This hearing will come to water. I want to thank the witnesses first and foremost for the efforts as related to the current i guess we have to call it a pandemic at this point in time with conv19, the corona virus. I do think its important we put everything in perspective and i would ask my Committee Members to include my pretend Opening Statement in the record. But we often times. Let me rattle off a couple figures here. Ebola total cases worldwide ended up being less than 29,000. I remember in a crisis we were talking about it spreading and could be a Million People which would have been a huge problem because ebola had a mortality rate of 40 , but in the end because of effective action on the part of the world health organization, the Obama Administration and resources we prevented it from spreading some less than 29,000 contracted it and about 11,000 died. Weve had other outbreaks where we are Getting Better and weve developed some relatively effective vaccines to help protect Heal
Them in the right direction. Witnesses in the impeachment inquiry testified that the allegation of ukrainian influence in the 2016 election was appropriate to examine. Ambassador volker testified that he thought it was fine to investigate allegations about 2016 influence. Ambassador taylor said, for example, that the allegations surprised and disappointed him, on this record i do not believe one could conclude that President Trump had no legitimate basis to raise a concern about efforts by ukrainians to influence the 2016 election. Let me now turn to the first assertion that President Trump withheld a meeting with president zelensky as a way of pressuring him to investigate the former vp. Here it is important to note ukraines long, profound history of endemic corruption. Several witnesses during the inquiry have testified about these problems. Ambassador marie yovanovitch, for example, said ukraines corruption is not just prevalent but, frankly, is the system. Witnesses testified to ha
Correct . President trump has done a lot for ukraine. Yes. Sir, but isnt it correct that President Trump did not raise anything about hunter biden and fizz his father in 2017 or 2018 in only the year before his election in 2020 when both he and Vice President joe biden were leading candidates. Isnt that true, sir . I think what happened is the president saw this video of the former vp and i think it, it coalessed in his mind. Please answer my questions. He didnt raise any of these issues in 2017 or 2018. I dont know if he did or didnt. You have no evidence he did. No, but i have no evidence he did not. This video is pretty remark bable. Let me ask you this. You talk ed about Lieutenant Colonel vindman, a highly decorated purple heart recipient and work ed in the Trump Administration, correct . Yes, sir. He had a reaction to the call, didnt he . He did. He was list b benning to it, correct . He did. Lets look at his reaction. He said i immediately went to john eisenberg, the lead legal
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President trump did not implement, promote, u. S. Anticorruption policies. In fact, be president sought to pressure the government of ukraine to announce politically motivated investigations, lacking legitimate predication that the u. S. Government otherwise discourages and opposes as a matter of policy and around the world, in so doing, the president undermined u. S. Policy supporting anticorruption reform and the rule of law in ukraine at undermined u. S. National security. The evidence also show that President Trump copper mice the National Security of the United States . Yes. Fact seven says, by withholding vital military assistance and diplomatic support from a foreign partner government engaged in a military conflict instigated by russia, President Trump, mike National Security to advance his political interests. Did the evidence prove that President Trump engaged in a scheme to cover up his conduct and obstruct congressional investigations . Yes. From the outset. Act nine says,