Fmr Rep Bob Livingston's back in the news - worked w/ Giuliani to oust Yovanovitch

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Natasha Bertrand ✔ @NatashaBertrand

Well here's a new character...

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/30/state-department-trump-shadow-diplomacy-ukraine-061641 … @AndrewDesiderio @kyledcheney

9:45 AM - Oct 30, 2019

Politico story:

State Dept officials to offer new details about Trump’s shadow diplomacy with Ukraine
Catherine Croft plans to testify that lobbyist Robert Livingston pushed to get the ambassador to Ukraine fired.

By ANDREW DESIDERIO and KYLE CHENEY

10/30/2019 09:21 AM EDT

Two veteran foreign service officers plan to reveal on Wednesday new details about the unconventional efforts by President Donald Trump’s associates to influence U.S. policy toward Ukraine, according to copies of their opening statements obtained by POLITICO.

Catherine Croft and Christopher Anderson, State Department officials who served as senior advisers on Ukraine, plan to describe to House impeachment investigators the unusual intrusion into U.S. foreign policy by Trump-aligned consultants, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Robert Livingston, a lobbyist and former GOP congressman.

The officials’ opening statements implicitly criticize Trump’s posture toward Ukraine, with Croft singling out Trump’s “long-held view of Ukraine as a corrupt country,” which she and her colleagues hoped to reverse.

<snip>

Croft, who also served as a Ukraine adviser on the National Security Council, plans to tell investigators that she received “multiple calls” from Livingston, a lobbyist, who told her that Yovanovitch should be fired. She also intends to say she never met Giuliani but was aware that Volker spoke to him at times.

Trump ousted Yovanovitch in May after Giuliani and others had launched a coordinated effort to undermine her, according to Yovanovitch’s testimony before impeachment investigators earlier this month.

“[Livingston] characterized Ambassador Yovanovitch as an ‘Obama holdover’ and associated with George Soros,” Croft plans to say. “It was not clear to me at the time—or now—at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch.”

</snip>

Haven't thought of him since Clinton's impeachment 21 yrs ago. Almost Speaker, but resigned from congress after an affair of his became public (Molester Hastert stepped in his place).

[Docreed2003]

1. It's like night of the living dead in that swamp

[dawg day]

2. He was so bad Denny Hastert was seen as more acceptable

What a great bench the GOP has. And they keep popping up like zombies.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Kick - anyone who remembers the Clinton Impeachment will feel schadenfreude...

...towards ol' Bob's involvement in this newest impeachment drama.

[padah513]

4. This Giuliani thing is like The Blob

The longer it stays around the more people get sucked up in it and it just keeps growing

[Me.]

5. Sex Scandal Livingston?

[yellowcanine]

6. Speaking of chickenshits.......

Resignation[edit]
In 1998, Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered up to one million dollars for anyone providing tips about unflattering sexual stories regarding members of congress or high government officials.[8] Livingston learned late on the night of December 15, 1998—just days before the full House of Representatives was about to begin debating the impeachment of President Clinton—that Flynt had been in contact with at least one woman with whom he had had an extramarital affair.[9] Two days later, December 17, 1998, in a closed-door evening conference of his House Republican colleagues, Livingston said, "I very much regret having to tell you that I've been Flynted!"[10] The same day, Flynt released a press release saying he was investigating tips about four alleged affairs Livingston had had.[8] Two days later, on December 19, 1998, during the final impeachment debates in the House of Representatives, Livingston challenged President Bill Clinton to resign—and then said "I can only challenge you in such fashion if I am willing to heed my own words," and announced that he would not be a candidate for the speakership and would vacate his House seat "approximately six months into the 106th Congress."[11][12][13][14] (Privately, Livingston told colleagues that had he sought the speakership, it would have been more difficult for the House Republicans to carry out their agenda.[15]) In a subsequent speech, hurriedly written after consultation with the White House, Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri praised Livingston and encouraged members to applaud him, which they did, giving the Louisianan standing ovations.[16]

Note: Livingston proceeded to cash in on his congressional career and made big bucks as a lobbyist. So yes, chickenshit is an apt description.