In his testimony, Taylor described how, because this happened on a Saturday, he had to make a special trip in to the embassy in Kiev, in order to use the facilities there to make a secured call to Morrison. Taylor Depo at. Two days later, on September 7, I had a conversation with Mr. Morrison in which he described a phone conversation earlier that day between Ambassador Sondland and President Trump. According to Mr. Taylor Opening Statement, Oct. Volker was not available to join the call, but Taylor was, and he spoke to Sondland at approximately am on September 8 th :.
Taylor testified that during his September 8th call with Sondland, Sondland briefed him on what Taylor understood to be the same phone call with President that Morrison had briefed him on the day before:. Morrison had described to me on September 7.
The language that Taylor says Sondland used to describe his call with Trump once again matches the language described by both Morrison and Sondland in their testimony:. Ambassador Sondland also said that he had talked to President Zelenskyy and Mr. Ambassador Sondland said that this conversation concluded with President Zelenskyy agreeing to make a public statement in an interview on CNN.
Taylor was able to precisely date his phone calls with Morrison and Sondland — which took place on September 7th and 8th respectively — based on his own contemporaneous notes about the call, as well as the text messages records from Volker:. The Russians love it. And I quit. His September 9th text exchange with Bill Taylor could not have been what caused him to call President Trump, because that call had happened at least two days before the text.
Instead, Sondland had called Trump in order to confirm whether a proposed modification to the quid pro quo arrangement would be acceptable to Trump. Originally, this trip had been intended to include a bilateral meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy, but Trump had canceled at the last minute, citing his need to monitor an incoming hurricane.
Both Sondland and Morrison were in attendance. Morrison observed Sondland and Yermak speaking to one another, and immediately after, Morrison testified, Sondland came over to brief him on the conversation:. I recall Ambassador Sondland telling me that what he conveyed to the Ukrainian Presidential advisor, Mr.
Yermak, was that the Prosecutor General would be sufficient to make the statement to obtain release of the aid. During this [September 1] phone call with Mr. Morrison, he described a conversation Ambassador Sondland had with Mr.
Yermak in Warsaw. Ambassador Sondland told Mr. Yermak that the security assistance money would not come until President Zelenskyy committed to pursue the Burisma investigation. I was alarmed by what Mr. Morrison told me about the Sondland-Yermak conversation.
I understand that Mr. Morrison testified at his deposition that Ambassador Sondland proposed that it might be sufficient for the Ukrainian Prosecutor General to commit to pursue the investigation, as opposed to President Zelenskyy.
But this was the first time I had heard that the security assistance—not just the White House meeting—was conditioned on the investigations. Ambassador Sondland responded asking me to call him, which I did. During that phone call, Ambassador Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelenskyy to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the U. The text messages from Volker show that the exchange Taylor described took place after 12pm Eastern time [4] on September 1st:.
Yermak was that it could be sufficient if the new Ukrainian Prosecutor General, not President Zelenskyy, would commit to pursue the Burisma investigation. In the same September 1 call, I told Ambassador Sondland that President Trump should have more respect for another head of state and that what he described was not in the interest of either President Trump or President Zelenskyy.
Ambassador Sondland pledged to try. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
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Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. In fact, there were two. Quid pro quo No. Trump did not go so far as explicitly saying a meeting would depend on those investigations, but he did closely connect the two topics, according to an NSC document summarizing the call : I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call.
Negotiating a statement Then, over the following weeks, Volker, Sondland, and Giuliani all pressed the Ukrainians to issue some sort of a public statement committing to the investigations.
Sondland initially claimed not to recall doing this but now admits that he did this. Taylor testified that, on September 7, Morrison told him of a conversation that day between Trump and Sondland.
So Zelensky agreed to make one during an upcoming CNN interview. Your guide to the Donald Trump impeachment saga Understand the impeachment process, from its history to what comes next. Next Up In Explainers. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email.
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