Inquiry ensnares Trump’s inner circle
WASHINGTON — House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is ensnaring a member of President Donald Trump’s inner circle after a critical witness testified that acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was involved in the Ukraine controversy — and that former national security adviser John Bolton opposed the shadow operation.
Details of the testimony emerged as three current and former Trump administration officials have defied the White House’s no-cooperation edict and have testified for House investigators. First came former special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker, then Hill, then George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for Ukraine, who met with lawmakers Tuesday.
The New York Times reported that Kent told the investigators that he was all but cut out of decisions regarding the country after a May meeting organized by Mulvaney, and he described his sidelining by President Donald Trump’s inner circle as “wrong,” according to a lawmaker who heard the testimony.
“Here is a senior State Bolton Giuliani
Department official responsible for six countries, one of which is Ukraine, who found himself outside of a parallel process that he felt was undermining 28 years of U.S. policy and promoting the rule of law in Ukraine,” Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-VA., said of Kent.
After the May 23 meeting called by Mulvaney, Kent told investigators, he and others whose portfolios included Ukraine were edged out by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union; Volker; and Rick Perry, the energy secretary, who “declared themselves the three people now responsible for Ukraine policy,” Connolly said.
Kent said he was told at another point to “lay low” on Ukraine matters.
The witnesses have painted a picture of a White House bitterly divided not just over Ukraine, which has long been reliant on military Mulvaney aid and political support from the United States as it fights Russian-backed separatists, but also over which political appointees were calling the shots on foreign policy: the experienced national security staff, or a group of Trump loyalists and the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council’s top Russia and Europe adviser, told investigators Monday that Bolton was infuriated by a shadow operation being conducted by Giuliani to pressure Ukraine into digging up dirt on the president’s political rival.