802 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000043 (Oct. 2, 2019).
803 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000023 (Oct. 2, 2019).
804 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000023 (Oct. 2, 2019).
805 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 43-44, 113-114.
806 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Opening Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Department of State, Impeachment, 116th Cong., at 5 (Nov. 20, 2019).
807 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 18.
808 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 191, 197-198.
809 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 191-192.
810 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 201.
811 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 198.
812 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 197.
813 Department of Justice, Ukraine Statement (Sept. 25, 2019).
814 Cleaning Up Ukraine in the Shadow of Trump, The Financial Times (Nov. 28, 2019) (online at www.ft.com/content/eb8e4004-1059-11ea-a7e6-62bf4f9e548a).
815 Cleaning Up Ukraine in the Shadow of Trump, The Financial Times (Nov. 28, 2019) (online at www.ft.com/content/eb8e4004-1059-11ea-a7e6-62bf4f9e548a).
816 Taylor Dep. Opening Statement at 9.
817 Taylor Dep. Opening Statement at 9.
818 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 196-197.
819 Taylor Dep. Opening Statement at 9.
820 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000043 (Oct. 2, 2019).
821 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 196-197.
822 Kent Dep. Tr. at 261
823 Kent Dep. Tr. at 262-263.
824 Kent Dep. Tr. at 264.
825 Kent Dep. Tr. at 264-265.
826 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000020 (Oct. 2, 2019).
827 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000043 (Oct. 2, 2019).
828 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000043 (Oct. 2, 2019).
829 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000043 (Oct. 2, 2019).
830 Volker Transcribed Interview Opening Statement at 8.
831 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 44.
832 Morrison-Volker Hearing Tr. at 21.
833 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 259-260.
834 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 260.
835 Morrison-Volker Hearing Tr. at 128.
836 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates KV00000043 (Oct. 2, 2019).
837 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 199-200.
838 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 31-32, 68; Sondland Hearing Tr. at 55-57.
839 Cooper Dep. Tr. at 71.
840 Cooper Dep. Tr. at 62, 66.
841 Cooper Dep. Tr. at 62.
842 Morrison-Volker Hearing Tr. at 90-91.
843 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Written Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland, at 23, Impeachment, 116th Cong. (Nov. 20, 2019).
844 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Written Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland, at 23, Impeachment, 116th Cong. (Nov. 20, 2019).
845 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 104.
846 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Written Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland, at 18, Impeachment, 116th Cong. (Nov. 20, 2019).
847 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 44.
848 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 75.
849 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 76.
850 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Written Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland, at 23, Impeachment, 116th Cong. (Nov. 20, 2019).
851 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 30.
852 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 30.
853 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 28.
854 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 106.
855 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 31-32.
856 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 31.
857 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 40.
858 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 230.
859 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 40.
860 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 8.
861 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 20 (Aug. 29, 2019).
862 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 80-81.
A:
By the time it hit Politico publicly, I believe it was the end of August. And I got a text message from, it was either the Foreign Minister or—I think it was the future Foreign Minister. And, you know, basically, you’re just—you’re—I have to verbalize this. You’re just trying to explain that we are trying this. We have a complicated system. We have a lot of players in this. We are working this. Give us time to fix it.
Q:
So anybody on the Ukrainian side of things ever express like grave concern that this would not get worked out?
A:
Not that it wouldn’t get worked out, no, they did not. They expressed concern that, since this has now come out publicly in this Politico article, it looks like that they’re being, you know, singled out and penalized for some reason. That’s the image that that would create in Ukraine.
863 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 34.
864 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 137-138.
865 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 137-138.
866 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 174.
867 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 40.
868 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 40.
869 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 31-32.
870 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 31-32.
871 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 68.
872 Holmes Dep. Tr. at 58.
873 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 40.
874 Trump, in August Call with GOP Senator, Denied Official’s Claim on Ukraine Aid, Wall Street Journal (Oct. 4, 2019) (online at www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-used-potential-meeting-to-pressure-ukraine-on-biden-texts-indicate-11570205661).
875 Trump, in August Call With GOP Senator, Denied Official’s Claim on Ukraine Aid, Wall Street Journal (Oct. 4, 2019) (online at www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-used-potential-meeting-to-pressure-ukraine-on-biden-texts-indicate-11570205661).
876 Letter from Senator Ron Johnson to Ranking Member Jim Jordan, House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Ranking Member Devin Nunes, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Nov. 18, 2019) (online at www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e0b73c19-9370-42e6-88b1-b2458eaeeecd/johnson-to-jordan-nunes.pdf).
877 Letter from Senator Ron Johnson to Ranking Member Jim Jordan, House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Ranking Member Devin Nunes, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Nov. 18, 2019) (online at www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e0b73c19-9370-42e6-88b1-b2458eaeeecd/johnson-to-jordan-nunes.pdf).
878 The White House, Memorandum of Telephone Conversation (July 25, 2019) (online at www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf).
879 Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Background to “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”: The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution (Jan. 6, 2017) (online at www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf).
880 Letter from Senator Ron Johnson to Ranking Member Jim Jordan, Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Ranking Member Devin Nunes, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Nov. 18, 2019) (online at www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e0b73c19-9370-42e6-88b1-b2458eaeeecd/johnson-to-jordan-nunes.pdf).
881 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 30.
882 Volker Transcribed Interview Tr. at 251-252; Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 41.
883 Williams Dep. Tr. at 74-77.
884 Williams Dep.
Tr.at 76.
885 Williams Dep. Tr. at 78-79.
886 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 30.
887 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 38. See also Sondland Hearing Tr. at 57:
A:
I don’t know exactly what I said to him. This was a briefing attended by many people, and I was invited at the very last minute. I wasn’t scheduled to be there. But I think I spoke up at some point late in the meeting and said, it looks like everything is being held up until these statements get made, and that’s my, you know, personal belief.
Q:
And Vice President Pence just nodded his head?
A:
Again, I don’t recall any exchange or where he asked me any questions. I think he—it was sort of a duly noted response.
Q:
Well, he didn’t say, Gordon, what are you talking about?
A:
No, he did not.
Q:
He didn’t say, what investigations?
A:
He did not.
888 Pence Disputes that Sondland Raised Concerns to Him About Ukraine Aid-Investigations Link, Wall Street Journal (Nov. 20, 2019) (online at www.wsj.com/livecoverage/gordon-sondland-testifies-impeachment/card/1574268547).
889 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 190.
890 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 35.
891 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 190-191.
892 Williams Dep. Tr. at 81.
893 Williams Dep. Tr. at 82.
894 Williams Dep. Tr. at 82-83.
895 Williams Dep. Tr. at 83.
896 Williams Dep. Tr. at 83.
897 How a CIA Analyst, Alarmed by Trump’s Shadow Foreign Policy, Triggered an Impeachment Inquiry, Washington Post (Nov. 16, 2019) (online at www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/how-a-cia-analyst-alarmed-by-trumps-shadow-foreign-policy-triggered-an-impeachment-inquiry/2019/11/15/042684a8-03c3-11ea-8292-c46ee8cb3dce_story.html).
898 Hill-Holmes Hearing Tr. at 31.
899 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 31.
900 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 134.
901 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 155.
902 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 155.
903 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 137.
904 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 182.
905 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 184.
906 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 228.
907 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 154.
908 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 42.
909 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 42.
910 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 57.
911 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 39 (Oct. 4, 2019).
912 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 42.
913 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 190.
914 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 190.
915 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 190.
916 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 60.
917 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 59.
918 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 59-60.
919 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 190-191.
920 Morrison-Volker Hearing Tr. at 52.
921 Morrison-Volker Hearing Tr. at 53-54; Morrison Dep. Tr. at 238.
922 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 43-44.
923 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 53 (Oct. 4, 2019).
924 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 44.
925 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 44.
926 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 44.
927 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 109-110.
928 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 109-110.
929 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 110-111.
930 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 45.
931 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 45, 63.
932 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 45.
933 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 110. Ambassador Volker also testified that Ambassador Sondland used the same analogy to him when discussing the release of the hold on security assistance. Morrison-Volker Hearing Tr. at 96-97.
934 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 53 (Oct. 4, 2019).
935 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 209.
936 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 53 (Oct. 4, 2019).
937 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 54.
938 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 54.
939 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 54.
940 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 54.
941 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 53 (Oct. 4, 2019).
942 Sondland Dep. Tr. at 217.
943 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 26 (“Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously with regard to the requested White House call and the White House meeting, the answer is yes.”).
944 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 41.
945 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 112
946 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 61-62.
947 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 39.
948 Taylor Dep. Tr. at 39.
949 Maguire Hearing Tr. at 110; Whistleblower Compl. Appendix 2. Public reporting indicates that “[l]awyers from the White House counsel’s office told Mr. Trump in late August about the complaint, explaining that they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to Congress.” Trump Knew of Whistle-Blower Complaint When He Released Aid to Ukraine, New York Times (Nov. 26, 2019) (online at www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/us/politics/trump-whistle-blower-complaint-ukraine.html).
950 Letter from Michael Atkinson, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, to Chairman Adam B. Schiff and Ranking Member Devin Nunes, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Sept. 9, 2019) (online at https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190909_-_ic_ig_letter_to_hpsci_on_whistleblower.pdf).
951 Letter from Michael Atkinson, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, to Chairman Adam B. Schiff and Ranking Member Devin Nunes, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Sept. 9, 2019) (online at https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190909_-_ic_ig_letter_to_hpsci_on_whistleblower.pdf).
952 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 118. See also Witness Testimony and Records Raise Questions About Account of Trump’s ‘No Quid Pro Quo’ Call, Washington Post (Nov. 27, 2019) (online at www.washingtonpost.com/politics/witness-testimony-and-records-raise-questions-about-account-of-trumps-no-quid-pro-quo-call/2019/11/27/425545c2-0d49-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html).
953 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 118.
954 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 73.
955 Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland at 1 (Nov. 4, 2019). This addendum did not address the July 26 telephone conversation that Sondland had with President Trump, which he only recalled following the testimony of David Holmes on November 15, 2019.
956 Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland at 3 (Nov. 4, 2019).
957 Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 43-44; Morrison Dep. Tr. at 190-191.
958 Morrison Dep. Tr. at 190-191; Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 43-44.
959 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 109.
960 Sondland Hearing Tr. at 45, 109.
961 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 20 (Oct. 4, 2019).
962 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 20 (Oct. 4, 2019).
963 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 53 (Oct. 4, 2019).
964 Kurt Volker Document Production, Bates 53 (Oct. 4, 2019).
965 The White House, Press Briefing by Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (Oct. 17, 2019) (online at www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-acting-chief-staff-mick-mulvaney/).
966 The White House, Press Briefing by Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (Oct. 17, 2019) (online at www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-acting-
chief-staff-mick-mulvaney/).
967 The White House, Press Briefing by Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (Oct. 17, 2019) (online at www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-acting-chief-staff-mick-mulvaney/). Ambassador Taylor’s testimony contradicted Mr. Mulvaney’s statement about the ubiquity of such quid pro quos in American foreign policy. Ambassador Taylor testified that in his decades of military and diplomatic service, he had never seen another example of foreign aid conditioned on the personal or political interests of the President. Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 55. Rather, “We condition assistance on issues that will improve our foreign policy, serve our foreign policy, ensure that taxpayers’ money is well-spent.” Kent-Taylor Hearing Tr. at 150.
968 There were early concerns raised in the House and Senate about the frozen aid, even before the news became public. On August 9, the Democratic leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees wrote to OMB and the White House warning that the August 3 letter apportionment might constitute an illegal impoundment of funds. They urged the Trump Administration to adhere to the law and obligate the withheld funding. Letter from Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy, Senate Committee on Appropriations, and Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey, House Committee on Appropriations, to Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, The White House, and Acting Director Russell Vought, Office of Management and Budget (Aug. 9, 2019) (online at https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/documents/SFOPS%20Apportionment%20Letter%20Lowey-Leahy%20Signed%202019.8.9.pdf). On August 19, the Democratic leadership of the House and Senate Budget Committees wrote to OMB and the White House urging the Administration to comply with appropriations law and the Impoundment Control Act. Letter from Chairman John Yarmuth, House Committee on the Budget, and Ranking Member Bernard Sanders, Senate Committee on the Budget, to Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, The White House (Aug. 19, 2019) (online at https://budget.house.gov/sites/democrats.budget.house.gov/files/documents/OMB%20Letter_081919.pdf).
969 Letter from Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Rob Portman, Richard Durbin, Ron Johnson, and Richard Blumenthal to Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (Sept. 3, 2019) (online at www.shaheen.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Ukraine%20Security%20Letter%209.3.2019.pdf).
The Impeachment Report Page 32