THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 | POLITICO | 17Trump and Giuliani vehemently
criticized. Current and former of-
ficials told Congress they believe
Yovanovitch’s ouster was politi-
cally motivated.
McKinley, according to people
familiar with his nearly five-hour
closed-door testimony, said he re-
signed in part after learning that
Trump blasted Yovanovitch during
his July 25 phone call with Ukrai-
nian President Volodymyr Zelen-
sky. McKinley also said the State
Department was not doing enough
to shield officials like Yovanovitch
from partisan-driven criticisms
and pressure.
McKinley’s lawyer did not im-
mediately respond to a request for
comment.
Yovanovitch, who is still em-
ployed by the State Department,
told congressional investigators
last week that there was a “con-
certed campaign” to smear her
based on “unfounded and false
claims by people with clearly ques-
tionable motives.” She also said
she believed she was forced out at
Trump’s direction. The dynamic
that led to her ouster, she said, was
causing “this nation’s most loyal
and talented public servants” to
run for the exits.
McKinley served as ambassa-
dor to four countries and has had
several postings at U.S. embassies
all over the world. He first joined
the foreign service in 1982 and is
highly respected among the diplo-
matic corps.
A former colleague told POLITICO
that McKinley did not work directly
on Ukraine-related issues but was
concerned that standard diplomatic
protocols were being sidelined in
favor of a Giuliani-led campaign
to discredit top U.S. officials who
were unwilling to pursue politi-
cally motivated investigations of
the president’s political opponents.
Fiona Hill, the president’s former
top Russia aide on the National Se-
curity Council, expressed similar
concerns during her testimony on
Monday, according to a person who
was in the room.
Hill told congressional inves-
tigators that Giuliani and other
officials, including Gordon Sond-
land, the U.S. ambassador to the
European Union, appeared to be
circumventing the NSC in pursuit
of a shadow foreign policy toward
Ukraine. Ukraine is not in the Eu-
ropean Union.
She also told lawmakers and
aides that she met with an NSC
lawyer at least twice to report her
concerns. Hill testified that John
Bolton, the national security advis-
er at the time, advised her to speak
with the lawyer, the person in the
room for her testimony added.
And on Tuesday, George Kent,
a top State Department official
who oversees U.S. policy in the
region, told investigators that he
was alarmed at Giuliani’s efforts
to persuade Ukrainian officials to
investigate Trump’s political rivals,
adding that he was also concerned
the president appeared to be listen-
ing to Giuliani’s unfounded claims.
According to an official work-
ing on the impeachment inquiry,McKinley appeared for his testimo-
ny voluntarily and was not under
subpoena. It was unclear whether
the State Department sought to
prevent him from appearing, as it
has done for other witnesses. The
Trump administration sought to
block or limit the testimonies of
Yovanovitch, Hill and Kent — but
all three appeared to defy those
orders.
While House Democrats have
been able to pierce the White
House’s blockade on witnesses,
several executive branch officials
and agencies have said they will not
comply with congressional subpoe-
nas seeking documents and other
information related to Trump’s call
with Zelensky and the decision to
withhold military aid to the Eastern
European country.On Tuesday, the Pentagon, Vice
President Mike Pence’s office, the
White House budget office, and
Giuliani all rejected subpoenas or
document requests from House
Democrats.
The apparent reasons McKinley
gave for his departure on Wednes-
day are in stark contrast to Pom-
peo’s comments last week to a local
TV station in Tennessee.
“I have known Mike McKinley
for quite some time. He has been
with the State Department for 37
years and he told me for lots of good
and sufficient reasons for him and
his family – wanted to go on and
begin the next phase of his life,”
Pompeo told WKRN in Nashville.Nahal Toosi and Kyle Cheney
contributed to this report.McKINLEY from page 1
Trump attacks undercut State Department
Welcome to PI. Tips: tmeyer@
politico.com. You can
also follow me on Twitter:
@theodoricmeyer.Vaping trade group will
run ads on Fox News
The Vapor Technology
Association is launching an
advertising blitz in an attempt
to persuade President Donald
Trump not to move forward
with plans to ban flavored
e-cigarettes. Trump announced
the ban last month while sitting
in the Oval Office, but the trade
group’s ad doesn’t fault him
at all. Instead, the ad praises
Trump for keeping his campaign
promises and places blame for
the proposed ban on unnamed
government “bureaucrats.”
Q “Despite President
Trump’s efforts, bureaucrats
are considering a huge new
overreach: They’re considering
banning flavored vapor,” the
ad’s narrator says. “Vaping is
at least 95 percent safer than
smoking. But if the government
bans flavored vapor, 150,000 jobs
— gone. Millions will resort to
cigarettes or the black market.”
The trade group is spending six
figures to air the ad on Fox News,
including “Fox & Friends,” which
Trump is known to watch. The ad
will also run online. The group’s
membership doesn’t include Juul
Labs, the dominant player in the
vaping industry, which split with
the group over the summer. The
ads are expected to start running
on Thursday.Molinari heads to APCO
Former Rep. Susan Molinari
(R-N.Y.), who stepped down last
year from her role as Google’s
top lobbyist, has landed at
APCO Worldwide. She’ll be a
member of APCO’s International
Advisory Council. “With decades
of experience navigating the
political landscape around the
world and advancing critical
policy initiatives addressing a
wide range of issues, including
technology regulation, public
health and corporate social
responsibility, Susan will
provide invaluable high-level
strategic insight for APCO
clients,” said Margery Kraus,
the firm’s executive chairman,
in a statement. Molinari isn’t
expected to lobby in the role,
according to the firm.Jobs report
Q (^) The American Public Power
Association has hired Joy Ditto
as head of the trade group,
effective in January, POLITICO’s
Morning Tech reports. She
currently serves as president and
chief executive of the Utilities
Technolog y Council.
Q (^) Alan McQuinn has joined the
House Science Committee as a
professional staff member. He
previously was senior policy
analyst at the Information
Technology and Innovation
Fou nd at ion.
Q Andrea O’Neal has joined the
National Geographic Society as
communications and marketing
manager. She previously was
an account supervisor in public
affairs and crisis at Burson Cohn
& Wolfe.
— Theodoric Meyer
POLITICO INFLUENCE
Senate Republicans are prepar-
ing for a speedy impeachment trial
that concludes before the year ends.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell told Senate Republicans
on Wednesday he expects Speaker
Nancy Pelosi to approve articles of
impeachment as early as Thanks-
giving, according to five people
familiar with Wednesday’s party
lunch. McConnell then surmised
that the Senate could deal with the
trial by Christmas, concluding the
impeachment proceedings before
the Democratic presidential pri-
maries begin.
While they said there’s no deal
between Pelosi and McConnell,
Republican senators believe it is
in both parties’ interest to move
quickly.
“He thinks Democrats are of the
same mind: Let’s not drag this out
for five weeks,” one attendee of the
lunch said.
McConnell’s comments and
PowerPoint presentation on
Wednesday were in part an ac-
knowledgment that impeachment
is exceedingly likely to come to the
Senate, and much of the discussion
centered on the ins and outs of Sen-
ate procedure.
McConnell told senators they
would be unable to speak during the
trial and that only the chief justice
of the Supreme Court, the presi-
dent’s defenders and the House
managers could talk, one person
familiar with the meeting said.
A spokesman for McConnell
did not respond to an immediate
request for comment.
Senators who were in Congress
during the last impeachment trial
in 1999 spoke about how they han-
dled the effort to oust President Bill
Clinton.
At the lunch Wednesday, Repub-
licans asked how they can force a
vote to dismiss the trial and wheth-
er it’s possible to work on legislation
in the mornings amid the strict im-
peachment rules that require trial
proceedings six afternoons a week
once the Senate takes up the matter,
according to the sources.
McConnell also reminded sena-
tors of the power of Chief Justice
John Roberts to make motions dur-
ing the trial.
Answers to some of senators’
questions will depend in part on
what agreements McConnell can
work out with Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer on the rules of im-
peachment and whether the Sen-
ate can multitask during the affair.
Multiple Republicans expressed
interest at the lunch in trying to
legislate during the impeachment
trial.
Schumer said he’d had “zero”
discussions with McConnell about
the matter.“I’m not urging him to
do it immediately,” Schumer told
reporters on Wednesday, calling
for “a fair and bipartisan way, and I
hope that Leader McConnell would
obey those strictures.”
Marianne LeVine contributed to
this report.
BY BURGESS EVERETT
McConnell eyes quick impeachment trial in Senate
ANDREW HARNIK/AP
Michael McKinley, a former career foreign service officer with nearly 40 years of experience, said he was alarmed
at efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to pressure Ukraine to investigate the president’s political rivals.