BREAKING NEWS: Impeachment inquiry "Missing Words and a Screaming Match"

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Impeachment inquiry

Well, we have our first official screaming match in the ever-acrimonious impeachment proceedings. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council official in charge of Ukraine policy, was interviewed by impeachment investigators. But during his deposition, Democrats and Republicans in the room got into a verbal tussle over the nature of the questions. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff essentially accused Republicans of trying to goad Vindman into revealing the identity of the Ukraine whistleblower. The Republicans denied this, and before long, the sides were shouting at each other. During his testimony, Vindman said he was concerned over the contents of the July 25 call at the center of the inquiry and immediately raised a red flag to other officials. Vindman's input is critical because he is the first witness to offer testimony in the inquiry who actually listened to the call.

Missing words and a screaming match: Inside a wild day of impeachment testimony
Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
Updated 4:35 AM ET, Wed October 30, 2019

(CNN) - Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council official in charge of Ukraine policy, told impeachment investigators that the transcript of a call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was mostly accurate but missing some words.

Specifically, he said during closed-door testimony Tuesday, he would have added "Burisma," the name of the company that employed Hunter Biden and that Trump pushed to have Zelensky investigate, according to CNN's reporting on Vindman's testimony.

Asked in September why there were three ellipses, a senior White House official said they "do not indicate missing words or phrases" but "refer to a trailing off of a voice or pause. If there were missing words or phrases, they would be represented by brackets or redactions. This is the standard practice that is followed for all records of Presidential phone calls."

However, the Times reports that one of the changes to the transcript sought by Vindman was regarding replacing an ellipses: "The rough transcript also contains ellipses at three points where Mr. Trump is speaking. Colonel Vindman told investigators that at the point of the transcript where the third set of ellipses appears, Mr. Trump said there were tapes of Mr. Biden."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/politics/impeachment-watch-october-29/index.html?utm_source=CNN+Five+Things&utm_campaign=6c35fde0f5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_30_01_49&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6da287d761-6c35fde0f5-104928233

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1. More on "Missing Words" from the New York Times:

Ukraine expert sought to fill gaps in call record

The White House’s reconstructed transcript of a call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president omitted crucial details, according to testimony on Tuesday by the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, who listened to the call.

The official, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, told impeachment investigators that he tried unsuccessfully to have the omissions restored. They included mentions of Joe Biden and Burisma, the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden’s son Hunter.
Colonel Vindman didn’t testify to a motive behind the White House editing process, but the omissions don’t fundamentally change lawmakers’ understanding of the call.


Reaction: Right-wing commentators have questioned the patriotism of Colonel Vindman, a Ukrainian-American immigrant who received a Purple Heart after he was wounded in Iraq.


Related: House Democrats released their proposed rules for impeachment proceedings. The plan, which is scheduled to come up for a vote on Thursday, would require the production of a public report and allow for due process rights for President Trump.
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