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Decoding the explosive Ukraine text messages

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Decoding the explosive Ukraine text messages

The texts offer further evidence that the White House wanted to make the U.S. relationship with Zelensky conditional on Ukraine investigating his political rival—the subject of House Democrats’ deepening impeachment inquiry, and the biggest threat to Trump’s presidency so far. On Friday, Trump denied any quid pro quo, but the texts suggest otherwise.

Below, we annotated the behind-the-scenes negotiations led by Trump’s top Ukraine diplomats that have now become the latest exhibit in the House’s investigation:

Volker 4:48 PM July 19 Mr Mayor — really enjoyed breakfast this morning. As discussed, connecting you here with Andrey Yermak, who is very close to President Zelensky. I suggest we schedule a call together on Monday — maybe 10am or 11am Washington time? Kurt

Six days before Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, Volker introduced Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to a top Zelensky aide named Andrey Yermak. By that point, Giuliani had been loudly advertising his belief, for months, that Ukraine should investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter for alleged corruption. Volker reportedly testified during his congressional deposition that he had tried to convince Giuliani that the Biden information he was receiving was unreliable. But Volker established the Giuliani-Yermak link anyway, and facilitated it through phone calls and, ultimately, an in-person meeting.

Volker 4:49 PM July 19 Can we three do a call tomorrow—say noon WASHINGTON?

Sondland 6:50 PM July 19 Looks like Potus call tomorrow. I spike [sic] directly to Zelensky and gave him a full briefing. He’s got it.

Sondland 6:52 PM July 19 Sure!

Volker 7:01 PM July 19 Good. Had breakfast with Rudy this morning—teeing up call w Yermak Monday. Must have helped. Most impt is for Zelensky to say that he will help investigation—and address any specific personnel issues—if there are any.

That same day, Volker circles back with the other diplomats and offers the first indication that he understands that a good relationship between Trump and Zelensky is predicated on “an investigation,” as Giuliani had been demanding. “Personnel issues” likely refers to who Zelensky will choose as the country’s top prosecutor—an important issue for Trump and Giuliani, who want Ukraine to reopen an investigation into the Bidens and examine any role Ukraine may have played to help Democrats in the 2016 election.

Taylor 1:45 AM July 21 Gordon, one thing Kurt and I talked about yesterday was Sasha Danyliuk’s point that President Zelenskyy is sensitive about Ukraine being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington domestic, reelection politics.

Sondland 4:45 AM July 21 Absolutely, but we need to get the conversation started and the relationship built, irrespective of the pretext. I am worried about the alternative.

Taylor, a career diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006-2009 and was appointed interim chargé d’affaires for Ukraine in June 2019—following then-ambassador Masha Yovanovitch’s sudden recall from Kiev—establishes himself here as the skeptic of the bunch, Notably, he puts in writing for the first time the possibility that Ukraine is being used as an instrument for “reelection politics.” Sondland’s response suggests that the foundation of a Trump-Zelensky “relationship” is Ukraine’s commitment to pursuing the investigations Trump and Giuliani want.

Volker 4:27 PM July 22 Orchestrated a great phone call w Rudy and Yermak. They are going to get together when Rudy goes to Madrid in a couple of weeks.

Volker 4:28 PM July 22 In the meantime Rudy is now advocating for phone call.

Volker 4:28 PM July 22 I have call into Fiona’s replacement and will call Bolton if needed.

Volker 4:28 PM July 22 But I can tell Bolton and you can tell Mick that Rudy agrees on a call if that helps.

Sondland 4:30 PM July 22 I talked to Tim Morrison Fiona’s replacement. He is pushing but feel free as well.

Volker here further advances the Giuliani-Yermak relationship, despite it being abundantly clear what Giuliani wanted: The former New York mayor tweeted, just one month prior, that Zelensky should investigate Biden and alleged Ukrainian meddling in 2016. Volker, Giuliani and Sondland are now pushing for a Trump-Zelensky call in lieu of an in-person meeting, presumably to establish the terms of their relationship as Sondland mentioned the day before. Fiona Hill, who served as Trump’s top adviser on Russia, Ukraine, and the E.U. until June, had been urging the White House to delay a phone call or meeting between Trump and Zelensky as much as possible, according to a former NSC official. But her replacement, Tim Morrison, appears to have been more receptive to the idea.

Volker 8:36 AM July 25 Good lunch — thanks. Heard from White House—Assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate/”get to the bottom of what happened” in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington. Good luck! See you tomorrow- kurt.

This is a key exchange that Democrats are likely to present as further evidence of a direct quid pro quo between Trump and Zelensky. Volker, just hours before Trump and Zelensky speak on the phone, spells it out in black-and-white in a text message to Zelensky’s top aide: The Ukrainian president must convince Trump he will investigate alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election before any Trump-Zelensky summit in Washington is set up.

Note: Trump’s belief that Ukraine meddled in 2016 revolves around a baseless conspiracy theory that the Russians did not hack the Democratic National Committee and that the Ukrainians have been hiding the DNC server that proves it. (The DNC sent images of its servers to the FBI, and they remain at DNC headquarters.) Giuliani has also alleged that Ukraine helped Democrats dig up dirt on Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was a top adviser to the exiled pro-Russian president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. But during his trial, Manafort’s former deputy Rick Gates testified that his boss had indeed received millions in secret payments from various Ukrainian oligarchs on Yanukovych’s behalf.

Yermak 10:15 AM July 25 Phone call went well. President Trump proposed to choose any convenient dates. President Zelenskiy chose 20,21,22 September for the White House Visit. Thank you again for your help! Please remind Mr. Mayor to share the Madrid’s dates.

Volker 10:16 AM July 25 Great —thanks and will do!

By saying the call went well, Yermak seems to be saying that Zelensky successfully convinced Trump that Ukraine will investigate Biden and the alleged Ukrainian interference. “In addition to that investigation, I guarantee as the president of Ukraine that all the investigations will be done openly and candidly,” Zelensky told Trump, according to a rough transcript of the call. Trump had asked for the investigation as “a favor” after reminding Zelensky how much the U.S. supports Kiev both financially and politically.

After Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son with the help of Attorney General Bill Barr, Zelensky reassured Trump he would select a new prosecutor general who is “100% my person, my candidate,” and he or she “will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue.”

A brief explanation: Biden’s son Hunter served on the board of directors of an oil and gas company, Burisma, that was investigated briefly by the chief Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in 2015. Giuliani and Trump have alleged that Biden, as vice president, urged Ukraine to fire Shokin because he was investigating Hunter—but the probe had been dormant for a year by the time Biden, and the bulk of the international community, asked Ukraine to fire Shokin because he was seen as lax on corruption.

Sondland 5:25 PM August 9 Morrison ready to get dates as soon as Yermak confirms.

Volker 5:26 PM August 9 Excellent!! How did you sway him? 🙂

Sondland 5:47 PM August 9 Not sure i did. I think potus really wants the deliverable

Volker 5:48 PM August 9 But does he know that?

Sondland 5:48PM August 9 Yep

Sondland 5:48 PM August 9 Clearly lots of convos going on

Volker 5:48 PM August 9 Ok—then that’s good it’s coming from two separate sources

Sondland 5:51 PM August 9 To avoid misunderstandings, might be helpful to ask Andrey for a draft statement (embargoed) so that we can see exactly what they propose to cover. Even though Ze does a live presser they can still summarize a brief statement. Thoughts?

Volker 5:51 August 9 Agree!

This is an important exchange, in which Sondland reports that Tim Morrison, Fiona Hill’s replacement, has agreed to set up a Trump-Zelensky meeting—largely because Trump “really wants the deliverable,” presumably of Ukraine’s promise to launch the requested investigations.

By this point, the Ukrainians were extremely eager to arrange a White House summit because of the legitimacy such a meeting would confer on the new president and the symbolic importance of showing Russia, Kiev’s chief adversary, that the U.S. fully supports the new Ukrainian government. Sondland is indicating that dangling a date for the summit might spur the Ukrainians to take action sooner—but the U.S. also wants an assurance of some kind beforehand in the form of a “draft statement” that was first disclosed by the New York Times on Thursday night. The statement, which Zelensky does not appear to have ultimately given, would have committed Ukraine to conduct the investigations requested by Trump.

Volker 11:27 AM August 9 Hi Mr Mayor! Had a good chat with Yermak last night. He was pleased with your phone call. Mentioned Z making a statement. Can we all get on the phone to make sure I advise Z correctly as to what he should be saying? Want to make sure we get this done right. Thanks!

Sondland Good idea Kurt. I am on Pacific time.

Giuliani Yes can you call now going to Fundraiser at 12:30

Here, again, Volker brings Giuliani into the mix for advice on drafting a public statement delivered by Zelensky that would commit him to investigating the Bidens and the alleged Ukrainian interference in 2016. Volker is apparently trying to orchestrate the exact set of circumstances under which Trump would agree to work with Zelensky—on the one hand, doing his job to facilitate a better U.S.-Ukraine relationship, but on the other, allowing that relationship to be predicated on Trump’s personal political desires. Notably, this seems to confirm the whistleblower’s description in their complaint that Volker and Sondland “provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to ‘navigate’ the demands that the president made.”

Yermak 4:56 PM August 10 Hi Kurt. Please let me know when you can talk. I think it’s possible to make this declaration and mention all these things. Which we discussed yesterday. But it will be logic to do after we receive a confirmation of date. We inform about date of visit and about our expectations and our guarantees for future visit. Let discuss it

Volker 5:01 PM August 10 Ok! It’s late for you—why don’t we talk in my morning, your afternoon tomorrow? Say 10am/5pm?

Volker 5:02 PM August 10 I agree with your approach. Let’s iron out statement and use that to get date and then PreZ can go forward with it?

Yermak 5:26 PM August 10 Ok

Volker 5:38 PM August 10 Great. Gordon is available to join as well

Yermak 5:41 PM August 10 Excellent

Yermak 5:42 PM August 10 Once we have a date, will call for a press briefing, announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of US-UKRAINE relationship, including among other things Burisma and election meddling in investigations

Volker 5:42 PM August 10 Sounds great!

Yermak gets assertive and plays a little hardball here, asking Volker to lock in a date for a Trump-Zelensky summit before Zelensky agrees to release a statement committing to any investigations. Volker tries to negotiate and offers a middle ground: show us the draft statement and we’ll use that as leverage with the president to set a date. Yermak then explicitly spells out the plan for the first time: After a date for a summit is set, Zelensky will hold a press conference announcing the visit to Washington and committing to an examination of both Burisma and election meddling as part of a “reboot” of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. Volker, rather than express trepidation about this plan, says it “sounds great.”

Two days later, on August 12, a whistleblower filed a formal complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General alleging that “the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals.”

Volker 10:26 AM August 13 Special attention should be paid to the problem of interference in the political processes of the United States especially with the alleged involvement of some Ukrainian politicians. I want to declare that this is unacceptable. We intend to initiate and complete a transparent and unbiased investigation of all available facts and episodes, including those involving Burisma and the 2016 U.S. elections, which in turn will prevent the recurrence of this problem in the future.

Sondland 10:27 AM August 13 Perfect. Lets send to Andrey after our call

Here, Volker sends Sondland some of the language he would like to see in the statement released by Zelensky—note: it includes specific references to both Burisma, the company that included Hunter Biden on its board of directors, and “interference” in the 2016 election,and a promise not only to examine the episodes, but to actually “initiate and complete” a full investigation. Sondland agrees and suggests they send it directly to Yermak, presumably to relay to Zelensky.

Sondland 3:06 PM August 17 Do we still want Ze to give us an unequivocal draft with 2016 and Boresma?

Volker 4:34 PM August 17 That’s the clear message so far…

Volker 4:34 PM August 17 I’m hoping we can put something out there that causes him to respond with that

Sondland 4:41 PM August 17 Unless you think otherwise I will return Andreys call tomorrow and suggest the send us a clean draft.

Volker reiterates that the “clear message�� being sent to Zelensky is that the diplomats want “an unequivocal draft” that specifically mentions investigating both 2016 election interference and Burisma—again, the company associated with Hunter Biden.

Yermak 2:28 AM August 29 Need to talk with you

Yermak 3:06 AM August 29 Trump holds up Ukraine military aid meant to confront Russia

Volker 6:55 AM August 29 Hi Andrey — absolutely. When is good for you?

Trouble ahead for Volker as it becomes public from POLITICO reporting that Trump ordered his national security team to put a hold on military assistance aid to Ukraine. Up until this point, the Ukrainians evidently believed that the only thing being held over their head by the Trump administration, in exchange for a commitment to probing Burisma and 2016 interference, was a summit with Trump at the White House. As it turns out, financial assistance that Ukraine has used to fend off Russian aggression in the east was also frozen while the talks were ongoing.

Taylor 12:14 AM August 30 Trip canceled

Volker 12:16 AM August 30 Hope VPOTUS keeps the bilat — and tees up WH visit…

Volker 12:16 AM August 30 And hope Gordon and Perry still going…

Sondland 5:31 AM August 30 I am going. Pompeo is speaking to Potus today to see if he can go.

Taylor 12:08 PM Sept 1 Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?

Sondland 12:42 PM Sept 1 Call me

One day after POLITICO revealed that military assistance aid was being withheld, Trump canceled his trip to Poland where he was expected to meet with Zelensky, citing a need to remain in the U.S. to monitor an impending hurricane. One day later, Taylor, who has already established himself as skeptical of the way the Zelensky-Trump relationship is being handled, asks Sondland a pointed question following revelations that the aid has been frozen: “Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?” Sondland then suggests moving the conversation offline.

Sondland 11:20 AM Sept 8 Guys multiple convos with Ze, Potus. Lets talk

Taylor 11:21 AM Sept 8 Now is fine with me

Volker 11:26 AM Sept 8 Try again—could not hear

Taylor 11:40 AM Sept 8 Gordon and I just spoke. I can brief you if you and Gordon didn’t connect.

Taylor 12:37 PM Sept 8 The nightmare is they give the interview and don’t get the security assistance. The Russians love it. (And I quit.)

This is a particularly striking exchange—Taylor seems to threaten to quit if Zelenky does the requested press interview and commits to the investigations, but Trump still holds up the security assistance. He also says the Russians will “love it” if that happens, indicating how important the aid is both symbolically and practically for Ukraine to fend off Russian aggression.

Taylor 12:31 AM Sept 9 The message to the Ukrainians (and Russians) we send with the decision on security assistance is key. With the hold, we have already shaken their faith in us. Thus my nightmare scenario.

Taylor 12:34 AM Sept 9 Counting on you to be right about this interview, Gordon.

Sondland 12:37 AM Sept 9 Bill, I never said I was “right”. I said we are where we are and believe we have identified the best pathway forward. Let’s hope it works.

Taylor 12:47 AM Sept 9 As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.

Sondland 5:19 AM Sept 9 I Believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign I suggest we stop the back and forth by text If you still have concerns I recommend you give Lisa Kenna or a call to discuss them directly. Thanks.

One day later, Taylor is still trying to convey how important the assistance aid is to the Ukrainians, and how the hold placed on the aid has “already” shaken their faith in the U.S. This further corroborates the idea that the Ukrainians didn’t know this freeze on aid was even on the table. Sondland then indicates that the best way to restore the relationship and get Trump to release the security assistance is for Zelensky to go ahead with the interview—again likely referring to a press interview in which he commits to the investigations.

Taylor then responds with a comment that’s been seen by Democrats as an elucidation of the exact quid-pro-quo disclosed by the whistleblower: “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Sondland responds five hours later that there is no quid pro quo, and suggests “we stop the back and forth by text.”

Two days later, on September 11, Trump released the hold on Pentagon and State Department aid. On Wednesday, the State Department approved a $39 million sale of additional Javelin anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, which Zelensky had specifically requested in his July 25 call with Trump. On Friday, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Riaboshapka, announced that his office would conduct an audit of cases closed by his predecessors, of which there are 15 that deal with wealthy businessmen connected to Burisma. Notably, though, Riaboshapka did not commit to opening new investigations into Burisma itself or election interference directly.

#Foreign #messages #Politics #Ukraine

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