i never heard, mr. goldman, anyone say that the investigations had to start or be completed. the only thing i heard from mr. giuliani or otherwise was that they had to be announced in some form. and that form kept changing. announced publicly? announced publicly. and you of course recognized that there would be political benefits to a public announcement, as opposed to a private confirmation, right? well, the way it was expressed to me was that the ukrainians had a long history of committing to things privately and then never following through. so president trump presumably, again communicated through mr. giuliani, wanted the ukrainians on record publicly that they were going to do these investigations. that s the reason that was given to me. but you never heard anyone say that they really wanted them to do the investigations, just that they wanted to announce them? i didn t hear either way. now, your july 26th call with the president was not the only
volker, perry and myself. investigations. this is from mr. yermak to me. and the vice president nodded, like, you know, he heard what i the following day, august 11th, said, and that was pretty much it, as i recall. and this is critical, i sent an and you understood that the email to counselor brechbuhl and ukrainians were going to raise lisa kenna. the security assistance with the vice president at this meeting? lisa kenna was frequently used i didn t know what they were going to raise, but they in fact as the pathway to secretary did raise it, mr. chairman. pompeo, as sometimes he preferred to receive his emails it was public by that point through her. that there was a hold on the she would print them out and put security assistance, correct? them in front of him. yeah, but i didn t know what with the subject ukraine, i they were going to raise. i didn t get a pre-brief from the ukrainians. you knew certainly they were concerned about the hold on the wrote, mike, referring
he ll do whatever you want, means that he would work with us on a whole host of issues. he was not only willing, he was very eager, right? that s fair. because ukraine depends on the united states as its most significant ally, isn t that correct? one of its most, absolutely. so just so we understand, you were in kiev the day after president trump spoke to president zelensky on the phone, and you now know from reading the call record that in that phone call he requested a favor for president zelensky to do investigations related to the bidens and the 2016 election, right? i do now know that, yes. and you met with president zelensky and his aides on the day after that phone call and then you had a conversation with president trump from your cell phone from a restaurant terrace, and he asked you whether president zelensky will do the investigations. and you responded that he s
well, secretary pompeo? yes. and acting chief of staff mulvaney? yes. and you testified that this was a quid pro quo, is that right? i did. and at this point by the end of august, you knew that the aid had been held up for at least six weeks, is that correct? i believe i found out through ambassador taylor that the aid had been held up around july 18th is when i heard originally. and even though you searched for reasons, you were never given a credible explanation, is that right. that s right. and no one you spoke to thought that the aid should be held to your knowledge, is that right? i never heard anyone advocate for holding the aid. and now, by this point at the end of august, it went public and the ukrainians knew about it, right? i believe there was some press reports, you know, presuming or who knows? but i think at that point it became sort of common knowledge that everything might be tied together. and, in fact, p zelensky
prerequisite of investigations before any white house call or meeting. you further testified, again, mr. giuliani s demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations. i knew that the topic of investigations was important to president trump. you testified later, i know that members of this committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question. was there a quid pro quo? as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and white house meeting, the answer is yes. we all understood these prerequisites for the white house call and white house meeting reflected president trump s desires and requirements.