Tag Archives: Ukraine

Cox Media Group reports: President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine announced Monday that he’s tested positive for COVID-19, making him the latest world leader to contract the viral infection. Monday’s announcement puts the Ukrainian president alongside President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who have also contracted COVID-19 in recent months. Other world leaders who …

The New York Daily News reports: A fitness influencer died from COVID-19 complications days after admitting he was wrong to think the virus didn’t exist, his ex-wife announced in a heartbreaking tribute over the weekend. Dmitriy “Dima” Stuzhuk, who had more than 1.1 million followers on Instagram, began feeling sick during a recent trip to Turkey and was immediately hospitalized …

NBC News reports: Federal prosecutors have brought new charges against Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani, accusing him of duping investors in a company called Fraud Guarantee. A superseding indictment unsealed Thursday says that Parnas and a second man, David Correia, convinced investors to hand over more than $2 million between 2012 and 2019 for a new venture …

ABC News reports: Leading Ukrainian religious figure Patriarch Filaret has contracted coronavirus, after blaming gay people for the disease. The 91-year-old, who is the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate, is currently hospitalized with pneumonia. Filaret caused controversy earlier this year after he made comments about the coronavirus being a result of gay marriage. He told Ukrainian national …

The Daily Beast reports: Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) refused to answer when directly asked whether he has been given foreign information meant to damage Joe Biden, according to a transcript of a closed-door committee meeting. Nunes is the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and he faced questioning from Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney when the committee met this …

The BBC reports: A stand-off in Ukraine has ended with security forces freeing 10 hostages from a bus in the city of Lutsk and detaining the gunman, after a bizarre intervention by the president. Pictures showed the gunman lying on the ground after his arrest. Just before the man’s arrest, President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to comply with his demand to …

NBC News reports: Joe Biden’s presidential campaign on Tuesday launched a highly personal broadside at Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, for pushing forward a committee inquiry into the presumptive Democratic nominee’s past dealings with Ukraine while he was vice president. Among other things, the Biden campaign is accusing Johnson of being …

CNN reports: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry, is retiring from the US Army after more than 21 years of military service because he determined that his future in the armed forces “will forever be limited” due to political retaliation by the President and his allies, his lawyer told CNN Wednesday. Vindman has …

The New York Times reports: Attorney General William P. Barr said on Thursday that President Trump was right to fire the inspector general who disclosed the whistle-blower complaint about Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and that the president’s political enemies could face criminal prosecution. Mr. Barr said that dismissing Mr. Atkinson was the “right thing” to do, in part because …

Politico reports: The intelligence community watchdog removed abruptly late Friday by President Donald Trump says he believes Trump ousted him because of his evenhanded handling of a whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to the president’s impeachment. “It is hard not to think that the President’s loss of confidence in me derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump notified Congress on Friday that he is firing the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community who was involved in triggering an impeachment probe of the president last year. In a letter to key lawmakers, Trump said he planned to remove the official, Michael Atkinson, in 30 days, saying, “it is vital that I have …

The Associated Press reports: Former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, the career diplomat who during the impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump offered a chilling account of alleged threats from Trump and his allies, has a book deal. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt confirmed Friday to The Associated Press that it had acquired Yovanovitch’s planned memoir, currently untitled. Financial terms were not disclosed, …

The Military Times reports: The Pentagon’s top policy official is reportedly being pushed out of the department, as part of the fallout from the Ukraine military aid issue at the center of the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Trump confirmed that John Rood, undersecretary of defense for policy, is departing―a move that leaves yet another significant vacancy at the top …

The Insider reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday casually cast aside one of the central claims of his impeachment defense by openly admitting to sending his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to hunt for dirt on the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The president made the claim in a podcast interview with the Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera, …

The New York Times reports: U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday defended the ouster of impeachment witness Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman from the White House National Security Council, calling him “insubordinate” and saying he had incorrectly reported the contents of his “perfect” telephone calls. Vindman was one of two witnesses who provided the most damaging testimony during Trump’s impeachment investigation, …

ABC News reports: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified during the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, was escorted from the White House Friday afternoon, his lawyer said. “LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth,” his attorney David Pressman said in a statement. “The truth has cost …

Bloomberg News reports: The White House is weighing a plan to dismiss Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council after he testified in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry, preparing to position the move as part of a broader effort to shrink the foreign policy bureaucracy, two people familiar with the matter said. The White House intends to portray any house-cleaning …

Axios reports: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to “encourage” its government to investigate the Bidens, but that he will vote to acquit Trump on Wednesday because he believes the consequences of the president’s actions should be decided in the next election. “If you have eight …

CNN reports: The Department of Justice revealed in a court filing late Friday that it has two dozen emails related to the President Donald Trump’s involvement in the withholding of millions in security assistance to Ukraine — a disclosure that came just hours after the Senate voted against subpoenaing additional documents and witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial, paving the way …

Axios reports: Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch has retired from the State Department, NPR first reported. The career diplomat remained on payroll since she was ousted from the department last year, per NPR. Why it matters: During her closed-door deposition before House impeachment committees, Yovanovitch testified that President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani led the smear campaign that led to her …