Testimony from career diplomats to outline Trump's dark view of Ukraine
Last edited Wed Oct 30, 2019, 09:15 AM - Edit history (2)
Source: Washington Post
Two career diplomats will testify before House impeachment investigators Wednesday that President Trump displayed a deeply pessimistic view of Ukraine that was out of step with officials at the White House and State Department who saw support for the European country as critical in its battle with Russian-backed separatists, according to their prepared remarks obtained by The Washington Post.
The State Department officials, Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson, will say their optimistic view of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed with a darker outlook of the new government held by Trump and an informal channel of actors linked to the president's attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Anderson, a career Foreign Service officer, will detail efforts when U.S. officials tried to demonstrate support for Ukraine only to be batted down by the White House, including after Russian forces attacked and seized Ukrainian military vessels in the Sea of Azov in 2018. "While my colleagues at the State Department quickly prepared a statement condemning Russia for its escalation, senior officials in the White House blocked it from being issued," Anderson was set to testify. Croft, who worked on Ukraine issues at the White House and the State Department, will say that "throughout" her time in the Trump administration she heard the president "describe Ukraine as a corrupt country," both "directly and indirectly."
The prepared testimony does not add significantly to the specific claims by other U.S. officials alleging that Trump tried to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rivals by withholding about $400 million in military aid and diplomatic support to Ukraine. Croft and Anderson did not enjoy as much visibility into senior-level decision-making as some of their peers, such as former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman, whom House Democrats have struggled to bring in to testify. But they do offer new insight into how a shadow foreign policy executed by people outside of government undermined the work of U.S. officials.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/testimony-from-career-diplomats-to-outline-trumps-dark-view-of-ukraine/2019/10/29/1681d293-f23c-476a-bdd8-35244e23d66a_story.html
WaPo apparently has copies of the opening statements of the 2 individuals scheduled to testify today.
ETA - these 2 scheduled to testify will be describing what became the shadow foreign policy going on outside of the State Department. We know Ghouliani was part of it but now there are others including a tainted former GOP congressman (Bob Livingston who was supposed to take over as House Speaker when Gingrich stepped down in the late '90s but had to turn it down due to his extramarital dalliances) who worked as a lobbyist and who apparently also pushed to have Ambassador Yovanovitch removed.
This is organized crime.
ETA - Croft Opening Statement
Text here - https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774544638/read-ukraine-specialist-catherine-crofts-written-testimony-in-impeachment-inquir
PDF here - https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/30315e36-29c8-462b-8f0d-74a410a9dbc6/note/ecae66f8-ccfe-4738-a8ab-0e4bb6b855f8.pdf#page1
ETA - Anderson Opening Statement
Text here - https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774552056/read-christopher-andersons-written-testimony-in-impeachment-inquiry
PDF here - https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/17622bf6-65af-4c3f-acdf-dd264b71a293/note/dd32af9c-2c7c-43f5-93a0-8d7c69fe7382.pdf#page=1
= new reply since forum marked as read
I would someday love to see a complete diagram of the influence structure Russia built to achieve these results, including the path by which Trump himself is fed dogma on their behalf.
We see lots of suspect pieces but never a complete puzzle.....
I just added to the OP!
We're gonna need a whole spread!
Sup, Livingston? Hey, you and Pete Sessions can testify together and tell us what shiteating pigfuckers you are...oh wait, WE ALREADY KNOW
Maria Yovanovich 
RESPECT
