Department that essentially says the president is above the director, therefore the president is not subject to the jurisdiction of the director, therefore it doesnt meet the definition of urgent concern, therefore the Inspector General is done. The Inspector General cant investigate anymore. Thats the Inspector Generals reading of the Department Opinion, that he is no longer allowed to investigate this. Is that your reading as well . Chairman, not necessarily the president , but the allegation has to relate to the funding, administration, operation of an Intelligence Activity within the responsibility and the authority of the director of National Intelligence. Okay. Im just trying to get to whether the president is somehow beyond the reach of the law. No, sir. No person in this country is beyond the reach of the law. Well, thats the way it should be but im trying to figure out whether thats the way it is as a practical fact. The Inspector General believes that based on the opinion tha
President , correct . Its appropriate for the Justice Department and the Prosecutor General to cooperate and to exchange information, yes. But to the extent that the president has concerns and to the extent that the Attorney General is having u. S. Attorney durham look into it, isnt it entirely appropriate for the president to flag this for president zelensky and say that you should be in touch with our official channels . Mr. Castor, i dont know the precise appropriateness of these kind of relations. Now, were you involved, either of you involved with the preparation for the 7 25 call . I was not. I was not. And how do you account for that . I mean, you were the two of the key officials with responsibility for ukrainian policy. If the president of the United States is going to have a call with the leader of the ukraine, why wouldnt
you ordinarily be involved with preparation . Sir, we work for the Department Of State in an embassy overseas and in preparation for a president ial phone
Mean, thats the appropriate way to raise an issue with the ukrainian president , correct . Its appropriate for the Justice Department and the Prosecutor General to cooperate and to exchange information, yes. To the extent the president has concerns and to the extent the Attorney General is having u. S. Attorney durham look into it, isnt it entirely appropriate for the president to flag this for president zelensky and say youn touch with our official channels . Mr. Castor, i dont know the precise appropriateness of these kinds of relations. Now, were either of you involved with the preparation for the 7 25 call . I was not. I was not. How do you account for that . I mean, you were two of the key officials with responsibility for ukrainian policy. If the president of the United States is going to have a call with the leader of ukraine, why
wouldnt you ordinarily be involved with the preparation . Sir, we work for the Department Of State in an embassy overseas. Preparation for a president
Zelenskys inauguration in may, i believe you testified it was one of the largest delegations . I believe it was. I cant be 100 sure. I believe it was the Largest National delegation. Okay. And included in the delegation was Secretary Perry . Secretary perry, ambassador sondland, myself, senator ron johnson was there and also the charge daffaires at the u. S. Embassy at the time, joe pennington. We talked a little bit this morning, but president zelenskys inauguration came together rather quickly . It did. I believe we had about three days notice in which to put the delegation together. Theres been some discussion whether the Vice President was going to be able to lead that effort and as it turned out he was not able to lead it. Do you have any information as to why the Vice President was unable to join . I dont. And mr. Morrison, do you have any information as to why the
Vice President was unable to participate in the delegation . No. Ambassador volker, you testified during your deposi
and a couple of weeks later, the july 25th call happened. and you were headed to ukraine during that time period? yes. i was actually already on my way to ukraine. i think two days prior to that. and you received readouts from the u.s. side and the ukrainian side. cue te could you tell us about that? yes. i was not on the phone call. i arrived in ukraine and had that lunch with mr. yermak, you saw that, on the day of the phone call. i had been pushing for the phone call because i thought it was important to renew the connection between the two leaders and congratulating mr. zelensky about the parliamentary election. the readout i received from mr. yermak and also from the u.s. side, i m not sure who it was from the u.s. side but it was a u.s. and ukrainian readout, were largely the same, that it was a good call, it was a congratulatory phone call for the president winning in the