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Pentagon official testifies Ukraine inquired about military aid on July 25

Defense Department official Laura Cooper testified in an impeachment hearing Wednesday that members of her staff recently brought her two unclassified State Department emails revealing that the Ukrainian Embassy had asked about U.S. military aid — which had by then been suspended — on July 25.

Why it matters: July 25 is the same day of President Trump's infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though the emails from the State Department came after the morning call. Cooper's testimony suggests the Ukrainians knew there was "some kind of issue" with the security assistance by July, and that they were aware the aid had been suspended by August.

  • The surprise revelation could potentially undermine a key Republican defense that Zelensky could not have felt pressure from Trump to carry out investigations into his political rivals because the Ukrainian president was not aware of the frozen aid.

Go deeper: Live updates from the hearing

Go deeper

Alexi McCammond
32 mins ago - Politics & Policy

AOC and Ilhan Omar want to block Biden’s former chief of staff

Reps. Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar are boosting a petition against Joe Biden nominating his former chief of staff to a new role in his administration, calling Bruce Reed a "deficit hawk."

Why it matters: Progressives are mounting their pressure campaign after the president-elect did not include any of their favored candidates in his first slate of Cabinet nominees, and they are serious about installing some of their allies, blocking anyone who doesn't pass their smell test — and making noise if they are not heard.

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Butterball CEO Jay Jandrain talks turkey

Butterball estimates that it sells one out of every three Thanksgiving turkeys, but knows that this year's celebrations will be different than years past.

Axios Re:Cap talks with the turkey giant's CEO Jay Jandrain about what people are buying, what they're asking the "Turkey Talkline" and what the pandemic has meant for his business.

Zachary Basu
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Biden introduces top national security team

President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Tuesday at an event introducing the incoming administration's top national security officials, where he told the story of his stepfather being the only one of 900 children at his school in Poland to survive the Holocaust.

What they're saying: "At the end of the war, he made a break from a death march into the woods in Bavaria. From his hiding place, he heard a deep rumbling sound. It was a tank. But instead of the iron cross, he saw painted on its side a five pointed white star," Blinken said.

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