Impeachment hearings: Was Trump’s ‘favor’ really a ‘demand’ on the Ukraine president?

WASHINGTON — There was plenty of drama in the Tuesday marathon third day of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, all leading up to the much anticipated wildcard witness on Wednesday, European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland.

“Ambassador Sondland is a big personality,” said ex-envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker about the megadonor who wrangled an ambassadorial spot as the hearing was nearing its 11th hour. Sondland is a key figure in the Ukraine inquiry.

The news included the changed testimony of Volker, who said he now — contrary to his October closed-door deposition — realizes that talk about a company called Burisma at meetings earlier this year was really a reference to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, whose son, Hunter, was on the board.

House Intelligence committee Democrats called two witnesses, Jennifer Williams, a State Department career officer detailed to Vice President Mike Pence, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council staffer who handled the Ukraine portfolio.

Republicans on the panel called Volker and former White House national security official Tim Morrison.

Vindman got most of the attention. Republicans tried to link him to the whistleblower who they are intent on unmasking. Volker didn’t help Republicans when he said allegations about Biden and Burisma were “not credible.”

The Democrats are building the case that Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is a reason to impeach Trump because he pressed Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden. Military assistance to Ukraine — fighting a war with Russia — hung in the balance.

IS A FAVOR A DEMAND?

The Democrats are heavily relying on the July 25 call memo, a conversation Trump has multiple times deemed “perfect.” Trump asked Zelensky for a “favor” during the call at a time when the new Ukraine president was seeking a Trump meeting.

The meaning of favor in this context is very important, not a mere matter of semantics.

Morrison testified, “I did not hear a demand in the call.”

Vindman had a much different analysis.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who is the intelligence committee chair, asked, “What is it about the relationship between the president of the United States and the president of Ukraine that led you to conclude that when the president of the United States [asks] a favor like this it is really a demand?

Vindman replied, “Chairman, the culture I come from, the military culture when a senior [asks] you to do something, even if it’s polite and pleasant it’s, — it’s not — it’s not to be taken as a request, it is to be taken as an order. In this case the power disparity between the two leaders — my impression is that in order to get the White House meeting President Zelensky would have to deliver these investigations.”

DUAL LOYALTIES

Vindman was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. Nearly 40 years ago — when Vindman was almost 4 years old — his family came to the U.S. as refugees to escape Soviet anti-Semitism. He is an American Jew.

Steve Castor, the Republican counsel, grilled Vindman about an offer to be Defense Minister of Ukraine Vindman got from Oleksandr Danylyuk, the former head of Ukraine’s National Security when he was in Ukraine for Zelensky’s inauguration.

My take: Castor knew or should have known how this line of questioning — raising the matter of dual loyalties — could be perceived.

Vindman was asked by Danylyuk three times if he wanted the job and “every single time I dismissed it.”

Castor pressed on: Did Vindman leave the door open? “Was he speaking in English or Ukrainian?” And, “It’s really significant, you know, the Ukrainians offered you the post of defense minister.” Did Vindman worry that if the offer got out, “It might create at least that perception of a conflict”?

Said Vindman, “The whole notion is rather comical that I was being asked to consider whether I would want to be the minister of defense. I did not leave the door open at all.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Chicago-area Democrat born in New Delhi, India, said to Vindman, “It appears that your immigrant heritage is being used against you.”