long, friendly, and it touched on a lot of questions, including those requiring serious answers.[1]
Similarly, Ambassador Bill Taylor explained that he had dinner with Oleksandr Danylyuk, thenSecretary of the National Security and Defense Council, the night of the phone conversation between President Trump and President Zelensky.[2]He explained that Danylyuk said that the Ukrainian government "seemed to think that the call went fine, the call went well. He wasn't disturbed by anything. He wasn't disturbed that he told us about the phone call."[3]
President Zelensky's repeated denials that President Trump pressured him to investigate domestic political rival—corroborated by Foreign Minister Prystaiko's similar denial—carry significant weight.
3. President Trump has publicly and repeatedly said he did not pressure President Zelensky to investigate his political rival.
Like President Zelensky, President Trump has repeatedly and publicly stated that he did not pressure President Zelensky to investigate his political rival. During the September 25 bilateral meeting with President Zelensky, President Trump said to the assembled members of the media: "There was no pressure. And you know there was—and, by the way, you know there was no pressure. All you have to do it see it, what went on the call." [4] When asked whether he wanted President Zelensky to "do more" to investigate Vice President Biden, President Trump responded: "No. I want him to do whatever he can. This was not his fault; he wasn't there. He's just been here recently. But whatever he can do in terms of corruption, because the corruption is massive."[5]
Despite the President's statements, some allege that an overheard conversation the day after President Trump's conversation with President Zelensky shows that the President sought to pressure President Zelensky. On July 26, following a meeting with President Zelensky, Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, telephoned President Trump from Kyiv.[6] According to a subsequent account of David Holmes, a Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy Kyiv, Ambassador Sondland told the President that he was in Ukraine and stated President Zelensky "loves your ass."[7] Holmes recounted that President Trump asked Ambassador Sondland, "So he's going to do the investigation?"[8] Ambassador Sondland allegedly replied, "He's going to do it."[9]
- ↑ Id. (emphasis added).
- ↑ Deposition of Ambassador William B. Taylor, in Wash., D.C., at 80 (Oct. 22, 2019).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Remarks by President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine Before Bilateral Meeting, supra note 40.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Deposition of David Holmes, in Wash., D.C., at 23-25 (Nov. 15, 2019) [hereinafter "Holmes deposition"]. Ambassador Sondland did not mention this phone call in his deposition. See generally Deposition of Ambassador Gordon D. Sondland, in Wash., D.C. (Oct. 17, 2019) [hereinafter "Sondland deposition"].
- ↑ Holmes deposition, supra note 51, at 24
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Id.
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