Live political reporting continues on Thursday’s blog:
Evening Summary
- Bill Taylor, the US’s top diplomat in Ukraine, said in his impeachment inquiry testimony that US officials negotiated a direct quid pro in Ukraine, exchanging military aid for a political hit against Joe Biden.
- “Security assistance money would not come until the president [of Ukraine] committed to pursuing the investigation,” Taylor said.
- Kentucky’s Republican governor is asking officials to reevaluate last night’s election results, which placed him behind his Democratic challenger by 5,000 votes, citing unspecified “irregularities”.
- Elizabeth Warren earned the endorsement of Ayanna Pressley a progressive representative from Massachussetts and a member of “the Squad”. Warren also earned the skepticism of Bill Gates, who balked at paying a theoretical “$100 billion” in taxes.
- Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general who earned Trump’s ire for recusing himself from the Russia probe, is expected to enter the senate race in Alabama, running for his former seat.
Elizabeth Warren to Bill Gates: ‘I’m always happy to meet with people’
At the New York Times DealBook conference, the world’s second wealthiest man said he’s doesn’t agree with Elizabeth Warren’s enthusiasm for breaking up big tech companies “I’m super biased,” Gates said. “I didn’t think Microsoft should be broken up,” Gates said, adding that he wouldn’t “wish that on anyone.”
Gates didn’t say who he’d vote for if it came down to Warren and Donald Trump, “I hope the more professional candidate is an electable candidate,” he said.
He also said he wasn’t sure if Warren, whose entire brand centers on her enthusiams for taxing the wealthy, would “even be willing to sit down with somebody who has large amounts of money.”
To that last question at least, Warren has responded: “I’m always happy to meet with people, even if we have different views” she said. “I’d love to explain exactly how much you’d pay under my wealth tax. (I promise it’s not $100 billion.)”
Gates had mentioned that he’s happy to $20bn, but maybe not $100bn.
I'm always happy to meet with people, even if we have different views. @BillGates, if we get the chance, I'd love to explain exactly how much you'd pay under my wealth tax. (I promise it's not $100 billion.) https://t.co/m6G20hDNaV
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 7, 2019
Democrats have withdrawn their subpoena for a national security aide
House Democrats have pulled their subpoena for testimony from Charles Kupperman, a former Trump administration national security official.
Kupperman filed a lawsuit asking a judge to help resolve conflicting orders from Congressional leaders, who wanted him to testify in the impeachment inquiry, and the White House, which wanted him to skip testifying, citing executive privilege.
House layers withdrew their subpoena looking to avoid a delay the impeachment hearings.
More context from the Washington Post:
Instead, the House said that in the interest if speed, it would look to the outcome of another case that is further along in judicial proceedings — that involving a subpoena to former White House counsel Donald McGahn. That case raises similar issues of whether the White House can bar high-ranking administration officials from testifying.
In the McGahn case, a different judge at the same courthouse in Washington heard oral arguments last week and has said she was likely7 to issue an opinion before the end of November.
Leon had set oral arguments in the Kupperman lawsuit for Dec. 10.
Democrats will no longer host their 6th presidential debate at UCLA
Due to a dispute between the University of California, Los Angeles and a local labor union, the Democrats will no longer hold their 6th presidential debate there.
“In response to concerns raised by the local organized labor community in Los Angeles, we have asked our media partners to seek an alternative site for the December debate,” Democratic National Committee senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in an emailed statement.
HuffPost first reported the news. Labor union AFSCME 3299, sent a letter to at least six of the candidates asking them to refrain from speaking on University of California campuses
The labor group has accused the school administration of outsourcing jobs and breaking state labor laws. The university has denied that it has broken the law.
The DNC has yet to announce a new location for the debates scheduled for December 19.
Updated
Two Twitter employees are accused of spying for the Saudi government
Federal prosecutors in San Francisco have charged two former Twitter employees and a Saudi national with a plot to provide information about Twitter users to the Saudi government.
The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports:
A complaint unsealed on Wednesday in US district court in San Francisco detailed a coordinated effort by Saudi officials to recruit employees at the social media giant to look up the private data of thousands of Twitter accounts.
One of the former Twitter employees, Ahmad Abouammo, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of spying and falsifying an invoice to obstruct an FBI investigation. He is a US citizen. The other former employee, a Saudi citizen named Ali Alzabarah, was accused of accessing the personal information of more than 6,000 Twitter accounts in 2015 on behalf of Saudi Arabia.
Alzabarah accessed accounts of a number of prominent government critics including that of Omar Abdulaziz, a prominent journalist with more than 1 million followers who was close to late Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a US citizen, was killed by the Saudi government last year.
The US justice department also alleged that the employees – whose jobs did not require access to Twitter users’ private information – were rewarded with a designer watch and tens of thousands of dollars funneled into secret bank accounts.
Updated
Jeff Sessions will be entering the Alabama Senate race — despite opposition from Trump
The former attorney general that earned Donald Trump’s ire for recusing himself from Russia probe is planning to enter the Alabama senate race, according to reports. He’ll be running for his former senate seat, which is occupied for two decades, from 1997 to 2017.
Sessions would have to face-off against opponents in the Alabama GOP primaries and against Trump, doesn’t seem to have forgiven Sessions.
Source confirms Sessions is IN - the consultants he’s hired have conferred with the NRSC, per the person briefed on events.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 6, 2019
More context, from the AP:
Sessions is expected to announce his candidacy Thursday.
The two-decade senator’s entry into the race upends the 2020 Republican primary, which has a crowded field competing to challenge Democratic Sen. Doug Jones for the once reliably red seat. The decision comes after months of speculation that Sessions might seek a return to the Senate.
Sessions was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s 2016 campaign, and the two supported similar policies on immigration and law enforcement. But Sessions’ recusal from the Russia inquiry prompted blistering public criticism from Trump, who eventually asked him to resign.
Despite the repeated attacks, Sessions has remained a Trump loyalist who continues to back the president’s policies. In a speech last month at a Republican Party fundraiser in Huntsville, Sessions reiterated his support for Trump even as he joked about life after being “fired” from a job. Sessions praised Trump’s effort on trade, immigration and foreign policy.
“That’s why I supported him and why I still do support him,” Sessions told the crowd of about 500. “He is relentlessly and actually honoring the promises he made to the American people.”
Updated
Kentucky's Republican governnor asks for a recanvass of votes
Kentucky’s Republican Gov. Matt Bevin is asking officials to double check the results of Tuesday’s gubernatorial election. Tallies last night put Democrat Andy Beshear ahead Bevin by just over 5,000 votes.
Bevin wants officials to recheck and recanvass of the voting machines and absentee ballots. He cited “irregularities” but didn’t provide any other details to journalists at a press conference.
It's
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) November 6, 2019
Not
A
Press
Conference
If
You
Don't
Take
Questions
From
The
Press
Bevin’s campaign manager said, in a statement: “The people of Kentucky deserve a fair and honest election. With reports of irregularities, we are exercising the right to ensure that every lawful vote was counted.”
Beshear has claimed victory and has indicated he’ll soon be naming members of his cabinet as he transitions to take the governor’s seat. But Bevin has refused to concede.
Recanvassing rarely yields different results.
Updated
Rudy Giuliani, who is not just a lawyer, but the president’s lawyer, has recruited three attorneys to represent him, as New York federal prosecutors look into his business dealings.
It doesn’t suggest Giuliani has that much confidence in his own law skills, but anyway it’s ok because according to Giuliani: “The evidence, when revealed fully, will show that this present farce is as much a frame-up and hoax as Russian collusion, maybe worse, and will prove the President is innocent.”
Giuliani’s interactions with Ukrainian officials, including efforts to seek the removal of the US ambassador, have become entangled in the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
The evidence, when revealed fully, will show that this present farce is as much a frame-up and hoax as Russian collusion, maybe worse, and will prove the President is innocent.
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) November 6, 2019
I am represented and assisted by Robert Costello and the Pierce Bainbridge firm in particular , Eric Creizman and Melissa Madrigal.
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) November 6, 2019
Updated
It seems Elizabeth Warren has lost that important Bill Gates demographic:
Bill Gates says he’s not sure @ewarren has an open mind, or that she would even want to sit down with him or with someone who has as much money as he has. #dealbook
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) November 6, 2019
Ps: regarding Warren sitting down “with someone who has as much money as he has”... Gates is the second richest person in the world.
Here’s a stock statement from Amy Klobuchar’s campaign manager on her making the December debate. (By achieving 5% in a poll which had a margin of error of plus/minus 4.5%):
Today, Senator Klobuchar qualified for the December debate. Amy looks forward to sharing her optimistic agenda on stage and showing once again how she will be the President for not half of America, but all of America.
Biden in fourth place in Iowa – poll
Elizabeth Warren is the Democratic frontrunner in Iowa, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, with Joe Biden in fourth place in the second poll in less than a week.
Warren was at 20% in the poll, released on Wednesday, with Buttigieg second on 19% and Sanders in third place with 17%. The poll had an error margin of 4.5%.
Biden was the choice of just 15% of respondents – unwelcome news for the former vice-president after a New York Times/Siena College poll also found him in fourth place on November 1. That survey also found Warren in the lead.
Amy Klobuchar was at 5%, which qualifies her for the December Democrat debate, while Tulsi Gabbard got 4%, meaning she makes the stage in November.
Turkey president to visit White House next week
Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan will visit the White House next week, Donald Trump has announced.
Erdogan, who has been widely condemned by the international community after launching a bloody assault on Kurdish forces in Syria, will travel to Washington on Wednesday, November 13.
By a quirk of fate – or otherwise – the high profile visit will coincide with the first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry.
Turkey’s assault on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria – which came after Trump abruptly pulled out US forces – has been roundly criticized, including by a number of Republicans.
The Kurds had been crucial allies to the US in the fight against Isis. In October the House of Representatives, including a majority of Republicans, voted overwhelmingly to condemn Trump for the troop withdrawal.
....Also talked about their Border with Syria, the eradication of terrorism, the ending of hostilities with the Kurds, and many other topics. Look forward to seeing President Erdogan next Wednesday, November 13th at the @WhiteHouse!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2019
Updated
Afternoon summary
•There was a direct quid pro between the release of US military aid to Ukraine and a Ukrainian investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden, according to a transcript of the testimony by Bill Taylor, the US’s top diplomat in Ukraine.
•Taylor told the House he had a “clear understanding security assistance money would not come until the President [of Ukraine] committed to pursue the investigation”. His account matches that of others who have testified in the impeachment inquiry.
•Taylor’s testimony also supported accounts of a backchannel of communication between the White House and Ukraine. Taylor alleged that Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer, was keen for Volodymyr Zelenskiy to “say out loud” he would investigate the Bidens.
•Adam Schiff, chair of the House intelligence committee, said Taylor’s testimony “reveals how, through a shadow foreign policy channel, Trump withheld military assistance and a White House meeting from Ukraine until Ukrainian officials agreed to announce investigations to help Trump politically”.
Updated
Bill Taylor sent reams of information, including text messages, WhatsApp messages, and handwritten notes, to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an attempt to draw attention to the withholding of US assistance to Ukraine, Taylor testified.
According to three House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry, the State Department then refused to hand that over to investigators.
Taylor said that he sent a cable to Pompeo – at the suggestion of since-fired national security advisor John Bolton – about “security assistance” to Ukraine.
Included in that cable, Taylor said, were texts he exchanged with US ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and US special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker: texts where Taylor asked whether the US paying military aid to Ukraine was dependent on Ukraine investigating the Bidens. Taylor said the cable also included WhatsApp messages and handwritten, “careful notes”.
In a document of excerpts of Taylor’s testimony, the House committees on Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs noted:
“The State Department refused to produce to the Committees documents that Ambassador Taylor provided to the Department.”
Updated
This is the take from Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee:
Ambassador Taylor's testimony reveals how, through a shadow foreign policy channel, Trump withheld military assistance and a White House meeting from Ukraine until Ukrainian officials agreed to announce investigations to help Trump politically.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) November 6, 2019
READ:https://t.co/zCrAznro4U
No word from the White House yet.
In his testimony before the House, Bill Taylor said the idea “to get [Ukraine] President Zelensky to say out loud he’s going to investigate Burisma and 2016 election” came from Rudy Giuliani, acting on behalf of Donald Trump.
(Thanks to Politico reporter Kyle Cheney for the screengrab):
TRANSCRIPT HIGHLIGHTS: Here's where Taylor lays it all out, under questioning from @Malinowski: pic.twitter.com/ZqrR3TqHkj
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 6, 2019
US diplomat: I had 'clear understanding' aid dependent on Ukraine's Biden investigation
Here is a key exchange from the released transcript, where Bill Taylor, the US’s top diplomat in Ukraine, describes how US military assistance funding was linked to a Ukrainian investigation of the Bidens.
Asked about whether the unfreezing of military aid to Ukraine depended on an investigation, Taylor said:
“That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the President [of Ukraine] committed to pursue the investigation.”
Here’s the extract from the transcript. (Taylor is answering, House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff is the questioner):
Q: And when you say that, this was the first time I heard that the security assistance—not just the White House meeting—was conditioned on the investigation, when you talk about conditioned, did you mean that if they didn’t do this, the investigations, they weren’t going to get that, the meeting and the military assistance?
A: That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the President [of Ukraine] committed to pursue the investigation.
Q: So if they don’t do this, they are not going to get that was your understanding?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Are you aware that quid pro quo literally means this for that?
A: I am.
Updated
House releases new impeachment inquiry testimony
The House has released the transcript of US diplomat Bill Taylor’s testimony in the impeachment inquiry.
The transcript describes the existence of a parallel foreign policy approach to Ukraine, and supports the testimony of others that there was a direct quid pro quo in Trump’s demand that Ukraine investigate the Bidens.
The transcript can be read in full here.
Key excerpts from the transcript can be read here.
During Taylor’s hearing, he told the House there was a clear connection between the Trump administration releasing funding to Ukraine, and Ukraine investigating Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
“That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the president [of Ukraine] committed to pursue the investigation,” Taylor said.
In a statement Rep Adam Schiff, Rep Eliot Engel and Rep Carolyn Maloney, the chairs of investigating committees, said:
“The testimony of Ambassador Taylor—a West Point graduate, Vietnam veteran, and nonpartisan diplomat — shows how President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and conditioned its release, as well as a vital White House meeting, on the President of Ukraine publicly announcing investigations into debunked conspiracy theories involving the Bidens and the 2016 election.”
Updated
A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration rule that would have allowed health care providers to refuse to take part in procedures on religious grounds.
The rule, which had not yet gone into effect, would have let clinicians object to providing abortions and other services that conflict with their moral and religious beliefs.
The decision came after 19 states, the District of Columbia, three local governments, health organizations and others sued the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Summary
•Public impeachment hearings will begin next week, Adam Schiff announced. Bill Taylor, the US’s top diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state, will testify on Wednesday. Marie Yovanovitch will appear on Friday.
•The trial of Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s longtime advisor, is underway in DC. Stone is accused of obstructing justice, witness tampering, and lying under oath. The charges stem from Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
•Elizabeth Warren received a boost when Rep Ayanna Pressley, a high-profile member of “The Squad” endorsed her for president. In a video message, Pressley said Warren’s plans are “about power, who has it, who refuses to let it go, and who deserves more of it”.
•Donald Trump’s EU envoy “fabricated” parts of his testimony in the impeachment inquiry, according to a lawyer for Fiona Hill, a former White House expert on Russia. Hill’s lawyer said Gordon Sondland invented a number of coffee meetings. Sondland changed other parts of his testimony on Tuesday.
Steven Bannon will testify in Stone trial
The prosecution is presenting opening arguments the Roger Stone trial in Washington DC – laying out a clear timeline regarding Stone’s actions, the publication of emails aiming to hurt the campaign of Hillary Clinton, and Stone’s alleged lying under oath to a congressional committee.
“We are here today because one man obstructed Congress’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election,” prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky told the jury. Zelinsky also said that Steve Bannon would be called to appear in court.
“Roger Stone started bragging that he was in touch with WikiLeaks,” Zelinsky said.
“Donald Trump was running for president of the United States against Hillary Clinton and the defendant thought those emails would help his friend, Trump, and hurt Clinton.”
Zelinsky is arguing that Stone, after repeatedly saying he was speaking to Wikileaks, later sought to “cover up” his efforts.
“Roger Stone repeatedly lied under oath to a congressional committee and then tampered with a witness to cover up his tracks.”
Zelinsky: "The evidence will show Roger Stone lied to the House intelligence committee because the truth looked bad. The truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) November 6, 2019
Updated
Rep Ayanna Pressley endorses Warren
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley has broken with The Squad... to endorse Elizabeth Warren for president.
Pressley’s close House allies Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have all endorsed Bernie Sanders, but Pressley announced she would back Warren in a Twitter video this afternoon.
Big structural change can’t wait. pic.twitter.com/8Sanof9COD
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) November 6, 2019
Pressley, like Warren, represents Massachusetts, and is now set to join Warren on the campaign trail on Thursday.
“You’ve all heard about the senator’s plans but here’s the thing: The plans are about power, who has it, who refuses to let it go, and who deserves more of it. For Elizabeth and for me power belongs in the hands of the people,” Pressley said.
“That’s why she’s fighting for fundamental change that restores power to those who’ve been left behind, and centers those who’ve never had access to it in the first place.”
Reuters is reporting that a meeting between Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping to sign an interim trade deal could be delayed until December “as discussions continue over terms and venue.”
US stock markets have hit record highs on suggestions that a trade deal is imminent, something Trump has been boasting about this week. They are now slipping back into the red.
Donald Trump will travel to New York City next week, to kick off the city’s Veterans Day Parade.
According to the White House, Trump will offer a tribute to veterans at the opening ceremony of Monday’s 100th annual parade.
Trump has been roundly booed in larger cities recently – see the Washington Nationals-Houston Astros game – and he is far from popular in NYC.
The president might see the Veterans Day ceremony as safer territory. But who knows.
According to the White House, Trump will offer remarks then lay a wreath at the Eternal Light memorial in Madison Square Park.
Updated
Roger Stone trial begins in DC
The trial of Roger Stone, a longtime advisor to Donald Trump, began this morning in Washington DC – a trial resulting from charges in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing justice and witness tampering. He is also accused of lying to the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee about the Trump campaign’s efforts to obtain emails hacked by Russia, which were published by the Wikileaks website.
The Guardian’s David Smith – @SmithInAmerica – will be reporting and tweeting from court throughout the day.
At US District Court for DC. Roger Stone, sitting at desk, fiddles with glasses and papers. Judge Amy Berman Jackson: The jury will be sworn in and given instructions. Then we will move to opening statements.
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) November 6, 2019
Jackson: "The defendant has pleaded not guilty to all the charges contained in the indictment. He is presumed innocent."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) November 6, 2019
The open hearings that Adam Schiff will be closely watched and could be incredibly revealing.
Bill Taylor’s behind-closed-doors testimony was particularly damning. Taylor testified that Trump explicitly put pressure on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden.
Taylor became the US’s top diplomat in Ukraine after Marie Yovanovitch was removed. The Guardian’s Luke Harding and Julian Borger reported that Taylor found in Ukraine:
It was clear that Trump wanted Zelenskiy to “investigate” two things. One was the conspiracy theory that Ukraine colluded with Hillary Clinton in 2016 to help her win the presidential election. The other was Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden – son of Joe Biden – had served on the board. The allegation, subsequently found to be untrue, was that Joe Biden had put pressure on the previous government of Petro Poroshenko to fire the prosecutor investigating Burisma, in order to help his son. Taylor said Giuliani was behind the “irregular policy channel” and that Trump would only meet with Zelenskiy if the Ukrainian president carried out these investigations. There was an explicit quid pro quo, Taylor suggested.
Public impeachment hearings will begin next week
Open impeachment hearings will begin on Wednesday November 13, Adam Schiff has announced. Bill Taylor, the US’s top diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state, will testify first.
Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is due to appear on Friday November 15.
Next week, the House Intelligence Committee will hold its first open hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) November 6, 2019
On Wednesday, November 13, 2019, we will hear from William Taylor and George Kent.
On Friday, November 15, 2019, we will hear from Marie Yovanovitch.
More to come.
Updated
It seems flipping off Donald Trump is quite a successful campaign strategy: the woman who lost her job after famously giving Donald Trump’s motorcade the middle finger in 2017 won a local government seat in Virginia last night.
Virginia Democrats are “promising swift action” on a host of liberal policy proposals after sweeping the state’s legislature, according to AP.
Democrats took control of the state House and Senate – they already had Ralph Northam in place as governor – on Tuesday night, and will now push through gun restrictions and raise the minimum wage. From AP:
Northam said at a cabinet meeting Wednesday morning that he’s going to push for the same gun safety laws he proposed at a special session earlier this year called in response to a mass shooting in Virginia Beach.
[Democrats] have also promised to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, making Virginia the final state needed for possible passage of the gender equality measure.
Tulsi Gabbard has repeatedly said she won’t run as a third party candidate if (when) she fails to win the Democratic nomination. That hasn’t failed to stop chatter about her potentially going rogue, however... chatter that Democrats appear keen to shut down:
NEW — DNC Chair Tom Perez said Tulsi confirmed to the DNC last week that she wouldn’t run as a third party candidate.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) November 6, 2019
The speculation about Gabbard running as a third party candidate is fueled in part by her unconventional fanbase, described by the New York Times as “an unconventional mix of anti-interventionist progressives, libertarians, contrarian culture-war skeptics, white nationalists and conspiracy theorists”.
But Gabbard could also be becoming disillusioned with aspects the Democratic party. Gabbard recently claimed that Hillary Clinton said she was being “groomed by the Russian government”. Clinton didn’t actually say that, but it riled up Gabbard nonetheless.
Updated
Trump's EU envoy 'fabricated' parts of testimony - lawyer
Yesterday Gordon Sondland changed his impeachment inquiry testimony to confirm that the US president offered Ukraine a quid pro quo to investigate a political rival.
Now, it seems there are other aspects of Sondland’s original testimony that might not have been entirely correct.
Fiona Hill’s lawyer saying that the conversation Gordon claimed to have had with her over coffee - when she was supposedly shaking with anger at Trump - never happened https://t.co/cAg168rQZP
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) November 6, 2019
The Democratic presidential candidates are out in force today... Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang are in New Hampshire, Joe Biden is in Washington, DC, and Tom Steyer is doing something in Wisconsin.
Here’s Klobuchar getting herself on the ballot in New Hampshire yesterday:
.@amyklobuchar is now officially on the ballot in New Hampshire pic.twitter.com/VSlZyhFefS
— Trent Spiner (@TrentSpiner) November 6, 2019
(And here is Tulsi Gabbard doing exactly the same thing yesterday.)
Trump distances self from Kentucky GOP loss
Donald Trump, true to form, is insisting that the devastating Republican loss in the Kentucky governor’s election had nothing to do with him.
Early this morning Trump claimed Matt Bevin, the Republican incumbent in Kentucky, “picked up at least 15 points in last days” due to Trump’s appearance at a rally with Bevin. The polls suggest otherwise, however.
According to a survey by Trafalgar Group, Bevin was actually five points ahead at the beginning of November – before Trump’s rally. Make of that what you will. (And don’t forget that Trump himself said on Monday that defeat for Bevin: “sends a really bad message”.)
Meanwhile Trump, a man who famously managed to lose $1bn in less than 10 years, has also been tweeting out some financial advice.
Stock Markets (all three) hit another ALL TIME & HISTORIC HIGH yesterday! You are sooo lucky to have me as your President (just kidding!). Spend your money well!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2019
Updated
David Hale is presumably being sworn in right about now. According to the AP report, Hale will tell Adam Schiff et al more about the circumstances behind Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch being hung out to dry after she was targeted by Giuliani and other Trump allies.
In her own testimony, released on Monday, Yovanovitch revealed her “shock” upon learning that Rudy Giuliani was running a shadow foreign policy that involved attacks on her reputation. When she reached out to the State Department to ask for some defense against smears against her, none was forthcoming.
Hale will apparently say that Pompeo worried defending Yovanovitch could lead to further delays in releasing military aid to Ukraine – and that the State Department “worried about the reaction from Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, also one of the strongest advocates for removing the ambassador”.
Good morning! And welcome to live coverage of the day’s political news.
•The State Department’s third-ranking official will tell Congress today that political considerations were behind the agency’s refusal to defend former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. According to Associated Press, David Hale will testify that Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, decided that defending Yovanovitch would hamper efforts to free up US military funding to Ukraine.
•Hale’s behind-closed-doors appearance on Capitol Hill comes as more testimony could be released in the impeachment inquiry: potentially that of Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia advisor.
•Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo, who is increasingly getting drawn into all this, is in Germany at a to meet with leaders on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. With him on the plane: State Department Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, who was subpoenaed to give testimony today. So it looks like that won’t happen.
•This all comes against a backdrop of a strong Tuesday night for Democrats, of course. The party won control of Virginia for the first time in a generation after turning the state legislature blue yesterday, while the Democratic candidate for governor of Kentucky also claimed victory.
•Trump will be hoping to combat those losses when he holds a campaign rally in Louisiana tonight with Eddie Rispone, the Republican running in the state’s upcoming governor’s election.
