ukraine.

However, the national security council official has also served in Iraq and received a Purple Heart after he was injured in an IED attack.

Updated

Republican says he has chosen not to attend impeachment interviews

Representative Ted Yoho said this morning that he has chosen not to sit in on depositions in the impeachment inquiry against Trump, even though the Republican lawmaker is entitled to attend as a member of the House foreign affairs committee.

The Florida Republican told CNN: “I see this as a sideshow.” He claimed the inquiry was not valid because Democratic leadership has not held a formal vote to launch it, echoing arguments from the president.

Pressed by the CNN anchor Poppy Harlow on how he could criticize officials’ testimony without being present for it, Yoho said he intended to intended to attend Alexander Vindman’s deposition and had questions to ask the national security council official.

However, it is worth noting that, even as Republicans slam the inquiry for not being transparent and accessible to the GOP caucus, some of those members who could attend the depositions are choosing not to participate.

Updated

Nancy Pelosi confirmed that the vote on the impeachment resolution was still planned for Thursday, despite her deputy raising doubts about that timeline.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer told reporters this morning that he and other Democratic members have not yet seen the text of the resolution and appeared skeptical of plans to hold a vote on it in just two days.

New Hampshire poll shows Sanders, Warren leading

A new poll from New Hampshire shows Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic presidential primary in the early voting state.

Bernie Sanders speaks during the J Street National Conference.
Bernie Sanders speaks during the J Street National Conference. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Sanders, who defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 New Hampshire primary, is attracting the support of 21 percent of the state’s Democratic voters, according to the CNN poll. Elizabeth Warren is closely behind him with 18 percent, while Joe Biden has slightly slipped to 15 percent. Pete Buttigieg has held steady at 10 percent, and no other candidate attracts double-digit levels of support.

However, the most surprising part of the poll might be the three candidates hitting 5 percent: representative Tulsi Gabbard, senator Amy Kobuchar and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

The results give Gabbard another qualifying poll for the November debate, but she still needs two more to make the stage. The poll also indicates the race remains very fluid in the early voting state.

Vindman testifies he took notes during Ukraine call

Alexander Vindman reportedly told impeachment investigators that he took notes during Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president and made recommendations to the White House memo on the conversation.

If the national security council official still possesses notes on the call that kicked off the formal inquiry, House Democrats may try to subpoena them.

Steny Hoyer’s suggestion that the impeachment resolution may not be ready for the planned Thursday vote raises the possibility that the proceedings’ entire timeline could be slightly delayed.

However, one Democratic aide said the resolution would be ready for a vote by Thursday because the chairs of the committees leading the inquiry are pushing for it.

Top Democrat raises doubts about timing of impeachment resolution

Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, voiced skepticism that the resolution authorizing impeachment procedures would be ready for a Thursday vote.

The Maryland Democrat told reporters on Capitol Hill that he and the rest of the caucus have not yet read the resolution. The text of the proposal was originally set to be revealed today, but Hoyer appeared skeptical of that timeline.

The questions over Democrats’ impeachment resolution threatened to take attention away from the testimony of Alexander Vindman, who reportedly intended to tell House investigators that he was concerned after listening to Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.

The Washington Post has uncovered footage of Lt Col Alexander Vindman, whose family emigrated from the Soviet Union when he was a child, appearing alongside his twin brother in Ken Burns’ documentary series America for a segment on the Statue of Liberty.

The segment explores the statue’s power as a symbol to immigrants, like the Vindmans, who have adopted America as their home.

According to a draft of his opening statement, Vindman intended to tell impeachment investigators today: “My family fled the Soviet Union when I was three and a half years old ... In spite of our challenging beginnings, my family worked to build its own American dream.

“I have a deep appreciation for American values and ideals and the power of freedom. I am a patriot, and it is my sacred duty and honor to advance and defend OUR country, irrespective of party or politics.”

All of this seems to contradict some conservative commentators’ doubts about Vindman’s loyalty to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union and has become an expert on Ukraine.

Updated

Representative Justin Amash, a congressman who left the Republican party over opposition to Trump, cleverly mocked the president’s typo in a tweet claiming Democrats would suffer electoral losses because of the impeachment inquiry.

Updated

Trump is still tweeting away, arguing that the House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry have a “Death Wish” when it comes to next year’s elections.

However, a number of House Republicans have announced plans to retire or seek higher office in recent months, suggesting that the GOP caucus is the one with doubts about their 2020 prospects.

Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, declined to attack the integrity of Lt Col Alexander Vindman but still questioned the official’s reported concerns about Trump’s Ukraine call.

The California Republican told reporters on Capitol Hill: “I thank him for his service ... but he is wrong.”

McCarthy also dismissed any notion that Republicans are flip-flopping by voicing opposition to House Democrats’ resolution to authorize impeachment procedures even though GOP lawmakers have been calling for a formal, chamber-wide vote for weeks.

Updated

However, at least one House Republican, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, is criticizing the commentators questioning the patriotism of Lt Col Alexnader Vindman as he testifies to impeachment investigators.

Updated

Some Republicans and conservative commentators have questioned the patriotism of Lt Col Alexander Vindman amid reports that the national security council official intends to testify he had concerns about Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.

A Washington correspondent for the Economist lashed out against those voicing doubts about Vindman, who served in Iraq and received a Purple Heart after being injured in an IED attack.

Updated

As Alexander Vindman testifies to impeachment investigators about Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president, Republican lawmakers are struggling to answer a question about whether it would be acceptable for a commander-in-chief to ask foreign countries to investigate their political rivals.

Democrats are already rushing to defend Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman after the president dismissed the national security council official as a “Never Trumper.”

Vindman also reportedly intends to tell impeachment investigators in his opening statement: “For over twenty years as an active duty United States military officer and diplomat, I have served this country in a nonpartisan manner, and have done so with the utmost respect and professionalism for both Republican and Democratic administrations.”

Vindman, who served in Iraq and received a Purple Heart after being wounded by an IED, plans to tell the congressional committees that Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president made him concerned the White House was jeopardizing US alliances by trying to advance its political interests.

Vindman arrives for testimony

Lt Col Alexander Vindman has arrived on Capitol Hill to testify to the committees leading House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry against Trump.

The national security council official reportedly intends to tell impeachment investigators about Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president and his concerns about the commander-in-chief seeking an investigation into his political rival, Joe Biden.

Updated

President dismisses Vindman as 'Never Trumper'

Trump has now weighed in on the looming testimony of Alexander Vindman, the national security council official who reportedly intends to tell impeachment investigators that the president’s Ukraine call made him worried the White House was jeopardizing foreign policy to advance its political interests.

Without mentioning Vindman’s name, the president dismissed the official, who has served in Iraq and received a Purple Heart after being wounded in an IED attack, as a “Never Trumper”.

It’s notable how Trump keeps moving the goalposts on what constitutes impeachable testimony. He previously said witnesses who testified to an alleged quid pro quo should be discredited because they did not personally hear the call.

Now, faced with someone who did personally hear the call, Trump is saying that the impeachment investigators should instead refer to the White House “transcript” of the call. However, the “transcript” is actually a White House memo summarizing the call that appeared to cut out much of Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president.

Vindman will probably ill in many of the gaps left by that memo in his testimony today.

Updated

Impeachment inquiry escalates with expected testimony of Ukraine call

Good morning, live blog readers!

It appears that Donald Trump’s dismissal of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry as an illegitimate “witch-hunt” based on “hearsay” testimony is unraveling before our eyes.

Lt Col Alexander S. Vindman, a top Ukraine expert on the national security council, reportedly intends to tell the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry that Trump’s call with the leader of Ukraine made him deeply concerned the president was jeopardizing key foreign policy in the hope of triggering an investigation into his political rival, Joe Biden.

Vindman will be the first witness to provide impeachment investigators with a first-hand account of the controversial phone call that kicked off the formal inquiry. According to a draft of his opening statement first obtained by the New York Times, the national security official will tell the House committees this morning: “I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the US government’s support of Ukraine.”

Vindman’s testimony will be the second major blow to Trump’s impeachment defense in less than 24 hours. Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday that House Democrats would introduce a resolution to formalize impeachment procedures, marking the first chamber-wide vote on the inquiry.

For weeks, Trump and his allies have derided the impeachment investigation by arguing that the inquiry is an illegitimate scam because the House never formally voted to launch the proceedings. Trump has also dismissed all of the testimony of an alleged quid pro quo as baseless hearsay.

It appears that both of those points will be addressed this week. So how will Trump now defend himself against the investigation? And what else will Vindman have to say?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:

  • Trump will have lunch with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and meet the 2019 recipients of the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking. He will later address donors at his Washington hotel.
  • The treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, will continue his Middle East trip with meetings in Israel and Saudi Arabia.
  • Game six of the World Series will take place in Houston, where the Astros have a chance to win the championship against the Washington Nationals.

The blog will have plenty more coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

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