Page 33 - May 13th News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

President trump asked vice president pence to attend vice president zelensky's inauguration. is that right? >> that's correct. >> and that on may 13th, you were just informed by the chief of staff's office that vice president pence should not, will not be going per request of the president. is that right? >> that's what i was informed, yes. >> and you didn't know what had changed from april 21st to may 13th. is that right? >> no, not in terms of that decision. >> well, colonel vindman, since you in particular are a little bit more been miss williams focusing on ukraine, i want to ask you if yo...

Williams, was it your understanding that the president wanted the vice president to attend the inauguration? >> yes, that was my understanding. >> and did the president subsequently tell the vice president not to attend the inauguration? >> i was informed by our chief of staff's office, the have not's chief of staff's office, that the president had told the vice president not to attend. i did not witness that conversation. >> and am i correct that you learned this on may 13th, is is that right? >> that's right. >> am i also correct that the inauguration date had not been set by may 13 snth. >>...

Committee may ask me about. on april 21 zelensky won the ukrainian presidential election. on april 23 the vice president called to congratulate president elect zelensky. during the call, which i participated in, the vice president accepted an invitation to attend president elect zelensky's upcoming inauguration providing the scheduling worked out. the vice president had only a narrow window of availability at the end of may and the ukrainian parliament would not meet to set a date for the inauguration until after may 14th. as a result, we did not expect to know whether the vice president would...

>> when did that happen? >> stopping the trip planning? may 13th. >> how did you hear about that? >> i was called by a colleague in the -- the vice president's chief of staff's office and told to stop the trip planning. >> and as i understand it, it was the assistant to the chief of staff? >> that's correct. >> you didn't hear about it from general kellogg or a chief of staff. >> correct. >> or the president or the vice president. you heard about it from mr. short's assistant? >> that's right. >> and did you have any knowledge of the reasoning for stopping the trip? >> i asked my colleague why...

Trump asked vice president pence to attend president zelensky's inauguration, is that right? >> that's correct. >> and that on may 13th you were just informed by the chief of staff's office that vice president pence should not -- will not be going per request of the president, is that right? >> that's what i was inform, yes. >> and you didn't know what had changed from april 21st to may 13th, is that right? >> no, not in terms of that decision. >> colonel vindman, since you in particular are a little bit more perhaps than ms. williams who has a broader portfolio focuses on ukraine, i want to a...