Pence Won’t Declassify Details Of Zelensky Call, Despite Schiff’s Demands

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 18:  U.S. President Donald Trump (R) speaks to members of the media as Vice President Mike Pence listens (L) during a lunch with service members at the Roosevelt Room of the White House July 18, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump took questions from the press and discussed on health care.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence listens as President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a lunch with armed service members at the Roosevelt Room of the White House July 18, 2... WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence listens as President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a lunch with armed service members at the Roosevelt Room of the White House July 18, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump took questions from the press and discussed the status of the healthcare legislation. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Vice President Mike Pence will not declassify additional testimony provided to the House Intelligence Committee by his national security aide Jennifer Williams, claiming through his lawyer that the impeachment inquiry is over.

Williams turned over the information, which details a September 18 call between Pence and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, a week after she publicly testified.

Per Politico, Pence’s lawyer Matthew Morgan wrote a letter to House Intel Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) saying that it “serves no purpose” to declassify the information at this point in the process.

Morgan also seemingly lashed out at Williams for sharing the testimony at all, adding that “the contents of a classified call with a foreign head of state should never have been discussed in an unclassified committee hearing or an unclassified deposition.”

Schiff wrote to Pence asking him to declassify the information on Friday, saying that there is no “legitimate” reason to keep the testimony a secret.

During her public testimony on that phone call, Williams characterized the conversation as a “very positive” followup to a meeting, and said that there was no mention of the investigations.

Latest News
27
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. V.P. Lickspittle lives up to his name.

  2. Of course QTip won’t let the details out. He’s dirtier than dirt, he’s seeing his (pipe)dreams of the WH circling the toilet with his Fearless Leader’s impeachment and he’s still hoping that Spankee survives and comes out the other side, if they can just keep the bad stuff hidden from sight.

    He’s gonna cover up and cover up and cover up unless/until he figures unsticking his lips from Spankee’s backside is going to “save” him.

  3. It’s hard to gauge “who’s the most repulsive”

    Until you realize that it’s time ill-spent, in any case.

  4. I may be misunderstanding what has taken place here, but last night WaPo reported Schiff forwarded the classified testimony to the Judiciary, evidently contrary to Pence’s wishes.

    Schiff sends classified witness testimony to Judiciary Committee

    House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) sent a document containing classified witness testimony Wednesday to the Judiciary Committee for consideration before it marks up articles of impeachment, according to a letter from Schiff that accompanied the material and was released publicly.

    The letter described the document as a “classified supplemental written submission” from Jennifer Williams, a special adviser on Russia to Vice President Pence who testified in an open impeachment hearing last month. The topic is a Sept. 18 phone call between Pence and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the letter stated.

    The classified material was not released publicly, and The Post could not independently verify its contents.

    Schiff wrote that his panel asked Pence’s office Dec. 6 to declassify the document “as there is no legitimate basis to assert that the information therein is classified,” but that Pence’s office has not responded. Pence’s office has said the call was classified and cannot be discussed in open settings.

    Schiff’s letter stated that Williams provided the supplemental material to the Intelligence Committee through her lawyer Nov. 26, a week after her public testimony.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-impeachment-live-updates/2019/12/11/a5b7a6be-1c03-11ea-b4c1-fd0d91b60d9e_story.html

  5. Trump and the WH made an assumption that Pelosi would never impeach. That caused them to overreach and they’re getting burned at the stake for it.

    Now, their assumption is that prosecutors’ offices won’t move against them. That’s also flawed. The IG and SDNY’s recent activities suggest that they do see Barr/WH as a threat and are willing to move if Congress follows through with impeachment. Certainly, we are at a point where the mysterious money trail from the Kremlin into the GOP is being revealed by way of Lev Parnas through the SDNY’s investigation. One has to believe that AG Barr did not want that info released. There are too many holes in the dam for the GOP to stop. Impeach this motherfucker and a lot of other things will move forward to take this WH down.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

21 more replies

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for theod Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for becca656 Avatar for danny Avatar for ifeveroheverawiztherewas Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for musgrove Avatar for dddinah Avatar for thomasmatthew Avatar for benthere Avatar for zlohcuc Avatar for 21zna9 Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for khyber900 Avatar for michaelryerson Avatar for brian512 Avatar for maximus Avatar for demosthenes59 Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for anon84323658

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: