LogFAQs > #929905501

aDirtyShisno posted...

And...? Does that suggest that there would be a quid pro quo?

Well, let's see...
-Trump ordered that military aid to Ukraine be halted about a week before this telephone call. No explanation for this was given and aides were ordered not to inform congress (who had appropriated the funds).

-Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy had been seeking an in-person meeting with Trump more or less since his election in order to discuss the security situation and coordinate on other issues dealing with the Russian insurgency in the country's east.

-Trump sets up his request by saying that Russia is doing "almost nothing" for Ukraine, before following that up with the statement "the United States has been very very good to Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine."

-Literally the next words out of Trump's mouth, according to the transcript, were: "I would like you to do us a favor though." He then goes on to talk about the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory (that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that hacked the DNC servers and they did it as a false-flag operation to support the Democrats, rather than the Republicans) and about the Bidens.

-Once Zelenskiy agrees - and only at that point - Trump immediately switches gears and says he can go ahead and book the White House meeting after he calls Rudy Giuliani and Bill Barr.

-The transcript of this call was considered so damaging that White House officials immediately moved it to a hyper-secure computer system where only a handful of people could access it. Various parties to the call immediately contacted legal counsel, requesting guidance or lodging complaints regarding what had been said.

-Various ambassadors and foreign affairs aides have since testified under oath that Trump had indicated that the military aid and the White House meeting would only happen if Zelenskiy agreed in a televised appearance on CNN to pursue the investigations, specifically mentioning Biden and Crowdstrike. These include:
--Gordon Sondland, Trump's Ambassador to the EU, who was heavily involved in the Ukraine inquiry. Notably, Sondland initially gave testimony favourable to Trump but, upon hearing about the statements other witnesses had made, later amended it seemingly to avoid perjury charges. Sondland has now said it was his understanding that the White House meeting and military aid were conditioned on Zelenskiy doing as Trump asked, and he stated as much to Andriy Yermak, an aide to the Ukranian president.
--Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Director for European Affairs. Vindman testified "there was no doubt" Trump wanted to trade military aide for Ukraine's investigations.
--William Taylor, Trump's Ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor repeatedly raised concerns about a quid pro quo and was largely brushed off by administration officials. Taylor also reviewed the summary transcript and found significant omissions, including a significant amount of time Trump spent talking about Biden, and requested that corrections be made. These corrections were denied.

-According to texts between Kurt Volker (special envoy to Ukraine) and Gordon Sondland, Zelenskiy was actually sent a script by presidential aides laying out exactly what he should say in his statement. He even went so far as to book an appearance on CNN. After the Ukraine scandal blew up, Zelenskiy quietly cancelled the interview and said nothing more about it. Notably, Volker resigned almost immediately after the scandal broke.

Put it this way: there are so many people testifying about quid pro quo and so much evidence of it backing up, I can't even remember all of them anymore. That's really not a good thing.
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