State Dept. officials share testimony
Diplomats could clarify administration’s actions
WASHINGTON – Two State Department officials with expertise on Ukraine testified Wednesday before lawmakers leading the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson appeared before the House Oversight, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees. Their attorney’s opening statements indicate that both were served with subpoenas to testify.
Both worked under former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who has emerged as a key witness in the impeachment investigation.
Croft’s background includes work on Ukraine for both the State Department and the National Security Council. Similarly, Anderson’s resume includes working at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
Croft walked out after a little more than five hours of testimony. She did not make any comments or answer questions as she walked away. Anderson arrived shortly after for his time with the three committees. He did not make any remarks as he entered the secure room in the Capitol basement.
According to a copy of her opening statement obtained by USA TODAY, Croft said that during her time at the National Security Council, she received “multiple calls from lobbyist Robert Livingston, who told me that Ambassador (Marie) Yovanovitch should be fired.”
Croft said Livingston, a former congressman from Louisiana, “characterized Ambassador Yovanovitch as an ‘Obama holdover’ and associated with George Soros.”
She was unaware who directed Livingston to reach out to her, but she reported the calls to her superiors.
Yovanovitch was the American ambassador to Ukraine who had told Congress she had been ousted following Trump’s pressure to remove her.
She said she was unaware of a hold on aid to Ukraine until a July 18 video conference with the Office of Management
and Budget, where she was informed a hold was placed on security assistance to Ukraine, stemming from an order “at the direction of the President.”
Anderson, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by USA TODAY, said that National Security Adviser John Bolton said Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who took part in a pressure campaign in Ukraine, “could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement.”
At a June 18 meeting at the Department of Energy on Ukraine, Anderson said there were “vague discussions in the meeting about how to address Mr. Giuliani’s continued calls for a corruption investigation.”
Both he and head Ukraine diplomat William Taylor agreed it was important not to ask the Ukrainians to commit to specific investigations like those Giuliani had called for.
Anderson and Croft’s insight could be helpful to Democrats hoping to learn more about the dual strategies that the U.S. was taking on Ukraine — the official one and the operation that multiple officials have told lawmakers hinged on the country investigating a political rival of the president.
Officials tried to avoid ‘sordid Giuliani efforts,’ lawmaker says
Speaking to reporters, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said the testimony from diplomats and national security officials showed that civil servants wanted to “separate themselves from having anything to do with” what he called the “shadowy, sordid Giuliani efforts” in Ukraine.
“It is my strong impression that she made it very clear she wished to be separated from that mess,” he said of Croft.
Asked what role he thought President Donald Trump played in the pressure campaign, Connolly suggested he played a direct role.
“Given the relationship between Mr. Giuliani and President Trump, one has to assume all of this had the approbation, if not the actual initiation of the President himself,” Connolly said.
“If I were an enterprising reporter, I would spend a little time on the issue of Javelin missiles,” he added, alluding to the security aid withheld from Ukraine.
The two diplomats appeared before the congressional committees despite attempts by the Trump administration to block various witnesses Democrats have called before them, including one witness earlier this week who filed a lawsuit in hopes that the courts could help guide witnesses as the legislative and executive branch face off.
Members of Congress gather to debate impeachment resolution
Also Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans got their first chance to face off on impeachment as they bickered over a resolution outlining procedures for the impeachment inquiry as it moves forward to its next phase, which will be in public.
The 13-member House Rules Committee, featuring nine Democrats and four Republicans, crammed into a small room with blue and gold walls to weigh a number of proposed GOP changes to the eight-page resolution.
“This is a sad day,” Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said opening the hearing. “I never wanted our country to get to this point.”
The committee, which normally doesn’t attract headlines, fought over subpoena powers for Republicans, dueprocess rights for the president, how impeachment has been handled historically and plans for public hearings in the House Intelligence Committee.
Reporters stood outside the room, hoping for access that was only granted to a handful of journalists who could fit into the small room that features a large crystal chandelier flanked by two smaller chandeliers. Staff members for lawmakers lined the walls and photographers sat on the floor cross-legged.
Pelosi: Time for Republicans to put country over party
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded the previous witnesses in a Wednesday morning tweet.
“We’ve learned so much about Trump’s months-long campaign to pressure Ukraine because military veterans & his own national security aides stood up to tell the truth,” she wrote.
She also called for Republicans to “do the same” as the witnesses.
“They put their country ahead of everything else. It’s not too late for Republicans in Congress to do the same,” she continued.