yes, most definitely there were limitations. the purpose of the interview was not at all to talk about impeachment or quid pro quos or any of the other things related to the impeachment inquiry. he wanted to talk about his ongoing war against pro-russian forces in eastern ukraine, and most importantly, about the upcoming peace talks that he has next week with president vladimir putin of russia. when it came to impeachment-related issues and other issues that are stirring up such a storm of scandal in the united states, he was very hesitant. and you have to keep that in mind as you read the quote that you just read out. you know, even for him to step out and say something like that, that critical of the united states policy toward ukraine, is quite a risk for him. he is still extremely dependant on the united states for support, for financial support,
ambassador to russia during the obama administration, michael mcfaul. he is an msnbc national security analyst. mr. schuster, in your interview with president zelensky, what was your sense of what he was willing to say and not willing to say about his interactions with president trump? did you sense there were limitations about what he was willing to answer about that? yes, most definitely there were limitations. the purpose of the interview was not at all to talk about impeachment or quid pro quos or any of the other things related to the impeachment inquiry. he wanted to talk about his ongoing war against pro-russian forces in eastern ukraine, and most importantly about the upcoming peace talks that he has next week with president vladimir putin of russia. when it came to impeachment-related issues and
giuliani has some exposure there with regard to lobbying and the foreign registration act that, you know, the federal prosecutors are looking at. but i think it is right to say that there is a lot worth examining here about the president s interactions with foreign leaders and his inherently transactional nature on whether that has begun to personify itself as bribery, extortion. you know what is the line between him asking for personal favors in exchange for helping countries and him asking for quid pro quos that might be in the national interest, which is what his allies have always said is his main goal which sounds pretty unbelievable at this point. so he has already said in the past he had asked china to look into the bidens. and with regard to turkey, there does seem to be a little bit of potential exchange going on there wrarith regard to the turh
lobbying and foreign agent registration act that, you know, the federal prosecutors are probably looking at. but i think it is right to say that there is a lot more worth examining here about the president s interactions with foreign leaders and his inherently transactional nature and whether that has begun to personify itself as, you know, bribery, extortion. right. you know, what is the line between him asking for personal favors in exchange for helping countries and him asking for, you know, quid pro quos that might be in the national interest, which is what his allies have always said was his main goal, which, you know, given everything that s come out, seems pretty unbelievable at this point. so he has already said in the past that he had asked china to look into the bidens and with regard to turkey, there does seem to be a little bit of potential exchange going on there with regard to the case of the turkish gold trader that giuliani was representing that
about this whistle-blower report and that it was the decision of the white house that they were going to keep it from congress when under normal circumstances that would be sent to the relevant committees in congress that have oversight. and so there is just a real lawlessness and just obvious corruption to this kind of behavior. you know, david dwergen, i want to read you the text exchange between the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine bill taylor and sondland. tailor writes i said i think it s crazy to withhold critical assistance. i believe bill i believe you are incorrect about the intentions. president president has been critical clear, no quid pro quos of any kind. the president is trying to evaluate whether ukraine is truly going to adopt a transparent reforms. president zelensky promised during his campaign. sondland testified that s what the president told him. we heard the president reading