Impeachment inquiry: Top envoy claims Donald Trump more interested in Biden probe than Ukraine
Inquiry’s first public hearing is told Trump cared more about the Biden probe than Ukraine.
The first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry has started with an explosive new claim by a senior US diplomat that Donald Trump was more concerned about investigations into Joe Biden than he was with Ukraine.
The top US diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor told the inquiry that a member of his staff overheard a phone call between the president and US diplomat Gordon Sondland on July 26, a day after Mr Trump had spoken with the Ukraine president.
The aide, who was in a restaurant with Mr Sondland, overheard the president on the phone asking Mr Sondland about “the investigations.”
READ MORE: Trump to miss trip down under | Clinton refuses to rule out another tilt against Trump| From Ukraine to impeachment probe | Trump on attack as hearings open | Dems doctoring testimony: Trump | I didn’t try to foil Trump: Downer
“Following the phone call with President Trump a member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine,” Mr Taylor testified.
“Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigation of Biden, which (Rudy) Giuliani was pressing for.”
The first day of the historic hearings began with duelling opening statements by the ranking Democrat and Republican on the house intelligence Committee.
Democrat committee chairman Adam Schiff said the proceedings – only the fourth such hearings in US history – would determine not just the future of Mr Trump but that of the office he holds.
“Our answer to these questions will affect not only the future of this presidency but the future of the presidency itself and what kind of conduct the American people may come to expect from their Commander-in-chief,” he said.
Mr Schiff attacked Mr Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for his claim in a recent press conference that Americans should “get over it” in relation to the Ukraine controversy.
“If we find that the President of the United States abused his power and invited foreign interference in our elections … must we simply get over it?” Mr Schiff asked. “Is that what Americans should now expect from their president? If this is not impeachable conduct, what is?”
The ranking Republican Devin Nunes countered with a blistering attack on the credibility of the impeachment inquiry, describing it as a “televised theatrical performance staged by the Democrats.”
Mr Nunes raised the false claims made by the Democrats about collusion and other issues during the Russia investigation saying they were “the last people in Earth with the credibility to hurl more preposterous accusations at their political opponents.”
“Anyone familiar with the Democrat’s scorched-earth war against Donald Trump would not be surprised to see all the typical signs that this is just a carefully orchestrated media smear campaign,” Mr Nunes said.
As the hearings progressed, Mr Trump retweeted messages from his supporters attacking the impeachment inquiry and also tweeted ‘Never Trumpers’ and ‘Read the Transcript.’
NEVER TRUMPERS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
In their opening statements, the first two witnesses, Mr Taylor and senior state department official George Kent laid out their claim that official US policy on Ukraine was up-ended by an irregular channel led by the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
They said those involved in that channel pushed for Ukraine to announce a public investigation into Mr Biden in accordance with the wishes of the president.
Mr Taylor, who was appointed acting ambassador to the Ukraine by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, outlined a detailed chronology of how there were two channels of US diplomacy on Ukraine – one led by himself and the other by Mr Giuliani.
“There are two Ukraine stories today,” Mr Taylor said. “The first … is a rancorous story about whistleblowers, Mr Giuliani, side channels, quid pro quos, corruption, and interference in elections. In this story Ukraine is merely an object.”
Republicans on the committee tried to change the course of the discussion to focus on the activities of Mr Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine.
Republican legal counsel Steve Castor quizzed both Mr Taylor and Mr Kent about the qualifications of Mr Biden’s son Hunter who was a well paid board member of the Ukraine energy company Burisma.
Mr Castor asked both diplomats if they were aware that Hunter Biden had no relevant business experience before taking such a role and why he might have been appointed.
Mr Kent told the committee he had relayed his concern to the State Department about a possible perception of conflict of interest with Hunter Biden working with Burisma the same time as Mr Biden, the then Vice President, was tackling corruption in Ukraine.
Earlier Mr Taylor spoke of how in August and September he became increasingly alarmed by the actions of Mr Giuliani and his team, including diplomats Mr Sondland and Kurt Volker.
He said he was never told why the US froze almost $US400 million in US military aid to Ukraine and it was on 1 September that he first realised it was linked to Mr Trump’s desire for an investigation into Mr Biden.
“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,” he said.
Mr Taylor said he tried to push back on this position without success and on 9 September he told Mr Sondland: “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”
Mr Taylor said that by the time the US released the transcript of the July 25 phone call between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, he knew what Mr Trump wanted from Ukraine.
“I had come to understand well before then that that ‘investigations’ was a term that Ambassadors Voilker and Sondland used to mean matters related to the 2016 elections, and to investigations of Burisma and the Bidens,” Mr Taylor said
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
Warring parties unveil plans to split Sudan in two
The two warring factions in Sudan have announced parallel plans for the country’s future, nudging it closer to becoming a de facto partitioned state after three years of civil war.
US foreign aid freeze stops crucial projects in the Pacific
Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze has stopped vital projects in the south Pacific, risking lives and hurting US efforts to woo the region, aid workers and analysts say.