Witnesses give new details about efforts to oust the American ambassador to Ukraine and Giuliani’s shadow foreign policy.
Two more witnesses are headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday and, according to their draft opening statements, will provide more detail to impeachment investigators about the unorthodox ways in which Ukraine policy was shaped at the White House.
Both witnesses — Catherine M. Croft and Christopher J. Anderson — worked as advisers to Kurt D. Volker, the United States’ special envoy to Ukraine, who resigned last month amid the controversy over President Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine.
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Ms. Croft’s testimony shifts the timeline of when attacks on the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch, started — as early as the summer of 2018. Ms. Croft said she fielded multiple calls from a former Republican representative-turned-lobbyist, Robert Livingston, who pushed a narrative suggesting the ambassador’s loyalty was to Democrats, an assertion for which there is no evidence. Ms. Yovanovitch, a career diplomat, was fired in May 2019.
Mr. Anderson describes a June 13 meeting at the White House with Mr. Volker and the national security adviser at the time, John R. Bolton, in which concerns about Mr. Giuliani’s influence in United States foreign policy with Ukraine were raised. During the meeting, Mr. Anderson said Mr. Bolton cautioned that “Mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the president on Ukraine, which could be an obstacle to increased White House engagement.”
Among the omissions, according to the witness, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, was Mr. Trump’s comments that there were recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Colonel Vindman also said at one point on the call, Mr. Zelensky specifically said the name of the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden, Burisma Holdings.
In mentioning the tapes of the former vice president, Mr. Trump appears to be referencing Mr. Biden’s comments at a January 2018 event at a New York-based think tank.
Schumer calls for the Army to protect Vindman from internal retaliation and outside threats.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, implored the Army secretary on Wednesday to take steps to protect Colonel Vindman in light of his testimony to impeachment investigators about Mr. Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.
“He is a patriot for being willing to do what we hope and expect every service member will do: to tell the truth when asked,” Mr. Schumer wrote in the letter to Ryan McCarthy, the Army secretary. “It is incumbent on the Army to ensure that he is afforded the same protections as whistle-blowers and protected from reprisal for testifying before Congress.”
Mr. Schumer asked to be briefed on what specific steps the Army would take to protect Colonel Vindman from internal retaliation and outside threats.
Colonel Vindman is a Ukrainian-American whose family fled to the United States when he was 3. Some of the president’s allies in the conservative news media have questioned the patriotism of Colonel Vindman, who was awarded a Purple Heart after he was wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb.
“These attacks are outrageous and unacceptable, but more importantly, this vitriol toward LTC Vindman may result in professional reprisals and threats to his personal safety and that of his family,” Mr. Schumer wrote.
— Nicholas Fandos
As Trump allies questioned Vindman’s patriotism, Cheney denounced those efforts publicly. She then privately called his wife and reiterated that message.
After publicly condemning commentators who had questioned the patriotism of Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a key witness in the impeachment inquiry, Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, privately went a step further Tuesday and contacted the colonel’s wife.
Mr. Vindman’s wife had called Ms. Cheney’s office Tuesday to thank her after the congresswoman, the No.3 Republican in the House, told reporters that smears against Colonel Vindman were “shameful.” Ms. Cheney then reiterated that message on the private call, adding that she was upset by the smears and wanted the colonel’s family to know that she supported him, according to two people familiar with the call.
In the run-up to Colonel Vindman’s testimony on Tuesday, right-wing pundits and allies of Mr. Trump insinuated the colonel might be a spy for Ukraine, where he was born.
Ms. Cheney was part of a chorus of Republicans that quickly rebuked those insinuations Tuesday, reflecting an uneasiness among some Republicans that defenders of the president may be crossing lines in their zeal to defend him against a fast-moving impeachment inquiry.
— Danny Hakim and Nicholas Fandos
At a confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Senate Democrats asked about Ukraine.
John Sullivan, the deputy secretary of state, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday morning for his confirmation hearing to be the next ambassador to Russia. But given the impeachment inquiry unfolding on the other side of the Capitol, Senate Democrats took the opportunity to also question him about his role in it.
Mr. Sullivan emerged as a boldfaced name in House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry after Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, testified about a conversation she had with Mr. Sullivan earlier this year about her dismissal. She recounted to House investigators that Mr. Sullivan told her “that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause” and that “there had been a concerted campaign against me.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Sullivan largely corroborated Ms. Yovanovitch’s testimony, reaffirming that he told her she had served “capably and admirably” and that he was aware of Mr. Giuliani’s campaign to remove her.
Under questioning from Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the committee, Mr. Sullivan said that Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, told him Ms. Yovanovitch was recalled because the president lost confidence in her, and that he was not given an explanation why.
“I was told that he had lost confidence in her, period,” Mr. Sullivan testified.
— Catie Edmondson
Catch up on impeachment: What you need to know about the inquiry.
President Trump repeatedly pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate people and issues of political concern to Mr. Trump, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Here’s a timeline of events since January.
A C.I.A. officer who was once detailed to the White House filed a whistle-blower complaint on Mr. Trump’s interactions with Mr. Zelensky. Read the complaint.
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