A few minutes well be hearing from the last of this weeks witnesses fear the hill was the white houses top russia analyst she reported directly to former National Security adviser john bolton whos so far refused to testify shes expected to give details of a socalled shadow Foreign Policy run by trumps post the lawyer Rudy Giuliani and gordon sunderland. David holmes is a political counsellor at the u. S. Embassy in ukraine he will testify alongside her he says that he overheard a cold between donald trump and some glue and the u. S. Ambassador to the e. U. In which the president asked the diplomats if ukraine would investigate the bidens lets go live now to what the the capital of this is how the job castro is just outside the chambers where todays impeachment inquiry will begin what will wait just run through for us what were expecting to hear today. Sure adrian so the testimony this morning from the yonah hill who is a former member of the National Security council she was the ukrainian and russian expert there she in a sense is really a stand in for her boss john bolton the former National Security adviser to the president who has thus far refused to comply with any efforts to bring him forward for testimony now the hill has said previously and in the closed door hearings that have already occurred that bolton called this shadow diplomacy channel in his words a drug deal and that he was so concerned by the fact that the president had empowered his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to really read that campaign that bolton said giuliani was alive hand grenade and that there were meetings at the White White House that led up to the phone call between trump and the president of ukraine in which bolton stormed out saying that because he thought it was improper when other ambassadors for the u. S. Approached ukrainian officials were visiting the white house and said that there was a condition for the president of ukraine receiving an invitation to meet with trump in the white house for a photo op that was the explicit quid pro quo. That we heard ambassador ford song and testify to yesterday when he said that it was understood by all that it was obvious that trump wanted investigations into his political rival joe biden in exchange for the invitation for zelinsky to come visit the white house and someone took it a step further yesterday by saying that he presumed there was yet another condition of this get to the heart of the impeachment inquiry it was some months understanding that 400000000. 00 worth of u. S. Security aid to ukraine was also being leveraged for the statement that ukraine was investigating trumps political rivals we heard him testify to that that was the bombshell testimony that we heard reaction to but its also notable that song lind said he did not communicate he did not receive explicit directions from the president saying that the aid was conditioned on the investigations again he said it was his presumption but today we will hear more about what exactly might have been in the president s mind frame from the other witness who is david holmes who is an Embassy Worker in kiev and overheard the president speaking with gordon song live on july 26th this is the day after trump had asked the president of ukraine explicitly for investigations into biden and what holmes says he overheard is trying to asking about the status of the investigation and then when holmes asked for more information about what he just talked about the president home says that some women claim that the president didnt give an expletive about ukraine that he only cared about the quote big stuff which was the best occasions that would help trouble politically. I want the format for todays hearing the same that weve become accustomed to. Yes it is day 5 so i guess we are getting used to this this is the way that these have been unfolding so were going to hear Opening Statements from the democratic side the republican side and then youre going to see 45 minutes of focus questioning from either parties trying to get out the facts from these witnesses that questioning will be directed by the chair and the Ranking Members and their counsel then after that is where you really see things getting more politicized in a sense because after those 45 minute sessions that is when each member of this committee both democrats and republicans will have their literal 5 minutes to ask whatever they want sometimes its questions sometimes its declarations and almost certainly it is always partisan adrian ok everybodys being told to what to take their seats so things are i think going to get on the way. Any moment now. While we. While we wait but i have a 2nd and were just going to see is adam schiff about to speak here. On the still settling down so let me just briefly ask you heidi. To what extent. Is was subtle and the star witness in this i dont know adam schiff is going to be no. Representatives impeachment inquiry without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time there was a quorum present we will proceed today in the same fashion as our other hearings ill make an Opening Statement and then Ranking Member news as will have the opportunity to make a statement and we will turn to our witnesses for their Opening Statements and then to questions or audience members we welcome you and respect your interest in being here in turn we ask for your respect as we proceed with todays hearing is the intention of the committee to proceed without disruptions as chairman ill take all necessary and appropriate steps to maintain order and ensure that the committee is run in accordance with house rules and House Resolution 660 with that i now recognize myself to give an Opening Statement in the impeachment inquiry into donald trump the 45th president of the United States yesterday morning the Committee Heard from a bastard gordon silent American Ambassador to the European Union the de facto leader of the 3 amigos who had regular access to President Donald Trump and press the new ukrainian president a lot of mayors lenski for 2 investigations trump believed would help his Reelection Campaign the 1st investigation was of a discredited Conspiracy Theory that ukraine and not russia was responsible for interfering in our 2016 election the 2nd investigation was into the political rival trump apparently feared most joe biden trump sought to weaken biden and to refute the fact that his own election had been helped by a russian hacking and dumping operation and russian social Media Campaign directed by Vladimir Putin trump scheme stood in contrast to the longstanding bipartisan Foreign Policy of the United States undermining military and diplomatic support for a key ally and set back u. S. Anticorruption efforts in ukraine. In conditioning a meeting was a linsky and then military aide securing an investigation of his rival trumpet his personal and political interests above the United States as ambassador sonnen would later tell Career Foreign Service officer david holmes immediately after speaking to the President Trump did not give a expletive about ukraine he cares about big stuff that benefits him like the biden investigation that giuliani was pushing david holmes is here with us today is a Foreign Service officer currently serving as the political counselor at the u. S. Embassy in kieve also with us is dr fiona hill whos job as a National Security Council Senior director for european and Russian Affairs and compass the coordination of u. S. Policy towards ukraine dr hill left the n. S. C. In july after more than 2 years in that position dr hill and mr holmes each provide a unique perspective on issues relating to ukraine dr hill from washington d. C. And mr holmes from on the ground in kieve in early 2019 dr hill became concerned by the increasing prominence of Rudy Giuliani the president s personal lawyer who was as she has testified asserting quite frequently on television in public appearances that he had been given some authority over matters related to ukraine it was not alone in her concerns her boss National Security adviser john bolton was also paying attention as were other n. S. C. And state Department Officials including homes at the u. S. Embassy in kieve bolton viewed giuliani as a hand grenade that is going to blow everybody up. And was powerless to prevent the former mayor from engineering former u. S. Ambassador to ukraine maria on a bitch is firing in late april or her recall holmes was stunned by the intensity and consistency of media attacks on the avantage by name as a u. S. Ambassador and the scope of the allegations that were leveled against her. You have on a vicious dismissal as a result of giulianis Smear Campaign was one of several things that unsettled dr hill another was the role of gordons on land who emerged as a key player in ukraine in ukraine policy in may when he was named as part of the u. S. Delegation led by secretary rick perry to president zilinskas inauguration. Lieutenant colonel alexander venom and also attended the inauguration and as holmes recalls during a meeting with president selenski took the opportunity to advise the new Korean Leader to stay out of u. S. Domestic politics another concern that arose for dr hill around this time was her discovery of a potential n. S. E. Back channel on ukraine ilar and that an n. S. C. Staff member who did not work on ukraine and for her may have been providing ukraine related information to President Trump that dr hill was not made aware of according to holmes following this lewinsky inauguration solanum perry took a very active and unconventional role in formulating our priorities for the news alinsky administration and personally reaching out to president s alinsky and his senior team silence newfound assertiveness also concerned dr hill who previously had enjoyed a cordial working relationship with the ambassador on june 18th 2019 hill had a blow up with saul and when he told her that he was in charge of ukraine policy dr hill testified that saddam got testy with me and i said who has put you in charge of it he said the president. On july 10th dr hill was part of a meeting at the white house with a group of u. S. And ukrainian officials including Bolton Sunland and Energy Secretary perry another of the 3 amigos the meeting was intended among other things to give the ukrainians an opportunity to convey that they were anxious to set up a meeting a 1st meeting between their new president and President Trump someone interjected to inform the group that according to white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney white house meeting sought by the ukrainian president would trump what happened if you crane undertook certain investigations hearing this bolton abruptly ended the meeting undeterred stalin brought the ukrainian delegation and the n. S. C. Director for ukraine Lieutenant Colonel alexander venom and downstairs to another part of the white house where they were later joined by dr hill in this 2nd meaning son was more explicit ukraine needed to conduct investigations if they were to get a meeting at all bolton directed dr hill to report this to n. S. C. Legal advisor john eyes of berg telling her you go and tell eisenberg that i am not part of whatever drug deal saw an animal veiny are cooking up on this and you go ahead and tell him what youve heard and what ive said dr hill did so as did Lieutenant Colonel van men who separately approached the same lawyers with his concerns on july 18 the day before dr hill left her post at the n. S. C. Participated in a secure interagency Video Conference on ukraine towards the end of the meeting a representative from the office of management and budget announced that the flow of nearly 400000000. 00 in Security Assistance for ukraine was being held up. The order had come from the president and had been conveyed to o. M. B. By acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney without further explanation. Ohms unaware of the hold prior to the call was shocked if thought the suspension of aid was extremely significant undermining what he had understood to be a long standing u. S. National security goals in ukraine one week later on july 25th President Trump spoke with president selenski by phone when president s alinsky brought up u. S. Military support and noted that ukraine would like to buy more javelin antitank missiles from the United States trump responded by saying i would like you to do us a favor though trump them requested that selenski investigate the discredited Conspiracy Theory that ukraine interfered in the 2016 election even more ominously trump asked alinsky to look into the bidens neither request had been included in the official talking points for the call prepared by the n. S. C. Staff but both were in Donald Trumps personal interest and the interests of his 2020 Reelection Campaign and the ukraine president knew about both in advance in part because of efforts by ambassadors sonnen volcker to make him aware of President Trumps the mans the next day july 26th in kieve homes served as a note taker during a meeting between acting ambassador bill Taylor Volker and solomon with president s alinsky and others senior ukrainian officials selenski said on the previous days call said that on the previous days call President Trump had quote 3 times raised some very sensitive issues that he would have to follow up on those issues when they met in person. Although i did not realize it at the times at the time holmes came to understand that the sensitive issues where the investigations at present trump demanded on the july 25th call following the meeting was alinsky holmes accompanied sol into a separate meeting with one of ukrainian the ukrainian president s top advisers andre yarmuk but holmes was not allowed into the meeting and waited for 30 minutes while sohn learned and the ukrainian met alone without any note takers to record what they said after the meeting solomon holmes and 2 other state Department Staff went to lunch at a nearby restaurant and sat on an outdoor terrace at some point during the mail sonnen pulled out his cell phone placed a call the white house and asked to be connected to the president when trump came on the line holmes could hear the president s voice clearly recall that quote the president s voice was very loud and recognizable and ambassador sanjana held the phone away from his ear for a period of time presumably because of the loud volume someone said he was calling from kieve he told the president that president s alinsky loves your ass holmes then heard President Trump ask so hes going to do the investigation masterson replied hes going to do it adding that president selenski will do anything you ask him after the call ended holmes took the opportunity to ask someone for his candid impression of the president s views on ukraine it was at this point that song the reveal that the president President Trump doesnt give a expletive about ukraine the president only cares about big stuff that benefits the president like the biden investigation mr giuliani was pushing. A month later National Security adviser bolton travelled to key between meetings with Ukrainian Government officials omes heard both and expressed investor bill taylor his frustration about mr giulianis influence with the president made clear however there was nothing he could do about it old and further stated at the hold on Security Assistance would not be lifted prior to the upcoming meeting between President Trump and zelinsky in warsaw where would hang on whether his alinsky was able to favorably impressed President Trump trump canceled his trip to warsaw but saw an volcker and others continued to press for a public announcement of the opening of investigations by zelinsky on september 8th taylor told holmes that quote now theyre insisting is alinsky commit to the investigation in an interview with c. N. N. Almost i was surprised the requirement was so specific and concrete since it amounted to nothing less than a quote demand the president s alinsky personally commit to a specific investigation of President Trumps political rival on a cable news channel unquote and september 9 this committee along with the Foreign Affairs and oversight committees launched our investigation of this corrupt scheme President Trump released the hold on aid 2 days later as c. N. N. s Fareed Zakaria has revealed the ukrainians canceled the c. N. N. Interview shortly thereafter 2 weeks later on september 25th the transcript of the july 25th call was released by the white house and the details of the president s scheme started coming into view. In the coming Days Congress will determine what response is appropriate if the president abused his power and invited foreign interference in our elections if he sought to condition coerce extort or bribe a vulnerable ally into conducting investigations to aid is Reelection Campaign and did so by withholding official acts a white house meeting or hundreds of millions of dollars of needed military aid it will be up it will be for us to decide whether those acts are compatible with the office of the presidency and now recognize Ranking Member noon as for any remarks he would like to make thank you throughout these bizarre hearings the democrats have struggled to make the case that President Trump committed some Impeachable Offense on his phone call with ukrainian president selenski the often to itself changes depending on the day ranging from quid pro quo to extortion to bribery to obstruction of justice then back to quid pro quo. Pro quo its clear why the democrats have been forced onto this carousel of accusations President Trump had good reason to be wary of ukrainian election meddling against his campaign and of widespread corruption in that country president zelinsky who didnt even know aid to ukraine had been positive at the time of the call has repeatedly said there was nothing wrong with the conversation the aid was resume without the ukrainians taking the actions they were supposedly being coerced into doing aid to ukraine under President Trump has been much more robust than it was under president obama thanks to the provision of javelin antitank weapons as numerous witnesses have testified temporary holds on foreign aid occur fairly frequently for different many Different Reasons so how do we have an Impeachable Offense here when there is no actual misdeed and no one even claiming to be a victim. The democrats have tried to solve this dilemma with a simple slogan he got caught President Trump where to believe was just about to do something wrong and getting caught was the only reason he backed down from whatever nefarious thought crime the democrats are accusing him of almost committee i once again urge americans to continue to consider the credibility of the democrats on this committee who are now hurling these charges for the last 3 years its not President Trump who got caught its the democrats who got caught they got caught falsely claiming they had more than circumstantial evidence that trumped colluded with the russians to hack the 2016 election they got caught orchestrating this entire forests with the whistle blower and lying about their secret meetings with him they got caught defending the false allegations of the still dossier which was paid for by them they got caught breaking their promise that impeachment would only go forward with bipartisan support because of how damaging it is to the American People they got caught running a sham impeachment process featuring secret depositions hidden transcripts and an unending flood of democrat leaks to the media they got caught trying to obtain nude photos of President Trump from russian pranksters pretending to be ukrainians and they got caught covering up for Alexander Chalupa a Democratic National committee operative who colluded with ukrainian officials to smear the trump campaign. By improperly redacting her name from deposition transcripts transcripts and refusing to let americans hear her testimony as a witness and these proceedings that is the democrats pitiful legacy in recent years they got caught meanwhile their supposed star witness testified that he was jesse that President Trump was trying time and ukrainian aid to investigations despite no one telling him that was true and the president himself explicitly telling him the opposite that he wanted nothing from ukraine ladies and gentlemen unless the democrats once again scramble their Kangaroo Court rules todays hearing marks the merciful end of the spectacle in the Impeachment Committee formally known as the intelligence whether the democrats reap the political benefit they want from this impeachment remains to be seen but the damage they have done to this country will be long lasting with this wrenching attempt to overthrow the president if pitted americans against one another and poison the mind of fanatics who actually believe the entire galaxy of bizarre accusations they have leveled against the president since the day the American People elected. I sincerely hope the democrats in this affair as quickly as possible so our nation can begin to heal the many wounds it has inflicted on us the peoples faith in government and their believe that their vote counts for something has been shaken from the russia hoax to the shoddy ukranian sequel the democrats got caught lets hope they finally learn a lesson give their conspiracy theories arrest and focus on governing for a change in addition mr chairman. Pursuant to house rule 11 clause 2 j one republican members transmit our request to convene a minority day of hearings to date you have blocked key witnesses that we have requested from testifying in this partisan impeachment inquiry this role was not displaced by h. Rest 660 and therefore under house rule levon clause one day one day it applies to the democrats and preachment inquiry we look forward to the chair promptly scheduling an agreed upon time for the minority day of hearings so that we can hear from key witnesses that you have continually blocked from testifying but also like to take a quick moment on an assertion miss hill made in the statement that she submitted to this committee in which she claimed that some Committee Members deny that russia meddled in the 2016 election as i noted in my Opening Statement on wednesday that in march 2018 Intelligence Committee republicans published the results of a year long investigation into russian meddling 240. 00 page report analyzed 2016 Russian Meddling Campaign the Us Government reaction to it russian campaigns in other countries and provided specific recommendations to improve American Election security and asked my staff to hand these reports to our 2 Witnesses Today just so they can have a recollection of their memory. As america may or may not know democrats refused to sign on to the republican report instead they decided to adopt minority views filled with collusion conspiracy theories. Needless to say it is entirely possible for 2 separate nations to engage in election meddling at the same time and republicans believe we should take meddling seriously by all Foreign Countries regardless of which campaign is the target id like to submit for the record a copy of our report idyll report on russian active measures. I yield back to me we are joined by dr fiona hill and david holmes dr fiona hill is a former Deputy Assistant to the president and senior director for europe and russia on the National Security council before returning to government she was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution where she directed the center on the United States and europe she previously worked at the National Intelligence council Eurasia Foundation and the john f. Kennedy school of government david holmes is the political counselor at the u. S. Embassy in key or he serves as the senior policy and political advisor to bastard taylor who testified earlier in these hearings is a Career Foreign Service officer he has previously served in moscow new delhi. And pristina is also served on the staff of the National Security council as his special assistant as special assistant to the United States secretary of state 2 final points before witnesses are sworn 1st witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be held at the unclassified level and the information that may touch on classified information will be addressed separately 2nd congress will not tolerate any reprisal threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any u. S. Government official for testifying before congress including you or any of your colleagues if you would please rise raise your right hand i will begin by swearing un. You swear or affirm that the testimony youre about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. Let the record show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative thank you and you may be seated the microphones are sensitive so youll need to speak directly into them without objection your written statements will be made part of the record with that mr holmes you are now recognized for your Opening Statement and when you conclude dr hill you will be immediately recognized thereafter for your Opening Statement thank you good morning mr chairman Ranking Member news and members of the committee my name is david holmes and im a Career Foreign Service officer in the department of state since august 2017 ive been a political counsellor at the u. S. Embassy and t. V. Crane while is it is an honor to appear before you today i want to make clear that i did not seek this opportunity to testify today since you determined that i may have something of value to these proceedings and issued a subpoena it is my obligation to appear and to tell you what i know indeed as secretary pompei o has stated i hope everyone who testifies will do so truthfully and accurately what when they do the oversight role will have been performed and i think america will come to see what took place here that is my only goal to testify truthfully and accurately to enable you to perform that role and to that end i put together this statement to lay out as best i can my recollection of events that may be relevant to this matter by way of background i have spent my entire professional career as a Foreign Service officer like many of the dedicated Public Servants who have testified in these proceedings my entire career has been in the service of my country. Im a graduate approach from on a college in claremont california and receive degrees in International Affairs from the university of st andrews in scotland and from Princeton Universitys Woodrow Wilson School of public and International Affairs i joined the Foreign Service in 2002 during a political merit based process under the george w. Bush administration and i have proudly served ministrations of both parties and worked for their appointees both political and career prior to my current post in kiev ukraine i served in the political and economic sections at the u. S. Embassy in Moscow Russia in washington i served on the National Security Council Staff as director for of afghanistan and as a special assistant to the undersecretary of state my prior overseas assignments include new delhi india kabul afghanistan bogota colombia and Pristina Kosovo as the political counselor at the u. S. Embassies embassy in kiev i lead the political section covering ukraines internal politics Foreign Relations and Security Policies and i serve as the senior policy and political embassador to the about advisor to the ambassador the job of an Embassy Political counselor is to gather information about the host countrys Political Landscape to report back to washington to represent u. S. Policies to foreign contacts and to advise the ambassador on policy development and implementation in this role im a Senior Member of the embassies country team and continually involved in addressing issues as they arise im also often called upon to take notes in meetings involving the ambassador or visiting
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