RUDY GIULIANI/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/UKRAINE: “John Sullivan, the deputy secretary of state, said on Wednesday [10-30-19] that President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was involved in a smear campaign to oust the ambassador to Ukraine, publicly confirming a key part of the saga behind the impeachment inquiry. Jumping into an impeachment fight that so far has been waged in the House behind closed doors, Senate Democrats used Mr. Sullivan’s nomination to be President Trump’s next ambassador to Russia to bring the drama into the open. Mr. Sullivan, testifying under oath and on camera before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, corroborated private testimony from one of House Democrats’ central impeachment witnesses, Marie L. Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine. Pressed on whether he believed it was appropriate for the president to demand investigations into domestic political opponents, Mr. Sullivan said, ‘I don’t think that would be in accord with our values.’”
–Catie Edmondson, “Top State Department Official Confirms Smear Campaign Against Ousted Ukraine Envoy,” The New York Times online, October 30, 2019