Committee on Foreign Affairs, Us . House

UNCLASSIFIED PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, joint with the COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM and the COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS , U . S . HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES , WASHINGTON , D . C . DEPOSITION OF: LAURA KATHERINE COOPER Wednesday , October 23 , 2019 Washington, D . C . UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The deposition in the above matter was held in Room HVC- 304 , Capitol Visitor Center , commencing at 2 : 58 p . m . Present: Representatives Schiff, Himes, Sewell, Carson , Speier, Quigley, , Heck, Maloney, Demings, Krishnamoorthi, Stefanik, and Ratcliffe. Also Present: RepresentativesCicilline, Kelly , Rouda, Jordan , Meadows, Wright, McCaul, Perry, Roy, and Zeldin. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Appearances For the PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE : UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED For the COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM: For the COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS : For LAURA COOPER : DANIEL LEVIN , ESQ . White & Case LLP 701 Thirteenth Street, Washington , D . C . - UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED THE CHAIRMAN: The House Parliamentarianwill be delivering a statement about the House rules, stating that any Members that remain will be in violation of the House rules . We ' ve already dispensed with enough time of this witness , so I ' m going to forego my opening statement . I would urge the minority to do the same so we can begin the questioning. Mr. Goldman , you are recognized. MR. GOLDMAN: Thank you, . Chairman. This is a deposition of Laura Cooper conducted by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, pursuant to the impeachment inquiry announcementby the Speaker of the House on September 24th . Ms. Cooper , we apologize to you for the 5 -hour delay as a result of some unauthorized Republican Members being present, but we appreciate that you are here today and that you waited to take your testimony . If you could , please state your full name and spell it for the record . MS. COOPER : My name is Laura Katherine Cooper , L - a - u -r - a , Katherine, K - a -t - h - e -r - i- n - e , Cooper , - - e-r . MR . GOLDMAN : Thank you . Along with other proceedings in furtherance of the inquiry , this deposition is part of a joint investigation led by the Intelligence Committee , in coordination with the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform . In the room today aremajority andminority staff from all three committees. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED This is a staff-led deposition , but members , of course , may ask questions during their allotted time, as has been the case in every deposition since the inception of this investigation . My name is Daniel Goldman . I ' m the Director of Investigations for theHPSCImajority staff. And I want to do some brief introductions right now . To my right is Nicolas Mitchell, Senior Investigative Counsel for HPSCI. Mr. Mitchellwill be doing the bulk of the questioning today for the majority . And I ' ll now ask my counterparts on the minority staff to introduce themselves. MR. CASTOR: Steve Castor, Republican staff of the Committee MR . GOLDMAN : This deposition will be conducted entirely at the unclassified level. However , we are in HPSCI secure spaces, and in the presence of staff with appropriate security clearances. Itis the committee' s expectation thatneither questionsasked of you nor answers provided by you will require discussion of any information that is currently , or at any point, could be properly classified under Executive Order 13526. You are reminded that - 13526 states that, quote, " In no case shall information be classified, continue to be maintained as classified, or fail to be declassified, " unquote, for the purpose of concealing any violations of law or preventing UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED embarrassment of any person or entity . If any of our questions can only be answered with classified information , please inform us of that and we will adjust accordingly . Today ' s deposition is not being taken in executive session , but because of the sensitive and confidential nature of some of the topics and materials that will be discussed , access to the transcript of the deposition will be limited to the three committees in attendance . Under the House deposition rules, no Member of Congress, nor any staff member can discuss the substance of the testimony that you provide today . You and your attorney will have an opportunity to review the transcript at a later date. Before we begin , I would like to go over the ground rules for this deposition . We will be following the House regulations for depositions, which we have previously provided to your counsel The deposition will proceed as follows : The majority will be given one hour to ask questions. Then the minority will be given one hour . Thereafter, we will alternate back and forth between majority and minority in 45-minute rounds until questioning is complete. We will take periodic breaks, but if you need a break at any time, please let us know . Under the House deposition rules , counsel for other persons or government agencies may not attend. You are allowed to have an attorney present during this deposition , and I see that you have brought one. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED At this time, if counsel could please state his appearance for the record MR. LEVIN : Daniel Levin . MR . GOLDMAN : There is a stenographer taking down everything that is said in order to make a written record of the deposition . For the record to be clear , please wait until each question is completed before you begin your answer , and we will endeavor to wait until you finish your response before asking the next question. The stenographercannot recordnonverbalanswers, such as shaking your head, so it is important that you answer each question with an audible verbal answer. We ask that you give complete replies to questions , based on your best recollection . If a question is unclear , or you are uncertain in your response, please letus know. And if you do not know the answer to a question or cannot remember , simply say so You may only refuse to answer a question to preserve a privilege recognized by the committee . If you refuse to answer a question on the basis of privilege, staffmay either proceed with the deposition or seek a ruling from the chairman on the objection. If the chair overrules any such objection, you arerequired to answer the question. Finally, you are reminded that it is unlawful to deliberately provide false information to Members of Congress or staff. It is imperative that you not only answer our questions truthfully , but that you give full and complete answers to all questions asked of you. Omissions may also be considered as false statements. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED As this deposition is under oath , Ms. Cooper , would you please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn . Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the whole truth and nothing but the truth? MS. COOPER: I do . MR. GOLDMAN: Thank you . The record will reflect that the witness has been sworn , and you may be seated. With that, . Cooper, if you have anyopeningremarks, now would be the time. MS. COOPER : Thank you . I look forward to answering your questions. I do not have any opening remarks. MR . GOLDMAN : I ' ll now yield to Mr. Mitchell for the majority ' s 1 - hour round. EXAMINATION BY MR MITCHELL : afternoon , ma' am . Would you please state your title . A My title is Deputy Assistant Secretary ofDefense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia. you just generally describe your duties and responsibilities ? A My portfolio spans first Russia , and the Russia portfolio includes current events , current policy towards Russia , as well as long- term strategy on Russia for the Department of Defense. I also cover a number of countries that are former states of the Soviet Union , particularly Ukraine , also Georgia . I also cover UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Azerbaijan and Armenia as well as Moldova and Belarus. Finally, in terms of the regional part of my portfolio , I also handle the countries of the Western Balkans . this includes Bosnia -Herzegovina , Albania , Croatia , Serbia , North Macedonia , and Montenegro , and Kosovo . And then , finally , I handle the conventional arms control portfolio for the Department of Defense . we' re going to be focusing primarily on Ukraine -related issues . What percentage of your portfolio would you say , or how much time do you spend on Ukraine-related matters ? A I would say it fluctuates over time, but up to 25 percent. within the Ukraine portfolio, in that 25 percent of the time, what types of matters are you working on within Ukraine? my primary focus is on building a strongrelationshipwith UkrainianMinistry of Defense and Ukrainian Armed Forces, and building the capacity of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to resist Russian aggression . , as part of that , I oversee DOD ' s security assistance to Ukraine. we' re going to get into more detail during the course of this deposition , but can you just generally describe whether you have any interactions, specifically in connection with the Ukrainian portfolio, with members of the Department of State? Absolutely. I talk with my State Department counterparts quite frequently about Ukraine and, really, the whole range of my portfolio. And what about OMB, specifically with regard to Ukraine? UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED not routinely interact with OMB , although over the course of the summer , participated in a couple of meetings with OMB , perhaps more than a couple -- I' d have to double-check the number -- and had one phone conversation with an official from OMB over this past summer . But that would not be typical of position . about National Security Council, again , for the Ukraine- related matters? A for Ukraine-relatedmatters, I correspond , or speak quite frequently, at least weekly, with NSC counterparts. that ' s a matter of routine. Is that right? That' s just routine. is that because you coordinate with the NationalSecurity Council regarding . policy with regard to Ukraine as well as other geographic regions ? Absolutely .

Load more