In deposition testimony released by Congressional investigators this weekend, Williams, the Special Adviser for Europe and Russia in the Office of the Vice President, raised concerns about the President's push to get the government of Ukraine to start a pair of investigations which could be of political benefit to Mr. Trump back home.
"I would say that it struck me as unusual and inappropriate," Williams said of the phone call on May 25, 2019.
There was only a minimal response from the Vice President's office, which noted that Williams is on detail from the State Department.
Tell Jennifer Williams, whoever that is, to read BOTH transcripts of the presidential calls, & see the just released ststement from Ukraine. Then she should meet with the other Never Trumpers, who I don’t know & mostly never even heard of, & work out a better presidential attack!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2019
And here's the response from @VPPressSec: "Jennifer is a State Department employee." https://t.co/K7UUtC97L2
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) November 17, 2019
The President's real-time tweets attacking ex-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch drew complaints from Democrats about witness intimidation, the President's Sunday Twitter shot at Williams had the same result.
Williams is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday morning, along with National Security Council staffer, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.
It's an extremely busy week for the impeachment hearings, as Democrats try to cram a series of witnesses into sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
The highlights include testimony from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, on Wednesday morning - Sondland has been the focus of a number of recent revelations focusing on his communications with the President about getting Ukraine to start investigations of the son of former Vice President Biden, and about questions of whether Ukraine - and not Russia - hacked Democrats in 2016.
Sondland's testimony on Wednesday morning is has become maybe the biggest item on the schedule this week.
New: Emails reviewed by @WSJ show that in the lead-up to the Trump-Zelensky call, Sondland kept officials including Mulvaney apprised of the push for investigations. Mulvaney replied that he would schedule the call—which he then didn’t listen in on.https://t.co/LtfXeg2SBe
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) November 17, 2019
Here is this week's announced schedule:
Tuesday morning: Pence foreign policy aide Jennifer Williams, and National Security Council staffer Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.
Tuesday afternoon: Former US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, and National Security Council staffer Tim Morrison.
Wednesday morning: US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
Wednesday afternoon: Pentagon official Laura Cooper, State Department official David Hale.
Thursday: Former Trump White House Russia expert Fiona Hill.
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