zelensky to look into the bidens. neither request had been included in the official talking points for the call prepared by the nsc staff. but both were in donald trump s personal interest and the interest of his 2020 re-election campaign. and the ukrainian president knew about both in advance, in part because of efforts by ambassadors sondland and volker to make him aware of president trump s demands. the next day, july 26th, in kyiv, holmes served as a note-taker during a meeting between acting ambassador bill taylor, volker and sondland with president zelensky and other senior ukrainian officials. zelensky said on the previous day s call, said that on the previous day s call, president trump had, quote, three times raised some very sensitive issues that he would have to follow up on those issues when they met in person. although he did not realize it
and mr. yermak and has told them that, although this was not a quid pro quo, if president zelensky did not clear things up in public, we would be at a stalemate. i understood a stalemate to mean that ukraine would not receive the much-needed military assistance. ambassador sondland said this conversation concluded with president zelensky agreeing to make a public statement in an interview on cnn. shortly after that call with ambassador sondland i expressed my strong reservations in a text message to ambassador sondland stating that my nightmare is that they, the ukrainians, give the interview and don t get the security assistance. the russians love it and i quit. and i was serious. the next day, september 9th i said to ambassadors sondland and volker, the message to the ukrainians and russians that we send with regard to security assistance is key. with the hold, we have already