A donor to President Trump who was accused of “stalking” the former ambassador to Ukraine at the behest of Rudy Giuliani’s associates has provided documents to Congress as it opens its investigation into the ousting of Marie Yovanovitch, a crucial witness in the president’s impeachment.

President Trump told reporters Wednesday that he learned from his impeachment that Democrats are “crooked” and “vicious.”Trump was asked by reporters in the Oval Office what he had learned from his impeachment by the Democrat-controlled House...

WASHINGTON — A recently retired U.S. diplomat whose abrupt removal by President Donald Trump from her post as ambassador to Ukraine became a focus of the impeachment hearings is receiving an award for "excellence" in the conduct of diplomacy.

Marie Yovanovitch was expected to accept the Trainor Award from the ...

President Donald Trump said the lesson he learned from his impeachment trial is that "Democrats are crooked" and "vicious."

Last week, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was widely ridiculed for saying she believed President Donald Trump had learned a “lesson” from his impeachment saga. She later admitted that she may have been wrong, explaining that she should have used the word “hopes” instead of “believes.” Well, on Wednesday afternoon at the White House, a reporter finally asked the president if he learned anything from the ordeal. “Some Republicans have said they hoped you would learn a lesson from impeachment,” NBC News’ Peter Alexander said. “What lesson did you learn from impeachment?” The answer is unlikely to satisfy the Republican senator who will face Maine voters this fall.Without a second of hesitation, Trump replied, “Uh, that the Democrats are crooked, they’ve got a lot of crooked things going. That they’re vicious. That they shouldn’t have brought impeachment. And that my poll numbers are 10 points higher because of fake news like NBC, which reports the news very inaccurately—probably more inaccurately than CNN if that’s possible.” After taking one more shot at the network he now likes to call “MSDNC,” Trump kicked the press out of the room.Earlier in the day, CNN’s Manu Raju cornered Collins outside of her Senate office and asked—in light of the president’s actions regarding Roger Stone and the impeachment witnesses—if she still thinks there are any “lessons” Trump has learned from the experience.After reiterating that she doesn’t think anyone should be “retaliated against,” Collins defended her vote to acquit, saying his actions “did not meet the high bar established in the Constitution for the immediate ouster of a duly elected president.” Raju asked Collins twice more what lessons she thinks Trump has learned before she shut the door in his face. Stephen Colbert Absolutely Destroys ‘Skin-Bag’ Senator Susan Collins Over ImpeachmentRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Sen. Susan Collins's (R-Maine) impeachment vote had nothing to do with hoping President Trump "would learn a lesson," according to a statement from her spokeswoman, despite previous comments from the senator indicating otherwise.Spokeswoman...

The Army officer and former National Security Council staffer who testified in the impeachment inquiry is not under Army investigation, a knowledgeable Defense Department official told The Daily Beast. But veteran Army officers caution that the lack of an investigation does not necessarily mean Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman has escaped reprisal. Ever since Vindman was escorted out of the White House on Friday, along with his twin brother, there has been intense speculation over the future of his military career. Vindman has returned to the Department of the Army. Vindman infuriated President Donald Trump by testifying that the pressure he witnessed on Ukraine to aid the president’s reelection was inappropriate. After the Senate Republicans acquitted Trump in the impeachment trial, Trump has focused on retribution against his perceived enemies within the national-security apparatus. On Tuesday, Trump encouraged the military to discipline Vindman, saying “the military can handle him.” “That’s going to be up to the military, we’ll have to see, but if you look at what happened, they’re going to certainly, I would imagine, take a look at that,” Trump said.For now, they’re not. The Defense official said the Army was not investigating Vindman—an indication that, thus far, the Army does not see Vindman as committing a professional infraction by testifying to the inquiry. The durability of that assessment stands as a key question affecting civilian-military relations in the post-impeachment phase of Trump’s presidency. In an indication of how treacherous the military considers the politics of the Vindman episode, not even retired officers would speak on the record for this story. A source close to Vindman told The Daily Beast, “We have every confidence that the Army and the Department of Defense will regard Lt. Col. Vindman’s truthful testimony in response to a legal congressional subpoena as entirely appropriate.”A former senior Army officer who would not speak for the record cautioned that just because Vindman is not under investigation does not mean his career is safe. In the military’s “up or out” culture, being denied a promotion to colonel by the next Army promotions board will spell the end of Vindman’s service. And the ex-officer specified that the inherent subjectivity of the officer board will make it impossible to determine precisely if it was the ire of the president that prevents Vindman from ever having birds pinned on his shoulders. “There’s so much bias that can seep into these promotion boards that all it takes is someone to have an issue with his testimony to tank his promotion possibility,” the retired officer said.Additionally, just because Vindman isn’t under investigation now doesn’t mean the Army’s decision will hold. Just months ago, the Navy sought against Trump’s wishes to strip accused war criminal Eddie Gallagher of his affiliation with the Navy SEALs. Trump persisted, prompting the departure of Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. Several in national-security circles have been disturbed that no military or civilian leaders within the Defense Department have spoken up for Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran whose testimony subjected him to an onslaught of denunciation from Trump’s allies. As Vindman, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, testified in November, he found his loyalty to the United States called into question. The Democratic Senate leader, New York’s Chuck Schumer, called even before Vindman’s testimony for the Army leadership to "issue public statements indicating your support for him." None manifested. On Friday, following the early end to Vindman’s NSC assignment, the Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith of California, “urge[d] Army leadership to ensure this brave Soldier does not experience any further retribution.”Through a spokesperson, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to comment about Vindman. Milley was formerly chief of staff of the Army. A representative for Defense Secretary Mark Esper did not respond to a request for comment about the propriety of disciplining Vindman.Ryan McCarthy, the secretary of the Army, told Cheddar that Vindman would temporarily work at the Department of the Army headquarters “and then we’ll send him off to war college this summer.” An Army source cautioned that the previously-scheduled board reviewing senior-service college assignments has yet to determine which one Vindman will attend. Vindman also came under attack on Tuesday from his former boss, national security adviser Robert O’Brien. During an appearance at the Atlantic Council, O’Brien said that the premature end of Vindman’s NSC billet, which had been slated to run through May, was necessary because Trump is “entitled to a staff that he has confidence in and that he believes will execute his policy.”But as he testified, Vindman thought he was executing policy—the formal policy of supporting Ukraine, for which Congress had appropriated nearly $400 million in aid that Trump had withheld as pressure. Yet O’Brien suggested that Vindman’s objections to secretly conditioning aid on a foreign power’s willingness to aid Trump’s reelection were the real abuse of power.  “We're not some banana republic where lieutenant colonels get together and decide what the policy is,” O’Brien said. Friday Night Massacre’s Just the Beginning for Acquitted TrumpNot everyone thinks speaking out on Vindman is helpful. A different former senior military officer who also would not speak for the record said the consensus among his retired colleagues is that “we should not put more pressure on the leaders or increase the attention given to this issue, as that could prove counterproductive.” The ex-officer expressed confidence in Esper and Milley to “ensure that nothing untoward transpires” against Vindman.But the first ex-officer said that the brass’ silence about Vindman is nothing short of dishonorable.  “It smacks of the craven careerism that has permeated the ranks of our senior officer corps,” this retired Army officer said. “It’s definitely dishonorable when public accountability and public ethics are so in question that those people whose careers are built on alleged public ethics and accountability are not present…. If they can’t take care of their men and women when the heat is on on a political level, I cannot imagine how they handle taking care of them in the heat of combat.”—with additional reporting by Molly Jong-FastRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Attorney General William Barr has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month, the panel's chairman Jerry Nadler said Wednesday, giving them a forum to press the attorney general on the sentencing of Roger Stone and other controversies that have emerged in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

Attorney General William Barr is headed back to Congress. Barr is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month, the committee announced Wednesday. In a letter, Democratic members of the committee say they plan to discuss concerns about "the misuse of our criminal justice system for political purposes."This comes a day after all four prosecutors involved in the Roger Stone case quit when the Department of Justice backed off its sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years for the longtime Trump adviser. On Wednesday, Trump congratulated Barr on Twitter "for taking charge" of the case, which Trump wrote "was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought."Democrats on the Judiciary Committee in their letter write to Barr that he has "engaged in a pattern of conduct in legal matters relating to the president that raises significant concerns," also saying the events of this week "raise grave questions about your leadership." Politico's Kyle Cheney notes this will be Barr's first time testifying before the Judiciary Committee since his confirmation hearing. It's been, to say the least, an eventful year since then, and the committee in its letter teases this week's events "are not the only issues that our committee intends to discuss with you when you appear." Given that this testimony is nearly seven weeks away, the events discussed will presumably include at least some that haven't actually occurred yet. Barr is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on March 31. More stories from theweek.com Brokered convention gets close 2nd place in FiveThirtyEight's Democratic nomination forecast The Democratic establishment is out of time Trump says the lesson he learned from impeachment is that 'Democrats are crooked'