president trump said there was no pressure. when i asked if he wanted president zelensky to do more to investigate the former vp, president trump responded no, i want him to do whatever he can. whatever he can do in terms of corruption because corruption is massive. that s what he should do. several witnesses attested to the president s concerns about ukrainian corruption. the initial readouts of the jule ukrainian government and the state department raised no concerns. although lieutenant colonel vindman noted concerns, those concerns were not shared by national security council leadership. they were not shared by general keith kellogg who listens on the call, lieutenant general kellogg said in the statement i heard nothing wrong or improper on the call. i had and have no concerns.
through june 1st where the president could attend the inauguration and that was communicated and if it wasn t one of those dates, it would be difficult or impossible to attend the inauguration. separately, the office of the vice president was also planning an unrelated trip to canada to promote the usmca during this same window. the usmca was and still is a significant priority for the administration. vice president pence has done a number of public events in support of it. president trump was also planning foreign travel during this time period. and as dr. hill testified, both president trump and vice president pence cannot both be out of the country at the same time. williams explained that these factors created a narrow window
finally, on september 25th, president trump and president zelensky met during the general assembly. the two met without ukraine ever taking action on investigations and according to ambassador taylor, there was no discussion of investigation during this meeting. i will now turn to the second assertion that president trump withheld taxpayer-funded security assistance to ukraine as a way of pressuring zelensky to conduct these investigations. hereto, context is critically important. president trump has been skeptical of foreign assistance in general and believes quite strongly that our european allies should share more of the burden for regional defense. that is an assertion he made on the campaign trail, something he has raised consistently since. it is also important to note that u.s. security assistance is conditioned to countries around the world and that u.s. aid including a two ukraine has been temporarily paused in the past for various reasons and even for no reason at all.
question it is an impeachable offense including the exchange for the investigation of a political opponent. you just have to prove it happens. that was mr. turley s comment. now did the investigative committees conclude that the evidence proved that the president used his public office for personal gain? yes, mr. chairman. finding in fact five said president trump abused the office of the president to apply increasing pressure and to discuss the politically motivated investigations desired by president trump. and did the evidence also prove that president trump withheld military aid and announcement of his political opponent? president trump asking him through his agents and subordinates conditioned release of the vital military assistance suspended to ukraine on the president of ukraine s public
president zelensky vocalized no concerns with the subject matters discussed. and there is no indication of bribery, extortion, or other illegal conduct on the call. of the call summary shows president trump and president zelensky engaged in pleasantries and cordiality s. the summary reveals laughter, simply put, not the sinister mob shakedown that some democrats have described. president trump raised his concerns about european allies paying their fair share and security assistance to ukraine. a concern that president trump would continue to raise both publicly and privately. there was no discussion on the call, i repeat, no discussion on the call about the upcoming 2020 election. or security sectors assistance