I will have to blog the entire hearing. Now, I have to get set up to write rather than simply listen to history.
The witness has exceptional rights to make a testimony.
Americans have to realize Trump is controlling the Republican response to any aspect of the impeachment process. He is after all "The Apprentice" CEO.
Early on, Trump stated there will be no negative press and demanded all the words spoken about him will be praise. When that didn't occur he simply set out war on the USA Press, called "Fake News." Trump's demand for an unblemished and shining iconic image in the presidency is reflected by Republicans as in the instance of demanding a witness' testimony to be struck from the record.
Sympathies to all who have valued Paul Volker and his lifetime of service.
Paul Volcker, (click here) the legendary economist who served as the 12th chairman of the US Federal Reserve, died Sunday at the age of 92.
He is survived by his wife, Anke Dening; two children, Janice and James; and four grandchildren.
Volcker was known as a towering Fed chairman — both for his impressive height (he stood 6 feet 7 inches) and also for confronting difficult economic circumstances....
Section 13 (click here) of the Deschler's Precedents discuss witness rights.
The Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives collection contains four series of volumes of precedent: Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives (2017 series), Deschler’s Precedents (1936-2013), Cannon’s Precedents (1907-1936), and Hinds’ Precedents (1789-1907).
Deschler's Precedents (1936-2013) (click here)- Deschler’s Precedents consists of 18 volumes and 41 chapters. Later volumes in the series were published under the names Deschler-Brown Precedents, Deschler-Brown-Johnson Precedents, and Deschler-Brown-Johnson-Sullivan Precedents. The first volume of precedents was published in 1973 and the eighteenth volume was published in 2013.
Section 13 (click here) of the Deschler's Precedents discuss witness rights.
The Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives collection contains four series of volumes of precedent: Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives (2017 series), Deschler’s Precedents (1936-2013), Cannon’s Precedents (1907-1936), and Hinds’ Precedents (1789-1907).
Deschler's Precedents (1936-2013) (click here)- Deschler’s Precedents consists of 18 volumes and 41 chapters. Later volumes in the series were published under the names Deschler-Brown Precedents, Deschler-Brown-Johnson Precedents, and Deschler-Brown-Johnson-Sullivan Precedents. The first volume of precedents was published in 1973 and the eighteenth volume was published in 2013.
There are very legitimate reasons to have unelected officials within the USA government including longevity of MEMORY to USA's policy and provide a non-political entity within the government to protect the USA Constitutional for exactly the reasons there exists an impeachment proceeding today.
THE SYSTEM WORKS.
The record of Ukraine regarding corruption stems directly from the heavy hand of Moscow. Since the revolution, the country has been performing backflips to end that corruption including removing two Prosecutor Generals along the way. Those two Prosecutor Generals were removed to end corruption and they are Guiliani's last best hope to exonerate the egregious actions by Trump and his own.
The current Ukraine administration has new officers. There is every expectation this administration will act in good faith while eliminating corrupt practices institutionalized by the Yanukovych presidency.
The discovery and reporting of the documents reported below is what Trump and the Republicans are calling Ukraine intervention in the 2016 elections. These are facts and not the manipulation of the 2016 elections. Paul Manafort was implicated in these documents. This was important news to the American people, hence, Manafort resigned as Trump's campaign chairman.
31 May 2016
By Maxim Tucker
Ukraine’s former president (click here) paid bribes worth at least $2 billion (£1.4 billion) during his four years in office – amounting to almost $1.4 million for every day he was in power – according to evidence handed to investigators.
Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled during Ukraine’s revolution in 2014, appears to have kept a detailed record of backhanders distributed while he was in government.
A logbook has emerged listing the bribes paid to former and serving Ukrainian officials. In particular, election commissioners were handsomely rewarded in return for guaranteeing victory for Mr Yanukovych’s Party of Regions in the parliamentary election of 2012.
“We know that it’s real because of the minutiae of the detail - that so many of the small details corroborate with events or activities that took place under Yanukovych,” said Serhiy Leshchenko, the Ukrainian investigative journalist turned MP who published the logbook....
It seems as though Republican memories can be challenged to their ability to effectively legislate and conduct themselves at hearings. The facts of Yanukovych's corruption have been stated innumerable times on this blog. These facts are not my own but that of extensive reporting by news agencies worldwide. American Republicans are obtuse.
As early as July 3, 2019 the defense support by the USA of Ukraine was withheld.mili
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, (click here) a national security official working at the White House, becomes aware that the military aid has been held up. He testified that he received a notice from the State Department. “That’s when I was concretely made aware of the fact there was a hold placed,” he said in testimony to lawmakers....
Three full weeks before the telephone call by Trump to President Zelensky regarding the military aid to Ukraine was SECRETLY withheld. Ukraine's knowledge of this withheld military aid was DISCOVERED from global reporting of this fact. Ukraine's government knew nothing of the DELIBERATELY withheld military aid while Ukraine's soldiers died on the battlefield defending the new democracy.
...July 25, 2019
Trump speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asking him for favors that include an inquiry into Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s dealings with Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, and to investigate whether Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. He later calls it a “perfect” call....
...August 29, 2019 and after
William Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testified that he did not know the aid had been withheld until after the Politico article appeared, when he started receiving “desperate” calls from Ukrainian officials.
“The minister of defense came to me,” he said. “I would use the word ‘desperate,’ to try to figure out why the assistance was held.”
Taylor said the minister thought if he spoke to Congress, or the White House, he could find out the reason and reassure them of whatever was necessary to get the aid. If the money wasn’t provided by Sept. 30, it would be lost....
The reason the withholding of the military aid was never discussed or reported to Ukraine was that Trump considered the withholding permanent while waiting for the expiration date to pass of the legislated monies. Trump withheld the monies secretly because he didn't want a challenge in order to release it. Of course, then came the Whitleblower.
Withholding military aid to Ukraine was a direct benefit to Russia regardless of any evidence to facts of such discussions with Putin by Trump. Weakening Ukraine would strengthen Russia and it's war with Ukraine at it's eastern border.
By William Cummings
President Donald Trump (click here) went to "extraordinary lengths" to keep details from his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin secret – even from officials within his own administration, The Washington Post reported this weekend, citing unnamed sources.
After meeting with Putin at the 2017 Group of 20summit in Hamburg, Germany, Trump took his interpreter's notes and told him not to discuss the meeting with anyone, including other U.S. officials, the Post reported.
The paper said Trump's handling of the Hamburg meeting was "part of a broader pattern by the president of shielding his communications with Putin from public scrutiny and preventing even high-ranking officials in his own administration from fully knowing what he has told one of the United States’ main adversaries."...
There is an ongoing Trump - Russia agenda that remains out of the knowledge of all others, except, Putin and those he shares such information. That is a breach of national security and a direct reason for impeachment as well.
Cruz grandstanding on "Meet the Press" is typical of the Republican propaganda campaign.
December 8, 2019
By William Cummings
Sen. Ted Cruz (click here) joined the list of Republican lawmakers who have argued President Donald Trump had legitimate reasons to ask Ukraine to investigate the 2016 election because they believe that country meddled in the 2016 election.
Cruz said on NBC News' "Meet the Press" there was "considerable evidence" that "Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election," though he could only point to one op-ed from a former Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. as proof of that interference.
Cruz said the news media has been "misleading" by acting as if only one country could have interfered when it could have been both Ukraine and Russia....
Currently, Castor after being sworn in, continues to CHERRY PICK words and content to deceive the American people and the constitutional record. This is sworn testimony as US House Republicans demanded.
By Desmond Butler, Michael Biesecker and Richard Landner
As Rudy Giuliani (click here) was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic.
Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans....
This report is from "The World Bank."
"Gas Reform in Ukraine" (click here)
Reform of the natural gas industry in Ukraine (click here) started a year later than reform of the power industry. Because gas reform had no blueprint, its direction has remained ambiguous. That ambiguity is the result of a conflict between those who advocate vertically integrated, opaque, monopolistic structures and those who want a transparent, competitive gas market governed by stable rules. This conflict will likely continue for several years, making the ultimate outcome difficult to predict. More by accident than by design, the reform produced a number of innovative features that might be of interest for other countries planning to restructure and privatize their gas industries
This report was produced in December 1998. The last paragraph of the report states:
Even the first step toward a spot market—setting up a system of occasional gas auctions—requires strong political commitment to overcome opposition from suppliers and traders that stand to lose customers.
Ukraine didn't have gas auctions. It was a state-owned company that supplied natural gas to citizens and domestic businesses. The auctions of Ukraine natural gas didn't occur until 2018. Any accusations regarding Hunter Biden and gas auctions are completely baseless and there is plenty of evidence to prove that. The first auctions didn't occur until 2018. Only in 2019 were the licenses to these auctions issued. They were the first licenses ever issued by Ukraine. This level of capitalism did not exist before 2018. In fact, Russian companies were supplying natural gas to Ukraine and building up financial leverage against Ukraine's independence from Russia.
March 14, 2019
The third round of oil and gas online auctions (click here) has been launched on March 18.
Nine onshore blocks were offered in three regions of Ukraine, covering over 1,260 sq. km. All licenses are proposed for exploration and production of hydrocarbons for a period of 20 years. The undiscovered oil and gas resources of all blocks are officially estimated as inferred (yet-to-find).
Online auctions will be carried on at the ProZorro.Sale e-platform. The company, which submits the highest cash bid will be awarded lease rights for a concession license.
Investors will have 90 calendar days to pass the registration and submit a bid by 18 of June, 2019. The names of the applicants are kept in the confidence till the end of the auction.
First licensing round took place on 6 March, 3 blocks attracted bids, 7 had no bids. The total amount paid is record-breaking for Ukraine – over UAH 141 million (~USD5.2 million). Three leading domestic gas producers became winners: Burisma Group (block №2), DTEK Oil & Gas (block №3), UGV (block №7). Second licensing round will be held on 2 May 2019.
Continued in next entry.
