mr. sullivan. i'm not sure what you did at state to merit being sent to siberia, but congratulations nonetheless. i have every confidence you will perform ably in this new role. let's talk about some different aspects of russia. russia, as you know, has a the long history of using energy as a weapon. and one of the tools i believe poses a real threat for strengthening russia, for weakening europe, and for weakening america is the north stream to pipeline. can you give me your assessment of the regional and global impact of russia's north stream 2 pipeline if the construction is completed? mr. sullivan: i think it is going to be extremely detrimental to ukraine. it is going to give the russian federation and a norma's lever over you train and a hammer they can hit the ukrainians with. if the russians cut gas transit to ukraine, ukraine will lose billions in hard currency that it -- is desperately needed for its economy. so the president has been as vociferous as he has been in almost issue that i've

mr. sullivan: mr. president, it's one of my favorite times during the week when i get to come down on the senate floor. i know it's the senate pages' time to learn a little about alaska and talk about my state and present what we weekly call the alaskan of the week. it's the opportunity to talk about someone in the community who has done something great for their community, for the state, maybe for america and i'd like to recognize this great variety of wonderful alaskans, great americans that we have in my state and talk about them. by the way, mr. president, i always like to give a little update on what's going on in alaska and to talk to people in the gallery and who are watching on tv and encouraging them now is the time to plan your next trip to alaska if you're going to come next summer, but also you should know the winter which is -- you know, winter is coming. it's pretty much come to alaska. it's a great time to come visit, too. it's a winter wonderland. you can ski, snowboard. at the end of t

ukraine and that in fact the president had been pushing for my removal since the prior summer as mr sullivan recently or counted during his senate confirmation hearing neither he nor anyone else ever explained or sought to justify the president's concerns about me nor did anyone in the department justify my early departure by suggesting i had done something wrong i appreciate that mr sullivan publicly affirmed at his hearing that i had served capably admirably. although then and now i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way individuals who apparently felt stymied by our press our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption that is to do our mission were able to successfully conduct a campaign of december mation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial actions as various witnesses have recounted they share baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador despite the fact that the state dep

mr. sullivan: i have. sen. kaine: i would like to introduce it into the record. letter. conversation, totally appropriate, very good and anybody that reads that letter, which is basically what happened on that conversation with the president of ukraine, the president of ukraine said she did not even know what anybody was talking about. . the foreign minister said there was absolutely no pressure. the president did the same thing. the democrats are lunatics. in the meantime, we have the greatest economy ever. the others,n on adam schiff, who is a corrupt speechian, he made up a and he read what i said and it was not what i said. it was a terrible thing he said. many people saw that. that is how this whole thing -- he started it as a con. the whistleblower -- we got to find out about the whistleblower because what he said has no relationship to what took place on my very good phone conversation. with all of this that is happening, i think the republicans have been amazing. 196 to nothing. we have tremendous support from the senate, from the house. we even had democrats go

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed that i serv servedabserved capably and admirablely. i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president, but i find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to under mine us in this way. the stated u.s. policy against corruption to do our mission were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using a back channels. they share baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador despite the fact that they understand it was false. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they're the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. it can limit our effectiveness to safeguard the vital national security interests of the united states in is especially important now when the landscape is more competitive than it has been since the dissolution. they have learned how little it ta

mr. sullivan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that nadia kivikk be granted floor privileges in my office. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: mr. president, it's thursday, and i know the pages know this and many people watching know this, but it's that time of the day in the senate where i come down to the senate floor and talk about somebody who makes my state a very unique and special place. it's an opportunity for me to talk a little bit about what's going on in alaska. right now, particularly before the holidays, somebody we refer to in the senate is called the alaskan of the week. before i get into this alaskan, i will give you a weather update. a lot of people want to know what is going on. winter has come. snow has arrived through much of the state. south central alaska has come, anchorage is covered with snow, many people are ready to undertake winter. in the northern most part of alaska, point barro, the sun rose and sat for the last time until january 23. it's going

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed in his hearing that i served capably and admirably. >> republicans say there is no there, the presidents can end point or lead investors go as he sees fit. >> you have a new administration in ukraine that didn't have the same confidence in this ambassador and so it is appropriate with all the foreign service diplomats that we have to put someone in with a new regime in the ukraine that can actually work on the president's behalf or on the behalf of the american people. >> i thought we were in the public stage of the so-called impeachment inquiry but he had it in just a few minutes were going back to the bunker in the basement of the capital for another deposition that the american people won't get to s see. >> i am two floors above the basement room they were referring to her right now, a man by the name of david holmes is currently inside. he arrived here around 3:00 this afternoon. he is the embassy staffer in kiev who, according to a bassett or taylor, told him that he overheard the ambassador to the e.u. and president trump on the phone and the yard presid

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed at his hearing that i had served capably and admirably. although then and now i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president. i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to underminus us interests in this way. an individual who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption, that is to do our mission, were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted they shared baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador despite the fact that the state department fully understood that the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief represe

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed in his hearing that i had served capably and admirably. i always understood i served at the pleasure of the president. i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way. individuals who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption, that is to do our mission, were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted, they shared bases with the president despite the fact that the state department fully understood that the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief representative is kneecaped, it limits our effectiveness to safeguard the vital national security

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed at his hearings that i had served capably and admirably. although then and now i have always always understood that i served at the press your of tle president i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way. individuals who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption, that is to do our mission, were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted they shared baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador despite the fact in a the state department fully understood in a the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed at his hearing that i had served capably and admirably. although then and now i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president, i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way. individuals who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption, that is to do our mission, were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted they shared baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador, despite the fact that the state department fully understood that the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief represe

ukraine and that in fact the president had been pushing for my removal since the prior summer as mr sullivan recently recounted during his senate confirmation hearing neither he nor anyone else ever explained or sought to justify the president's concerns about me nor did anyone in the department justify my early departure by suggesting i had done something wrong. all right so just been hearing a couple of clips there from maria von of been testifying earlier before the house intelligence committee the impeachment inquiry of u.s. president castro is with us outside the hearing room right now so as you're saying we're still in a recess right now but we are expecting to hear from the republicans when they come back they'll get their chance to question her. you van of each will will say. what kind of questions will we be expecting from the republicans when they get their chance they have to be they have to be slightly careful about this don't they. they do and has in our guests have been exactly right on the money in pointing out what is the weakness to marie iran which is a we as a witness and

mr. sullivan: mr. president, i want to join my colleagues here on the importance of the vawa reauthorization, and in particular i want to thank senator ernst for her months, months of hard work that she has put into this bill that we are introducing today. i'm a proud cosponsor of that bill. but you saw in her remarks earlier, her passion, her energy, her focus on rural america, which is very important to me and my great state of alaska. and i am hopeful, as all of my colleagues here, including our friend from california, senator feinstein, that we, the senate, are going to get to a place where we can have a bipartisan bill that is going to reauthorize vawa. this is hugely important for america and it's hugely important for alaska. you know, mr. president, i come down on the floor every week and i talk about someone that's doing something great in my state. i like to brag about the great state of alaska. it's an amazing place. but i will tell you, there's one area where we're not so amazing. my state h

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed at his hearing that i had served capably and admirably. though then and now i have always understood i served at the pleasure of the president, i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine us us interests in this way. individuals who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption, that is to do our mission, were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted they shared baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador despite the fact that the state department fully understood the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief representative is k

sullivan of alaska and garden of maryland, and i understand that senator sullivan is like the straw to go first. >> thank you mrchairman thank you very much. it is an honor to be before the committee, again, on behalf of my friend john sullivan to support his nomination to be the united states investor to the russian federation. despite what his last name which is just, we would we are not related. off of occasionally joke with senator markey was also a proud sullivan member and his heritage somewhere back in history, we were probably all related. i have publicly supported secretary sullivan his nomination was before. i can speak to his long distinguished career, which you are familiar. i would begin by stating that john experience and qualifications have already been endorsed by this committee and by the united states senate previously confirmed is deputy secretary in may 2017, by a vote of 94 - six and confirmed in the bush administration in march 2008, unanimously, the deputy secretary of commerce, and in july 2005 unanimously by the general counsel of the department of commerce by a voice vote. freshman joh

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed at his hearing that i had served capably and admirably. at the pleasure of the president. i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way. individuals who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption, that is to do our mission, were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted, they shared baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador despite the fact the state department fully understood the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief representative is kneecapped it limits our effectiveness to safeguard the vita

as mr sullivan previously recounted, neither he nor anyone else ever explain or sought to justify theby suggesting that i had done something wrong. i appreciate that mr sullivan publicly affirmed out his hearing that i had served capably and admirably. although, then and now, i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president. i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine us interests were able to undermine us interest in this way. individuals who apparently felt stymied by our effo rts who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated us policy against corruption, that is, to do our mission, were able to successfully ca m pa ig n our mission, were able to successfully campaign a campaign of dissemination against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted, they shed baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador, despite the fact that the state department fully understood that the allegations were false and the sauce is h

mr. sullivan publicly affirmed at his hearing that i had served capably and admirably. although then and now i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president, i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way. individuals who apparently felt stymied by our efforts to promote stated u.s. policy against corruption, that is to do our mission, were able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using unofficial back channels. as various witnesses have recounted they shared baseless allegations with the president and convinced him to remove his ambassador, despite the fact that the state department fully understood that the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief represe

mr. sullivan: mr. president, we just celebrated veterans day in the senate and back home and across our great country in our states that all of us represent, and everybody was celebrating -- our troops, our military, supporting their families. you hear that word "support" a lot, mr. president, when it comes to veterans day and our military and their families, but i'm going to talk a little bit about that's rhetoric. that's all great. senators talk a lot. but that's very disconnected from actually what is going on in the senate right now. what is happening for the action in terms of supporting our troops. and as -- i came down on the floor a couple weeks ago, mr. president, talked about this. i was pretty fired up. i'm someone who is very collegial with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle here, but one thing that i've noticed is that there's talk on supporting troops and then there's action, and the rhetoric, particularly with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, doesn't always match what'

something i am excited to be working on and i know senator sullivan is as well and i would invite other colleagues to join us in this effort. mr. president, i think our friend ted stevens would approve of this as well. with that i yield the floor and would suggest the absence of a quorum spat coming up tonight on c-span two, "the communicators" features netflix cofounder marc randolph. done a preview of the new hampshire primary. after that, discussion with supreme court justice alayna kagan. >> for 40 years c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, supreme court and public policy events from washington dc and around the country so you can make up your own mind. crated by cable in 1979 c-span is brought to you by your local or cable satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> marc randolph is the cofounder of netflix and he is the author of this new book, that will never work. mr. randolph where did the idea of ethics come from? >> guest: ideas come from the strangest places. in that will never work i talk about

mr. tyson, it's brian sullivan how many employees do you have, sir? >> we have 220,000 employees in our permanente medical groups, we have 27,000 medical physicians so we are a holistic system. well, i'm assuming that the majority of them are on the delivery side and so however she's thinking about constructing the care side of her proposal, they would fit into that category you know, and then obviously she was talking about that you're going to drive cost out. we work every day on driving cost out it's not as easy as it sounds. rightfully so, we have to pay wages and benefits to our employees. 90% of which in the delivery system are unionized and so, you know, as she talks about driving down cost, you're not going to just automatically tell employees, professionals, unions that we're going to cut your wages and benefits, you know, 10%, 20%, 30%. which i wouldn't support because it doesn't matter -- >> we've got to go listen, we're trying to have a three-hour discussion in a four-minute interview. sorry objeabout that, mr. tyson. on the employees not

mr. giuliani. >> as we learned now the irregular channel pushed out ambassador yovanovitch who stood in his way. >> sullivan told me there had been a concerted campaign against me. that the president no longer wished me to serve as ambassador to ukraine. i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way. >> however we came to see that the so-called irregular channel was actually the trump channel, sanctioned by the president and his entire administration. here's ambassador sondland on that point. >> i'm not sure how someone could characterize something as an irregular channel when you're talking to the president of the united states, the secretary of state, the national security advisor, the chief of staff for the white house, the secretary of energy. i don't know how that's irregular. >> well said. anyway, dr. fiona hill was on yesterday. she says she now realizes that ambassador sondland had been empowered to pursue trump's agenda by trump. >> ambassador sondland is not wrong that he had been given a different remit. he was being i

mr. secretary, thanks for being here. we look for to your opening statement and if you want to longer written statement that would be submitted for the record. >> chairman sullivan, ranking member , ranking member kaine, the establishment of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before youwr today on the department of defense financial statement audit. the three major questions about the audit i i would like to briefly address. first, why even have an audit. second, what are the results of the audit? and third, how does it benefit american taxpayers? the short answer on why we ought is dod is an extraordinary large and complex organization. we employ nearly 3 million servicemembers of civilians while a typical commercial airline managers between 300-16 at aircraft, the aircraft, the military services by approximately 16,000 aircraft. we managed 292 billion in inventory and more than six times the size of walmart, the world's largest retail company. financial statement audits are a proven commercial solution that uses independent auditors to effectively assess complex operations. a financial statement audit is comprehensive and it includes verif

mr. giuliani was in connection with a campaign against our ambassador to ukraine trump's nominee to be ambassador of russia, deputy secretary of state john sullivan his public confirmation hearing before the senate last month. as these questions swirl, giuliani has been noticeably absent from his once frequent tv appearances.oe he has been naed by the u.s. house. tofar, he is refusi comply.r fothe pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: to set the stage for this first week of public impeachment hearings, i'm here with amy walter of tok political report." she's also the host of publicdi s "politics with amy walter." and tamara keithrom npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." and before i turn to both of you, and welcome by the way, politics monday, a little bit of late-breaking news. and we were just talking about it with yamiche and lisa, and that is the inquiry or the filing by theu acting white se chief of staff mick mul vaibee who was wanting-- mul scrainee who was wanting to join the lawsuit by white house speciallt ecurity advisor john bolton, his deputy. charles cupperman, who were questioning their being spped to subpoe

mr. chair. this is a really important hearing a thing for all of us. thank you for appearing today in testifying on this. senator sullivan and i were discussion and we are thrilled to have some result in front of us. you have done what your predecessors have been unable to do or did not do at the pentagon which is making the otted a priority. we have had comptrollers and chief played financial officers of both political parties. they have complained and dragged their feet on this issue. they found every excuse under the sun not to get it done. wet have pentagon hearings goig on and on here on the hill for a decade so thanks for doing the hard job in getting this audit done and not delaying it further. despite the disclaimer of f opinion from the last few years we are much further along in this progress toward a clean opinion and i just wanted to make that statement thank you very much for your leadership on this topicin. the national defense strategy makes it clear that the united states has a very distinct challenge to maintain its supremacy in the global arena and this has implications on her homeland defense overseas

mr. giuliani should have known those claims were suspect coming as they reportedly did from individuals with questionable motives. when i returned to the united states, deputy secretary of state sullivan told me there had been a concerted campaign against me, that the president no longer wished me to serve as ambassador to ukraine and that, in fact, the president had been pushing for my removal since the prior summer. although then and now, i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president. i still find it difficult to comprehend that foreign and private interests were able to undermine u.s. interests in this way. these events should concern everyone in this room. ambassadors are the symbol of the united states abroad. they are the personal representative of the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for u.s. policies. if our chief representative is kneecapped it limits our effectiveness to safeguard the vital national security interests of the united states. >> we will rejoin the testimony as soon as it resumes. we'll bring you that in a special report. you can find continuous coverage on our stream. >>> a deadly high school

mr. sullivan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, it's thursday afternoon, and that means it's certainly one of my favorite times in the u.s. senate because it's when i get to come down to the senate floor and recognize an alaskan who has done something that's great for our state, great for the community, great for the country, you name it. i come down here and brag about somebody who i represent in alaska, and i call this person "the alaskan of the week." i know the presiding officer likes it and all the pages certainly do, and what i like to always do when i'm starting this speech each week is talk to our visitors in the gallery, people who are watching on tv to give a little update on what's going on in alaska and encourage a visit. you will have the visit of a lifetime, guaranteed, if you come to alaska. so right now, as you can imagine, in the great white north winter is coming in parts of the state. it's definitely arrived in other parts. but winter is a great time to be in alaska, not just the summer. you can ski, s

sullivan is as well. i would invite other colleagues to join us in this effort. mr. president, i think that our friend ted stevens would approve of this as well. and with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. without objection, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on on the nomination of robert j. luck of florida to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of robert j. luck of florida to be united states circuit judge for the 11th circuit shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.

mr. president. you're one of them. we have senator boozman and three of us all members of the committee, and senator sullivan from alaska, and senator whitehouse, a republican and democrat along with tom udall on the commerce committee from new mexico and try to address some of these plastic contaminations. but if we continue down this path, the world economic forum predicts that we're on track to have plastic pollution in our oceans outweigh the fish in our world's ocean by 2050. let that sink in for just a minute. by 2050 if we continue on the track we're on, we're going to end up having more plastic pollution by weight than fish in our world's oceans. not a good thing. last time i checked delaware is blessed with more five-star beaches than any other state in america. if we don't begin to change our recycling habits, our pristine beaches will be better known for washing up plastic waste than the big waves to ride. somebody called delaware's annual coastal cleanup along with thousands of people. we started at the most southern part of delaware, a great beach town and north of ocean city, the maryland line, and we clea