The White House refused to cooperate with an investigation related to the impeachment of US President Donald Trump. The president’s administration, at the same time, has been trying to influence the impeachment inquiry’s findings – including blocking the US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland’s testimony in Congress.
Sondland was supposed to testify on Tuesday, October 8, yet he did not show up after receiving a call from the White House. He was set to deliver his testimony behind closed doors of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees. After Sondland failed to do so, House of Representatives Democrats subpoenaed him to appear on October 16 to answer questions on his role in Trump’s efforts to influence a foreign government for political gain. The ambassador must also submit all Ukrainegate-related documents and information by October 14.
According to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, if Gordon Sondland doesn’t testify or withholds documents, it will be viewed as obstruction of Congress.
The White House, in turn, has sent an eight-page letter stating that it will not cooperate with Trump impeachment inquiry.
At the same time, Russiagate prepares a new twist. Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney who was sentenced to prison as part of the Mueller investigation, is expected to be brought back to New York for a meeting with state prosecutors. Cohen is supposed to tell “everything he knows”.
Federal Judge Beryl A. Howell has considered giving the House of Representatives access to some of Robert Mueller’s remaining secrets.
Including all the hell slowly breaking loose, Washington Post-Schar School poll has concluded that 58% of all Americans support impeachment.
Ukrainian trace
On October 5, the New York Times published an article titled "Meet the Ukrainian Ex-Prosecutor Behind the Impeachment Furor". President Donald Trump relied on former Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko and his information, despite his being not trustworthy. As confirmed, Lutsenko has no legal education.
Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani recognized Lutsenko as their source for information that may harm the president’s political competitors. The two were trying to gain Lutsenko's support, yet they eventually concluded he is corrupt and distanced.
Yuriy Lutsenko was trying to stop the investigation against former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych’s political consultant Paul Manafort. He also played an important part in former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s resignation. As NYT recalled, Ukraine’s former prosecutor-general accused her in providing him with a list of people that shouldn’t be prosecuted.
"Lutsenko tried to save his skin by pretending to be a Trump's supporter at the end of his career," David Sakvarelidze, former Deputy Аttorney General, said.
In an interview to Ukraine’s Novoye Vremya magazine, Yuriy Lutsenko, who is now "improving his English skills in London", accused other Ukrainian politicians of damaging the country’s relations with the US. Thus, he accused former MP Serhii Leschenko and the Head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine Artem Sytnyk of leaking information about Yanukovych's Regions Party false accounting – the information concerning Paul Manafort. According to Lutsenko, both Leschenko and Sytnyk confessed their willingness to "help Hillary Clinton".
As Ukraine’s former prosecutor-general stressed, the US and Ukraine may have bilateral interests. He noted that the best option would be creating a Ukrainian-American committee for investigations, thus transferring the cases from the political realm to a legal one. Nothing in the Ukrainian legislation indicates that Joe or Hunter Biden committed a crime.
New Whistleblower
On October 6, the US media reported that at least one more person came forward regarding Trump's possible abuse of power during his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The information was confirmed by Mark Zaid and Andrew Bakaj – lawyers that represent the first whistleblower. In August, he filed a detailed complaint about how the White House tried to use Ukrainian powers in Trump's interest.
According to Mr. Zaid, the second whistleblower also works for intelligence services. The new witness has first-hand information confirming previous allegations. This means that he may be a direct witness of illegal actions, while the first witness has just summarized the information he received from many reliable sources.
Earlier, Donald Trump denied any accusations of pressure on the President of Ukraine. His main argument was that the first whistleblower did not hear the call first-hand, nor did he witness other events described in his report.
Now, the testimony of the second whistleblower may add fuel to the impeachment fire, blowing up Trump’s main defense.
The two whistleblowers are expected to testify before Congress. It was earlier said that Representatives apply all possible measures to protect their anonymity.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, proposed to impeach the head of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, who initiated the impeachment procedure. Trump accused her of committing high crimes and misdemeanors.
"Nancy Pelosi knew of all of the many Shifty Adam Schiff lies and massive frauds perpetrated upon Congress and the American people, in the form of a fraudulent speech knowingly delivered as a ruthless con, and the illegal meetings with a highly partisan “Whistleblower” & lawyer,” he tweeted.
