Tim Morrison (presidential advisor)
{{for|persons of a similar name|Timothy Morrison (disambiguation)}}
{{Short description|American political advisor (born 1978)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Tim Morrison
|image = Tim Morrison.jpg
|birth_name = Timothy Aaron Morrison
|office = Senior Director for Europe and Russia on the United States National Security Council
|term_start = July 15, 2019
|term_end = October 31, 2019
|president = Donald Trump
|predecessor = Fiona Hill
|successor = Andrew Peek
|birth_date = {{abbr|c.|circa}} {{birth year and age|1978}}
|birth_place =
|death_date =
|death_place =
|party = Republican
|education = University of Minnesota (BA)
George Washington University (JD)
}}
Timothy Aaron Morrison (born {{circa}} 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,{{cite news |title=At G20, Trump Seeks Fresh Start with Putin after End of Mueller Inquiry |first1=Peter |last1=Baker |first2=Neil |last2=MacFarquhar |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/world/asia/putin-trump.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 27, 2019 |access-date=October 23, 2019}} and from which he resigned on October 31, 2019.{{Cite news |first=Zeke |last=Miller |url=https://time.com/5714572/nsc-tim-morrison-resigns-congress-testimony/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030231017/https://time.com/5714572/nsc-tim-morrison-resigns-congress-testimony/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 30, 2019|title=National Security Council Official Tim Morrison Resigns the Day Before He Testifies to Congress About Ukraine|magazine=Time|agency=AP|access-date=2019-11-08}}{{Cite web |date=November 18, 2019 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/politics/tim-morrison-leaving-white-house/index.html|title=White House national security official testifying in impeachment inquiry to step down soon|first2=Kylie |last2=Atwood |first1=Zachary |last1=Cohen|website=CNN|access-date=2019-11-08}}{{Cite web |date=October 31, 2019 |url=https://www.axios.com/impeachment-inquiry-tim-morrison-ukraine-national-security-council-ce7651e7-57bb-4a67-944d-d3925e73251d.html|title=Tim Morrison resigns from National Security Council ahead of impeachment testimony. |website=Axios|language=en|access-date=2019-11-08}}
Before that, he served as senior director for countering weapons of mass destruction -- "arms control and biodefense issues" -- on the US National Security Council, a position he assumed on July 9, 2018.{{cite news |title=John Bolton Brings a Nuclear Superhawk into the White House |author=Spencer Ackerman |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-bolton-brings-a-nuclear-superhawk-into-the-white-house |website=The Daily Beast |date=August 2, 2018 |orig-year=August 1, 2018 |access-date=October 23, 2019}} 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.Kessler, Glenn and Kelly, Meg. (20 March 2020). "Was the White House office for global pandemics eliminated?". [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/20/was-white-house-office-global-pandemics-eliminated/ Washington Post website] Retrieved 20 March 2020. Prior to his administration positions, he had been policy director for the Republican staff on the House defense panel. Morrison entered politics as a professional staff member to Rep. Mark Kennedy, from 2000 to 2007.{{cite book |title=The Almanac of the Unelected, 2013: Staff of the U.S. Congress |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RsjAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |isbn= 9781598886320|last1= Struglinski|first1= Suzanne|last2= Young|first2= Samantha|date= August 29, 2013|publisher=Bernan Press }} 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.{{cite news |title=Trump's Russia Director To Leave National Security Council Amid Impeachment Inquiry |date=October 30, 2019 |work=NPR |first=Franco |last=Ordoñez |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774815627/trumps-russia-director-to-leave-national-security-council-amid-impeachment-inqui |access-date=October 31, 2019 }}{{cite web |title=Andrew Peek |author= |url=https://www.state.gov/biographies/andrew-peek/ |publisher=US Department of State |date=October 7, 2019 |access-date=November 1, 2019}}
Morrison holds a Juris Doctor from George Washington University and a BA in political science from the University of Minnesota.{{cite web |title=Timothy Morrison |author= |url=https://ric.nrc.gov/docs/bios/bio1-29.htm |publisher=United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission |date=March 29, 2019 |access-date=October 23, 2019}}
Impeachment testimony
{{Trump-Ukraine scandal}}
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.{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-call-details-aftermath/index.html |title=Inside the White House's effort to contain Ukraine call fallout |first1=Pamela |last1=Brown |first2=Jeremy |last2=Diamond |first3=Kaitlan |last3=Collins |first4=Kevin |last4=Liptak |date=October 8, 2019 |publisher=CNN |access-date=October 31, 2019 }} He was a primary source of information regarding the matter to William B. Taylor, Jr., the acting US ambassador to Ukraine.{{cite web |title=Timeline: how the acting ambassador to Ukraine says he learned of quid pro quo by Trump |first=Philip |last=Bump |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/22/timeline-how-acting-ukraine-ambassador-learned-about-trumps-quid-pro-quo/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 23, 2019 |access-date=October 23, 2019}}
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 {{ill|Andrey Yermak|qid=Q65200615}}, 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.{{cite news |last1=Fandos |first1=Nicholas |title=White House Aide Confirms He Saw Signs of a Quid Pro Quo on Ukraine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/politics/morrison-testimony-impeachment.html |access-date=November 3, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=October 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20191031192539/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/politics/morrison-testimony-impeachment.html |archive-date=October 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=House |first1=Billy |title=White House Aide Tells House of Concerns Over Trump and Ukraine |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-11-01/white-house-aide-tells-house-of-concerns-over-trump-and-ukraine |access-date=November 3, 2019 |work=Bloomberg News |date=October 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103023706/https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-11-01/white-house-aide-tells-house-of-concerns-over-trump-and-ukraine|archive-date=November 3, 2019 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |title=Impeachment deposition: NSC official corroborates testimony linking Ukraine aid to investigations |first1=Manu |last1=Raju |first2=Jeremy |last2=Herb |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/31/politics/tim-morrison-deposition-house-impeachment-inquiry/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=November 1, 2019 |access-date=November 1, 2019}} 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.{{cite web | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/31/politics/tim-morrison-deposition-house-impeachment-inquiry/index.html | title=Morrison corroborates testimony linking Ukraine aid to investigations | date=October 31, 2019 }}
{{external media| float = left | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?466377-1/impeachment-hearing-kurt-volker-tim-morrison 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.Ward, Alex, [https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/19/20973157/impeachment-hearings-morrison-quid-pro-quo-ukraine "One of the Republicans’ witnesses confirmed a quid pro quo on TV"], vox.com, November 19, 2019.
Subsequent career
Morrison is serving as a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.Morrison, Tim, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/16/no-white-house-didnt-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office/ "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.Morrison, Tim, [https://www.hudson.org/research/15828-no-the-white-house-didn-t-dissolve-its-pandemic-response-office-i-was-there "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.{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/03/politics/kfile-officials-worried-over-pandemic-last-year/index.html|title=Top administration officials said last year threat of pandemic kept them up at night|last1=Kaczynski|first1=Andrew|last2=Steck|first2=Em|date=April 3, 2020|work=CNN|access-date=2020-04-03}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{C-SPAN|120734}}
{{First impeachment and impeachment trial of Donald Trump}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Tim}}
Category:George Washington University Law School alumni
Category:United States congressional aides