Three key witnesses testify in impeachment inquiry

Rapper A$AP Rocky was mentioned several times during US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland’s testimony, leaving the New York-based rapper trending on Twitter. 

In his opening statement, Sondland said that a July 26 phone call he had with President Trump, which allegedly included investigation talk, lasted five minutes and was “primarily about” A$AP Rocky, who Trump had been trying to free from incarceration in Sweden. 

The rapper’s name and case was brought up at least five times as lawmakers questioned the ambassador.  

According to testimony of David Holmes on Saturday, a diplomat at the US embassy in Ukraine, Sondland recommended that Trump “let [A$AP Rocky] get sentenced, play the racism card, give him a ticker-tape when he comes home.” 

The rapper — whose real name is Rakim Mayers — was involved in a street brawl in Stockholm on June 30. He was found guilty, and the Swedish court handed him a conditional sentence during a ruling he was not present for. 

While he was in custody, Trump said Sweden “let our African American community down,” by not freeing the rapper.

Democrats’ repeated references to acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney highlight his continued centrality to the impeachment probe — a spotlight that’s shaken his position with President Trump.

Ever since Mulvaney took to the White House briefing room to acknowledge a quid pro quo and told reporters to “get over it,” his words have proven consistently problematic for Republicans who argue exactly the opposite. 

Mulvaney attempted to walk the statement back, but his on-camera words have persisted.

That was clear today when Rep. Joaquin Castro played two clips of Mulvaney’s press briefing (or attempted to — there were some technical issues).

Sondland also placed Mulvaney closer to the center of the alleged scheme, saying he was “in the loop” along with other top officials, though acknowledged he’d only held a single formal meeting with the chief of staff and it wasn’t about Ukraine.

Remember: Mulvaney has refused to cooperate with congressional investigators, who want to know more about his role. He’s defied a subpoena and executed some complicated legal wrangling, much to the chagrin of the White House counsel’s office, with whom Mulvaney is feuding.

The attention on Mulvaney has not helped his standing with Trump, who views it as another negative headline amid many.

People familiar with the situation have said over the past weeks that it’s unlikely Trump would dismiss Mulvaney amid the current crisis in the hopes of preventing further chaos.

But Mulvaney will have been in his job for year in January — and there’s little indication Trump is prepared to drop “acting” from his title.

As the impeachment inquiry continues, President Trump just landed in Austin, Texas, where he's expected to tour an Apple plant and meet with CEO Tim Cook.

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham retweeted a comment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in which he said, "Democrats claim impeachment won’t keep them from legislating. But Speaker Pelosi has refused to allow a vote on USMCA for months. It appears there's no governing priority – no matter how bipartisan, no matter how beneficial to Americans – that won't take a backseat to impeachment."

"So true. As a true President should," Grisham added.

Read the tweets below:

The US government has still not provided Ukraine with the entirety of the $250 million in military aid, the White House's freezing of which helped launch the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

Some $35.2 million was not obligated by the end of the 2019 fiscal year, according to a Pentagon spokesperson.

CNN had previously reported that due to the Trump administration's hold on the aid — a hold that was not lifted until Sept. 11 — the Pentagon did not believe it could obligate the entirety of the $250 million aid package before the end of the fiscal year, risking the money being returned to the Treasury.

However, Congress passed a continuing resolution that provided the Defense Department the authority to keep spending the money until September 30, 2020. 

The exact amount of unobligated funds was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

The House Intelligence Committee's second hearing of the day was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.

But the first — which has featured dramatic testimony from US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland — is still going.

The hearing with Sondland started just after 9 a.m. ET. Committee Chair Adam Schiff ordered an additional round of questioning — 30 minutes for the Democrats, and 30 minutes for the Republicans — and the committee has taken several breaks, leading to the delay.

The afternoon hearing will feature testimony from Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, and David Hale, the under secretary of State for political affairs. It's not clear when it could start.

During the hearing today, Rep. Mike Coway tried to undercut Rep. Adam Schiff‘s claims that the whistleblowers anonymity was protected by statute.

Under 2012 guidelines issued by President Obama, whistleblowers are protected from work-related retaliation, including "an appointment, promotion, or performance evaluation, or any other significant change in duties, responsibilities or working conditions."

Facts First: It is true that no law explicitly prevents anyone, other than the Inspector General and their staff, from revealing the name of a whistleblower. But that doesn't mean it's legal to identify them, or that they are wholly unprotected.In 1998, Congress passed the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, which formalized the process under which whistleblowers from the intelligence community could report complaints to Congress.

Revealing the whistleblower's name does not clearly fall under one of these categories.

Robert Litt, former general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under Obama, argues it could be considered retaliatory if the individual disclosing the name is also a member of the intelligence community.

But Litt notes that if members of Congress identified the whistleblower on the floor of Congress, they would be protected from criminal prosecution under the Speech or Debate Clause. Experts note that this situation is largely unprecedented, therefore the answer is not so cut and dried.

You can read more about the protections regarding anonymity that whistleblowers have here.

Ambassador Gordon Sondland said he and President Trump are "not close friends" and have a "professional, cordial working relationship."

Earlier today, Trump said he doesn't know Sondland well and hasn't spoken to him much.

On the question of how often they spoke, Sondland said around 20 times.

"If that's often then it's often," he said.

Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California, just brought up a Washington Post article that GOP Rep. Mike Conway entered into the record.

The article, according to Conway, said House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff's "claim the whistleblower has a statutory right to anonymity received three Pinocchios."

While Speier discussed the article and the whistleblower, Conway interrupted her to say: "The article goes through that and three Pinocchios in spite of that conversation," 

Some in the room laughed and applauded.

See the moment:

Ambassador Gordon Sondland agreed that the withholding of aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting likely helped Russia.

Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California, asked Sondland if Russia benefitted from the temporary freeze of US military aid for Ukraine, and the withholding of a White House invitation from the new Ukrainian president, who took office this year.

Other witnesses in the inquiry, including national security officials who worked in the White House, testified that President Trump’s actions gave Russia a boost, because his actions undermined the new Ukrainian leader. Ukraine has been at war with Russia its aligned militias since 2014, after the annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine.

Trump’s decision to freeze military aid for Ukraine is one of many things he’s done to help Russia over the years.