Los Angeles Times - 02.10.2019

LATIMES.COM WSCE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019A

said the Democrats’ request
“can be understood only as
an attempt to intimidate,
bully and treat improperly”
State Department profes-
sionals, including members
of the foreign service.
Marie Yovanovitch, who
was U.S. ambassador to
Ukraine before she was re-
called in May, was scheduled
to give the first deposition
on Wednesday, but a House
committee official said it
would be rescheduled for
Oct. 11.
The official said Kurt
Volker, former U.S. special
representative to Ukraine, is
still on track to give his dep-
osition on Thursday.
Democrats responded
with fury to Pompeo’s letter,
saying he should “immedi-
ately cease intimidating
[witnesses] to protect him-
self and the president.”
“Any effort to intimidate
witnesses or prevent them

from talking with Congress

— including State Depart-

ment employees — is illegal

and will constitute evidence

of obstruction of the im-

peachment inquiry,” said a

statement from Engel,

House Intelligence Commit-

tee Chairman Adam B.

Schiff (D-Burbank) and

House Oversight Commit-

tee Chairman Elijah E. Cum-

mings (D-Md.).

The warning is an echo of

the Watergate scandal,

when articles of impeach-

ment against President

Nixon in 1974 included the

charge that his administra-

tion had defied congres-

sional subpoenas.

Trump’s personal lawyer

Rudolph W. Giuliani sepa-

rately suggested he might

defy a House subpoena for

documents regarding his

own meetings with Ukrain-

ian officials, saying it “raises

significant issues concern-

ing legitimacy and constitu-

tional and legal issues,” in-

cluding attorney-client priv-

ilege.

On Tuesday, Giuliani

hired former federal prose-

cutor Jon Sale to represent

him in the widening inquiry.

It’s unclear whether

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

(D-San Francisco) will allow

the potential case to expand

to include obstruction. She

wants Democrats to focus

on Trump’s alleged im-

proper dealings with

Ukraine, which she says be-

trayed his oath of office and

jeopardized national securi-

ty.

At the center of the in-

quiry is Trump’s July 25

phone call with Ukraine’s

new president, Volodymyr

Zelensky. When Zelensky

brought up U.S. military aid,

Trump immediately asked

for his help with two investi-

gations.

Trump urged Zelensky to

“look into” former Vice Pres-

ident Joe Biden, a leading

Democratic presidential

candidate, and his son

Hunter, who had worked for

a Ukrainian natural gas

company.

Trump also asked Zelen-

sky about CrowdStrike, a

California-based cybersecu-

rity firm that established

Russians had hacked the

Democratic National Com-

mittee computer networks

during the 2016 campaign.

U.S. intelligence agencies

and the Justice Department

backed up that conclusion,

but Trump has repeatedly

questioned it.

Over the last week,

Trump has repeatedly

lashed out at an anonymous

whistleblower, whose com-

plaint about the call alleged

that Trump was using the

power of his office to solicit

interference from a foreign

government in the 2020 elec-

tion.

One senior Republican

offered support for the

whistleblower on Tuesday,

despite the president’s at-

tacks.

“This person appears to

have followed the whistle-

blower protection laws and

ought to be heard out and

protected,” Sen. Charles E.

Grassley (R-Iowa), who

worked on laws to protect

government employees who

report wrongdoing, said in a

statement. “We should al-

ways work to respect

whistleblowers’ requests for

confidentiality.”

Democrats argued that

Trump’s attacks on the

whistleblower bring his con-

troversial call with Zelensky

into sharp relief.

“Yeah, the best way to

prove that you’re not con-

ducting mob-like behavior is

to use mob-like tactics to in-

timidate the person,” Rep.

Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin)

said sarcastically.

Jay Sekulow, another

personal lawyer for the pres-

ident, said Trump had done

nothing wrong by complain-

ing about what he considers

a partisan witch hunt.

“The president is allowed

to exercise his 1st Amend-

ment rights to defend him-

self,” he said.

Some outside experts

urged Congress to add

Trump’s attacks and his

stonewalling to any im-

peachment charges.

“An obstruction charge

would be an important part

of setting a standard for how

presidents should behave,”

said John Hudak, a senior

fellow at the nonpartisan

Brookings Institution.

“There is significant evi-

dence that would suggest

Congress should look into

obstruction in their inquiry.”

David Iglesias, a former

U.S. attorney who directs

Wheaton College’s Center

for Faith, Politics and Econ-

omics in Illinois, called

Trump’s threats to unmask

the whistleblower “grossly

inappropriate,” but said

adding them to articles of

impeachment could muddy

a straightforward case.

“You should always stick

to the most readily provable

offense,” Iglesias said.

Trump’s approach to the

Ukraine scandal echoes his

defense during the Russia

investigation, which ended

this spring. He denounced

former allies who cooper-

ated with prosecutors and

urged Jeff Sessions, his at-

torney general at the time, to

shut down the probe. Be-

hind closed doors, he at-

tempted to fire special coun-

sel Robert S. Mueller III.

Now he’s turning his fury

to the whistleblower, claim-

ing the information was

wrong even though it has

largely tracked the White

House account of Trump’s

phone call with Zelensky.

“Why aren’t we entitled to

interview & learn everything

about the Whistleblower,”

Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Last week, he described the

whistleblower, and the

White House officials who

shared information for the

complaint, as “close to a

spy,” suggesting they had

committed treason.

Under federal law, gov-

ernment whistleblowers are

entitled to anonymity, and

retaliating against one may

violate the law. Under cer-

tain circumstances, deliber-

ately disclosing an intelli-

gence officer’s identity is

also a crime.

Andrew P. Bakaj, an at-

torney representing the

whistleblower, complained

Saturday in a letter to Jo-

seph Maguire, the acting di-

rector of national intelli-

gence, of “serious concerns

we have regarding our cli-

ent’s personal safety.” Not-

ing Trump’s comments,

Bakaj said he feared “our cli-

ent will be put in harm’s way”

if his identity is exposed.

Paul Rosenzweig, who

worked with independent

counsel Kenneth Starr dur-

ing the investigation of Pres-

ident Clinton that led to his

impeachment in 1998, said

Trump’s angry tweets about

the whistleblower can be

viewed as attempted wit-

ness tampering.

“He obviously doesn’t

think it’s criminal, because

he does it publicly,” said

Rosenzweig, now a senior

fellow at the R Street Insti-

tute, a nonpartisan think

tank in Washington. “But

the truth is, that’s wrong.

Witness tampering doesn’t

have to be quiet. Most peo-

ple keep it quiet because it’s

a crime.”

House may charge Trump with obstruction

[Trump,from A1]

Guyger walked up to Jean’s

apartment — which was on

the fourth floor, directly

above hers on the third —

and found the door un-

locked. She was off duty but

still dressed in her police

uniform after a long shift

when she shot Jean with her

service weapon.

The 26-year-old victim

had been eating a bowl of ice

DALLAS — A white for-
mer Dallas police officer who
said she fatally shot her un-
armed black neighbor after
mistaking his apartment for
her own was found guilty
Tuesday of murder.
The same jury that found
Amber Guyger guilty in the
death of Botham Jean will
decide her punishment. Her
sentence could range from
five years to life in prison.
The jury took a matter of
hours to convict Guyger, 31,
after six days of testimony.
Cheers erupted in the
courthouse as the verdict
was announced, and some-
one yelled, “Thank you, Je-
sus!” In the hallway outside
the courtroom, a crowd cele-
brated and chanted, “Black
lives matter!” When prose-
cutors walked into the hall,
people broke into cheers.
After the verdict, Guyger
sat alone, weeping, at the de-
fense table.
The basic facts of the
shooting were not in dis-
pute. In September 2018,

cream before Guyger en-

tered his home.

Jean, who grew up in the

Caribbean island nation of

St. Lucia, came to the U.S.

for college and was starting

his career as an accountant.

His shooting drew wide-

spread attention because of

the strange circumstances

and because it was one in a

string of shootings of un-

armed black men by white

police officers.

“A 26-year-old college-

educated black man, certi-

fied public accountant,

working for one of the big

three accounting firms in

the world ... it shouldn’t take

all of that for unarmed black

and brown people in Ameri-

ca to get justice,” Benjamin

Crump, one of the lawyers

for Jean’s family, said at a

news conference.

Crump said the verdict

honored others killed by po-

lice officers who were not

convicted of a crime.

Attorney Lee Merritt,

who also represents the vic-

tim’s family, underlined

Crump’s words.

“This is a huge victory,

not only for the family of Bo-

tham Jean, but this is a vic-

tory for black people in

America. It’s a signal that

the tide is going to change

here. Police officers are go-

ing to be held accountable

for their actions, and we be-

lieve that will begin to

change policing culture

around the world,” Merritt

said.

Ex-Dallas police officer found guilty of murder

associated press

ALLISON JEAN, center, after the verdict in Dallas.

Her son, Botham Jean, was shot and killed by a police

officer while eating ice cream in his apartment.

Tom FoxDallas Morning News