Impeachment transcript for deputy assistant secretary of state released
Source: CNN
(CNN)House impeachment investigators on Thursday released the closed-door deposition transcript of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, who said he was told to lie low after raising complaints about President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Kent, who oversees US policy on Ukraine at the State Department, testified that a State Department supervisor told him to lie low after he raised complaints about Trump's personal attorney. He told lawmakers Giuliani was "wrong" to conduct a shadow foreign policy and Giuliani's efforts undermined US foreign policy in Ukraine, where he was pushing for the ouster of the US ambassador and for investigations into Trump's rivals.
Kent's testimony added yet another voice to the case that Giuliani manipulated US foreign policy for Trump's political benefit. This was a key allegation in the whistleblower complaint that triggered the impeachment inquiry. Giuliani maintains he was simply helping his client.
Kent testified privately before House lawmakers on October 15 as part of the impeachment inquiry. He appeared under subpoena despite State Department orders not to cooperate with Congress.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/george-kent-transcript-released/index.html
Transcript is here (PDF) - https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/CPRT-116-IG00-D009.pdf
Committees' Press Release - https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=806
Committees Release George Kent's Deposition Transcript as Part of Impeachment Inquiry
Washington, November 7, 2019
Washington, D.C.-- Today, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Acting Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, released the transcript from the joint deposition of George Kent, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the U.S. Department of State.
The three Chairs issued the following statement announcing today's release:
"The testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent strongly corroborates testimony from numerous other witnesses. Mr. Kent affirms that he and his colleagues recognized the impropriety of pressuring Ukrainian officials to undertake politically-motivated investigations to help President Trump's reelection prospects in 2020.
"Mr. Kent not only affirms testimony released this week by the Committees, but he also describes his contemporaneous documentation of conversations and events. Yet, the State Department and White House continue to withhold these key documents from the Committees in defiance of duly authorized subpoenas. These actions demonstrate the President's clear obstruction of Congress and support the inference that these documents further corroborate the testimony of presidential misconduct that we have received.
"We look forward to Mr. Kent's public testimony."
The testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary Kent can be found here.
Key excerpts from Deputy Assistant Secretary Kent can be found here.
Background:
H. Res. 660, which was passed by the House of Representatives on October 31, 2019, authorizes the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence "to make publicly available in electronic form the transcripts of depositions" with "appropriate redactions for classified and other sensitive information."
Pursuant to this resolution, and consistent with the Committee's rules and longstanding bipartisan practice, the Committee has begun preparing transcripts from the impeachment inquiry for public release, which includes a thorough, nonpartisan security review to protect classified and other sensitive information.
As part of this process, the Committee is redacting (1) personally identifiable information; (2) the names of non-senior Executive Branch personnel and Intelligence Community employees; (3) the names of committee staff who did not ask questions or make on-the-record statements; and (4) classified or potentially classified information or other sensitive information not pertinent to the subject of the impeachment inquiry.
In addition, consistent with the Committee's rules, each transcript has been made available to the witness for inspection, including to identify technical, grammatical, and typographical corrections. The Committee has also taken into consideration requested redactions from witnesses, if they fall within the parameters above.
Although the transcripts list Members of the three Committees who were present at the outset of a deposition, they do not necessarily reflect the attendance of all Members who may have joined or departed a deposition at different points.
The Committee will release individual transcripts on a rolling basis as this process is completed.
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...and you as well, Bum
SO GLAD to see this!!!
