Tim Morrison (presidential advisor)

Timothy Aaron Morrison (born c. 1978) is an American Republican political adviser. He was briefly the top U.S. adviser to President Trump on Russia and Europe on the White House National Security Council, a position he took over from his predecessor Fiona Hill in August 2019,[1] and from which he resigned on October 31, 2019.[2][3][4]

Tim Morrison
Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council
In office July 15, 2019 – October 31, 2019
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Fiona Hill
Succeeded by	Andrew Peek
Personal details
Born	Timothy Aaron Morrison c. 1978 (age 42–43)
Political party	Republican
Education	University of Minnesota (BA) George Washington University (JD)

Before that, he served as senior director for countering weapons of mass destruction -- "arms control and biodefense issues"[5] -- on the US National Security Council, a position he assumed on July 9, 2018.[6] For about a year he was also responsible for pandemic response planning with the former staffers of the Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, but was elevated to deputy assistant to the President.[7] Prior to his administration positions, he had been policy director for the Republican staff on the House defense panel.[6] Morrison entered politics as a professional staff member to Rep. Mark Kennedy, from 2000 to 2007.[8] One day before his scheduled testimony to the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump on October 31, 2019, Morrison was reported to be leaving his post soon as the senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council. He was to be replaced by Andrew Peek, at the time Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.[5][9]

Morrison holds a Juris Doctor from George Washington University and a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota.[10]

Impeachment testimony

Morrison was among the people listening in on the July 25, 2019 phone conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that is central to the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.[11] He was a primary source of information regarding the matter to William B. Taylor, Jr., the acting US ambassador to Ukraine.[12]

Morrison's deposition in the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, given behind closed doors on October 31, partially corroborated the earlier deposition by Taylor, in particular that U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland had told Andrey Yermak, an aide to Zelensky via telephone that military aid to Ukraine, and a White house meeting with Trump, were conditional on a Ukrainian public announcement of an investigation into Burisma, and the Ukraine involvement in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. Morrison also testified that his concerns regarding the Trump–Zelensky call, which he promptly communicated to White House lawyers, were about repercussions if the transcript of the call was to be leaked, not about the legality of its content or quid pro quo.[13][14][15] According to official transcripts of Morrison's closed door testimony, Morrison stated, "I want to be clear, I was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed," in the telephone call between Trump and Zelensky. Morrison also testified that Ukrainian officials were not aware that certain military funding had been delayed by the Trump administration until late August 2019, more than a month after the Trump-Zelensky call.[16]

External video
Testimony of Morrison and Kurt Volker to the House Intelligence Committee, November 19, 2019, C-SPAN

During public testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives on November 19, 2019, Morrison stated that Sondland confirmed to him that there was indeed a quid pro quo requirement for US aid to Ukraine, and again brought up the telephone conversation between Sondland and Yermak, which took place on September 1, 2019.[17]

Subsequent career

Morrison is serving as a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.[18][19][20]

See also

• Trump-Ukraine scandal
• Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump

References

1. Baker, Peter; MacFarquhar, Neil (June 27, 2019). "At G20, Trump Seeks Fresh Start with Putin after End of Mueller Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
2. Miller, Zeke. "National Security Council Official Tim Morrison Resigns the Day Before He Testifies to Congress About Ukraine". Time. AP. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
3. Cohen, Zachary; Atwood, Kylie (November 18, 2019). "White House national security official testifying in impeachment inquiry to step down soon". CNN. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
4. "Tim Morrison resigns from National Security Council ahead of impeachment testimony". Axios. October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
5. Ordoñez, Franco (October 30, 2019). "Trump's Russia Director To Leave National Security Council Amid Impeachment Inquiry". NPR. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
6. Spencer Ackerman (August 2, 2018) [August 1, 2018]. "John Bolton Brings a Nuclear Superhawk into the White House". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
7. Kessler, Glenn and Kelly, Meg. (20 March 2020). "Was the White House office for global pandemics eliminated?". Washington Post website Retrieved 20 March 2020.
8. Struglinski, Suzanne; Young, Samantha (August 29, 2013). The Almanac of the Unelected, 2013: Staff of the U.S. Congress. p. 92. ISBN 9781598886320.
9. "Andrew Peek". US Department of State. October 7, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
10. "Timothy Morrison". United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. March 29, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
11. Brown, Pamela; Diamond, Jeremy; Collins, Kaitlan; Liptak, Kevin (October 8, 2019). "Inside the White House's effort to contain Ukraine call fallout". CNN. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
12. Bump, Philip (October 23, 2019). "Timeline: how the acting ambassador to Ukraine says he learned of quid pro quo by Trump". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
13. Fandos, Nicholas (October 31, 2019). "White House Aide Confirms He Saw Signs of a Quid Pro Quo on Ukraine". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
14. House, Billy (October 31, 2019). "White House Aide Tells House of Concerns Over Trump and Ukraine". Bloomberg News. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
15. Raju, Manu; Herb, Jeremy (November 1, 2019). "Impeachment deposition: NSC official corroborates testimony linking Ukraine aid to investigations". CNN. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
16. Davis, Sean (October 31, 2019). "NSC Official Tim Morrison, To Schiff: Nothing Illegal In Trump-Zelensky Call". The Federalist. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
17. Ward, Alex, "One of the Republicans’ witnesses confirmed a quid pro quo on TV", vox.com, November 19, 2019.
18. Morrison, Tim, "No, the White House didn’t ‘dissolve’ its pandemic response office. I was there", Washington Post op-ed, March 16, 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
19. Morrison, Tim, "No, the White House didn’t ‘dissolve’ its pandemic response office. I was there", Washington Post op-ed via Hudson Institute website, March 17, 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
20. Kaczynski, Andrew; Steck, Em (April 3, 2020). "Top administration officials said last year threat of pandemic kept them up at night". CNN. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN