Earlier today the House Intelligence Committee held its third hearing against President Trump hurco lawmakers heard testimony from lt. Col. Vindman, National Security Council Director for europe at Jennifer Williams russia and europe advisor to Vice President pentz. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] the committee will come to order good morning everyone this is the third in a series of public hearings will be holding as a part of the impeachment inquiry prick without objection the chairs authorized to declare recess at any time for there is a quorum present well proceed in the sameze fashion as in the first hearing of will make a statement and then we will turn to our witnesses for their Opening Statements and then two questions prick audience members we respect you and your interest to be here we asked for your respect t as we proceed with todays hearing is the intention to proceed without
President zelensky. Now, colonel vindmann advance of this phone call, did you prepare for the phone call as you did the april 21st call . Yes, i did. What were the talking points based upon . They were this is not in the Public Record and i cant comment too deeply, but what is the areas that weve consistently talked about in public, it was cooperation on supporting reform agenda, anticorruption efforts and helping president zelensky implement his plans to end russias war against ukraine. In other words, theyre based on official u. S. Policy . Correct. And is there a process to determine official u. S. Policy . Yes. That is my job is to coordinate u. S. Policy. So throughout the preceding year that i had been on staff, i had undertaken an effort to make sure we had a cohesive policy. As you listened to the call, did you observe whether President Trump was following the talking points based on the official u. S. Policy . Counsel, the president could choose to use the talking points or no
Zelensky. Colonel vindman in advance of this phone call did you prepare talking points as did you for the april 21st call . Yes, i did. What were those talking points based upon. This is not in the Public Record and i cant comment too deeply. In areas that we talked about in public was cooperation on supporting reform agenda. Anticorruption efforts and helping president zelensky implement his plans to end russias war against ukraine. In other words theyre based on official u. S. Policy . Correct. And is there a process to determine official u. S. Policy . Yes. That is my job is to coordinate u. S. Policy so throughout the preceding year that i had been on staff, i had undertaken an effort to make sure we had a cohesive, coherent and just policy. As you listened to the call, did you observe whether President Trump was following the talking points based on the official u. S. Policy . Counsel, the president could choose to use the talking points or not. Hes the president. But they were no
Information ok. And and ultimately the Vice President went to canada for a u. S. M. C. I. Event thats right during this. This window of time correct correct so its entirely conceivable that the president decided that he wanted the Vice President to go to canada on behalf of u. S. M. C. A. Instead of doing anything else correct im really not a position to speculate what the motivations were behind the president s decision you know the various president s and quite a bit of us m. C. A. Events correctly yesterday and are you aware of whether the. Any one of the state department inquired with your office about the Vice President s availability for the trip to canada for the trip at what point. Early may may be may 8th. I i was on volved in the trip planning for canada and one of my colleagues who covers western hemisphere was in charge of that song not aware of specific ok requests about the Vice President s bill dudley i was aware from my colleague who is planning the trip that we had com
We cant lose ground. The new treatments can be extremely expensive and cost as much as 1,000 a pill. I understand the v. A. Has been able to negotiate with the Drug Companies to a lower cost. And ive heard estimates that v. A. Is instead paying closer to 600 a bill, is that correct . I you may not have a answer. I would like to not have to answer that question. We work very slowly and collaboratively with the manufacturers of those drugs and have been able to reach attractive arrangements for the continued purchase of those drugs. And we continue to have those conversations. My what im curious about is if maybe our veterans are maybe choosing to go to v. A. As opposed to the private care or tricare or other options because they might get access to this medication more easily and the doctors might be able to get the treatment done in a more timely manner . I think that is certainly the case. If a veteran who is medicare eligible was to go to a private provider, he would wind up with a v