James Comey

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thefederalist.com/2019/11/19/vindman-just-admitted-to-leaking-to-the-anti-trump-whistleblower/

Vindman Just Admitted To Leaking To The Anti-Trump Whistleblower
NOVEMBER 19, 2019 By Tristan Justice
Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman admitted to the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday to leaking information to the anti-Trump whistleblower at the center of the Democrats’ partisan impeachment proceedings.

“Lietenant Colonel Vindman, did you discuss the July 25 phone call with anyone outside the White House on July 25 or the 26 and if so, with whom?” Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California inquired.


“Yes. I did,” Vindman answered in the affirmative.

When pressed on who Vindman spoke with about the call, Vindman said he spoke with two individuals not in the White House, including Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent and another individual in the intelligence community that Vindman refused to name before being cut off by Democratic Chairman Adam Schiff.

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“We need to protect the whistle-blower. Please stop. I want to make sure that there is no effort to out the whistle-blower through these proceedings,” Schiff interjected. “If the witness has a good faith belief that this may reveal the identity of the whistle-blower, that is not the purpose that we’re here for. I want to advise the witness accordingly.”

Vindman testified under oath in a private deposition last month that he was unaware of who the whistleblower was. On Tuesday, Nunes pressed Vindman on how it is possible that he might out the whistleblower if he does not know the identity of the whistleblower.

“Per the advice of my counsel and the instructions from the chairman, I’ve been advised not to provide any specifics on who I have spoken to with inside the intelligence community,” Vindman said before being cut off by his own lawyer.

On Monday, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin offered a written account of his own first-hand knowledge of the administration’s dealings with Ukraine, arguing that Vindman fits the profile of a Never-Trumper with an axe to grind.

As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has made six trips to Ukraine since 2011, Johnson’s knowledge of events surrounding Ukraine have been critical to the impeachment inquiry.

In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee conducting the investigation, Johnson rebuffed the false narrative being purported by Democrats and the media, writing that “a significant number of bureaucrats and staff members within the executive branch have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and resent his unorthodox style,” specifically calling out Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.

“It is entirely possible that Vindman fits this profile,” Johnson wrote.

In his testimony before lawmakers Tuesday, Vindman’s testimony offered few new facts to show President Donald Trump conspired with the Ukrainian government to investigate political opponents at home.

The Democrats’ public impeachment hearings have failed to provide incriminating evidence against the president for any “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Instead, they have come up with just the opposite, with several star witnesses offering testimony that exonerates the president and furthers the case to investigate the Biden family’s shady dealings with Ukraine.

Further, support for impeachment has dropped since the start of the hearing. According to a new poll conducted by Politico and the Morning Consult that was released Tuesday morning, opposition to the proceedings have hit their highest point since the newspaper began tracking public opinion on the issue. Today, 47 percent of independents oppose the impeachment proceedings whereas only 37 percent opposed the inquiry last week.

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And Jim Jordan with the billion dollar question:

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The Hill reports: “Opposition by independents to the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry jumped 10 percentage points in the last week, according to a Politico–Morning Consult poll released Tuesday.”


thehill.com/homenews/house/471057-poll-independent-opposition-to-impeachment-inquiry-jumps-10-points-in-last

www.politico.com/f/?id=0000016e-80be-da10-ad7e-9bbfca8d0000

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And another nail In the coffin of Schiff’s narrative:

Ambassador Volker: “At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden. As you know from the extensive real time documentation I have provided Vice President Biden was NOT a topic of our discussions.”

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amp.dailycaller.com/2019/11/19/ltc-vindman-ukraine-call-schiff-interrupts-immediately

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff quickly interrupted LTC Alexander Vindman’s testimony Tuesday when Vindman admitted that he had spoken to others about the Ukraine call.

Ranking Republican member Devin Nunes was following a line of questioning into the July 25 phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, asking who Vindman might have spoken to about the call and his concerns about the implications of that call.

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Nov 19, 2019 11:08:04 GMT -6 soonernvolved said:

I think a lot of this is driven by butthurt. They are pissed because Trump isn't going through "normal" - them - channels.

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Tim Morrison told the committee that Lt. Col. Vindman could not be trusted, was a leaker, and was not trusted.

Tim Morrison on complaints about Vindman: They had concerns about his judgement.

Counsel Castor: Were there concerns Col. Vindman leaked information?

Tim Morrison: Yes…

Tim Morrison: …”If he had concerns about the content of a call that was something I should have been notified of.

Counsel Castor: Did he become frustrated that he was cut out of some of the Ukraine portfolio?

Tim Morrison: Yes.

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www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/11/19/adam-schiff-lies-about-vindman-testimony-in-next-hearing/

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) lied openly Tuesday about the earlier testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, falsely claiming that Vindman thought the president might have broken the law.

Schiff, delivering an opening statement at the fourth public hearing in the impeachment inquiry, claimed that Lt. Col. Vindman had reported his concerns about President Donald Trump’s telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to a National Security Council lawyer because he thought Trump might have done something illegal.

“Lt. Col. Vindman’s fear was that the president had broken the law, potentially,” Schiff told the committee.

That statement flatly contradicts what Vindman told the committee earlier that day, as well as in his closed-door testimony before the committee last month.

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6:43 P.M. —

Rep Jim Himes (D-CT): “You testified that you were troubled once you read the record of the president’s July 25th call. You call this ‘unacceptable.’ What specifically in that call to the Ukraine president do you find ‘unacceptable?'”

Volker: “It is the reference to Vice President Biden.”

6:40 P.M. — Turner asks Morrison if he believed President Trump demanded Zelensky to probe into the Bidens. “No,” he replies.

5:32 P.M. — Morrison says there was no malicious intent in placing the transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call into a secret server.

5:30 P.M. — Morrison says nothing about the Trump-Zelensky call concerned him.

5:26 P.M. — Volker affirms none of his actions amounted to quid pro quo, bribery or extortion.

5:25 P.M. —

5:17 P.M. — Volker on when he first learned about the hold on Ukraine’s security aid on July 18th: “I thought this was a bad decision or a bad hold. I wanted to make sure all the arguments were marshaled to get it lifted.”

5:14 P.M. —

Goldman: “What did [Sondland] tell you that he told [Yermak]?”

Morrison: “The Ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general make a statement with respect to the investigations as a condition of having the aid lifted.”

5:07 P.M. — Volker agrees that it’s a “reasonable position,” for President Trump to be skeptical about Ukraine.

5:00 P.M. — Very important answers from Volker and Morrison:

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Rep. Turner: You had a meeting with the President of the United States and you believe the policy issues he raised were valid, correct?

Ambassador Volker: Yes.

Rep. Turner: Did the President of the United States ever say to you that he was not going to allow aid from the United States to go to the Ukraine unless there were investigations into Burisma, the Bidens or the 2016 elections?

Ambassador Volker: No he did not.

Rep. Turner: Did the Ukrainians ever tell you that they understood that they would not get a meeting with the President of the United States, a phone call with the President of the United States or military aide or foreign aid from the United States unless they undertook investigations of Burisma, the Bidens or the 2016 elections?

Ambassador Volker: No they did not.

Rep. Turner: Pretty much Ambassador Volker you just took away their entire case!

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So, Vindman lied again:

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Key point and one the President's enemies will gladly overlook:

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11:03 A.M. — Sondland says he assumed that U.S. aid to Ukraine was contingent on probes into the Bidens. Again, Sondland previously stated President Trump never told him such a thing.

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So, just more of the same old song and dance. No proof, just people assuming what President Trump "said". This is beyond pathetic and the MSM wonders why the American people are tuning it out?

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thefederalist.com/2019/11/20/day-three-of-impeachment-proceedings-was-a-train-wreck-for-democrats/

Day Three Of Impeachment Proceedings Was A Train-Wreck For Democrats
Four witnesses testified on Capitol Hill, and each failed to provide incriminating evidence of a 'high crime and misdemeanor' by the president.
Tristan Justice By Tristan Justice
NOVEMBER 20, 2019

The House Intelligence Committee wrapped up day three of the public portion of its partisan impeachment proceedings Tuesday with far from expected results for House Democrats desperately hoping to land a knock-out blow to the president. Four witnesses testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and each failed to provide incriminating evidence of a “high crime and misdemeanor” by the president.

The day began with Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman and Jennifer Williams, a vice presidential advisor on Europe and Russia. Both morning witnesses had listened to the now infamous July 25 phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s president.


Williams characterized the call as “unusual and inappropriate,” and Vindman testified that the phone call was itself clear evidence of wrongdoing worthy of presidential removal. Neither witness, however, offered new substantial facts in the case against the president proving any kind of a quid pro quo. They merely offered their feelings of concern over what they heard on the July phone call, an unredacted transcript of which has now been declassified and released to the public.

Vindman in particular, whose testimony Democrats and many in the media have honed in on as the most damaging to the president despite contributing little of substance to the proceedings, undercut his own credibility multiple times throughout his testimony.

For one, Vindman exaggerated his resume in his opening statement, claiming to have been the “principal advisor to the National Security Advisor and the president on Ukraine and the other countries in my portfolio.” When pressed on the assertion later in his testimony, Vindman was forced to admit that he had never met, spoken with, or advised the president on anything.

“You’ve never spoken to the president and told him advice on Ukraine,” Ohio Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio inquired.


“That is correct,” Vindman said.

Vindman also essentially admitted to leaking information to the anonymous whistleblower at the heart of the impeachment probe, providing further evidence of Vindman as a deep-state operative seeking to undermine the president’s policy agenda.

When California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes asked Vindman who he spoke with about the July phone call between Trump and the Ukraine president, Vindman mentioned Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent and another unnamed individual within the intelligence community that Vindman was cut off from naming by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California.

“We need to protect the whistleblower. Please stop. I want to make sure that there is no effort to out the whistleblower through these proceedings,” Schiff interjected.


In the afternoon, members of the House Intelligence Committee heard from former State Department Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and former National Security Council Staffer Tim Morrison, both of whom resigned their government posts prior to their private depositions in front of the committee.

Both witnesses offered testimony Tuesday that cut right through the crux upon which the entire Democratic case of impeachment is built, which alleges Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation on the Biden family.

Volker and Morrison were each asked point-blank by Nunes whether either had been involved in any kind of bribery or extortion, both of whom answered with an authoritative “no,” and repeated their assertions that they had not seen anything resembling a quid pro quo multiple times throughout their testimony fielding the same question from several lawmakers.

“I was never involved in anything that I would consider to be bribery at all…or extortion,” Volker declared.


“Kind of hard to prove a corrupt quid pro quo theory when the key U.S. policy people, plus the Ukrainians, were never aware of such an arrangement,” tweeted Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, noting that even the Ukrainian president reported feeling no pressure from Trump to investigate the Bidens. “Can we go back to governing now, that’d be great thanks.”

Kind of hard to prove a corrupt quid pro quo theory when the key U.S. policy people, plus the Ukrainians, were never aware of such an arrangement.
Can we go back to governing now, that’d be great thanks. t.co/HESOurfgzz
— Dan Crenshaw (@dancrenshawtx) November 20, 2019
To make matters worse for Democrats, Morrison’s appearance before the committee further undermined Vindman’s earlier testimony, highlighting Vindman’s poor judgement and insubordination on the NSC by circumventing Morrison on key policy matters. Morrison’s testimony on Vindman corroborates Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s characterization of Vindman earlier this week as a Never-Trump bureaucrat who never accepted the results of the 2016 presidential election.

Johnson, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has made six trips to Ukraine since 2011, submitted a letter to the House Intelligence Committee Monday detailing his knowledge of the events surrounding the White House dealings with Ukraine and called out Vindman by name.

“A significant number of bureaucrats and staff members within the executive branch have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and resent his unorthodox style,” Johnson wrote to the committee. “It is entirely possible that Vindman fits this profile.”

A new Politico/Morning consult poll released Tuesday morning spells more trouble for Democrats proceeding with their latest efforts to undo the 2016 election. According to the survey, 47 percent of independents now oppose the impeachment inquiry, a ten-point increase from the 37 percent of independents who opposed the investigation last week prior to the public hearings.

“Voter opposition to the impeachment inquiry is at its highest point since Morning Consult and POLITICO began tracking the issue,” said Morning Consult’s Vice President Tyler Sinclair.

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So, President Trump was right,(again)?

This needs to be done now with this latest revelation:

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tass.com/world/1090971

The Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General has drawn up an indictment against the owner of the Burisma Holdings energy company, ex-Ecology Minister Nikolai Zlochevsky, that contains information that the son of former US Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter, as a Burisma board member along with his partners received $16.5 million for their services, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada MP from the ruling Servant of the People party Alexander Dubinsky told a press conference on Wednesday, citing the investigation’s materials. According to him, the money came from duplicitous criminal activity.

According to the politician, “the son of Vice-President Joe Biden was receiving payment for his services, with money raised through criminal means and money laundering.” He also clarified that “Biden received money that did not come from the company’s successful operation but rather from money stolen from citizens.”

Dubinsky stressed that the information on Hunter Biden’s income under his contract with Burisma is a “link that reveals how money is siphoned [from Ukraine].“

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Hmmmmm, maybe this is why Schiff and the Democrats are so steamed at President Trump over Ukraine:

The Burisma indictment reveals that former Ukrainian President Yanukovich illegally obtained $17.4 billion and laundered it through an investment fund close to the US Democratic Party.

Via Tass.com:

tass.com/world/1090971

The MP explained that this information makes up a part of a large-scale scheme of Zlochevsky’s money laundering that involved politicians from the time of ex-President Viktor Yanukovich who continued this scheme under another (now former) President Pyotr Poroshenko, with the backing of former Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Gontareva.

“We will reveal the information about the financial pyramid scheme that was created in Ukraine and developed by everyone beginning with Yanukovich and later by Poroshenko. This system is still working under the guidance of the current managerial board of the National Bank, ensuring that money flows in the interest of people who stole millions of dollars, took it offshore and bought Ukrainian public bonds turning them into the Ukrainian sovereign debt,” Dubinksy claimed. He then added that “in both cases of Yanukovich and Poroshenko, Ms. Gontareva and companies she controls were investing the stolen funds.”

Another Verkhovna Rada MP, Andrei Derkach, claimed that the US Franklin Templeton Investments management company was also involved in the scheme. “The investigation suggests that the Yanukovichs illegally obtained $7.4 billion and laundered it through an investment fund close to the US Democratic Party as government domestic loan bonds,” he pointed out.
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Can you imagine the Democrats and MSM reaction to this news if this was Don Jr's name instead of Hunter Biden?

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Nov 20, 2019 13:21:56 GMT -6 soonernvolved said:

Hmmmmm, maybe this is why Schiff and the Democrats are so steamed at President Trump over Ukraine:

The Burisma indictment reveals that former Ukrainian President Yanukovich illegally obtained $17.4 billion and laundered it through an investment fund close to the US Democratic Party.

Via Tass.com:

tass.com/world/1090971

The MP explained that this information makes up a part of a large-scale scheme of Zlochevsky’s money laundering that involved politicians from the time of ex-President Viktor Yanukovich who continued this scheme under another (now former) President Pyotr Poroshenko, with the backing of former Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Gontareva.

“We will reveal the information about the financial pyramid scheme that was created in Ukraine and developed by everyone beginning with Yanukovich and later by Poroshenko. This system is still working under the guidance of the current managerial board of the National Bank, ensuring that money flows in the interest of people who stole millions of dollars, took it offshore and bought Ukrainian public bonds turning them into the Ukrainian sovereign debt,” Dubinksy claimed. He then added that “in both cases of Yanukovich and Poroshenko, Ms. Gontareva and companies she controls were investing the stolen funds.”

Another Verkhovna Rada MP, Andrei Derkach, claimed that the US Franklin Templeton Investments management company was also involved in the scheme. “The investigation suggests that the Yanukovichs illegally obtained $7.4 billion and laundered it through an investment fund close to the US Democratic Party as government domestic loan bonds,” he pointed out.
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Can you imagine the Democrats and MSM reaction to this news if this was Don Jr's name instead of Hunter Biden?

Riots in the streets.