White House Official Was ‘Concerned’ about Trump’s Ukraine Call


White House Official Was ‘Concerned’ about Trump’s Ukraine Call

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A White House official who listened in on the July 25 phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart will tell Congress he was “concerned” about the exchange and reported his unease to a National Security Council lawyer.

Alexander Vindman, a US army officer and Purple Heart recipient, joined the NSC last year, reporting to Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia adviser.

On Tuesday Vindman will tell the US House of Representatives committees leading the impeachment inquiry into the US president that he listened in on the July 25 phone call from the White House situation room alongside other administration officials, The Financial Times reported.

According to a draft of Vindman’s opening statement, first published by The New York Times, he will say that he was “concerned” by the call, in which Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, the former vice-president’s son. Hunter Biden had held a board position with Burisma, a Ukrainian oil and gas company.

“I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a US citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the US government’s support of Ukraine,” Vindman will tell the impeachment inquiry. He added that he reported his concerns to John Eisenberg, the NSC’s lead counsel.

A whistleblower complaint centered on the July 25 phone call sparked the impeachment inquiry into Trump. The White House released a memorandum based on the phone call this month. But Vindman, whose family fled the Soviet Union for the US in 1979, will insist on Tuesday that he is not the whistleblower.

Vindman will also describe a July 10 meeting in Washington involving Ukrainian politician Oleksandr Danylyuk, the US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, US energy secretary Rick Perry, then-US special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and then-US national security adviser John Bolton.

He will say the meeting was “cut short” by Bolton after Sondland “started to speak about Ukraine delivering specific investigations” to secure a meeting between Trump and Zelensky.

According to Vindman, during the meeting Sondland “emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 (US presidential) election, the Bidens and Burisma”.

The officer will say he told Sondland that his statement was “inappropriate” and his requests to investigate the Bidens “had nothing to do with national security”. Hill also reported her concerns to Eisenberg, Vindman will say.

Last week William Taylor, the US chargé d’affaires to Ukraine since June, told the impeachment inquiry that the release of US military aid to Ukraine was contingent on Zelensky opening an investigation into the Bidens and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

On Monday Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House, said members of Congress would vote this week on a resolution formalizing the impeachment inquiry.

“We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives,” the Speaker said.

The White House has insisted it would not co-operate with the impeachment inquiry, and House committees have subpoenaed witnesses to compel them to testify. On Monday Trump’s former national security adviser Charles Kupperman defied a subpoena and did not appear for his scheduled deposition.  

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