Sunday
A former national security advisor for Trump, Thomas Bossert, has given interviews saying that Trump is pushing a “completely debunked” conspiracy theory that Ukraine and not Russia was involved in the 2016 election. While he is”deeply disturbed” he does not think what Trump has done is impeachable.
Over the weekend the Washington Post and the New York Times reported that Pompeo has recently renewed an internal State Department investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email usage: “as many as 130 officials had been contacted in recent weeks.”
Retired GOP senator Jeff Flake came out in favor in impeachment: “We have learned from a whistleblower that the president has abused the power of his office to pressure a foreign government to go after a political opponent. A rough transcript of the telephone call has removed all ambiguity about the president’s intent… With what we now know, the president’s actions warrant impeachment. …At this point, the president’s conduct in office should not surprise us. But truly devastating has been our tolerance of that conduct…. Trust me when I say you can go elsewhere for a job. But you cannot go elsewhere for a soul.”
Monday
Three House committees subpoenaed Giuliani.
New York Times broke news that Trump and Barr were pushing Australia to help them debunk the Mueller probe: “President Trump initiated the discussion in recent weeks with Mr. Morrison explicitly for the purpose of requesting Australia’s help in the Justice Department review of the Russia investigation..Mr. Barr requested that Mr. Trump speak to Mr. Morrison.”
Here is the Washington Post story on Barr, suggesting he is working in support of John Durham’s investigation of the intelligence agencies role in investigating Russian interference in 2016: “Barr has already made overtures to British intelligence officials, and last week the attorney general traveled to Italy, where he and Durham met senior Italian government officials and Barr asked the Italians to assist Durham, according to one person familiar with the matter. It was not Barr’s first trip to Italy to meet intelligence officials, the person said. The Trump administration has made similar requests of Australia, these people said.”
Wall Street Journal reports that Pompeo was on the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky.
Tuesday
Pompeo sent a letter to Congress saying he would not allow State Department officials to testify before Congress. Three House chairmen wrote back: “Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress — including State Department employees — is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry.”
Wednesday
Pompeo admitted that he was on the Zelensky call.
Washington Post reports that Pence was used by the White House to pressure Ukraine, but Pence’s team claims he was unaware of the Zelensky phone call and the Biden favor request.
Thursday
Trump told reporters on the South Lawn that he wants both Ukraine and China to open investigations into Joseph and Hunter Biden.
Giuliani gave an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal in which he said the Trump ordered the removal of the US ambassador to Ukraine because she was not in support of the Biden investigation.
The New York Times reports that the ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker drafted a statement for the Ukrainian president in the weeks after the July 25 call: “The statement would have committed Ukraine to investigating the energy company Burisma, which had employed Hunter Biden, the younger son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. And it would have called for the Ukrainian government to look into what Mr. Trump and his allies believe was interference by Ukrainians in the 2016 election in the United States to benefit Hillary Clinton. The idea behind the statement was to break the Ukrainians of their habit of promising American diplomats and leaders behind closed doors that they would look into matters and never follow through.”
The House released the private messages between US diplomats wherein they are describing pressuring Ukraine to investigate 2016 and Biden in exchange for support from the White House. Here are some key messages that establish quid pro quo:
In Other News:
Politico reports on new Trump property details that have surfaced in House investigations: “the committee received information that two entities — a trade association and a foreign government — booked a large quantity of rooms but only used a fraction of them.” The report contains this impeachment nugget: Pelosi “may quietly allow a couple other issues to be included. Those could include Trump illegally making money off his presidency and obstruction of justice in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.”
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Trump’s Job Approval: 41.6% (dropped to 41.2% for one day)