with help from Andrew Desiderio
IMPEACH ME HOW TO DOUGIE -- Welcome to week two of the public impeachment hearings! To get you up to speed, we’re bringing you Andrew’s “Weekly Impeachment Watch” section right off the bat. Here is his expert analysis and handy dandy schedule:
Make no mistake: this is the week when the impeachment inquiry will get even closer to the president.
Among the eight witnesses who will publicly testify over a marathon three-day period, some were on the July 25 Trump-Zelensky phone call, others had direct conversations with the president, half are current or former White House officials — and from their testimony, Democrats expect to secure even more evidence, through first-hand accounts, connecting Trump to the campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political foes.Republicans hammered Democrats last week over the first few witnesses’ lack of direct knowledge of the July 25 phone call and of Trump’s exact intentions. But even since Marie Yovanovitch’s testimony wrapped up on Friday afternoon, we learned key details from the closed-door depositions that make the testimony of Gordon Sondland — a first-hand witness, to be sure — even more potentially damaging to Trump’s case.
- State Department official David Holmes corroborated William Taylor’s testimony about Sondland’s phone call with Trump, during which the president asked about the status of the investigations.
- Tim Morrison testified that Sondland said he — like Rudy Giuliani — was acting on Trump’s orders and at his behest.
- Jennifer Williams, the Pence aide who was on the July 25 call, said Trump bringing up the investigations with Zelensky served to benefit his “personal political agenda” and could “shed some light on possible other motivations” for the halting of military aid. (And notably, Trump attacked her as a “Never Trumper” on Twitter yesterday.)
All of these revelations spell trouble for the president, as Democrats are expected to use those details to directly implicate Trump in what they’ve dubbed a “shakedown” of the Ukrainian president. In the meantime, as Kyle expertly explained on Friday, Trump’s strategy of attacking the witnesses as “Never Trumpers” continues to upend congressional Republicans’ role as his chief defenders. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) faked a phone call when your Huddle host tried to ask him about Trump’s mid-hearing tweet about Yovanovitch on Friday — a perfect encapsulation of how Republicans are becoming increasingly uncomfortable defending Trump’s posture toward the witnesses, and weren’t willing to legitimize the Giuliani-backed “smear campaign” targeting Yovanovitch.
With that, here’s the schedule for public hearings this week …
- TUESDAY: Morning session… Jennifer Williams and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. Afternoon session… Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison
- WEDNESDAY: Morning session… Gordon Sondland. Afternoon session… Laura Cooper, David Hale.
- THURSDAY: Fiona Hill.
Related reads: “Sondland Kept Trump Administration Officials Apprised of Ukraine Push,” by the WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus: https://on.wsj.com/33XLb6P; and “Bolton and Trump Met Privately Over Withheld Aid, White House Official Testified,” via NYT’s Nicholas Fandos and Sheryl Gay Stolberg: https://nyti.ms/2KwuyaN.
NEW THIS MORNING … Per
NO PROMISES FROM PELOSI -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she has “no idea” when the House will wrap up its impeachment probe, raising the prospect that the inquiry could drag into 2020 — a scenario many Democrats are hoping to avoid. “It is self-evident that we have open hearings for the next week. I don't know if there are any beyond that,” Pelosi told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And then when we come back [from Thanksgiving], maybe a decision or maybe they have more hearings.”
Pelosi also declined to speculate on which — or how many — articles of impeachment that Democrats would bring against Trump. And she dodged a question about whether the president’s mid-hearing Twitter attack on former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch amounted to witness intimidation. “I haven't had a lot of time to pay attention to the president's tweets and the legal implications of them. I just think that was totally wrong and inappropriate and typical of the president,” Pelosi said. Heather with the dispatch: https://politi.co/2CUMuaM.
Related: “House members debate possible ‘witness intimidation’ by Trump,” via Rishika Dugyala: https://politi.co/2CSlM2L; and “Republican congressman calls new details about Trump revealed in impeachment testimony 'alarming,'” via CNN’s Devan Cole: https://cnn.it/32T0Mn3.
A STAR IS BORN -- Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who has emerged as a key Trump defender in the impeachment hearings, has caught the president’s eye. Trump came to her defense amid a torrent of attacks on social media (including a doctored photo of Stefanik that was circulating online) and praised her multiple times over the weekend. "A new Republican Star is born,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “Great going @EliseStefanik!"
But Stefanik has also grabbed the attention of someone else: her Democratic opponent. Tedra Cobb, who has been fundraising off Stefanik’s starring role in the hearings,
Related: “Jordan Brings Pugnacious Style to Impeachment Defense of Trump,” by the NYT’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg: https://nyti.ms/2KwsxLK.
HAPPY MONDAY! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this November 18, where your host is geeking out over journalist Kara Swisher’s cameo on “Silicon Valley” last night (and also laughing over this quote from the episode: “editors are just for people who can’t write correctly the first time.”)
FRIDAY’S MOST CLICKED: The Daily Beast’s deep dive on Rudy Giuliani’s indicted associate was the big winner.
YOU GOT A FRIEND IN ME -- Burgess went to North Carolina to profile vulnerable Sen. Thom Tillis, who is hugging Trump tightly as he faces the stiffest GOP primary campaign of the 2020 cycle. The dispatch from Raleigh: “Sen. Thom Tillis began the Trump era by negotiating with Democrats on immigration and co-authoring legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller. He even briefly opposed President Donald Trump’s national emergency to build a border wall.
“But now the North Carolina Republican's independent streak is fading. He’s deploying the president as a shield against a conservative primary challenger and he’s hugging Trump tightly… It’s a shrewd political strategy amid a well-funded primary challenge from Garland Tucker, a conservative businessman who paints Tillis as an enemy of the Trump agenda. But Tillis’ role as Trump’s new best friend threatens to undermine his profile as a diligent, unpredictable senator — and could damage his general election chances.” The story: https://politi.co/2KyKk53.
Related: “Democrats vow court fight to block new N.C. congressional map,” by Ally Mutnick: https://politi.co/2Kubhqf.
CR-Y ME A RIVER -- Current government funding runs dry on Friday, and the House and Senate are supposed to vote this week on a continuing resolution (CR) — and get it to the president’s desk — before lawmakers leave for the Thanksgiving recess. But negotiators have yet to release the text of the CR, with negotiators still hammering out the final details and deciding whether there should be any add-ons to the stop-gap spending bill. Lawmakers are expected to come to an agreement, but the bigger fight could come in December. "Well, let us hope left to their own devices, the appropriators can avoid that,” Pelosi told CBS’ “Face the Nation” when asked about a shutdown.
Related: “Lawmakers skeptical of progress on spending deal as wall battle looms,” by The Hill’s Niv Elis: http://bit.ly/32XrWt1.
LOSING-IANA -- Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards won his reelection in Louisiana, even after Trump went all out for the Republican candidate, Eddie Rispone. The president has now lost two of three gubernatorial elections in conservative Southern states, raising questions about his standing heading into 2020.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was asked by Fox News’ Chris Wallace on whether the latest loss makes Trump look bad. “Clearly President Trump's involvement made a big difference at helping close that massive gap and look, the governor's polling showed he was above 50 before President Trump first started getting involved,” Scalise said. “That forced a runoff." More from Alex Isenstadt on the race: https://politi.co/2OmIhBZ.
ANSWERS ON EPSTEIN -- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is demanding answers from ABC News about why it apparently killed a story about the dead accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Video surfaced earlier this month of anchor Amy Robach complaining that the network had killed her interview with one of Epstein’s accusers several years ago. “I am deeply concerned that this victim, in search of justice, went to ABC News, provided information and an interview, and then ABC News chose to bury the truth,” McCarthy wrote to ABC News President James Goldston. The Daily Caller’s Shelby Talcott has more: http://bit.ly/2qrJhwG.
Maria Martirosyan will be a legislative assistant in Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)’s office handling her education work in the Ed and Labor committee, as well as energy, environment, judiciary, and other issues. She previously was a legislative correspondent for Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.).
The House gavels in at noon, with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. Today’s agenda: http://bit.ly/2pnzQxQ.
The Senate meets at 3 p.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of Robert J. Luck to be U.S. circuit judge for the Eleventh Circuit. At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Luck nomination.
Gearing up for a marathon week of impeachment hearings.
FRIDAY’S WINNER: Burton Schwartz was the first person to guess that the chandelier in the Small Senate Rotunda was purchased from the ABC Wrecking Company and contains 14,500 crystals.
TODAY’S QUESTION: From yours truly: During Clinton's impeachment, there were 13 House "impeachment managers" for the Senate trial. How many are still in Congress today? First person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: mzanona@politico.com
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Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine