Ukraine is locked in a war with corruption as well as Putin – it can’t afford to lose either | Orysia Lutsevych | The Guardian

High-profile resignations highlight the nation’s struggle to prove to the world it is not corrupt, says Orysia Lutsevych, head of Ukraine Forum at Chatham House

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That is so true, and we all need Ukraine to win both, or at least the war with Russia.

As Putin has to be defeated, so that is the war, but if, corruption does continue will the peace last, perhaps not.

 

Source: Ukraine is locked in a war with corruption as well as Putin – it can’t afford to lose either | Orysia Lutsevych | The Guardian

Ousted Ukraine ambassador Yovanovitch says she was told to tweet praise of Trump to save her job : NBC News

Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators last month that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told her she should tweet out support or praise for President Donald Trump if she wanted to save her job, according to a transcript of her testimony made public Monday.

The three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump released two transcripts — including of Yovanovitch’s testimony — of the behind-closed-doors interviews they have conducted so far as their investigation moves to a more public phase.

According to the transcript, Yovanovitch she asked Sondland for advice on how to handle an onslaught of criticism from conservative media and Donald Trump Jr.

“He said, ‘You know, you need to go big or go home. You need to, you know, tweet out there that you support the president, and that all these are lies and everything else,'” she told the committees. “It was advice that I did not see how I could implement in my role as an ambassador, and as a Foreign Service officer.”

The release of the transcripts triggered an immediate influx of interest that seemed to overload the House website where the transcripts were posted, with the digital copies briefly unable to be accessed. The committees also released the transcript of the deposition of former Ambassador Michael McKinley, who recently resigned as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s senior adviser.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is leading the impeachment inquiry, told reporters Monday that the committees will release the transcripts of the interviews with Sondland and former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker on Tuesday. The remainder of the transcripts of interviews that have been conducted thus far could all be released before Friday.

In a statement with the chairs of the two other committees leading the inquiry, Schiff said the round of transcripts released Monday “demonstrate clearly how President Trump approved the removal of a highly respected and effective diplomat based on public falsehoods and smears against Ambassador Yovanovitch’s character.”

 

Source: Ousted Ukraine ambassador Yovanovitch says she was told to tweet praise of Trump to save her job : NBC News

Whistleblower’s safety a concern as Trump makes veiled threats

Rachel Maddow reports on concerns about the freedom to testify and legal protections of the whistleblower in the Trump Ukraine scandal, as well as their physical safety after Donald Trump made thinly veiled threats about treating the whistleblower’s sources like spies were treated “in the old days.”

 

Source: Whistleblower’s safety a concern as Trump makes veiled threats

White House intervened to ‘lock down’ records of Trump-Ukraine call – whistleblower – Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A whistleblower report released on Thursday said President Donald Trump not only abused his office in attempting to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 U.S. election for his own political benefit, but that the White House also tried to “lock down” evidence about that conduct.

 

Source: White House intervened to ‘lock down’ records of Trump-Ukraine call – whistleblower – Reuters