An official who was on the phone call with Trump and the president of the Ukraine says the transcript of the call was accurate and that he had zero concerns that anything illegal was discussed:
CBS NEWS – A top National Security Council official who listened to President Trump’s July call with the president of Ukraine told lawmakers he “promptly” told White House lawyers he was concerned details of the call would become public, but did not think “anything illegal was discussed” during the conversation.
Tim Morrison, the outgoing senior director of European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council and a deputy assistant to the president, is testifying before committees leading the impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill on Thursday. He has emerged as a central witness to the events at the center of the inquiry, particularly the administration’s policy toward Ukraine.
CBS News learned the substance of his opening statement to the committees, which ran six pages and appears below. Morrison said the summary released by the White House of the call between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accurately reflects his memory and understanding of the call, but he said he had three concerns in the event the summary became public.
“[F]irst, how it would play out in Washington’s polarized environment; second, how a leak would affect the bipartisan support our Ukrainian partners currently experience in Congress; and third, how it would affect the Ukrainian perceptions of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship,” Morrison, who was in the Situation Room for the call, told lawmakers. “I want to be clear, I was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed.”
I believe I read somewhere that an official interviewed yesterday by the Schiff Show had suggested that maybe a word or two was left out of the transcript. But this official maintains it was accurate.
And not only accurate, but he said his only concerns was that the call could be made public – I guess given that Trump had mentioned Joe Biden and his son in the call.
In unrelated news, use his as an open thread. Here’s something from Dodo…
Giant anaconda crossing 🙅 pic.twitter.com/Od7A9S6yIF
— The Dodo (@dodo) October 31, 2019