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This morning I spoke w/ Ohio Republican @senrobportman about impeachment. It was my first opportunity to ask him Qs on-camera about the Senate trial.

Here's the unedited video of our 8-minute conversation, along w/ an annotated transcript:
spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman Throughout the Senate trial, I documented my attempts to speak w/ @senrobportman in this thread ⤵️

He's cofounder & co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus & was one of the last known senators to speak w/ @realDonaldTrump before Ukraine aid was released.

@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump I had covered when @senrobportman released a statement explaining he'd vote against witnesses:



And I covered his floor speech last week announcing why he'd vote to acquit @realDonaldTrump:

spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump But I still had some lingering questions for @senrobportman, given his passion for Ukraine, his phone call w/ @realDonaldTrump, & his unique understanding of allocating aid money as a former director of @OMBPress in the George W. Bush administration.
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress During the Senate trial, @weareoversight released emails it obtained related to the Ukraine aid story: americanoversight.org/document/omb-r…

One showed a @senrobportman aide reaching out to OMB back in August to "lay out for me the reason behind the OMB hold" on congressionally-approved aid.
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight Today, I asked @senrobportman if his office ever received a direct response from Michael Duffey at OMB.

“I don’t think we ever did, we never did..."

--> spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight What's notable is Senate Democrats specifically asked that Duffey, & 3 other White House officials, be subpoenaed to testify in the Senate trial.

Senate Dems wanted this because the WH had blocked those 4 officials from complying w/ subpoenas issued by the House last fall.
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight Even though @senrobportman never received an answer from Duffey, he voted against subpoenaing witnesses in the Senate trial.

Today I asked him why. He said the House should have taken the matter to court & sorted it out there.

--> spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight During their 9/11 call, @senrobportman said @realDonaldTrump explained aid was being withheld to address burden sharing issues w/ Europe.

“He never linked the aid to corruption in general or certainly not an investigation in particular," Portman told Fox.
video.foxnews.com/v/608953978900…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight But throughout all stages of impeachment, @realDonaldTrump, his legal team & allies have offered varying/contradictory reasons for why the aid was withheld.

Today I asked @senrobportman if he thought Trump told him the truth on that September call.

--> spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight "...my only point was in my conversation with him, that was the only issue that he raised," @senrobportman told me. "I’m not suggesting he didn’t raise other issues with other people or have other concerns.”

spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight On his vote to acquit, @senrobportman told me:

"...even if you stipulate everything was true that [House managers] were saying, they never alleged a crime, they never met the standard, I believe, the Constitution sets forth."

--> spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight Lastly, I asked @senrobportman about a comment he made to @nbc4i's @ColleenNBC4 last week.

When she brought up the idea of censuring @realDonaldTrump to hold him accountable, Portman said, "I think he is listening, I really do."

nbc4i.com/news/the-spect…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight @nbc4i @ColleenNBC4 Today I asked @senrobportman if he still thinks @realDonaldTrump is listening, after he dismissed Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman & Vindman's twin.

"I thought it was entirely up to the administration to do that."

--> spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
@senrobportman @realDonaldTrump @OMBPress @weareoversight @nbc4i @ColleenNBC4 After hearing so little from @senrobportman throughout the Senate trial, I appreciated the chance to ask these lingering questions today.

Some excerpts are airing on @SpectrumNews1OH this evening. And you can watch or read our full conversation here ⤵️

spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/…
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Taylor Popielarz
@TaylorPopielarz
So, over the weekend I finished reading the Mueller report.

All 448 pages.

I'm far from the first person to read it, but I know not everyone has — or will.

It's very easy in today's political climate to forget about the report's findings, so I want to highlight my top 24.
1) “The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion."
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Taylor Popielarz
@TaylorPopielarz
If you’re just waking up, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has announced that Roger Stone, a longtime associate of @realDonaldTrump, was arrested this morning for seven counts:

- Obstruction of an official proceeding
- Five counts of false statements
- Witness tampering
Here is the 24-page indictment outlining the charges against Roger Stone:

justice.gov/file/1124706/d…
From pg 2: In “summer of 2016, STONE spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials about [WikiLeaks] & information it might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign. STONE was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by [WikiLeaks].”
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Peter Daou
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THREAD.

Uhhh... some questions for basically every single GOP MOC delivering the same talking points:

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Á̵̢̙͉̫ 𝐫 𝐝 𝐢 𝐧 ≤≥ 🌐
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#Thread #ImpeachmentInquiry

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