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For U.S. diplomats, public impeachment hearings could be catharsis and maybe a circus


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For U.S. diplomats, public impeachment hearings could be catharsis and maybe a circus

By Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed

 

2019-11-10T171426Z_1_LYNXMPEFA90HC_RTROPTP_4_GERMANY-USA-POMPEO-SPEECH.JPG

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at an event commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Berlin, Germany November 8, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On the first day of November, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent an internal email to thousands of State Department staff that began: "As champions of American diplomacy, we are in the truth-telling business."

 

While the email seen by Reuters focussed on global policy challenges, the message extolling truth struck a nerve in a diplomatic corps immersed in an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump that Pompeo himself has spurned.

 

Next week three diplomats will be the first to testify in open hearings led by Democrats in the House of Representatives considering whether Trump should be impeached for abusing power by pressing Ukraine to investigate a rival. If so, his potential removal from office would be decided in the Senate.

 

Ten diplomats past and present have testified behind closed doors, most under subpoena. At least four voiced alarm at the efforts of Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to politicize a department that prides itself on being apolitical.

 

Pompeo's refusal to cooperate with the House inquiry and his failure to defend career diplomats from attacks fuelled discontent. So did a White House spokeswoman's calling them "radical un-elected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution."

 

"It sure would have been nice for him to say something supporting the troops. The silence is deafening," a career diplomat said of Pompeo, a former CIA chief under Trump.

 

Early in the probe, Pompeo sternly objected to efforts to obtain depositions from current and former State Department officials and accused Democrats of bullying and intimidation. He has refused to heed subpoenas for documents.

 

When the three diplomats testify on Wednesday and Friday, with their reputations on the line as they face potentially harsh questions from Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress, they will have the backing of many colleagues.

 

“People are supportive. I think that’s the majority viewpoint,” said a veteran State Department official, one of the 10 current officials and diplomats who spoke to Reuters and who all requested anonymity to avoid retaliation. "There is a sense that we’re getting shafted."

 

The officials, who have served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, said the first public hearings are a chance for the diplomatic corps to show Americans they are public servants of integrity and principle who steer clear of partisan politics. While they spoke of deep frustration in the Trump era State Department, they stress it is their job to carry out the president's policies.

 

Trump's allies counter that he has changed the course of U.S. foreign policy with an "America First" approach that aims to bring back U.S. troops from "endless wars" and rebalance trade agreements in America's favour.

 

“On the whole, everyone is watching and cheering on Taylor and Yovanovitch,” said another official, referring to William Taylor, the top diplomat in Kiev, and Marie Yovanovitch, whom he replaced in June after she was abruptly recalled by Trump.

 

Taylor and George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary who handles day-to-day policy on Ukraine, will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday while Yovanovitch is scheduled to appear on Friday.

 

The State Department would provide no on-the-record comment for this story after multiple requests. A spokesperson confirmed a CBS News report that the department plans to provide legal assistance to employees called to testify.

 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

 

MOOD TURNS SOUR

The impeachment inquiry centres on a July 25 phone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate unsubstantiated corruption accusations against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm.

Pompeo was on the call, but initially failed to acknowledge that he knew of its contents.

 

Biden is a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to oppose Trump’s bid for re-election next year. He and his son deny wrongdoing.

 

In closed-door testimony, witnesses have bolstered a whistleblower's accusations that Trump sought the Biden investigation in return for granting Zelenskiy a White House visit and releasing nearly $400 million in U.S. security assistance to help Ukraine against Russia-backed separatists.

 

"It’s not what Pompeo is doing. It’s not his responses," said another person who works in the State Department. "It’s the underlying facts of leveraging U.S. aid for political gain. That is so appalling."

 

Trump and Pompeo deny any improper conduct, the president calling the probe a Democratic bid to undo his surprise 2016 victory ahead of a November 2020 election.

 

Becoming secretary of state in April 2018, Pompeo won early plaudits from career staff for reversing some of the unpopular policies of his predecessor Rex Tillerson by, for instance, increasing promotions and lifting a hiring freeze.

 

One career diplomat said that while "morale is low and everyone is complaining," Pompeo was preferable to Tillerson in part because his access to Trump had allowed him to better advocate for the department.

 

While the hearings will give the diplomats a direct channel to Americans, some colleagues worry they will also be subject to brutal questioning in the room and vicious attacks outside by Trump allies looking to undermine their credibility.

 

“On the one hand, it’s good. On the other hand, it’s just going to degenerate into a circus,” one official said.

 

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mary Milliken and Howard Goller)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-11
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2 minutes ago, webfact said:

it’s just going to degenerate into a circus

Indeed. Regardless that the whole fiasco is a hoax and a witch hunt kicked off by a democrat party that has zero chance in the 2020 election after 4 years of negativity. Forgetting that crucial aspect. 

 Forget that this was such a nothingburger, that Schiff had to completely make up a fantasy where Trump acts like some Godfather actor in dealing with the Ukraine to get peoples attention.(incredibly many on this forum still think Schiff was reading from the telephone transcript!).

 Forget that Trump released the phone call transcript which showed no crime. 

 Now, it turns out the Republicans will be denied their star witnesses. The whistleblower with links to Biden/Obama is off limits (surprise surprise!) and the 2 chaps with clear cut dodgy dealing with the Ukraine at the very heart of this effort, Biden sr and jr, are also off limits.

 

Just what is the point? This is a catastrophe for the democrats.

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The rivalry between the two parties has turned to sheer hatred and diplomats who have tried to remain unbiased are now caught in the turmoil. The aggressive bullying that Trump has made normal in his government will now be turned onto career politicians and everything will be done to demonise, demean and destroy them in an attempt to avoid the message they are delivering. The little decency and honesty still remaining in US politics is about to be thrown out the window to protect a president who will remain famous in history for all the wrong reasons.

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10 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Indeed. Regardless that the whole fiasco is a hoax and a witch hunt kicked off by a democrat party that has zero chance in the 2020 election after 4 years of negativity. Forgetting that crucial aspect. 

 Forget that this was such a nothingburger, that Schiff had to completely make up a fantasy where Trump acts like some Godfather actor in dealing with the Ukraine to get peoples attention.(incredibly many on this forum still think Schiff was reading from the telephone transcript!).

 Forget that Trump released the phone call transcript which showed no crime. 

 Now, it turns out the Republicans will be denied their star witnesses. The whistleblower with links to Biden/Obama is off limits (surprise surprise!) and the 2 chaps with clear cut dodgy dealing with the Ukraine at the very heart of this effort, Biden sr and jr, are also off limits.

 

Just what is the point? This is a catastrophe for the democrats.

Ha ha ha yup the diplomatic core will probably expose trump for the incompetent idiot he is just ask putin he knows it will be a good thing for for the USA electorate to see what trump really is oh and by the way I read the transcript it’s damming and that’s after trump cut a lot of it out best tend to your home country he’s busy wrecking you know

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5 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

The rivalry between the two parties has turned to sheer hatred and diplomats who have tried to remain unbiased are now caught in the turmoil. The aggressive bullying that Trump has made normal in his government will now be turned onto career politicians and everything will be done to demonise, demean and destroy them in an attempt to avoid the message they are delivering. The little decency and honesty still remaining in US politics is about to be thrown out the window to protect a president who will remain famous in history for all the wrong reasons.

The aggressive bullying that Trump has made normal in his government . . . 

 

Or perhaps Trump is simply and justifiably calling out those who are corrupt?  And the corrupt are squealing about it?

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1 hour ago, Tippaporn said:

The aggressive bullying that Trump has made normal in his government . . . 

 

Or perhaps Trump is simply and justifiably calling out those who are corrupt?  And the corrupt are squealing about it?

So how about the evidence.

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It began as a circus...Adam Schiff as ring master...it will end as a circus.  It is a scam...will be treated by the White House as just more Dem background noise.  Impeachment talk and investigation into Trump started even before he was elected President.

 

Dems are likely to lose big time at the polls next Nov for trying to totally wreck the Trump government...

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5 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

If Trump is an "incompetent idiot" as you say, why is it no one could beat him?  Not Jeb, Ted, Carly, Marco, Chris, or Hillary.  Does that mean they are even more "incompetent idiots"?  ????????????

No, but Trump is a career con man, and did conned on a massive scale with voters. Like some expat here with a skillful lying GF, they are unwilling to face facts of who he is and what he is doing....

How would Trump's actions be any different if he were an agent of Putin?

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10 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House intelligence committee, wrongly implied that his committee had no contact with the whistleblower before receiving the complaint. 

https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/schiff-wrong-on-whistleblower-contact/

Thats not what you said. You said schiff had contact. He did not.

 

whistleblower contacted an aide and was told where to lodge the complaint.

 

ohhhhh how bad.

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7 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

If this impeachment peters out the way of the "Mueller Report" There will be no stopping Trump in 2020.

Trump will be impeached. But he will not be convicted.

 

However, the evidence that comes out in public will hurt him. Thats what dems are doing. They know he wont be convicted, but the public has a right to know what trump has done then they can vote according to what they will accept.

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20 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Trump will be impeached. But he will not be convicted.

 

However, the evidence that comes out in public will hurt him. Thats what dems are doing. They know he wont be convicted, but the public has a right to know what trump has done then they can vote according to what they will accept.

It's beyond that. This is about the future of the presidency in general. 45 behaves as an elected dictator. That is not what the founders intended. Pelosi had no choice but to bring this out regardless of the great short term political risk. Nobody can really say at this point who will be the short-term winners and losers flowing from this inevitable impeachment. 

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49 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

If Trump is an "incompetent idiot" as you say, why is it no one could beat him?  Not Jeb, Ted, Carly, Marco, Chris, or Hillary.  Does that mean they are even more "incompetent idiots"?

What percentage of the entire American electorate actually voted?

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2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Indeed. Regardless that the whole fiasco is a hoax and a witch hunt kicked off by a democrat party that has zero chance in the 2020 election after 4 years of negativity. Forgetting that crucial aspect. 

 Forget that this was such a nothingburger, that Schiff had to completely make up a fantasy where Trump acts like some Godfather actor in dealing with the Ukraine to get peoples attention.(incredibly many on this forum still think Schiff was reading from the telephone transcript!).

 Forget that Trump released the phone call transcript which showed no crime. 

 Now, it turns out the Republicans will be denied their star witnesses. The whistleblower with links to Biden/Obama is off limits (surprise surprise!) and the 2 chaps with clear cut dodgy dealing with the Ukraine at the very heart of this effort, Biden sr and jr, are also off limits.

 

Just what is the point? This is a catastrophe for the democrats.

Trump did not release the transcript, he released a brief sanitized summary while his administration hid the full transcript in an Intelligence Service computer where it has no business being.

 

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1 hour ago, Kelsall said:

If Trump is an "incompetent idiot" as you say, why is it no one could beat him?  Not Jeb, Ted, Carly, Marco, Chris, or Hillary.  Does that mean they are even more "incompetent idiots"?  ????????????

Since the POTUS is fundamentally elected by "We the people", do you really want to open any discourse on what entity owns the greater incompetent idiot quotient?

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1 hour ago, Kelsall said:

If Trump is an "incompetent idiot" as you say, why is it no one could beat him?  Not Jeb, Ted, Carly, Marco, Chris, or Hillary.  Does that mean they are even more "incompetent idiots"?  ????????????

Didn’t beat the popular vote against Hillary. Probably a one hit wonder. Four years of exposing him as a incompetent idiot and this impeachment will display to the public that he is immensely corrupt. 2020 will be his Waterloo. 

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TBH, I am not sure if there are any career diplomats inasmuch they are un-elected and are mostly 'grace and favor' appointments of hopelessly unqualified sycophants by successful presidents... I mean presidents that win elections.

 

Sondland was a major Trump campaign contributor so he got the EU pick. The former CEO and current owner of a NFL club who secured the UK position has doled out millions over the years to the GOP including the failed McCain and Jeb Bush efforts. The US Ambassador to NZ who has just announced he's pulling the pin after only one term has very close ties to Trump and was even being touted as a presidential running mate before Pence swallowed first. Not bad for a former male model who was investigated by the State Dept after showing his lamentable lack of basic diplomatic nous back in 2017.

 

If there are an career diplomats are the vastly experienced State Department underlings who have to change the diapers on these useless twunts and clear up their messes.

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22 hours ago, Kelsall said:

If Trump is an "incompetent idiot" as you say, why is it no one could beat him?  Not Jeb, Ted, Carly, Marco, Chris, or Hillary.  Does that mean they are even more "incompetent idiots"?  ????????????

 

Just in from a republican , at state

a description of a president spiralling from crisis to crisis “like a 12-year-old in an air traffic control tower”.  --Anonymous

I'm pretty much non judgemental ever since Jr Bush rammed armoured columns into Iraq in a major fit of stupidity to "change" the middle east. If the Republicans want to destroy the USA now, so be it. Have fun guys    :thumbsup:

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1 hour ago, Kelsall said:

If Trump is an "incompetent idiot" as you say, why is it no one could beat him?  Not Jeb, Ted, Carly, Marco, Chris, or Hillary.  Does that mean they are even more "incompetent idiots"?  ????????????

Hillary did she won the popular vote and she is a woman trump squeaked by with 70,000 votes across 3 states with help from a hostile foreign power Putin is using him as a useful idiot little Kim is playing him like a flounder China is just sitting there licking its chops waiting till trump is really desperate then they will do a deal to their advantage and trump will call it a win he is a laughingstock now he is busy trying to wreck the diplomatic corps 

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One eyed Trump supporters seem to have forgotten about the mid term elections and the two newly elected Dem Governors and the walk over by the Dems last weekend when they won all  levels of local Government in another election nearly forgot the warm welcome he got at the world series and the martial arts championship( Did we hear BOO lock him up) Yes he looks like a winner in 2020!

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3 hours ago, Kelsall said:

Some Republicans are now calling for Schiff to testify publicly since he had contact with the whistleblower and lied about it.  Now THAT will be worth watching, circus or not.

I think that is a great plan just as long as Trump also testifies publicly too. Without the protection of his lawyer and waiving his POTUS immunity.

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2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Since the POTUS is fundamentally elected by "We the people", do you really want to open any discourse on what entity owns the greater incompetent idiot quotient?

I was under the impression that the office of POTUS was done by the Electoral College and not by the voters directly.

 

https://www.clearias.com/election-process-of-us-president/

 

The US President and Vice President are not elected directly by the people. Instead, they are chosen by “electors” through a process called the “Electoral College”.

The election process of US President can be consolidated into five steps –

Step 1: Primaries and Caucuses,

Step 2: National Conventions, Step

3: Election Campaigning,

Step 4: General Election, and

Step 5: Electoral College.

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14 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I was under the impression that the office of POTUS was done by the Electoral College and not by the voters directly.

 

https://www.clearias.com/election-process-of-us-president/

 

The US President and Vice President are not elected directly by the people. Instead, they are chosen by “electors” through a process called the “Electoral College”.

The election process of US President can be consolidated into five steps –

Step 1: Primaries and Caucuses,

Step 2: National Conventions, Step

3: Election Campaigning,

Step 4: General Election, and

Step 5: Electoral College.

not an electoral college, named was changed,  it's now called MAFIA

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6 hours ago, webfact said:

"As champions of American diplomacy, we are in the truth-telling business."

all good, but actions speak louder than words. Please show us the unredacted scripts of the conversations with Vlad and the Ukraine guy, while there and telling the truth, kindly show the tax returns, just to mention a few.... but to avoid any potential misunderstandings/misleading info just show it all

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