Claims, its always possible that a highlevel russian defector will appear sometime in the future with documents proving that Jeff Sessions is in fact a foreign agent, perhaps of a sleeper cell sent to alabama during the cold war and activated at Vladimir Putins request during the last election, that would be a game changer. Otherwise the russian conspiracy seemed to hit a culdesac this afternoon in the senate, but that doesnt mean there are no scandals for congress to investigate. Maybe the biggest one about, our Intel Services are corrupt and politicized and theyre making very hard to run u. S. Governmen government. They are running it themselves to some extent. Consider how much of American Politics now revolves around information that has been strategically, often misleadingly and illegally released for political effects. If the hearing he watched today are just one example. They took place in part because former fbi director jim comey told senators last week that sessions may have
And other countries are taking advantage of that. What do you think about the scope of our presence at some of these Rule Setting Meetings . What are your plans for the future . Senator, we need to be there. We need to be active. We need to be capable. We need to be value added. We need to come prepared to engage and work for americas interests in these multilateral discussions. I think you described wto in this article. Sounds like we share that sentiment. I couldnt tell you why we werent there. I dont know if it was an absence of people or the absence of focus. I view those as important to get the International Rule of law thats in accord with our view and not the chinese view in that particular instance. You have concerns and i will do my best to make sure were there and were capable. Appreciate it, that answer. I want to get a little bit of clarification with respect to an answer that you gave Senator Menendez at the outset coming back to that meeting with the president on march 22
You are recognized. Thank you. Madame ambassador, like a hallmark movie. You ended up at georgetown, this is all okay. [laughter] but it was not your preference seven or eight months ago, correct . No, it was not. It was not your preference to be a victim of a Smear Campaign, was it . No. It was not your preference to be defamed by the president of the United States including today, was it . No. It wasnt your preference to be ousted at seemingly the pinnacle of your career, was it . No. You wanted to finish your extended tour, correct . I did. What did you want to do after that . Did you know . I was not sure. There is nothing wrong with georgetown, it is a fine place, right . It is a wonderful place. But it is your only choice at the end of a distinguished career after all of that. It is not the end of a hallmark movie. It is the end of a really bad reality tv show. Brought to you by someone who knows a lot about that. [laughter] why did you, you previously testified that you sought a
It was not in any record i july 25th call. And this is consistent with the reported comments from received. But when you did see. Ambassadors volker and taylor. After the zelensky meeting, i yes, i saw that in september, also met with zelenskys senior correct. So on this continuum, the aide, andre yermak. Beginning of the continuum begins on may 23rd when the president instructs you to talk I Dont Recall the specifics of our conversation, but i believe the issue of investigations was to rudy . Correct. And you understood that as a probably a part of that agenda direction by the president that you needed to satisfy the or meeting. Concerns that Rudy Giuliani would express to you about what also, on july 26th, shortly the president wanted in ukraine . After our kiev meetings, i spoke not to me. By phone with President Trump. To the entire group, volker, perry and myself, correct. The white house, which has now, in your opening finally, finally shared certain statement you confirmed that
That it indicated to you that he had been prepped for the call, to expect this issue to come up. What led you to that conclusion . It seemed unlikely that he would be familiar with a Single Company in the context of a call that had that was on the broader bilateral relationship, and it seemed to me that he was either tracking this issue because it was in the press or he was otherwise prepped. Mr. Goldman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Good morning to both of you. Good morning. On july 25th at approximately 9 00 a. M. You both were sitting in the situation room, probably not too much further away than you are right now, and you were preparing for a longawaited phone call between President Trump and president zelensky. Now, Colonel Vindman, in advance
of this phone call, did you prepare Talking Points as you did for the april 21st call . Yes, i did. What were those Talking Points based upon . They were so this is not in the Public Record and i cant comment to deeply, but what is the areas tha