of state and the other at the defense department david hale is the undersecretary of state for political affairs the 3rd most senior official in the department and the most senior foreign service officer or cooper serves as deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia ukraine and eurasia and is responsible for a broad range of countries in the former soviet union and the balkans. between them they have several decades of national security experience serving both republican and democratic presidents and as we have heard from other dedicated public servants like former ambassador to ukraine where you have on of each former deputy assistant secretary of state george can't and vaster bill taylor lieutenant colonel alexander venkman and jennifer williams their only priority has been the security of the united states under secretary hill was witness to the smear campaign against the ambassador to ukraine marie of on of each and the efforts by some in the state department to help her in late march we have on of it reached out to hail for assistance telling him in an e-ma

server and barry smug as to topics of importance to the president we kept the leadership of the state department and the n.s.c. informed of our activities and that included communications with secretary of state pompei o as councilor bull his executive secretary lisa khanna and also communications with ambassador bolton dr hill mr morrison and their staff at the n.s.c. they knew what we were doing and why. on july 10th 2019 senior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton ambassador volker dr hill secretary perry myself and several others in washington d.c. during that meeting we all discussed the importance of the 2 action items i identified earlier one it working phone call and 2 it white house meeting between presidents trump and selenski from my perspective the july 10th meeting was a positive step toward accomplishing our shared goals while i am now aware of accounts of the meeting from dr hill and lieutenant colonel van men their recollections of those events simply don't square with my own or with those of them bassett or volker or secretary perry i recall mentionin

mr george kent currently serves as deputy assistant secretary in the department of state 's bureau of european and eurasian affairs, overseeing policy towards ukraine in other countries. he has served twice in ukraine from 2000 and 42,007. he was the deputy political counsel including during the orange revolution, and from 2015 to 2018, he served as deputy chief of mission in care. sincejoining he served as deputy chief of mission in care. since joining the foreign service in 1992 mr kent has served in poland, uzbekistan and thailand. he also served as the senior anti—corruption coordinator to strengthen the rule of law. all witness depositions, as part of this enquiry, were unclassified in nature and all hearings will also be at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any us government official

the department of state, c.b.p. was part of that, we just went down there last week, actually i think it's been a week and a half ago. we were there with i.o.m., the international organizational migration, we were there with immigration advocate organizations, faith-based organizations, department of state led this and we were also there with the government of mexico personnel. and they visited several shelters. two of the shelters, the main shelters they visited, one was operated by a faith-based organization and the other by the government of mexico. both of those shelters were found to have persistent law enforcement present, adequate medical attention, adequate food and the safety was ok. i.o.m., which also is providing services for those migrants who are no longer wanting to wait in mexico, free of charge, providing them services to return them to their country free of charge. during that process, it's a very methodical, structured process, i.o.m. interviews those individuals and what i.o.m. told our personnel i

of state and the other at the defense department. david hale is the under secretary of state political affairs. the third most senior official in the department and the most senior foreign official officer. laura cooper served as deputy secretary assistance of defense for ukraine, and russia, and is responsible for a broad range of countries in the former soviet union and the balkans. between the two of them they have decades of experience expee serving both democratic and republican presidents. george can't come investor bill taylor, lieutenant colonel alexander of inman, and jennifer williams, their only priority has been the security of the united states. undersecretary hill was witness to the smear campaign against the smear campaign to the ambassador to the ukraine, maria jovanovich, and the efforts of some to help her. in late march, maria jovanovich reached out to david hale for assistance, telling him that social media and other criticisms of her were such that she felt she could no longer function unless there was a strong statement of defense of her from the state d

his long history of present seeking advice outside of the state department occasionally using channels outside of the state department and i would argue that there was no precedent for what rudy giuliani was doing which was using his access to the present as means to troy to score political points and the president's behalf with foreign nations but for the purposes of this hearing, really really giuliani does not actually see that it is actually simply that the direction of the present he was acting at the president of the state department. in fact he says, you know who i did it, at the request of speaking about his conversations with the brain, the state department. i never talk to ukraine official until the state department called me and asked me to do it. so did the state department call rudy giuliani and ask them to have these conversations with ukrainian officials. >> my recollection is as a reference to his communications with kurt volker, the state department and a special representative for ukraine and perhaps even on an as well but i think in particular my recollection is that

of. their depositions before the three house impeachment committees. these are two long-standing state department professionals with seven decades of experience between them. michael mckinley, former senior advisor to secretary of state pompeo, and marie i can't vyova former ambassador to ukraine. he resigned and gave two reasons. because what they said was so significant and mysterious, we're going to do something different tonight and read some of the most important passages word for word. we'll try to link up the moments that build a narrative according to these two officials illustrate a state department in washington operating at cross purposes from diplomats around the world and a white house that was undermining those diplomats for purposes that seem to have more to do with president trump's political interests than u.s. national security. we'll start with the sworn statements of the former senior advisor to secretary of state pompeo, ambassador michael mckinley. quote, the timing of my resignation, he testified, was the result of two overriding concerns. the failure, in my view, of the st

of the state of burma to help her. in late march jovanovich Ãb unless there was a strong statement of defense of her from the state department hale push to get the state department to provide a robust full-page statement of defense and praise ambassador marie yovanovitch to no avail. the silence continues to today. late april we heard in riveting testimony last friday from ambassador yovanovitch she was recalled to washington and informed that she had lost the confidence of the president. secretary of state did not meet with her, the subordinates dealt with her instead. with the department departure of yovanovitch hill watched as three new players moved into assume a prominent role in trump's ukraine policy. the three amigos were not only led by energy secretary rick perry, but it would be ambassador volker and ambassador sondland presumably working with ambassador taylor who would be the ones doing the continual work here. midsummer trump ordered a suspension of military aid to ukraine. despite the fact that the aide had been authorized and piappropriated by congress and that the defense department in consultation with the

minute tree let's take a look at the main findings of this report the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism remains iran according to the u.s. state department it says the islamic republic spends a $1000000000.00 a year supporting armed groups and its influence has expanded globally the report warns i saw is still spreading around the wells and that's despite major strides by the u.s. and its allies to defeat the group it also says the gulf diplomatic crisis is hampering counterterrorism efforts in that region the u.a.e. in particular hasn't done enough to prevent terrorist. from exploiting financial new polls despite its collaboration with u.s. intelligence the middle east south asia and sub-saharan africa other regions with the most terrorist incidents attacks in the sahara region alone doubled last year at the same time the state department is worried about attacks inspired by white supremacy and racist ideology we saw an alarming rise in racially or ethnically motivated terrorism including here in the united states with the pittsburgh synagogue shooting similar to islamist terrorism this breed of terrorism is inspired by a hateful suprem

i think, is very disheartening is when ambassador mckinley expressed his concern about the department of stateetary pompeo not having the basketbck foreign service officers, when he complained about the morale being low, the men and women feeling like they did not have the support of the department of state, that he received no response. and when he received no response from the secretary, he felt like no response was a response, and he felt like he could no longer be of service in his current capacity. and so because of the shady operation that was going on involving the president and those around him, i think two good career service -- foreign service employees were basically displaced or left the state department. >> chairman schiff today said that the house committees aren't going to delay their work and wait for the court to decide about testimonies of aids like charles kupperman and perhaps even john bolton. why do you think this to be -- or do you think this needs to be done at a rapid pace? i understand the political calculation with the upcoming election and this kind of sucking the o

of state. and the other at the defense department. david hale is the under-secretary of state for political affairs. the third-most senior official in the department and the most senior foreign service officer. laura cooper serves as deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine, eurasia, and is responsible for a broad range of countries in the former soviet union and the balkans. between them, they have several decades of national security experience serving both republican and democratic presidents. and as we have heard from other dedicated public servants like former ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch, george kent, ambassador taylor, lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, their only priority has been security of the united states. secretary hill was witness to the smear campaign against ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch and the efforts by some in the state department to help her. in late march, yovanovitch reached out to hale for assistance telling him in an e-mail that the tempo of social media and other criticisms of her were such that she felt she c

we kept the leadership of the state department and nsc informed of our activities. that included communications with secretary of state pompeo, his counselor, his executive secretary, and also communications with ambassador morrison,. hill, mr. and their staff at the nsc. they knew what we were doing and why. 2019, senior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton, ambassador voelker, dr. myself,cretary perry, and several others, in washington, d.c. during that meeting, we discussed the importance of the two action items i identified earlier, one, a working phone call and two, a white house meeting between presidents trump and zelensky. the july tent meeting was a positive step towards accomplishing our shared goals. while i am now aware of accounts of the meeting from dr. hill and lieutenant vin men, their recollections do not square with my own, or those of ambassador voelker or secretary perry. i recall mentioning the prerequisite of investigations before any white house call or recall anyt i do not yelling or screaming or abrupt terminations

of his records. the state department said "ambassador sondland, like every current department of state employee called before congress in this manner retained at all times and continues to retain full access to a state department document terry records and his state department email account which he has always been fully. access and review at will. that's an accurate statement? >> i had not seen it until shortly before entering the hearing room but it sounds accurate. >> appreciate that. ambassador, you are aware of no connection between the pause in aid in exchange for any kind of investigation, is that correct? >> i missed a keyword. >> you're not aware of any connection between depositing aid and exchange for some kind of investigation being announced or done by ukraine, is that right. you're not aware of secretary pompeo having any knowledge, direct knowledge of the connection between investigations and security aid. >> i'm not aware of that. he did not speak to me about that. >> you're not aware of any the various motive to withhold aid to ukraine, is that correct? >> correct. >> you testified th

department of state. he was sworn in in 2019. prior to joining the department of state, he was director of the program on arab politics at the washington institute for policy. he previously served in the office of the secretary of defense as levant country director. he was awarded the office of the secretary of defense metal for service in 2005. before joining the government in 2002 he was a research fellow and a project coordinator of large stra centerly funded projects. assistant administrator harvey was appointed to the bureau in january 2019. he comes to the position after serving more than 30 years as a foreign service officer with mule approximately overseas assignments including mission director in nigeria, in gausa and iraq and jordon. he he chaired a task force to defeat the islamic state in iraq and syria. assistant add min strairtor harvey has received awards from the department of state and usaid for his exceptional service. thank you both for being here today. let me remind the witnesses to limit your testimony to fiv

interests of the department of defense and state department were consistently supportive of releasing those funds everyone was mystified as to why the phones had been withheld and everyone is running around trying to get an answer and you're getting kind of up to 6 responses saying it was the president because of corruption now what we see is that president selenski gets elected in april the expectation is that vice president pence is going to attend the inauguration in september and then the president pulls the carpet out from under him in terms of him going and then he proceeds in june or july to withhold the funds there is a concerted effort by the president the united states to to act in a manner that is not consistent with our interests in wanting to protect ukraine and help them deal with the russian aggression at its border would you agree with that. i have advocated for the security assistance and i have advocated for high level engagement with the government of ukraine because i think both are in the national security interest. back. the sister and chairman under secretary si

prior to joining the department of defense in 2001 most cooper was a policy planning officer at the state department in the office of coordinator of counter-terrorism. two final points before witnesses are sworn, first, witness depositions, as part as this inquiry, are unclassified in nature, all open hearings will also be caught at the unclassified level. anything that may touch on classified information will be touch separately. congress will not deal with any reprisal, attempt of reprisal, attempt to retaliate against any government official for testifying in front of congress including you or any of your colleagues. if you both would please rise and raise your right hand, i will begin by swearing un. >> you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> let the record show the witnesses answered in the affirmative, thank you will please be seated. microphone is sensitive so please speak directly into it, without objection your written statements will be made part of the record, without, ambassador ha

we kept the leadership of the state department and the nsc informed of our activities. and that included communications with secretary of state pompeo, his counselor ol' rec bechtel, lisa kinna and also communications with ambassador bolton, dr. hill, mr. morrison, and their staff at the nsc. they knew what we were doing and why. on july 10th, 2019, senior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton, ambassador volker, dr. hill, secretary perry, myself, and several others in washington, d.c. during that meeting we all discussed the importance of the two action items i identified earlier. one, a working phone call and, two, a white house meeting between presidents trump and zelensky. from my perspective, the july 10th meeting was a positive step toward accomplishing our shared goals. while i am now aware of accounts of the meeting from dr. hill and lieutenant colonel vindman, their recollections of those events simply don't square with my own or with those of ambassador volker or secretary perry. i recall mentioning the prigatiobefore ahite house call

of tate and the other at the defense department. david hale is the undersecretary of stateor political affairs the third most senior official in the department and the most senior foreign service officer. laura cooper is deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine, eur asia and responsible for the former soviet union and the balkens. they have served both republican and democratic presidents. and as we have heard from other dedicated public servants like former ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch, former deputy secretary bill kent and ambassador bill taylor and alexander vindman and jennifer williams and the only priority has been the security of the united states. undersecretary hale was witness to the smear campaign against marie yovanovitch and the efforts by some in the state department to help her. in late march yovanovitch reached out to hale for assistance telling him in an email that the tempo of social media and other criticisms of her were such that she felt she could no longer function unless there was a strong statement of defense of her from t

. >> department of state, department of state assistant secretary george can't who is responsible forhe portfolio of eastern europe including ukraine. and an individual from the office of -- individual in the intelligence community. >> as you know, the intelligence community has 17 different agencies. what agency was this individual from? >> if i could interject here. >> it's our time. >> we need to protect the whistleblower. i want to make sure that there is no effort to out the whistleblower in these proceedings. lou: unbelievable. so close. so close. the chairman got there just in time. so close to learn hog the whistleblower was by deduction. adam schiff insisting on protecting the whistleblower. raising questions about whether colonel vindman and adam schiff are being truthful about the so-called whistleblower. president trump at the white house, he's the only one seemingly work -- not seemingly. he's the only one work. the radical dimms and their hearings he slammed as a waste of time. president trump what's going on is a disgrace and embarrassment to our nation. in the meantime

we kept the leadership of the state department and the nsc informed of our activities. and that included communications with secretary of state pompeo, his counselor, his executive secretary, lisa kenna and also communications with ambassador bolton, dr. hill, mr. morrison and their staff at the nsc. they knew what we were doing and why. on july 10, 2019, senior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton, ambassador volker, dr. hill, secretary perry, myself and several others in washington, d.c. during that meeting, we all discussed the importance of the two action items i identified earlier. one, a working phone call and two, a white house meeting between presidents trump and zelensky. from my perspective, the july 10th meeting was a positive step toward accomplishing our shared goals. while i am now aware of accounts of the meeting from dr. hill and lieutenant colonel vindman, their recollections of those events simply don't square with prerequisite of investigations but i do not recall any yell or screaming or abrupt terminations as others have s

of this. july 3rd, 4:23 p.m., they received an e-mail from the state department saying the cm is currently being blocked by omb, currently referring to the state investigation the state would send for mff. on november 25th, a member of my staff got a question about what was going on with ukraine security assistance. at that time, we did not know what the guidance was on usai. the apportionment arrived that day but this staff member did not find out about it until later. i was informed the staff member told the ukrainian official we were moving forward on usai but recommended that the ukraine embassy check in with state regarding the fms. sometime during the week actuate 6-10, a ukraine officer told a member of my staff a ukrainian official might raise concerns about security assistance in an upcoming meeting. my understanding was that the issue was in fact not raised. again, i have no further information about what concerns about the security assistance ukraine may have had at that time. m staff also recalls thinking ukrainians were aware of the hold on security assistance during august but they

>> department of state, department of state, deputy assistant secretary george can't, who is responsible for portfolio in eastern europe, including ukraine, and an individual in the intelligence committee. >> as you know, the intelligence t has 17 different agencies. what agency was this individual from? interject here, we don't want to use these proceedings. >> it is our time. >> but we need to protect the whistleblower. please, stop. i want to make sure there is no effort to out the whistleblower through these proceedings. if the witness has a good faith belief that this reveal the may identity of the whistleblower, that is not the purpose that we are here for, and i want to advise the witness accordingly. >> colonel vindman, you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistleblower. you testified in the deposition that you did not know who the whistleblower was. >> i do not know who the whistleblower is. >> how is it possible to name these people and then out the whistleblower? >> per the advice of my counsel, toave been advised not answer specific questions about membe

we kept the leadership of the state department and the nsc informed of our activities, and that included communications with secretary of state pompeo, his counselor, brechbuhl, lisa kenna, and also communications with dr. hill, mr. morrison and their staff at the nsc. they knew what we were doing and why. on july 10th, 2019, senior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton, ambassador volker, dr. hill, secretary perry, myself and several others in washington, d.c. during that meeting, we all discussed the importance of the two action items identified earlier. one, a working phone call, and two, a white house meeting between presidents trump and zelensky. from my perspective, the july 10th meeting was a positive step toward accomplishing our shared goals. while i am now aware of accounts of the meeting from dr. hill and lieutenant colonel vindman, their recollections of those events simply don't square with my own, or with those of ambassador volker or secretary perry. i recall mentioning the prerequisite of investigations before any white house call or meeting. bu

i support and believe in the institution and to the people of the state department and i am one of them, i have been for 35 years. all of us are committed to national security to be are the best group of diplomats anywhere in the world. that extends to all state officers who testify before this committee. i would like to read a letter that the undersecretary road on november 18 two the ranking member of the senate foreign relations committee in response to a communication from him. a number of employees have testified before the house during the inquiry regarding ukraine, no employee has faced any adverse action by the department for testimony before congress on this matter. the department will not discipline any employee for appearing before congress in response to a subpoena. the department has proactively established a program to provide financial assistance and legal fees incurred by department employees. there is additional information, but that was the essence of the message. >> therefore, are you saying that she is a dedicated and courageous patriot? >> i adores what you say exac

>> she said that there was great concern on the 7th floor of the state department. that's where the leadership of the state department sits. there was great concern. they were worried. she just wanted to give me a heads up about this. and, you know, things seemed to be going on and so she just wanted to give me a heads up. i, you know, hard to know how to react to something like that. i asked her what it was ab

we kept the leadership of the state department and the nsc informed of our activities, and that included communications with secretary of state pompeo, his counselor, ulrich brechbuhl, lisa kenna, and also communications with ambassador bolt bolton, dr. hill, mr. morrison and their staff at the nsc. they knew what we were doing, and why. on july 10, 2019, junior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton, ambassador volker, dr. hill, secretary perry, myself and several others in washington, d.c. during that meeting, we all discussed the importance of the two action items i identified earlier. one, a working phone call and two, a white house meeting between presidents trump and zelensky. from my perspective, the july 10th meeting was a positive step towards accomplishing our shared goals. while i am now aware of accounts of the meeting from lieutenant colonel vindman, their recollections don't square with my own or with those of ambassador volker or secretary perry. i recall mentioning the prerequisite of investigations before any white house call or meeting, but i d

government in the department of defense, commerce, and now at state. i'm confident that the past two years as serving as our government's secretary of state has given him the experience to navigate both our system and russia's system. i'm honored and pleased to hear the compliments that you've received from both sides of the aisle, even from the national media. thank you for being here today. thank you to your family for sharing the sacrifice it's going to take to do this and with that, i'll turn it over to ranking member menendez. >> thank you, mr. chairman. congratulations on your nomination. you understand the role of congress as a co-equal branch of government and you have separated yourself from the in nment which -- those government that have sought to break every resume. unfortunately no one person can counteract the disarray that the trump administration's foreign policy. i have served 27 years between the house and senate and never before have i seen such chaos in u.s. policy incoherence from syria, to turkey, to iran, ukraine and rusha. our st

general tell you she said that there was great concern on the 7th floor of the state that's where the leadership of the state department sits there is great concern they were worried she just wanted to give me a heads up about this and you know. things seemed to be going on and so she just wanted to.

i never talked to the secretary of state or anybody else from the state department. all of what you saw oh, shouldn't be surprising. let's see, a hoax? more fake news, more conspiracy theories. none of that happened. by the way, mr. zucker, i hope your stenographer humpty dumpty is taking notes back to solomon's big breaking news. found in the newly uncovered documents and by the way this is real news. in 2016 a sample question and answer section actually is prepping this ambassador person i don't know much about. how to answer questions during her senate confirmation hearing. one unredacted section reads, quote: question: do you have any comment on hunter biden, the vice president's son, serving on the board of burst marks a major ukrainian gas company? and they suggest the answer. for questions on hunter biden's role on burisma i would refer to you the vice president joe biden's office. remember, biden has been vehemently denying ever talking to his son about his ukrainian business deals but in june of 2016, yep, sleepy joe creepy joe, biden was the official point p

let's just take that as a reminder. >> yes. >> this whole notion that the secretary of state and the entire state department should just smile and nod and support rudy giuliani because the president wanted them to is gas lighting. the secretary of state, ambassador sondland, kurt volker and everybody else had options. secretary of state pompeo, his job is uphold the constitution. not is supports the president's ego or agenda. and any of these officials could have expressed concerns. sondland said i'm nots a loyal. is it legal or not. did he talk with a lawyer? this defense there is nothing these officials could do really doesn't hold water for anybody that actually worked in u.s. government to advance foreign policy. >> there's a lot of disagreement across the witnesses in this case and the parties in this case. one thing seems everyone agrees on, rudy's presence was a big problem. no matter where you come from. interesting to see the evolution in sondland's statement. opening statement, disappointed to find out i had to go through rudy, and in this crypt, rudy was insuch white house. much stronger. bad new

we don't need to recreate the department of defense, the department of state, the department of homelandecurity over at the white house. we have great diplomats and soldiers and folks that do that work for us in the department. >> brennan: just to button that up, though, you're saying lieutenant colonel vindman is scheduled to rotate out. you're not never retaliate against anyone. there will be a point for everybody who is detailed we want them to take the skills they learned at the white house, and take them back to their departments and agencies and do an even better job there. they'll come spend a year, maybe a little more at the white house, and then go back to their agency, and they'll do a better job at their agency. >> brennan: thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> brennan: we'll be right back with our panel. don't go away. when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of god, in due time he will exalt you. hi, i'm joel osteen. i'm excited about being with you every week. i hope you'll tune in. you'll be inspired, you'll be encouraged. i'm looking for

assistant secretary, what is the near eastern affairs bureau of the state department doing to counter the iranian influence in the region? >> first of all, we are implementing crushing sanctions. this has resulted in some $50 billion of oil revenue and is likely going to result in a conscription of the economy by double digits by the end of 2019. this economic pressure provides less money to fund the regional proxies into terrorist organizations like hezbollah which are facing increased pressure because of the lack of funds available to them. that is the one side. we are working with our partners to come strain the behavior and this is building coalitions in the region whether it is through the international maritime security construct or also known as operation sentinel and also calling out iran by name to hold them responsible for what they did a few weeks back. that's sort of unprecedented. likewise, we are exposing the regime's brutality and governance problems. we are working with local partners strengthening and financially backing the sources which someday could serve as a coun

the assistance because the president had so directed through his acting chief of staff. >> what was the state department's position regarding the hold? >> the state department advocated, as i did in that meeting, consistent with our policies and interests in ukraine. >> you believed what you said? you believed in the release of the hold? >> yes, i did. >> did anyone at the interagency meeting at the end of july support the hold? did anybody want the hold to remain? if so, who? what agency? >> the only agency represented in the meeting that indicated that they supported the hold was omb. >> miss cooper, did you understand similarly that there was an overwhelming interagency consensus to lift the hold, and that omb at the direction of the president, was the only roadblock? >> yes, ma'am. >> how is the security assistance in the national security interest of the united states? what is our interest? explain that to my constituents in alabama who are wondering why we should care about the security -- the hold that's on the security assistance. >> yes, ma'am. this specific assistance helps build the capacity of

of the state department and the n.s.c. informed of our activities and that included communications with secretary of state pompei o. the state department had refused to give those documents they were obtained through a freedom of information lawsuit by the watchdog group american oversight now senate democrats are asking pompei oh in a letter to recuse himself from the state department's response to the impeachment inquiry pump ale was quick to respond i'm not going to accuse myself from this i know precisely what american policy was with respect to ukraine i was working on it and i'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished also joining in the circle of those implicated in the presidential pressure campaign is the president's top defender in the impeachment inquiry republican devin nunez clearly these little chris accusations don't reflect committee members who are honestly searching for the truth on saturday reports emerge suggesting nunez met with a disgraced former ukrainian prosecutor to find dirt on biden that is a

of the state department and the nsc informed of our activities. ions with secretary of state pompeo. his executive secretary lisa kenna. and also communications with ambassador bolton. they knew what we were doing. on 7/10/2019. senior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton. ambassador volker. and several others in washington d c. during that meeting we all discuss the import. the 2 action items identified earlier. a working phone call. a white house meeting between presidents trump and zelensky. the july 10th meeting was a positive step toward accomplishing our shared goals. while i'm now aware of that counts of the meeting. their recollections of those events simply don't square with my own. with those of the bass under volcker our secretary perry. i recall mentioning the prerequisite of investigations before any white house call or meeting. but i do not recall any yelling or screaming or up. the nation's as as others have said. outside on the white house lawn. those recollections of protests do not square with the docum

>> department of state, department of state, deputy assistant secretary george kent who was responsible for the portfolio, european, including ukraine, and an individual from the office of -- an individual in the intelligence communication. >> what agency was this individual from? >> if i could interject here, we don't want to use these proceedings -- >> it is our time but we need to protect the whistleblower. please stop. >> that exchange, that interruption was followed by a rather tense correction. >> mr. vindman, you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistleblower. >> ranking member, it's lieutenant colonel vindman please. >> there were also attempts to call lieutenant colonel vindman's loyalty into question. the purple heart recipient came to the u.s. after a young boy after his family fled the soviet union. during the hearing he was asked about repeated job offers he had received from the director of ukraine's national security council. >> did will danyliuk offer you a position of defense minister with the ukrainian government? >> he did. >> how many times did

we kept the leadership of the state department and the nsc informed of our activities. and that included communications with secretary of state pompeo, his counselor, brechbuhl and ambassador bolton, dr. hill, mr. morrison and their staff at the nsc. they knew what we were doing and why. on july 10th, 2019, senior ukrainian national security officials met with ambassador bolton, ambassador volker, dr. hill, secretary perry, myself and several others in washington, d.c. during that meeting, we all discussed the importance of the two action items i identified earlier. one, a working phone call and, two, a white house meeting between presidents trump and zelensky. from my perspective, the july 10th meeting was a positive step toward accomplishing our shared goals. while i am now aware of accounts of the meeting from dr. hill and lieutenant colonel vindman, their recollections of those events simply don't square with my own. or with those of ambassador volker or secretary perry. i recall mentioning the prerequisite of investigations before any white house call or meeting. bu

she is speaking for the idea of american diplomats and the state department. hat a conflict between people would say the state department is part of the deep state and marie yovanovitch saying i'm here as a proud american trying to serve my country. >> thank you for that. chad per gram says the republicans will start with their lawyer steve castor to lead off. see if that remains to be the case. >> the big question is what will the strategy be on the part of the gop when they return from the lengthy break? >> one thing that comes to mind listening to everyone talking about this, marie yovanovitch is a fine woman, obviously has served her country for a long time. the bottom line where you hear the gop go here. the president can have diplomats serve at his pleasure whether he wants them in that position or not. that is the bottom line. and the president recalled her. that's why the secretary of state mike pompeo was not able to support her. once the president of the united states says this isn't the person i want in that spot, that really is the end of that story

department of state. he was sworn in on june 14 2019. prior to that, he was the director of the program on politics at the washington institute policy. he previously served in the office of the secretary of defense, and he was awarded the office of secretary of defense medal for exceptional civilian service in 2005. before joining the government in 2002 he was a research fellow at the washington institute and a project coordinator. assistant administrator michael harvey was appointed assistant administrator of usaid in january 2019. he comes to the position after serving more than 30 years as a foreign service officer with usaid with multiple overseas assignments including mission director in nigeria come mission director of the west bank of gaza, deputy mission director of iraq and jordan. he most recently served as a faculty member at the national war college and washington, d.c. and the chair of the usaid as assistant to the administrator. he has received numerous awards from the department of state and usaid for his exceptional servic

and you wouldn't bring a bad idea to the secretary of state and your general understanding is that you did have the full support of the state department is that right yes and in fact during your 33 year career as a foreign service officer did you ever hear of any serious concerns about your job performance now. was this statement of support ultimately issued for you now is now did you learn why not yes yes i was told that there was a concern on the 7th floor that if a statement of support was issued whether by the state department or by the secretary personally that it could be undermined how would it could it be undermined that the president my issue a tweet contradicting that or something to that effect so let me see if i get this right you are one of the most senior diplomats in the state department you've been there for 33 years and won numerous awards you've been appointed as an ambassador 3 times by both republican and democratic presidents and the state department would not issue a statement in support of you against false allegations because they were concerned about a tweet from the president the united states that's my under