Why did Jay Leno and the Kardashians come up in the impeachment inquiry?
The U.S. House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s Ukraine dealings continued Thursday as Fiona Hill, former Russia director for the National Security Council, and diplomat David Holmes testified in public before the House Intelligence Committee.
But in an odd twist, Jay Leno, the Kardashians and rapper A$AP Rocky’s names made a cameo Thursday morning.
Holmes, a diplomat at the United States embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, testified that he was at a dinner with Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, when Sondland called Trump and told him the Ukrainian president “loves your ass.”
Sondland testified before the committee Wednesday.
In his opening statement, Holmes said, “I then heard President Trump ask, ‘So, he’s gonna do the investigation?’ Ambassador Sondland replied that ‘he’s gonna do it,’ adding that President (Volodymyr) Zelensky will do ‘anything you ask him to.’”
Rapper A$AP Rocky’s name came up in the same call, Holmes testified. The rapper was arrested for assault in Sweden over the summer, NBC News reports.
The rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, spent almost a month in prison before he was released, according to the BBC. A judge found Rocky guilty in the assault and gave him a suspended sentence, the BBC reports.
Holmes said, “Ambassador Sondland told the president that the rapper was ‘kind of f-d there,’ and ‘should have pled guilty.’ He recommended that the president ‘wait until after the sentencing or it will make it worse,’ adding that the president should ‘let him get sentenced, play the racism card, give him a ticker-tape when he comes home.’”
Holmes said “Amb. Sondland further told the president that Sweden ‘should have released him on your word, but that you can tell the Kardashians you tried.’”
Holmes told the committee that when the Ukrainian president did not get a date to visit the White House, “They made alternative plans for President Zelensky’s first overseas trip to be to Brussels instead, in part to attend an American Independence Day event that Ambassador Sondland hosted on June 4. “
Holmes told the committee that Sondland “hosted a dinner in President Zelensky’s honor following the reception, which included President Zelensky, Jared Kushner, Secretary Pompeo’s counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl, senior European Union officials, and comedian Jay Leno, among others.”
What’s Trump accused of doing?
Trump is accused of withholding $400 million in military aid to Ukraine — which Congress had already approved — to get the Eastern European country to investigate the son of political rival and former Vice President Joe Biden. The Associated Press reports a whistleblower complaint revealed a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky when the American president asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Biden’s family and Ukraine’s possible role in influencing the 2016 election.
Ukraine was, and still is, fighting with Russian-backed separatists in a war that has lasted five years and killed 13,000, PBS News Hour reports.
Democrats say the withholding of aid is evidence of a “quid pro quo.” It’s illegal “to solicit anything of value from a person from a foreign country in U.S. elections” under federal law, as noted by The Associated Press.
A whistleblower complaint filed by a member of the CIA on Aug. 12 gave details about the president and his personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani’s moves to get Ukraine to investigate unfounded allegations of corruption against Biden and his son Hunter Biden, The Washington Post reported. “The complaint also alleges that the White House moved to ‘lock down’ the details of a July 25 call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart,” The Post reported.
What do Trump’s defenders say?
A Republican strategy memo released last Tuesday argues the evidence doesn’t show Trump tried to pressure Ukrainian leaders into investigating Biden’s family by holding up military aid, CBS News reported.
The strategy memo says Zelensky has denied feeling pressured in the July 25 call and that Ukrainian officials were unaware at the time that the aid had been put on hold, though this has been disputed by U.S. officials testifying in the inquiry, according to the network. The memo also says the U.S. released the aid package in September without any Ukrainian investigation of Biden’s family taking place.
Trump, who has frequently described the July 25 call as “perfect,” has denounced the impeachment inquiry as a “witch hunt” and demanded lawmakers instead investigate his accusations against Biden’s family, Fox News reported.
What happens next?
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee, led by committee chair Adam Schiff, began open hearings on the impeachment inquiry last Wednesday following a series of closed-door depositions.
William Taylor, acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent testified last Wednesday before the committee and took questions from representatives. Both said withholding desperately needed military aid for partisan reasons damaged U.S. relations with Ukraine and other nations.
Marie Yovanovitch, who testified Friday, served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2016 to May, when she was removed by Trump. Yovanovitch told the panel Trump axed her in part because she resisted efforts by Giuliani and others to get Ukrainian officials to investigate the Bidens.
During Yovanovitch’s testimony, Trump tweeted that “everywhere (she) went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.” Schiff said that tweet constitutes “witness intimidation.”
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, and Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, testified before the committee Tuesday morning. Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a former National Security Council aide, testified at Republicans’ request Tuesday afternoon.
Lawmakers have not outlined a timeline for the impeachment inquiry, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to move through it “expeditiously,” The Associated Press reports. Democrats have said they hope to complete the inquiry by the end of the year.
The full House of Representatives would then vote on whether or not to impeach Trump. The matter would then go to the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate for trial, with Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court presiding.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 11:19 AM with the headline "Why did Jay Leno and the Kardashians come up in the impeachment inquiry?."
