Top envoy draws direct line between Ukraine aid and Biden probe request
Top US diplomat in Ukraine says Trump made military aid to Ukraine dependent on a probe into Joe and Hunter Biden.
The top US diplomat in Ukraine says Donald Trump made US military aid to Ukraine dependent on that country’s president announcing an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden.
The explosive testimony by acting ambassador to the Ukraine, William Taylor, also said Mr Trump refused to meet with Ukraine’s leader until he publicly pledged to investigate Mr Trump’s political rival.
The testimony undermines claims by Mr Trump that there was no quid pro quo on the issue and it is certain to fuel the push by Democrats to impeach the president.
Mr Taylor said that Gordon Sondland, the US Ambassador to the European Union, had told him during a telephone call of Mr Trump’s demands that the Ukrainian’s president Zelensky make a public announcement to probe the Bidens.
“Ambassador Sondland said that ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance,” Mr Taylor told a Congressional committee. “He said that President Trump wanted president Zelensky ‘in a public box’ by making a public statement about ordering such investigations.”
During that phone call Mr Taylor said, “Ambassador Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US election.”
Joe Biden’s son Hunter had been on the board of Burisma at the time that Mr Biden, then Vice President, was dealing with the Ukraine on corruption issues. Mr Trump has questioned whether the arrangement was corrupt.
In day-long testimony, Mr Taylor spoke of how the Trump administration used an “irregular” channel of diplomacy with Ukraine involving Mr Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to pressure that government.
“In August and September of this year, I became increasingly concerned that our relationship with Ukraine was being fundamentally undermined by an irregular informal channel of US policy-making and by the withholding of vital security assistance for domestic political reasons,” Mr Taylor said.
Mr Taylor’s testimony directly contradicted that of Mr Sondland who testified last week that he recalled “no discussions” with the State Department or the White House about investigating the Bidens.
Mr Taylor said he learned in early September about the link between the denial of US aid to Ukraine and the investigation of the Bidens.
Mr Taylor testified that a National Security Council official Tim Morrison had told him that Mr Sondland had told a Ukrainian official that “the security assistance money would not come until President Zelensky committed to pursue the Burisma investigation,” Mr Taylor said.
“This was the first time I had heard that security assistance—not just the White House meeting—was conditioned on the investigations,” said Mr Taylor who told the committee he was ‘alarmed’ by the news.
Democrats are investigating what they claim are abuses of power by Mr Trump in seeking in to pressure Ukraine to investigate the activities of Mr Biden, who is the Democratic front-runner for president.
The transcript of a phone call in June between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky revealed Mr Trump asked the Ukraine leader to investigate the Bidens.
But the Democrats are seeking evidence that Mr Trump’s decision to abruptly withhold almost $US400 in military aid to Ukraine at that time was linked to the Biden issue.
Mr Trump says Ukraine should investigate the activities of the Bidens but denies that was a quid pro quo or a link between the provision of military aid, or a meeting at the White House, and a probe into the Bidens.
Mr Taylor said that the more he learned about the pressure placed on the Ukraine government about the Biden investigation, the more concerned he became.
He described the situation as “a rancorous story about whistle-blowers, Mr Giuliani, side channels, quid pro quos, corruption and interference in elections.”
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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