Impeachment Made Simple: Day One
By: Julie Mcclung Peck
Tags: Politics, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Resistance

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Let me first say that in my house, we watch a lot of news. I was a politics major in college— when I graduated from Wake Forest in 1990, it wasn’t called Political Science, because the chairman of the department didn’t believe it was a science — so POTUS’ entire presidency has been like the train crash that I can’t look away from, sickening and fascinating at the same time. However, it’s the very volume of events that transpire on any given day that make any one event next to impossible to parse through, and that is problem one with isolating on the Ukraine deal.

I prepped for the public hearings by reading most of the transcripts from the testimony of the witnesses who were to appear. I wanted to have the opportunity to actually read what the witnesses had said beforehand, and especially to do primary research any points I did not understand. I also wanted to know what objections had been made by the Republicans during the previous interviews and track down the facts about those objections.

I recognize that most people will have neither the time nor the opportunity to do this; to be honest, I didn’t have the time in my schedule either, but as I said, I just kind of geek out on this stuff. But I do want to share what I learned, in the event that it helps anyone else gain some perspective on this whole situation on a move-forward basis.

In case other folks out there may have had the same issue as my mother, here are some key points that may help boost your signal to noise ratio.

Key people in this post: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman — Ukraine Expert, National Security Counsel (detailed to the White House) Timothy Morrison — Senior Director for European Affairs, National Security Counsel Ambassador William B. Taylor — Current U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Ambassador Gordon Sondland — Current U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. (donated $1MM to Trump campaign)

The fact that people provide secondary testimony (“hearsay”) doesn’t matter. First off, “hearsay” is a legal term, and this is a hearing, not a trial. Secondly, each of these witnesses previously gave their depositions in secret, and if you’d read the depositions, you’d know that each person’s account of what occurred matches up directly. This is why the depositions were held in secret — to prevent witness coordination (see below), so that the point could be made that the various witness’ accounts corroborate one another. The Democrats didn’t really point this out yesterday, as far as I noticed.

First off, “hearsay” is a legal term, and this is a hearing, not a trial. Secondly, each of these witnesses previously gave their depositions in secret, and if you’d read the depositions, you’d know that each person’s account of what occurred matches up directly. This is why the depositions were held in secret — to prevent witness coordination (see below), so that the point could be made that the various witness’ accounts corroborate one another. The Democrats didn’t really point this out yesterday, as far as I noticed. There are witnesses coming with primary testimony, and others have been subpoenaed. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman is set to testify on the morning of November 19, and he was on the call that is at the center— although it is far from the entirety — of this situation. Timothy Morrison, a National Security Council aide who was also on the call, will testify later that day. Others known to have been on the call have defied Congressional subpoena and have been prohibited by the White House from appearing (like Charles Kupperman, Deputy National Security Advisor). Though the Republicans were able to see their way through to badgering and mocking career civil servants, it is unclear to me what their response to Lt. Col. Vindman, a decorated war hero, will be.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman is set to testify on the morning of November 19, and he was on the call that is at the center— although it is far from the entirety — of this situation. Timothy Morrison, a National Security Council aide who was also on the call, will testify later that day. Others known to have been on the call have defied Congressional subpoena and have been prohibited by the White House from appearing (like Charles Kupperman, Deputy National Security Advisor). Though the Republicans were able to see their way through to badgering and mocking career civil servants, it is unclear to me what their response to Lt. Col. Vindman, a decorated war hero, will be. As an adjunct, the fact that these people gave their depositions “in secret, in the basement,” is a complete non sequitur. The witnesses were interviewed (deposed) in a secure room in the event that classified information was accidentally discussed in the course of those interviews. That room just happens to be in the basement. Republicans keep mentioning that it’s in the basement because they think this sounds nefarious, for some reason, although for me, it only conjures up visions of teenage rec rooms. Whatever. But they were held in secret, for completely valid reasons described above.

The witnesses were interviewed (deposed) in a secure room in the event that classified information was accidentally discussed in the course of those interviews. That room just happens to be in the basement. Republicans keep mentioning that it’s in the basement because they think this sounds nefarious, for some reason, although for me, it only conjures up visions of teenage rec rooms. Whatever. But they were held in secret, for completely valid reasons described above. Whether Ukraine got the aid or not at the end of the day or not is irrelevant. I know I said a couple of minutes ago that this isn’t a trial, and it’s not. But you’re a criminal when you action a crime, not when you pull off the crime. A bank robber is a bank robber whether s/he gets away with the money or not (don’t @ me, wonks, I know that’s a flawed example, that’s why this article is titled “made simple”). S/he meant to rob the bank. Regardless, and this is by far the more important point, the damage has been done and it may be irreparable. Ukraine now has reason to second-guess American intentions from here on out — although they are essentially forced to accept aid from us (or, hello, other actors) by the fact that Russia has them by the short hairs, why would they ever take anything we say sincerely again? And, more concerning, what this whole situation said and says to Vladimir Putin (a former KGB officer) is that Ukraine may be on the market, the price being good enough dirt on the Democratic frontrunner or frontrunners of their choice.

Those were the top-line concerns my mother came away with. Here are a few additional points you should keep in mind going forward:

The July 25 call is a part of the Ukraine situation on which the impeachment hearings are centered, but it’s not the whole enchilada. What makes the Ukraine situation important is that it’s a fairly cut-and-dry (believe it or not) example of dangerous behavior in this administration, the kind of behavior that imperils the principles of our democracy. Personally, I would classify recent events in Syria as another bipartisan example: We had a commitment to the Kurds, the ground forces in our war against ISIS, only to pull our troops out, deserting them to Turkish and Russian invasion. In just the past month, our actions have left 200,000 displaced and dozens of civilians dead. POTUS took this action unilaterally, without Congressional approval (not required) and catching even the military by surprise. There are many more instances that I would argue can easily be chalked up to abuse of power, it’s just that Ukraine was abuse of power for personal gain.

What makes the Ukraine situation important is that it’s a fairly cut-and-dry (believe it or not) example of dangerous behavior in this administration, the kind of behavior that imperils the principles of our democracy. Personally, I would classify recent events in Syria as another bipartisan example: We had a commitment to the Kurds, the ground forces in our war against ISIS, only to pull our troops out, deserting them to Turkish and Russian invasion. In just the past month, our actions have left 200,000 displaced and dozens of civilians dead. POTUS took this action unilaterally, without Congressional approval (not required) and catching even the military by surprise. There are many more instances that I would argue can easily be chalked up to abuse of power, it’s just that Ukraine was abuse of power for personal gain. In case you missed it, the day did turn up one mid-major bombshell, thanks to Ambassador Taylor. I’m only calling it “mid-major” because in the context of everything else that happened yesterday it has largely gotten buried; in any other administration, what Ambassador Taylor said would have been show-stopping, break-into-programming, headline news. Here’s what went down: At the end of his opening statement, Ambassador Taylor noted that this past Friday, November 8, a member of his staff notified him of an event that happened on July 26, the day after the phone call at the center of this situation. The staff member, who will testify behind closed doors to the combined committees tomorrow, was at lunch with Ambassador Sondland in a public restaurant when the ambassador called President Trump (ostensibly on his cell phone, btw). The staff member heard Trump inquire about “the investigations” and Ambassador Sondland reply that “the Ukranians were ready to move forward.” Upon the completion of the call, the staff member asked Sondland what the President thought of Ukraine.

Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which [Rudy] Giuliani [Trump’s personal attorney] was pressing for. All the folderol about the “strong support of Ukraine” this administration has provided? Seriously, think about it: What in POTUS’ policy statements suggests he’d send anyone at all aid if left up to him? I am glad that we are sending Ukraine lethal aid as opposed to what occurred during the Obama administration, but Ukraine can thank Congress for that. With respect to POTUS, it’s nothing more than Republican window dressing.

Stay tuned for testimony from Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, on Friday. Ambassador Yovanovitch got well and truly thrown under the bus by this administration because she made the unwitting mistake of doing her job well while being unaware of the backchannel that had arisen around her to ferret out information advantageous to POTUS’ 2020 run.

I’ll provide a recap afterward.