Murray, thanks to both of you. Thanks for watching our msnbc special. Find me on weeknights. Its the beet, 6 00 p. M. Eastern. It started as a 30minute phone call between two president s. It erupted into a fullscale scandal that now threatens to bring down donald trump. Today im announcing the house of representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. Our president sacrificed our National Security and our constitution for his personal political benefit. Theyve been trying to impeach me from the day i got elected. And you know what . They failed. Youve seen the headlines. Tonight well dive deep into the part of the story you havent heard. And key players will reveal for the first time what really happened. As we go on assignment. The conversation just after 9 00 a. M. On july 25th started out friendly. President donald j. Trump calling his newly elected counterpart, ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. This is from the official notes of the phone call released by the white house. Congratulations on a great victory, we all watched from the United States and you did a terrific job, President Trump tells president zelensky. You are absolutely right, mr. President , zelensky responds, we did win big and we worked hard for this. We worked a lot but i would like to confess to you that i had an opportunity to learn from you. It was actually the first
real conversation between two president s. This was ukraines Foreign Minister for five years. He left office at the end of august. He says for president zelensky, it was a High Pressure call. I understand that for zelensky, it was extremely important simply to build up a kind of personal thing between them. You can hear what sounds like zelensky doing his best to get on trumps side. We are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp here in our country, says the ukrainian president , you are a great teacher for us in that. President trump responds, well, its very nice for you to say that. He is trying to establish a personal rapport with President Trump. That is obvious given all the flattering language. Before being elected president earlier this year, Volodymyr Zelensky was an actor and comedian. His most notable role was
playing a president on tv. He won office in a landslide with a Campaign Promise to fight corruption and to end ukraines war with its vastly more powerful neighbor, russia. Zelensky knows u. S. Military aid is vital to his country, and hes eager for it to continue. I would also like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense. We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next stages. Specifically, we are almost ready to buy more javelins from the United States for defense purposes, he says. Javelins are shoulderfired antitank missiles ukraines army needs to fight off russianbacked forces. So far, so normal. Talks of bilateral relations and defense. But this is President Trump. His response to the request for javelin missiles is personal. One white house official reportedly called it crazy. I would like you to do us a
favor, though, President Trump says, because our country has been through a lot and ukraine knows a lot about it. All you have to do is look at the transcript that the white house released where the president of ukraine says, we want to buy more javelins. And the next word is the president saying, id like to ask a favor, though. President trump has a very specific favor in mind. It involves his old nemesis, Hillary Clinton, and a baseless Conspiracy Theory propagated on the fringes of the internet that claims the hacking of democratic computers during the 2016 election was not carried out by russia to help the trump campaign, as u. S. Intelligence agencies universally concluded. But instead, was the work of ukrainian operatives to help Hillary Clinton and frame donald trump and russia. As with much of the republican conspiracy thinking about the origins of the mueller
probe, the origins of the steele dossier, theres not a lot that ive found that really backs this up. The wild allegation has no factual basis. Its been completely debunked. I believe its weird. I believe its simply weird, and anybody understanding something about cybersecurity would tell you its weird. President trump continues, i would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people, and i would like you to get to the bottom of it. Zelensky responds, we are ready to open a new page on cooperation in relations between the United States and ukraine. Sleepy joe said that hes running President Trump then turns his attention from hacking in 2016 to a possible rival in 2020. Former Vice President joe biden. And what trump claims was his role in a Corruption Investigation in ukraine five years ago. Theres a lot of talk about
bidens son, that biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great, says President Trump. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution, so if you can look into it, it sounds horrible to me. We will take care of that, zelensky says, and well work on the investigation of the case. Once again, President Trump is asking for proof of something that didnt happen. There is no evidence biden tried to stop a prosecution in ukraine. Not only was trumps request highly irregular, analysts say it put the ukrainian president in a difficult spot. You have the president of ukraine say, i want to buy more weapons, were in a war, were trying to defend ourselves, you promised that youd support us. You have president responding, id like to talk to you about your doing a favor, then he goes into his request for dirt on biden. No leader in the world is in a position to refuse when the
president of the United States asks you to do a favor. But the president of ukraine is especially vulnerable given that he is fighting a war against russia, and he needs the United States to be on his side. Reporter at least a week before the two men spoke over the phone, President Trump had blocked, in spite of recommendations from the pentagon, a 391 million Military Aid Package to ukraine. When you read that partial transcript, do you think that President Trump was putting pressure on president zelensky . Indirect pressure is definitely there. The president basically was cutting off these weapons until he got agreement from the ukrainian president to help him with his political request. President trump doesnt just ask zelensky to investigate biden, he offers highlevel help, namely, his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and
william barr, the Attorney General of the United States. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man, says President Trump, he was the mayor of new york city, a great mayor, and i would like him to call you, i will ask him to call you, along with the Attorney General. After the call, white house aides placed the records of it in a topsecret computer server. It might have stayed there, except for a whistleblower. Someone at cia heard about the phone call and warned his superiors that the president may have been acting illegally. The white house released the notes, apparently believing they would exonerate the president. Trumps critics didnt see it that way. So here we have the president of the United States engaged in a shakedown of a foreign president. Rudy giuliani is negotiating, apparently on behalf of the president of the United States, but in effect potentially
betraying our national and security interests. President trump and his supporters claim the whistleblower is a plant from what they call the deep state, the shadowy american leftleaning establishment they say has been trying to unseat President Trump since the beginning. A partisan hit job does not make you a whistleblower just because you go through the whistleblower protection act. Raise your right hand in congressional testimony, the president s own Acting Director of National Intelligence called the whistleblower credible and the process lawful. I think the whistleblower did the right thing. I think he followed the law every step of the way. The whistleblower was wrong. At first trump seemed to see the whole situation as yet another chance to take down a political rival. Bidens son is corrupt, and biden is corrupt. Two months after the call, president s trump and zelensky
met in person. Reporters questions were all about the call. Zelensky said he didnt feel he was being forced to do the president s bidding. We spoke about many things. And so i think, and you read it, that nobody pushed pushed me, yes. In other words, no pressure. But former ukrainian diplomats and investigators we spoke to told us there was nothing else zelensky could say. President trump, after all, was holding his feet to the fire. Weve been investigating on a personal basis through rudy and others, lawyers, corruption in the 2016 election. Back home in ukraine, president zelensky denied any contact with giuliani. Were you ever approached by or did you meet with Rudy Giuliani . Ive never met Rudy Giuliani, never. And never had any phone calls with him. But pressure is mounting, and
investigators are digging deeper. Revealing that months before the call, u. S. Diplomats had already begun a campaign to pressure ukraine to investigate the bidens and validate trumps false belief that ukrainian officials helped Hillary Clinton in the 2016 elections. And now another whistleblower has come forward. As the days turn to weeks, the march toward impeachment is clearly getting under the president s skin. Did you hear me . Ask him a question. I will, but ive given you a long answer, ask this gentleman a question, dont be rude. No, sir, i dont want to be rude, i just wanted you to have a chance to ask the question that i asked you. Ive answered everything. But theres an underlying question. Why . Why does President Trump seem obsessed with ukraine . Why has a former Soviet Republic become so central to American Politics . The riot police have now withdrawn from this area in central kiev
i was there, and i can tell you how the story really went down. Stay with us as we show you how a revolution in kiev ended up reaching all the way to washington. Port. Finally something more powerful than the funk. Tide sport removes even weekold sweat odor. Its got to be tide. You may have gingivitis. When you brush, and the clock could be ticking towards bad breath, receding gums, and possibly. Tooth loss. Help turn back the clock on gingivitis with parodontax. Leave bleeding gums behind. Parodontax. Itso chantix can help you quitd slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. Chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Quit smoking slow turkey. Talk to your doctor about chantix. But she wanted someone who loves with the cats. Ng. So, we got griswalda. Dinners almost ready. But one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with our Renters Insurance. Yeah, switching and saving was really easy drink it all up. Good
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capital kiev, demanding immediate democratic reforms. And the overthrow of the corrupt russianbacked president , viktor yanukovych. The protesters had washingtons blessing. U. S. Diplomats went so far as to visit the demonstrators and hand out food. Ukraine and its people just didnt want to be part of that close russian orbit anymore. They were looking west. As the world watched, things got ugly. I was there when the street protests erupted into pitched battles with riot police. And soon central kievs main square, the mydan, was on fire. The protesters here put themselves in the center of a ring of fire and say they will hold this square even fit costs them their lives. For many it did. President trump yanukovych ordered his troops to open fire
with live ammunition. Around 100 protesters were killed. Opponents of yanukovych were shocked, but not surprised. Viktor yanukovych was trying to monopolize corruption in ukraine. He treated the state as his own personal family business. I spoke recently with doreen that, ukraines iding anticorruption campaigner, not a fan of the former president. In his youth he was convicted for robbery of hats. He stole peoples hats . He stole peoples hats. He was a lowlevel petty criminal . In the soviet union, there was fashion for hats because of the fur. So they were expensive. And he was convicted for that. He served his term in the prison. So everyone treated yanukovych as a criminal. Amid growing pressure and with blood in the streets, the hat thiefturnedpresident threw
in the towel and fled to russia. Celebrations broke out across kiev. But Vladimir PutinWasnt Going To Stand By and let a Popular Uprising go unchallenged in his own backyard. While putin was extremely upset, i think he thought this was a fateful moment where he was about to lose ukraine to the west. Michael mcfaul was the u. S. Ambassador to russia at the time. Thats why he invaded, thats why he went in. Days after the Closing Ceremony in sochi, the russian president launched a Stealth Operation to occupy ukraines strategically important crimean peninsula. It was a bold and new type of invasion. Soldiers with unmarked uniforms, known only as little green men, blocked roads, took over army bases, took over strategic posts, quietly, efficiently,
without violence. Russia denied any involvement. Only later would putin proudly acknowledge the invasion was carried out by russian commandos. I watched as prorussian supporters tightened their grip on power and gave the people a vote. But no real choice. These men and their russian backers now run things here, and many crimeans believe the upcoming referendum is just a rubber stamp for takeover by force thats already happened. And sure enough, when the results of the hastily organized referendum were announced, crimea voted to become part of mother russia. Its true many people consider crimea part of russia, but its part of ukraine. Seizure of territory by one nation by another is against the rules. It was the first Hostile Takeover Of European Territory by a neighboring country since world war ii. Vladimir putins Approval Rating skyrocketed after the
annexation of crimea. It was an extremely popular war, portrayed so people understand on russian airwaves as a battle not between ukrainians and russians, but between russia and the west, russia and the United States. Putin worked hard to make his new acquisition irreversible. He ordered the construction of a bridge to connect crimea to the russian mainland. Russianbacked militias then took over large parts of eastern ukraine. The country was being occupied piece by piece. With Vladimir Putin, thats are real gut issues. When he gets angry, feels that hes being dissed, his countrys being dissed, he can react very sharply. Journalist David Ignatius watched putins land grab with growing concern. Ukrainian leaders have been struggling to understand what to do. They had believed the United States stood with them as they tried to become truly
independent of russia, a russia that was fighting a war on their borders to try to suppress them, suppress their freedoms. They thought, america stands with us. With russia now occupying crimea and eastern ukraine, the new proamerican government in kiev needed its friends in washington more than ever. But the Obama Administration first wanted ukraine to clean up its house. Then Vice President biden was named point man for the anticorruption effort. Its absolutely critical for ukraine, in order to be stable and prosperous and part of a secure europe, to definitely, thoroughly, completely, root out the cancer of corruption. There was plenty to root out. After the hat thief, yanukovych, fled the country. People flocked to the former president ial palace, a Sprawling Compound decorated in dictator chic, complete with artificial
lake and private zoo. There they found documents detailing yanukovychs corruption, and eventually hidden in a locked room of yanukovychs own party headquarters, they found the crown jewel. An 800page handwritten book that came to be known as the black ledger. This is the ledger . This is the black ledger, one of 800 pages. This ukrainian journalist and anticorruption politician showed me a copy of some of the offtherecord payments made by yanukovychs political party. One name that featured prominently was paul manafort. Heres one for 750,000 . Clearly i can see that, manafort. Manafort was a political consultant and Campaign Strategist with a dubious list of clients. They included criminals and
despots. Ferdinand marcos. Ukraines viktor yanukovych. In the spring of 2016, donald trump called on manafort to be his campaign manager. Paul manafort has done an amazing job. Hes here someplace, wheres paul . Paul manafort. But when the story of the black ledger broke and the large Cash Payments to manafort were revealed, trump was put on the defensive. Now manafort has totally denied it, denied it. I think he represented ukraine or people having to do with ukraine or people that whoever. But people knew that, everybody knew that. Soon manafort was forced to resign from the trump campaign. The Mueller Report would reveal his close die ties and large debts to a russian oligarch, leading to suspicions trump himself may be compromised, allegations the president denies. Manafort remained loyal to trump even after he went to prison for bank and tax fraud. Even after he won the presidency, donald trump suspected ukraine had tried to sabotage his campaign. How exactly does joe biden fit in . That story next. , we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] its an honor to tell you that Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. And now we need to get back to work. [ Applause And Band Playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. When you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. Align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24 7. So, where you go, the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. Im working to make each day a little sweeter. Adp simplifies hr, benefits, and payroll for magnolia bakery, so employees like sarah can achieve what theyre working for. But maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr, a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb;
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a former government minister, suspected of selfdealing, granting licenses for oil and gas concessions to help his company. And allowing burisma to evade taxes. Anticorruption watchdog doreena kalenok. Burisma has a bad reputation. In ukraine we actually appeared when we had to fight two wars. War with russia, war with corruption. In an attempt to improve its image and shield itself from scrutiny, in 2014 burisma assembled a new board of directors. The Company Brought in several highprofile names, including Vice President bidens son, hunter. Why would burisma hire hunter biden to serve on the board . Nominating such person, it was idea to protect company from investigation. Sergei seshenko is an investigative journalist and
former member of ukraines parliament. Nominating and putting such position in position, idea is to make company more protected from investigation, to make less possible disclosure of the misconduct in past and so on. Its typical pr story. It was clear for us that theyre trying hard to whitewash his reputation and make Everything Possible to prevent from losing assets in ukraine. Its my honor to introduce the Vice President of the United States, my father, joe biden. Hunter biden was an unusual choice for burisma. He was a lawyer and venture capitalist but had no experience in the oil and gas sector. He recently admitted to the new yorker magazine a tumultuous personal life with bouts of drug and alcohol addiction. Hunter bidens position with burisma came with a reported 50,000 a month paycheck. It raised eyebrows in washington at the time. Hunter biden has now taken a position with oil and gas
company in ukraine, is there any concern about at least the appearance of a conflict there . Hunter biden and other members of the biden family are obviously private citizens, and where they work is not does not reflect an endorsement by the administration or by the Vice President or the president. But i would refer you to the Vice President s office. Its not the first instance when we see a company of Ukrainian Tycoon inviting very prominent people with prominent names in order to make them look good. It was very wrong and very unethical. Wrong and unethical for hunter biden to take the job . He had nothing to do with ukraine before he took that job. Did he ask himself why he was invited to join the board . They needed his name, full stop. But even with such starpower on the board, burisma still faced a Corruption Investigation. And heres where the story gets interesting. Ukraines Prosecutor General at the time was named victor shokin. It was his job to oversee the investigation into burisma. Was he an effective prosecutor . Totally uneffective. He was appointed with the idea to fight against corruption, to be independent. But he has no credibility and no ability to investigate. He is just crooked. Shokin quickly earned a reputation for protecting powerful friends, including the exiled president , viktor yanukovych. Protesters in kiev demanded that shokin be fired, and they werent the only ones unhappy with shokins slow walking of corruption cases. It was the whole international community. It was the european union. It was International Financial organizations. It was about reform of our prosecutor offices. Which were fundamentally and systematically corrupt. Among the loudest voices calling for shokin to be fired was Vice President joe biden. To help push the case, biden threatened to hold up a billiondollar Loan Guarantee program. An episode he boasted about months later at the council on foreign relations. I said, im telling you, youre not getting a billion dollars. I said, youre not getting a billion. Im going to be leaving here, i think it was six hours. I said, were leaving in six hours. If the prosecutors not fired, youre not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch, he got fired. Remember this, its important. Shokin was fired for failing to investigate corruption. As youll see, President Trump and his personal lawyer now tell a very different and misleading story. When we come back, how President Trump is rewriting history. Its [ bleep ]. From first word to the last word. And i track down Rudy Giulianis man in kiev. Were you in regular contact with him . No, no. It was irregular contact. But yes, i have spoken with him maybe ten times. burke at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. Even a ernie lost Rubber Duckie . burke you mean this one . ernie Rubber Duckie cookie what about a broken cookie jar . burke again, cookie . cookie yeah. Me bad. grover yoooooow oh what about monsters having accidents . I am okay by the way burke depends. Did you cause the accident, grover . grover cause an accident . Maybe. bert how do you know all this stuff . burke just comes with experience. all muppets yup. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum when you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. Align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24 7. So, where you go, the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. Do you want me to go first or do you want to go first, brea . You can go first. Audible reintroduced this whole world to me. So many Great Stories from amazing people. Makes me wanna be better. To connect with stories that im listening to thats inspiration. With audible originals, theres something for almost every taste in there. Everything you ever wanted to hear. Our ability to empathize through these stories can be transformational. Its my own thing that i can do for me. Download audible and start listening today. The amount of Student Loan Debt i have, im embarrassed to even say. We just decided we didnt want debt any longer. I didnt realize how easy investing could be. Im Picking Companies that i believe in. I think sofi money is amazing. Thank you sofi. Sofi thank you, we love you. Sofi thank you, we love you. Danafarber Cancer Institute discovered the pdl1 pathway. Pdl1. They changed how the world fights cancer. Blocking the pdl1 protein,
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conspiring with a Foreign Government, giuliani was pushing a Conspiracy Theory of his own. Involving ukraine and joe biden. Did you ask the ukraine to investigate joe biden . No. Youre not going to intimidate me. I actually found facts that are true. Shut up, moron, shut up just be careful about what you say. I asked you did you look at joe biden . You dont know what youre talking about, idiot. Let me finish. Keep your lying mouth shut. You did ask ukraine to look into joe biden . Of course i did. You just said you didnt. Giulianis theory was based on one fact, that biden, as Vice President , had used his authority to push for the removal of ukraines Prosecutor General, victor shokin. But giuliani went on to claim that biden got rid of shokin in order to protect his own son, hunter, and the burisma Energy Company. When giuliani says that Vice President biden removed shokin to protect his son, hunter biden . Is he right . Its [ bleep ]. From first word to the last word. Did people here in ukraine, investigators like yourself, anticorruption activists, think that shokin was doing a good job, that he was effective . Absolutely not. Shokin was corrupt, ineffective prosecutor. It was the consensus of Civil Society in ukraine and International Partners of ukraine that shokin was a disaster for Prosecutor General office, shokin has to go, he was intimidating investigators in his office. Biden was pushing for someone who would be more aggressive, more actively looking into burisma and other companies . Thats correct. Giuliani is rewriting what happened. Shokin was a prosecutor who was widely viewed by experts as being a holdover from the promoscow yanukovych era, who wasnt doing an adequate job in
prosecuting burisma, the gas company, or lots of other corruption issues. And there was a general agreement that it was time to get him out. Viktor shokin was formally let go with a vote in ukraines parliament. A new Prosecutor General, yuri letsenko, took over the case and moved quickly. Burisma was ordered to pay back taxes. Hunter biden was found to have broken no laws because the corruption occurred before he joined the board. Hunter left the burisma board early this year. Letsenko as Prosecutor General was saying, we solved the issue of burisma, case is closed. Letsenko was the man who closed the case against burisma. But then a strange thing happened. Earlier this year, the new prosecutor did an aboutface. Stating that the burisma case and the bidens involvement might be worth a second look. Why the Change Of Heart . When i interviewed letsenko he said hed met multiple times with the president s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Were you in regular contact with him . No, no. It was there were irregular contacts. But yes, i have spoken with him. Maybe ten times. Ten times . Maybe. Always about this issue . This and other even political issues. Why, having closed the burisma case, would letsenko want to reopen it . He was trying to save his position by constructing this Conspiracy Theory together with giuliani. He was looking for a way how to ensure that he will remain at his post. Help giuliani with his Conspiracy Theories in exchange for, i dont know, some sort of guarantee that he will remain in his office. He saw the winds of power shifting, and he decides, ill cooperate with giuliani, because it will help me, help me keep my job . Is that what youre saying . This is what im saying. Remember, the u. S. Government has tremendous influence in ukraine. Letsenko left office in august. Could it be that he wants back in . What do you say to your critics who say that you are now trying to gain favor with the Trump Administration because you want your old job back . I think that they are wrong. Letsenko told me he and giuliani even discussed setting up a Joint Committee to see if the bidens had violated american laws. And what did he tell you . Did he say, yes, we should do this, set up a Joint Committee . He said me that, yes, it is good idea. Giulianis antibiden crusade dovetailed perfectly with President Trumps conviction that ukraine conspired against him in the 2016 election. All of which leads back to that fateful phone call. And the new evidence, reams of Text Messages that showed how hard President Trump and his men were willing to push a Foreign Government to dig up dirt on a domestic rival. Still ahead, the Impeachment Crisis just keeps getting worse for President Trump. Its a very simple story. Its an abuse of power. T mattre. Whether youre looking for a topbrand at a great price. Ready to upgrade. Moving in. Moving on up. Or making big moves. Deliveries ship free and come with a 100night free trial. No matter your budget. Or your sleep style. We have quality options for everyone. So search and shop. Save and snooze. And rest easy, knowing that weve got your back. Literally. Thats what you get, when youve got wayfair. So shop now. Hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Zyrtec muddle no more. Douglas
were running dangerously low on beans. People love your beans, doug. They love em. Doooooooooug you want to go sell some tacos . Progressive knows Small Business makes big demands. Doug, where do we get a replacement Chili Pepper Bulb . So well design the insurance solution that fits your business. Its a very niche bulb. Its a specialty bulb. That fits your business. Lashmakes every Lash Fullyrom maybsensational. Ork. Our fanning brush volumizes every kind of lash. For a sensational fullfan effect. Lash sensational. Only from maybelline new york. When you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. Align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24 7. So, where you go, the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. After shaking off its communist past, ukraine developed a reputation as a playground of sorts, a Twilight Zone promising lucrative deals
for intrepid venture capitalists, where secrets stayed in the shadows. But recently one potential explosive piece of information emerged under bright lights, broadcast on ukrainian tv. Gordon sondland, u. S. Ambassador to the european union, appearing on an english language news channel. Thank you so much for joining us. This interview we now know took place on july 26th, just one day after the fateful phone call between President Trump and ukrainian president zelensky. Listen carefully. I had a wonderful hourlong meeting with president zelensky that followed on the heels of his Telephone Call yesterday with President Trump. Did he give you insight on what they spoke about . Absolutely. I actually spoke with President Trump just a few minutes before he placed the call. So the ambassador spoke with
trump before the call and with president zelensky after. There was preparation and followup. Possible evidence that President Trumps highly unusual request for a Foreign Government to investigate a domestic rival was not a spurofthemoment decision, but part of a longterm strategy. And theres more evidence, much more, in the form of Text Messages among the president s men. Special envoy to Ukraine Textini ambassador sondland on july 19th, six days before the call. Volker most important is for is zelensky to say hell help investigation. So volker, an initial representative of the United States, metre with rudy giulian the president s personal lawyer, about getting the president of ukrainepr to help investigation. The texts show that u. S. Diplomats wanted to make sure
zelensky publicly committed to investigate both y burisma and President Trumps baseless theory about Ukraine Meddling in the 2016 election for Hillary Clinton. Without it . No access to President Trump. As relayed in a Whatsapp Message between u. S. Envoy volker and andre yurmak, the same day as the phonesa call. Th volker assuming the president convinces trump helles ce investigate, goat the bottom of what happenede, in 2016, we wil nail 2 down a date for a visit washington. In another message, two weeks after the call, yermak seemed to know what was required for his president zelensky to visit the white zehouse, telling u. S. Env volker yermak once we have a date, well call for a Press Briefing announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of u. S. ukraine relationship, Including Burisma and election
meddling. Volker. Li sounds great. This is textbook authoritarian oobehavior. Where thek institutions of sta aree used as a weapon against political rivals. Brian kloss teaches politics in london and is a columnist for the washington post. Its an abuse of power. Its a soliciting help during a campaign, and its using the full weight of the United States to try to get a Foreign Government to investigate his political rival to help him win an election. Diplomacy is always about quid pro quos. Its always about you do this, i do t that. We call them i winwin outcomesn diplomatic par lance. But theres one big difference. In allon the calls that i liste in to with president obama, he was, doing that diplomatic negotiations to advance American National interest. He was never trying to advance his personal electoral interest. And the texts saw that some Career Diplomats disapproved of the plan. The most senior official in the
u. S. Io embassy in kiev at the time, bill taylor, weighed in days before the trump zelensky call. Um taylor president llzelensky is sensitive about Ukraine Being Takent seriously. Not merely as an instrument in washington domestic reelection politics. Taylor weighed in again, much more forcefully after trump suspended military aid to ukraine. Taylor we are now saying that securitye assistance and white house meeting are conditioned on investigations . Eu ambassador sondland replied simply si call me. Its possible sondland wanted to have a conversation too nuanced to conduct via text. Its also possible he didnt want tols add to the written record of a plan to pressure ukraine. But why was taylor objecting to all of this and not the more senior ambassador to ukraine . Because shed just been fired. B and nbc news has learned it was that l exprosecutor, the one w
allegedly wanted to keep his job, thent one meeting giuliani whoti pushed to have the ambassador removed because she wasnt onec board either. And to help him, lusenko was going through these two sovietborn american businessmen with lessor than stellar reputations. Lev parnas and, igor firman. They promised to set up meetings for Rudy Giuliani and made significant donations to trumps super pac. Cant wait to come back. See youan in ukraine soon. When we spoke to parnas on the tphone, he said he was jus passing along information to his close friend Rudy Giuliani. Nbc news has learned that parnas and fruman were also pursuing natural gas deals in ukraine and were boasting they had politica connections in the Trump Administration. Lo and behold, barnas and fruman were arrested at washingtons Dulles Airport trying to leave
the country. The pair are charged with funneling foreign money to a u. S. Ne political campaign. I dont know those gentlemen. Its possible i have a picture with them because ii have a picture with everybody. But i dont know. Maybe they weredo clients of ruf youd have to ask rudy. If youo think about America History and the definition of corruption in American Politics we think about richard nixon. This makes watergate look like Teenage Ooshoplifters getting g from theli local supermarket. Andal so, like nixon before him, donald trump now faces an Impeachment Investigation. If hehm gets away with this without being s impeached, then that means future president s can commit exactly the same violations of law, the same corrupt behavior and get away with it,ha too, because weve s a , standard. The difference this time that President Trump himself has been complicit in thrusting his allegedhr crimes and misdemeano into the public space. Conducting a potentially ot incriminating phone call in frontim of multiple witnesses a
releasing the official notes. And then even as the Impeachment Investigation was under way, very publicly trying to involve other Foreign Governments. China should start an investigation into the bidens because what happened to china is just about as bad as what happened with ukraine. Trump is somebody who constantlys ratchets up his behavior. Once hes gets h away with someg he tries a something more extre. Authoritarianem regimes, politil scientists refer to these as trial balloons. Where you try something. Think its normal. You accept it. You move on to something and test themo limits. Thats why the last few years have l gotten crazier and crazi. This appears to be a case where we made a promise. Congress appropriated the money to Deliveria Weapons and then i was held up for political reasons. The more that happens, the more people all over the world say i dont think i can trust the United States. Thatth trust in the country d
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