Would be lifted. Without hesitation, senator johnson says, President Trump immediately denies the arrangement existed and he started cursing. And he said, no way. President trump said no way. I would never do that. Who told you that . And senator johnson goes on to say that President Trumps reaction here was adamant, vehement, and angry. Senator johnson goes on to say as of october 31st, said youre going to like my decision in the has very important context on what the president s state of mind was, at least as he fully expecteou released after the 55 day pause. Right . Yes, absolutely. I want to thank you all for 75 minutes today. Been talking for approximately my wife thanks you as well. She likes when i do the talking when shes not around. Time permitting, four or five distinct areas. Theres a lot of facts the American People have not heard and theres a lot of contradictions in certain peoples testimony. Is that fair to say, mr. Castor . And id like to talk about some of the people
Talking about burden sharing and wanting the europeans to do more. But senator johnson was and President Trump they were pretty candid and they believe that allies like germany were laughing at us because we were so willing to spend the aid. Right. Now, theres been a lot of allegations that president zelensky is not being candid about feeling pressure from President Trump. And isnt i want true that he stated over and over publicly that he felt no pressure from President Trump . Is that true . Yeah. He said it consistently. He said it at the United Nations september 25th. He said it, you know, in three more news availability, including last week. I want to change subjects and talk about something that professor turley raised last week and that is the partisan nature of this investigation. And youre an experienced congressional investigator. Professor turley, hes no trump supporter. Thats right. He is a democrat. Thats right. And, but professor turley cautioned the that a par the at the
[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] we recessed about to hear from mr. Castor, you are recognized for 45 minutes. Good afternoon chairman and Ranking Member collins, members of the committee and the staff, thank you again for having meto back. And giving me the opportunity to testify about the evidence gathered during the impeachment inquiry. At the outset let me say the evidence does not support the allegations that my democrat colleagues have made. I dont believe the evidence leads to the inclusion they suggest. I am hopeful that some important perspective and context to the facts under discussion today. The chief obligation as a Democrat Impeachment inquiry is trying to assess over the last 76 days is this, whether President Trump abuse the power da his office through quid pro quo, bribery, extortion or whatever by withholding a meeting or Security Assistance as a way of pressuring president zelensky to pressure the
The committee will reconvene. When we recessed we were about to hear from mr. Castor. Mr. Castor, youre recognized for 45 minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for having me back, giving me the opportunity to testify about the evidence gathered during our impeachment inquiry. At the outset let me say the evidence does not support the allegations that my democrat colleagues have made. And i dont believe the evidence leads to the conclusions they suggest. Im hopeful to add some important perspective and context to the facts under discussion today. The chief allegation that the impeachment inquiry has been trying to assess over the last 66 days is this whether President Trump abused the power of his office through quid pro quo, extortion or whatever, by withholding a meeting or Security Assistance as a way of pressuring ukrainian president zelensky to investigate the president s political rival, former vp biden, for the president s political benefit in the upcoming election. The sec
[inaudible conversations]. We will come to order. Good afternoon this is a fourth in a series of hearings we are holding as part of the inquiry without objection the chairs authorized to declare a recess at any time. There is a quorum present. Well proceed today as an Opening Statement than the Ranking Member can make his Opening Statement and then we will turn to the witnesses and then two questions. Without a now recognize myself to give an Opening Statement into the impeachment inquiry of donald j. Trump the 45th president of the United States. This afternoon well hear from two witnesses Ambassador Special representative for ukraine negotiations and to morrison former senior director for European Affairs at an sei appreciate the minorities request for these witnesses as well as undersecretary of state from whom we will hear tomorrow progress we have heard from other witnesses when joe biden was considered whether to enter the price one the president ial race in 2020 giuliani began a