Trump lawyer was skeptical of possibility that Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman would testify against him to secure leniency in their campaign-finance caseSign up for the US briefing and get a new perspective 8.50pm BST The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, is still scheduled to testify before three House committees investigating impeachment tomorrow, but there are doubts that she will appear.With the caveat that things can and do often change, Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, is still expected to testify tomorrow before the three committees in private, source says. There have been continued questions because she is still a State employee 8.33pm BST Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the president´s closest congressional allies, was tricked into having a conversation with two Russian pranksters, mistakenly believing that he was speaking to Turkey´s minister of defense.Politico has more: But it wasn´t the Turkish defense minister at all. Instead, it was Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian pranksters with suspected ties to the country´s intelligence services who go by `Lexus and Vovan.´ The duo have become notorious in recent years for their cold calls to unwitting, high-profile Western politicians, including Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, leading some to suspect that they´ve had help from the Kremlin, according to The Guardian. ...The substance of Graham´s conversation with Stolyarov, who was posing as Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, is newly relevant in light of the South Carolina senator´s push for sanctions on Turkey as punishment for their offensive against the Kurds in northern Syria. Graham labeled the Kurds a `threat´ to Turkey in the call, seemingly contradicting what he has said publicly in recent days. Continue reading...
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