President Trump lauded Turkey as a “great NATO ally” during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday in which tensions between the countries simmered beneath the surface.
The big picture: Erdoğan's invasion of northern Syria last month sparked bipartisan outrage in Washington and came with the countries already locked in a dispute over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian s-400 missile system. Erdoğan was defiant on those points, and he lashed out over votes in the House of Representatives to back sanctions on Turkey and recognize the Armenian genocide.
During a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, President Trump said he knows nothing about an alleged July 26 phone call with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland in which he is reported to have asked about the status of Ukrainian investigations he sought into the Bidens and the 2016 election.
Chad Wolf is now the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the Washington Post's Nick Miroff reports. He was sworn in the same day he was confirmed by the Senate to an undersecretary position.
Why it matters: Wolf is the fifth person to lead DHS under Trump, replacing Kevin McAleenan whose resignation was announced almost five weeks ago. Some hardliners have questioned his commitment to the president's immigration agenda. Wolf is expected to elevate Ken Cuccinelli — a conservative favorite serving as acting director of Citizenship and Immigration Services — to the second highest position in the agency, CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Senate confirmed Chad Wolf to become undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans on Wednesday in a bipartisan vote of 54-41.
Why it matters: Wolf has been serving in the position in an acting capacity. President Trump has indicated Wolf will be the next acting DHS secretary — confirmation to Wolf's current role is the first step in making that happen.
House Intelligence ranking member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) attacked Democrats for their "carefully orchestrated smear campaign" against President Trump in his opening statement at the first public impeachment hearing on Wednesday.
Why it matters: Nunes' comments reflect one of the strategies Republicans have settled on to defend the president: attack the impeachment inquiry as partisan and unfair and an extension of the Russia investigation that Democrats have been carrying on since 2016.
Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, told the House Intelligence Committee during its public impeachment hearing on Wednesday that a staffer overheard President Trump discuss "the investigations" in Ukraine with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland the day after Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Why it matters: This is a new piece of information from Taylor, who said that he was not aware of that information at the time of his closed-door deposition in October.
Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor is testifying in the House impeachment inquiry's first public hearing.
Driving the news: Taylor's opening statement included a new revelation that he said he learned from a staffer last Friday. The staffer overheard EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland discussing "investigations" in a phone call with Trump on July 26. When he asked Sondland what Trump thought of Ukraine, "Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for," Taylor said.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent is testifying Wednesday in the House's first public impeachment hearing.
Why it matters: In his opening statement, Kent outlined the main themes he went over in his 10-hour closed-door deposition. Among other things, Kent testified that he was alarmed by Rudy Giuliani's campaign to oust former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and attempts to "gin up politically-motivated investigations."
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) gave a lengthy statement to open the House impeachment inquiry's first public hearing.
Why it matters: The speech gives insight into the case that Democrats plan to make for Trump's impeachment. And while the inquiry is still technically in its investigation stage, Schiff stated: "The facts in the present inquiry are not seriously contested."
A Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday found that 81% of voters surveyed said there is no or little chance they will change their minds regarding the House's impeachment inquiry into PresidentTrump.
Why it matters: The poll comes hours before the first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry kicks off.
Top House Republican sources tell Axios that one impeachment survival strategy will be to try to distance President Trump from any Ukraine quid pro quo, with Rudy Giuliani potentially going under the bus.
What they're saying: A Republican member of one of the impeachment committees told Axios: "[T]his is not an impeachment of Rudy Giuliani, it's not an impeachment of Ambassador Sondland. It's an impeachment of the president of the United States."
Starting today, Democrats will do everything they can to put the most damaging testimony against President Trump in front of the public — while Republicans try to put as much distance as possible between Trump and the efforts to pressure Ukraine.
Why it matters: The American public, which has largely been left out of the impeachment process so far, will get a front row seat to the fourth attempt in U.S. history to remove a president from office.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hired about 40 former Trump White House and campaign employees for a $2.25 million annual contract to do work traditionally handled by CMS' own communications department.
Why it matters: "The arrangement allowed the Trump allies to cycle through the federal government's opaque contracting system, charging hefty fees with little public oversight or accountability," Politico reports.
The next phase of impeachment begins at 10 a.m. today with the first public hearing about President Trump's actions toward Ukraine — so here's a look at the witnesses you're likely to see.
Why it matters: Impeachment so far has been a messy and confusing process, with so many subplots that it's easy to lose track of what really matters: whether Trump held up military aid and a White House meeting with Ukraine's new president in exchange for a public promise to investigate Joe Biden's family.
President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday attacking Democrats and defending the Ukraine call ahead of the start of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry — which he labeled "unprecedented, constitutionally questionable."
What he's saying: In the op-ed, Giuliani outlined why he believes Trump's July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which triggered a whistleblower's complaint and Democrats' subsequent inquiry, was "innocent."
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the BBC on Tuesday that she's "under enormous pressure from many, many, many people to think about" entering the 2020 race.
