White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was subpoenaed last night by the House Impeachment Inquiry Committee for appearance this morning at 9 a.m. To nobody’s surprise, he was a no-show. I do wonder why the quick turn-around time, but I suppose we will find out in time. Last month, Mulvaney told reporters in the White House briefing room that President Donald Trump had held up U.S. military assistance to Ukraine in order to get it to investigate a conspiracy theory involving Ukraine influencing the 2016 presidential election. It was decidedly off-message.
Via an official working on the impeachment inquiry: “This morning, one minute before his scheduled deposition was to start, Mr. Mulvaney’s outside counsel informed us that his client had been directed by the White House not to comply …and asserted ‘absolute immunity'”
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 8, 2019
“Absolute immunity” isn’t a thing. It was laughed out of court last week.
Today we are expecting more transcripts of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Dr. Fiona Hill from the closed door sessions. In the meantime….
Pres. Trump: “They shouldn’t be having public hearings.” https://t.co/aE2u6s3Azb pic.twitter.com/SzxflNYf6i
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) November 8, 2019
Oooooookaaaay.
And this…
Here are the House Committee Key Points of Vindman and Hill:
The full testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman can be found here. The full testimony of Dr. Fiona Hill can be found here.
Fiona Hill also confirms that Mulvaney was coordinating the demand for investigations. pic.twitter.com/XWb8wMdbcI
— Anthony DeRosa🗽 (@Anthony) November 8, 2019
Should’ve said, as GAETZ crashes the Hill deposition… pic.twitter.com/a4txabDo0V
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 8, 2019
Vindman talking about significant omissions from the call record pic.twitter.com/mgAqS5lden
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) November 8, 2019
4 takeaways from Hill/Vindman:
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) November 8, 2019
1) Mulvaney's implication in the quid pro quo is huge
2) Sondland has many inconsistencies to account for
3) There appeared to be no real Ukraine chain of command
4) People apparently didn't have much faith in Sondlandhttps://t.co/OO6o1EX1uq
RELATED: Um….. what’s this???
Curious to see the entire exchange and Trump’s comment, but a Justice spox has said, “The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son.” https://t.co/duNesifYql pic.twitter.com/xOhreNOsVS
— Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) November 8, 2019