>> yeah, it does. >> you talk to president trump, told kurt volker to call you, left a message for kurt volker, kurt volker sent this text message to andrey yar mac to prepare president zelensky, and president trump had a phone call where president zelensky spoke very similar to what was in this text message, right? >> right. >> and you would agree the message that was expressed here is that president zelensky needs to convince trump that he will do the investigations in order to nail down the date for a visit to washington, d.c. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> indeed, on july 25th call when president trump asked for a favor, president zelensky was ready with the magic words. he said, i also wanted to thank you for your invitation to visit the united states, specifically washington, d.c. on the other hand, i want to ensure you that we will be very serious about the case and will work on the investigation. this for that. read the transcript, president trump says. we have read the transcript, and it is damning evidence of a corrupt quid pro quo. the evidence against donald trump is

he talked to president trump and you told kurt volker to call you and kurt volker sent a message to andriy yermak to prepare president zelensky and that president trump had a phonecall where president zelensky spoke similar to what was in a text message and you would agree that the message that is expressed here is that president zelensky needs to convince trump that he will do the investigations in order to nail down the date for a visit to washington washington d.c.. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> indeed on the july 25 call in president trump asked for a favor president zelensky was ready with the magic words. he said, i also wanted to thank you for your invitation to visit the united states, specifically washington d.c.. on the other hand i want to assure you that we will be very serious about the case and will work on the investigation. this, or that. read the transcript president trump says. we have read the transcript and it is evidence of a corrupt quid pro quo. the evidence against donald trump's hiding in plain sight. during our presentation we walked through the serious

by secretary michael pompeo, former special representative for ukraine negotiations, ambassador kurt volker, deputy assistant secretary george kent, united states embassy charged affairs, william p taylor and ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland and other state department officials relating to efforts t, coerce, ukraine to pronounce the investigation, 2, schedule, cancel, or withhold a white house meeting for the u.s. president or hold and release military and other secretaries security assistance to ukraine. any meetings or proposed meetings at or involving the white house that relate to ukraine, including but not limited to one, president zelensky's inauguration on may 20th. including but not limited to presidents decision not to attend. to allow him to leave the delegations, directing vice president pence not to recommend. its current position of delegation of the united states. 2, a meeting of the white house at around may 232019 evolving among others president trump, then special representative for ukraine negotiations ambassador kurt volker. energy secretary rick perry. u

kurt volker, special representative for ukraine negotiations. they called him.s-examine. if we are calling witnesses, these are witnesses you have heard from, we would have the right to call witnesses and cross-examine mr. kurt volker. george kent, the assistant deputy terry of state for european affairs. you saw his testimony. they called him, if we have witnesses, we have the right to call that witness and cross-examine deputy assistant. >> all right, everybody, i am neil cavuto, you are watching "your world," iowa caucus 48 hours from now, briefly interrupting the hearing to alert you to a major settlement, now better than 610 points getting worried right now that the coronavirus situation is going from bad to worse, the trump administration has just across the board of travel restrictions and mandatory core and teased over the corona virus outbreak. american denying delta, have held back flights to and from the region, concerns of the slow down ripping much of asia that has

ambassador kurt volker, the u.s. special representative for ukraine, was not on the call, but ambassador volker spoke regularly with president zelensky andnd other top officis in the ukraine government. .. it resembles a quid pro quo on the july 25 call. >> the day after the call, you met with president zelensky, on july 26. in that meeting he made no mention of a quid pro quo. >> no. >> he made no mention of withholding the aid. >> he made no mention of bribery. >> no.t >> ukrainians were not even aware of the hold on eight. >> that is correct. >> they did not tell you about thisbo testimony on and faster n volker, why not. >> president zelensky has confirmed on three separate occasions that his july 25 call with president trump was a good phone call and normal nobody pushed me. when president zelensky advisor said there was never a connection between u.s. military aid in the request for investigation, he was adamant that we never had that feeling and there was notas a feeling tt the aide was connected to any one sp

rudy giuliani told kurt volker the special representative for ukrainian negotiations who had a prominent role in this game that he also knew the attacks on joe biden were a lie. with ambassador yovanovitch out of the way, of the ukraine scheme was complete. mr. giuliani and his agents could now apply direct pressure to the ukrainian government to spread of falsehoods. who benefited from this game? who sent mr. giuliani to ukraine in the first place? of course, we could rephrase that question. as the former republican leader of the senate asked it in 1973. what did the president no? when did he know it? >> mr. chief justice, senators, presidents council, president trump and president zelensky's relationship started out well. president trump on at the two investigations from zelensky, and he had no reason to believe that he would not get what he wanted. on april 21st, 2019, zelensky who is new to politics won a landslide victory in ukraine's election. that evening, president trump called president zelensky to congratulate him. on that first call, the first call, zelensky invited president

white house around 2019 including among others, president trump with negotiations with ambassador kurt volker and secretary rick perry in the ambassador to the european union gordon sondland and conversations with individuals before or after the meeting, three, meetings at the white house on or july 10, 2019 involving ukrainian officials in the united states individuals including but not limited to john bolton, secretary peary, ambassador volker and ambassador sondland to include the meeting with ambassador bolton's meeting in the boardroom. the meeting at the white house on or around august 30, 2019 involving president trump, secretary of state mike pompeo and secretary of defense mark esper. , the plan later canceled in poland around september 1, 2019 between president trump and president zelensky and subsequently attended by vice president pence in the meeting at the white house on or around september 11, 2019 with president trump, vice president pence and mr. mulvaney concerning the security assistance for ukraine. all communications including not limited to whatsapp or text messages on p

friday documents are expected to pertain specifically to president trump's special envoy to ukraine, kurt volker. i mean, all of this stuff is still coming out, which will change the dynamics of the senate impeachment trial against president trump and how much republicans in the senate are able to constrain it so none of that is discussed. everything all at once. senator chris von holland led the effort in the united states senate to try to force a full trial in the president in which witnesses will be heard, in which this new evidence will be heard and examined. the senator joins us next. stay with us. neezes skip to the good part with alka-seltzer plus. now with 25% more concentrated power. nothing works faster for powerful cold relief. oh, what a relief it is! so fast! oh no, here comes gthe neighbor probably to brag about how amazing his xfinity customer service is. i'm mike, i'm so busy. good thing xfinity has two-hour appointment windows. they have night and weekend appointments too. he's here. bill? karolyn? nope! no, just a couple of rocks. download the my account app to manage your appo

he talked to president trump and you told kurt volker to call you and kurt volker sent a message to andriy yermak to prepare president zelensky and that president trump had a phonecall where president zelensky spoke similar to what was in a text message and you would agree that the message that is expressed here is that president zelensky needs to convince trump that he will do the investigations in order to nail down the date for a visit to washington washington d.c.. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> indeed on the july 25 call in president trump asked for a favor president zelensky was ready with the magic words. he said, i also wanted to thank you for your invitation to visit the united states, specifically washington d.c.. on the other hand i want to assure you that we will be very serious about the case and will work on the investigation. this, or that. read the transcript president trump says. we have read the transcript and it is evidence of a corrupt quid pro quo. the evidence against donald trump's hiding in plain sight. during our presentation we walked through the serious

special representative for ukraine and man spending way too much time on one part of the sex talk, kurt volkerolker was deeply involved in the communication between the white house and ukraine, but today, volker testified that he was kept out of the loop. not a great sign for republicans when their key witness is a "guy who's out of the loop." ( as lawyer ) "the defense would like to call to the stand a blind janitor who was off work the day of the murder." ( laughter ) ( applause ) "did you see anything? no. thank you! the defense rests! you're out of order!" once the afternoon session started, it was time to swear in volker and former national security counsel adviser tim morrison, and-- oh, my god, who let that giant in? ( laughter ) i'm kidding, obviously. while he is 7'1", mr. morrison swore in just like anybody else: "i solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. so help me fee fi fo fum." ( laughter ) volker attempted to explain why he previously testified that there was no connection between military aid and investigations, which, turns out, is not tru

president trump's own authentic envoy kurt volker knew they were out and found it too unfounded too prettyfronted rudy giuliani about this conspiracy theory and told him, quote, it's simply not credible to me that joe biden would be influence in his duties as vice president by money or things for his son or anything like that. i've known him for a long time. he's a person of integrity. and that is not credible. giuliani acknowledged that he did not find one of these sources of these allegations. former ukrainian prosecutor to be held credible. so even giuliani knew the allegations were false. our own justice department confirmed that the president never spoke to the attorney general by ukraine into vice president biden. if president trump generally believed that there was a legitimate basis to request ukraine's assistance, there are formal processes that he should've followed. he could've asked the doj to make an official request for assistance to the mutual legal assistance treaty. it's worth noting the president only cares about hunter biden to the extent that he is the vice president's

ambassador kurt volker explained that burisma had an "very bad reputation as a company for corruption and money laundering." the house managers didn't tell you that. burisma was so corrupt that george kent's had he intervened from preventing the usa from cosponsoring with burisma." it was a child's contest. the prize was a camera. they were so bad, burisma, that our country wouldn't even cosponsor a children's event with burisma. in march 2014, the united kingdoms fraud office opened a money laundering investigation into the oligarch zlochevsky, and his company, burisma. the very next month, april 2014 according to a public report, hunter biden quietly joins the board of burisma. remember, early 2014 was when vice president biden began leading ukraine policy. here is how hunter biden began to join burisma's board in 2014. he was brought on the board by devon archer, his business partner. devon archer was college roommates with chris hines, stepson of secretary of the state, john kerry. all three men, hunter biden, devon archer, and chris hines at all started an investment firm togethe

and ambassador kurt volker, the special representative for ukraine negotiations, provided evidence thate and other american officials communicated with high-level ukrainian officials, including president zelensky himself via text message and what's app about the president's improper demands and how ukrainian officials would respond to them based on the testimony we received and on evidence that has since emerged, all of these documents and others that we will describe bear directly on the allegations set forth in the first article of impeachment. they would help complete our understanding of how the president's scheme unfolded in real time. they would support the conclusion that senior ukrainian officials understood the corrupt nature of president trump's demand, and they would further expose the extent to which secretary pompeo, acting chief of staff mick mulvaney, and other senior trump administration officials were aware of the president's plot, and helped carry it out. we are not talking about a burdensome number of documents. we are talking about a specific, discrete set of materia

friday documents are expected to pertain specifically to president trump's special envoy to ukraine, kurt volker. i mean, all of this stuff is still coming out, which will change the dynamics of the senate impeachment trial against president trump and how much republicans in the senate are able to constrain it so none of that is discussed. everything all at once. senator chris von holland led the effort in the united states senate to try to force a full trial of the president in which witnesses will be heard, in which this new evidence will be heard and examined. the senator joins us next. stay with us. stay with us go where the new year takes you with t-mobile. get free smartphones when you add new lines. so you can stream like this... ...because we give you that and we also give you that.so you can stargaze like this... game like this adjust this. re-adjust this. and you can do all this, because of that. so do this, on that, with us. hurry in to get free smartphones now. iand i don't add up the years. but what i do count on is boost high protein. and now, introducing new boost mobility with co

ambassador kurt volker, the u.s. special representative for ukraine was not on the call. but ambassador volker spoke regularly with president zelensky and other top officials in the ukraine government. and even met with president zelensky the day after the call. he testified that in no way, shape or form in either readouts from the united states or ukraine did he receive any indication whatsoever for anything that resembles a quid pro quo on the july 25 call. here's ambassador volker. >> and in fact the day after the call you met with president zelensky, on july 26th. >> correct. >> and in that meeting he made no mention of quid pro quo? >> no. >> he made no mention of withholding aid. >> no. >> no mention of broibery. >> no. >> the fact is ukrainians were not even aware of this hold on aid. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> they didn't tell you about this testimony from ambassador volker. why not? president zelensky himself has confirmed on at least three separate occasions that his july 25 call with president trump was a good phone call and normal and that nobody p

ambassador kurt volker, the u.s. special representative for ukraine, was not on the call but ambassador volker spoke regularly officials in the ukraine government and even met with president zelensky the day after the call. he testified that in no way, shape or form in either the readouts from the united states or ukraine that he received any indication whatsoever for anything that resembles a quid pro quo on the july 25 call. here's ambassador volker. >> in fact, the day after the call, you met with president zelensky, this would be july 26th. in that meeting, he made no mention of a quid pro quo. >> no. >> he made no mention of withholding the aid. >> no. >> no mention of bribery. >> no. >> the fact is the ukrainians were not even aware of the hold on aid, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> they didn't tell you about this testimony from ambassador volker. why not? president zelensky himself confirmed on three separate occasions theygood phone call, nobo pushed me. when president zelensky's adviser andre yermak

envoy to ukraine kurt volker.watching for those and trying to make sense of those as well. stay with us. $12.99 all you can eat now with boneless wings. only at applebee's. >>> that is pretty much going to do it for us tonight. i want to leave you with one last thing about this historic vote tonight in the house on the war powers resolution, limiting the president's power to engage in further military hostilities against iran. as i mentioned, this was not a party-line vote. i mean lots of things in congress you can just assume they're going to be a party-line vote. this was not. there were eight democrats from swing districts or conservative districts who voted against this war powers resolution. but there were also three republicans who crossed the aisle to support it. including some of the president's most vociferous supporters in congress including florida congressman matt gaetz who made sure to say that while he supports the president in general and he believes the military strike to kill qassem soleimani, the

and ambassador kurt volker, the special representative for ukrai ukraine, said that he and other americans communicated with high level ukrainian officials, including president zelensky himself, via text message and whatsapp about the president's improper demands and how ukrainian officials would respond to them. based on the testimony we received and on evidence that has since emerged, all of these documents and others that we will describe, they're directly on the allegations set forth in the first article of impeachment. they would help complete our understanding of how the president's scheme unfolded in real-time. they would support the conclusion that senior ukrainian officials understood the corrupt nature of president trump's demands, and they would further expose the extent to which secretary pompeo, acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and other senior trump administration officials were aware of the president's plot and helped carry it out. we're not talking about a burdensome number of documents, we're talking about a specific, discrete set of materials held by the state departme

president trump, then special representative for ukraine negotiations, and best record dominic kurt volker, energy secretary rick perry, and united states ambassador to the european union gordon sondland, as well as any private meetings or conversations with those individuals before or after the larger meeting, three, meetings at the white house on or about july 10th, 2019, involving ukrainian officials andre yuri mack and alexander dan along and united states government officials including but not limited to national security advisor john bolton, secretary rick perry, ambassador volker, ambassador sondland to include in meeting an investor's office and include a meeting in the room. four, meeting at the white house on or around august 30th, 2019 inc., involving president trump, secretary of state mike pompeo, and secretary of defense mark esper. five, a planned meeting later canceled in warsaw, poland, on or around september 1st, 2019, between president trump and president zelensky, and subsequently attended by vice president pence. and a six, i meeting at the white house on or around sep

president trump's own hand picked special envoy to ukrainian ambassador kurt volker knew they were unfounded testified that he confronted the president's attorney mr. giuliani about this conspiracy theory and told him that, quote, it is simply not credible to me that joe biden would be influenced in his duties as vice president by money or things for his son or anything like that. i've known him for a long time. he's a person of integrity, and that's not credible. giuliani acknowledged that he did not find one of the sources of these allegations. former ukrainian prosecutor to be held credible. so, even giuliani knew the allegations were false. our own justice department confirmed that the president never spoke to the attorney general about ukraine or any investigations into vice president biden. if president trump genuinely believed that there was legitimate basis to request ukraine's assistance in law enforcement investigations, there are specific formal processes that he should have followed. specifically he could have asked the doj to make an official request for assistance to the mutual

secretary rick perry, who we know from impeachment testimony was tasked by the white house along with kurt volker and gordon sondland taking the lead, this wasn't three amigos, according to lev parnas, secretary of energy rick perry was directed by rudy guiliani to deliver the message to the ukrainian government that they needed to announce investigations into joe biden. he says, mr. parnas says that mr. perry phoned mr. guiliani, contacted mr. guiliani and said he had been in touch with the ukrainian president. >> that he had conditiveyed the message and, in fact, the ukrainian government had agreed to make that announcement. secretary of energy rick perry denied playing any role in this scheme. but he did crash out of the cabinet just as the scandal surfaced. it was october 16th when the "wall street journal" reported that, in fact, secretary perry did call rudy guiliani to talk about ukraine. he did so at the direction of president trump. the following day, october 17th, rick perry tendered his resignation to the president as energy secretary. the day after that october 18th, secretary perry a

kurt volker. alexander vindman. but to have it comprehensively put into this perspective is the first time most people, even those who have been the most devoted watchers are hearing. for the very first time, you're hearing which agencies, what are the documents that underlie what we want to hear from? which witness brought this in? it's really laying out the case and that is really the whole reason you are having the impeachment trial. to say here is not just a narrative. here is what has actually happened. here is the chronological timeline. here is the -- the background information you're going to need to know. and here is why the documents are so important. but this is the first time -- well, second time in two days -- but the first time in the trial phase of this you are having this really big, important moment to connect the dots. will it change their mind, ultimately, don? that is a he a different story. >> i'm just going to go around. change minds? >> no. look, i think that what senator kennedy said was smar

replay from before christmas and we will hear about all those various texts and e—mails come of the kurt volker'sondland some of the rick perry, the amigos in all those kind of things will come up once again. all of that fabulous cast of curators will be hearing from all again. gary monitoring it all for us up on capitol hill, thank you very much. it has been an incredibly cold week on the east coast of the uk —— us this week. it's been pretty cold here on the east coast this week, here in dc and indeed all the way down to florida. everyone is feeling the chill, including the iguanas. the national weather service in miami has issued a warning telling people not to be surprised if they see iguanas falling from the trees as the temperatures dip to freezing. i have spent a disproportionate amount of time today getting to know iguanas. they are ectothermic, they take their warmth from the sun. and when that heat and energy is not provided, they stop a bit like my electric car. they go into a torpor, a bit like this... in fairness, is my demeanour when winter comes around. although apparently iguanas

impeachment hearing testimony was tasked by the white house as one of three officials along with kurt volker and gordon sondland who were taking the lead for the trump white house on ukraine policy. the three amigos. according to lev parnas, secretary of energy rick perry was directed by rudy giuliani to deliver the message to the ukrainian government that they needed to announce investigations into joe biden. he says, mr. parnas says, that mr. perry phoned mr. giuliani, contacted mr. giuliani, and said that he had been in touch with the ukrainian president, that he had conveyed the message, and that, in fact, the ukrainian government had agreed to make that announcement. now, secretary of energy rick perry has denied playing any role in this scheme, but he did crash out of the trump cabinet just as this scandal started to come to the surface. it was october 16th when "the wall street journal" reported that, in fact, secretary perry did call rudy giuliani to talk about ukraine. he did so at the direction of president trump. the following day, october 17th, rick perry tendered his resignation

if we have witnesses we have the opportunity to call her then and cross-examine the on the hill kurt volker former united states special representative for ukraine negotiations they called him we did not have the opportunity to cross-examine if we're calling witnesses these are witnesses you've heard from we would have the right to call witnesses and to cross-examine mr volcker george can't the deputy assistant secretary of state for the bureau of european and asian affairs you saw as testimony they call them. if we have witnesses we have the right to call that witness and to cross-examine deputy assistant secretary kent the former united states ambassador to ukraine and bassett are you gonna bitch they called or you saw that testimony we didn't have the opportunity to cross-examine her if we had witnesses we would have to call her laura cooper deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia ukraine and eurasia they called or you saw her witness's testimony right here we did not have the opportunity to cross-examine or we would have to be given that opportunity these are witnesses against

ambassador volker then text yermak, hi andrey, had a good long talk with rudy, call any time. kurt. separately volker told ambassador sondland, giuliani was happy with that meeting and it looks like things are turning around. a reference to volker's hope that satisfying giuliani would break down president trump's reservations concerning ukraine. but things had not turned around by the end of that first week of august. by august 7th. the aid was still on hold. and there had been no movement on setting a date for the white house meeting. ambassador volker then reaches out to giuliani to try to get things moving. ambassador volker text giuliani to recommend that he report to the boss, meaning president trump, about his meeting with yermak in madrid. specifically he wrote, this is volker writing to giuliani, hi, rudy, hope you made it back safely. let's meet if you're coming to d.c. and would be good if you could convey results of your meeting in mad rid to the boss so we could get a firm date for the visit. so giuliani met with the top aide to the president of ukraine in madrid and he w

later admitted that the allegations against the vice-president were false and rudy giuliani told kurt volker, the special representative for ukrainian negotiations who had a prominent role in the scheme, that he also knew the attack on joe biden were a lie. with ambassador yovanovitch out of the way, the first chapter of the ukraine scheme was complete. mr. giuliani and his agents could now apply direct pressure to the ukrainian government to spread these two falsehoods, and who benefitted from this scheme? who sent mr. giuliani to ukraine in the first place? of course, we could rephrase that question as the former republican leader of the senate, howard baker asked it in 1973, what did the president know and when did he know it? >> mr. chief justice, senators, president's counsel. president trump and president zelensky's relationship started out well. president trump wanted the two investigations from zelensky and he had no reason to believe that he would not get what he wanted. on april 21st, 2019, zelensky, who was new to politics won a landslide victory in ukraine's presidential election

a meeting -- involving president trump, special represent for ukraine goucher shins, ambassador kurt volker, then energy secretary rick perry and united states ambassador to the european union gordon sondland. as rose any private meetings or conversation with those individuals before or after the larger meeting. three, meetings at the white house on or about july 10, 2019 involving ukrainian officials andriy yermak and alexander, and united states government officials, including but not limited to then national security adviser john bolton, secretary perry, ambassador volker, ambassador sondland, to include at least a meeting and ambassador bolton office and such with meeting in the war room. four, a meeting at the white house on around august 30, 2019, involving president trump, secretary of state mike pompeo, secretary of defense mark esper. five, a planned meeting later canceled and warsaw, poland, on or around september first, 2019 between president trump and president zelensky and subsequently attended by vice president pence. and six, a meeting at the white house on around september 1

ambassador volker then texts yermak, hi, had a good long talk with rudy, call any time, kurt. rately volker told ambassador sondland, giuliani was happy with that meeting, and it looks like things are turning around, a reference to volker's hope that satisfying giuliani would break down president trump's reservations concerning ukraine. but things had not turned around by the end of that first week of august, by august 7th. the aid was still on hold, and there had been no movement on setting a date for the white house meeting. ambassador volker then reaches out to giuliani to try to get things moving. ambassador volker texts giuliani to recommend that he report to the boss, meaning president trump, about his meeting with yermak in madrid. specifically he wrote -- this is volker writing to giuliani. hi rudy, hope you mad ii ee good if you can think about how unusual this is. this is the president's personal lawyer who's on this personal mission on behalf of his client to get these investigations in ukraine. the president of ukraine can't get in the door of the oval office. and w

ambassador kurt volker, the special representative for ukraine negotiations provided evidence that heer american officials communicated with high level ukrainian officials, including president zelensky, himself. via text message and whats app about the president's demands and how the ukrainian officials would respond to them based on the testimony we received and on evidence that has since emerged, all of these documents and others that we will describe bear directly on the allegations set forth in the first article of impeachment. they would help complete our understanding of how the president's scheme unfolded in realtime. they would support the conclusion that senior ukrainian officials understood the corrupt nature of president trump's demand and further expose the extent to which secretary pompeo, and mick mulvaney and other senior trump officials were aware of the president's plot and helped carry it out. we are not talking about a burdensome number of documents. we are talk about a specific, discrete set of materials held by the state department. documents that the state depart

ambassador kurt volker, u.s. special representative for ukraine was not on the call.ut ambassador volker spoke regularly president zelensky and other top officials in the ukraine government. even met with president zelensky the day after the call. he testified that in no way, shape or form readouts from the united states or ukraine that he received any indication whatsoever for anything that resembles a quid pro quo on the die july 25 call. >> in fact, the day after the call, you met with president zelensky. this was july 25th. in that meeting, he made no mention of quid pro quo. he made no mention of withholding that aid or bribery. the fact is, ukrainians were not even aware of this full on aid. >> correct. >> didn't tell you about this testimony. why not? president zelensky himself has confirmed on at least three separate occasions that is july 25 call with president trump was a good phone call and nobody pushed me. president zelensky's advisor asked if he had ever felt there was a connection between the u.s. military aid and investigation, he was adamant we never

ambassador kurt volker, u.s. special representative for ukraine was not on the call. but ambassador volker spoke regularly president zelensky and other top officials in the ukraine government. even met with president zelensky the day after the call. he testified that in no way, shape or form readouts from the united states or ukraine that he received any indication whatsoever for anything that resembles a quid pro quo on the die july 25 call. >> in fact, the day after the call, you met with president zelensky. this was july 25th. in that meeting, he made no mention of quid pro quo. he made no mention of withholding that aid or bribery. the fact is, ukrainians were not even aware of this full on aid. >> correct. >> didn't tell you about this testimony. why not? president zelensky himself has confirmed on at least three separate occasions that is july 25 call with president trump was a good phone call and nobody pushed me. president zelensky's advisor asked if he had ever felt there was a connection between the u.s. military aid and investigation, he was adamant we neve

ambassador kurt volker, was not on the call.ut he spoke regularly with president zielinski and other top officials in the ukraine government. and even met with president zielinski afternt the end of the day of the call. he testified in that no way shape or form any their readouts that he would receive any indication whatsoever for anything that resembles a quid pro quo onor the july 25 call. here's ambassador ballpark. >> infect the end of the day after the call you met with president zielinski. on july 26th. and in that meeting, he made no mention of quid pro quo. >> no. >> he made no mention of bribery or read. but the fact is that ukrainians were not even awarere of this fl on ache. is that correct. >> correct. >> they did tell you about thisa testimony from ambassador ballpark. why not. president zielinski himself h hs confirmed on at least three separate occasions that his call was a goodnt phone call and it s normal and that nobody pushed me. when president zielinski advisor was asked if he had ever felt there was a connec

. >> somebody told me the last document they received were kurt volker's text messages where he saysf so, that would be crazy. you can see why they put the kibosh on documentary evidence. >> that's the problem. and why they've been so, you know, strong on not moving on the document front because to some extent they know what some of these documents will say. >> sure. >> in large extent, they know the larger narrative is not helped for the president if they put these documents out here, then that leads to witnesses and other things that they don't want to open those doors for. >> and it's actually news organizations. you've covered the email exchange between mick mulvaney and his lieutenants and the pentagon where they write in an email -- having worked in the white house, there's that email address, every time you send an email, this will be in a kiosk in a presidential library one day. a governmental official puts in an email are you serious? they knew it was a request from the president and they knew it was illegal. so it makes sense that they would want those documents out. >> cla

president trump's own hand-picked envoy to ukraine ambassador kurt volker knew there was unfounded to he testified that he confronted the president's attorney, mr. giuliani, about this conspiracy theory and told him that quote it is simply not credible to me, the joe biden would be influenced in his duties as vice president by money, or things for his son, or anything like that. i have known him for a long time, he is a person of integrity, and that's not credible. giuliani acknowledged that he did not find one of the sources of these allegations. the former ukrainian prosecutor, to be held credible. so even giuliani knew the allegations were false. our own justice department's confirmed that the president never spoke to the attorney general about ukraine or any investigation into vice president biden. if president trump, genuinely believed that there is legitimate basis to request ukraine's assistance and law enforcement investigations, there are specific formal processes that he should have followed. specifically he could have asked the d.o.j. to make an official request for assista

fact that, for example, you had testimony from former ambassador, former special envoy to ukraine kurt volker who said that in december of 2017 president trump was speaking about his concern about corruption with ukraine. so we're talking about specific examples that exist. and, again, no one is able to refoot. i mean, you guys -- refute. there's a lot of smart reporters here. you guys do, i'm sure, a lot of homework on all of this. and we gave a whole lot of different examples of ukraines, and i'm here, we're vulnerable. the cameras are on. you guys are reporting. [inaudible conversations] >> all right. thank you guys so much. [inaudible conversations] >> host: part of president trump's house defense team here on c-span2. we're minutes away from the senate returning to continue with the impeachment trial of president trump. we're going to hear from senator chuck schumer with a reminder that we don't control the cameras in the senate, nor the audio, and we will break away for coverage once they gavel back in. >> something else that i think is really going to serve the public very well. they a

a meeting -- involving president trump, special represent for ukraine goucher shins, ambassador kurt volker, then energy secretary rick perry and united states ambassador to the european union gordon sondland. as rose any private meetings or conversation with those individuals before or after the larger meeting. three, meetings at the white house on or about july 10, 2019 involving ukrainian officials andriy yermak and alexander, and united states government officials, including but not limited to then national security adviser john bolton, secretary perry, ambassador volker, ambassador sondland, to include at least a meeting and ambassador bolton office and such with meeting in the war room. four, a meeting at the white house on around august 30, 2019, involving president trump, secretary of state mike pompeo, secretary of defense mark esper. five, a planned meeting later canceled and warsaw, poland, on or around september first, 2019 between president trump and president zelensky and subsequently attended by vice president pence. and six, a meeting at the white house on around september 1

and rudy giuliani told kurt volker that he also knew the attacks on joe biden were a lie. with ambassador yovanovitch out of the way, the first chapter of the ukraine scheme was complete . mister giuliani and his agents could now apply direct pressure to the ukrainian government to spread these two falsehoods. and who benefited from this scheme? who sent mister giuliani to ukraine in the first place? of course, we could rephrase that question as the former republican leader of the senate howard baker asked it in 1973. what did the president know and when did he know it ? >> mister chief justice, senators, president and council. president trump and president zelensky's relationship started out well. president trump wanted the two investigations from zelensky and he had no reason to believe that he would not get what hewanted . on april 21, 2019, zelensky who was new to politics one in a landslide victory in ukraine's presidential election. that eveningpresident trump called zelensky to congratulate him.on that first call , the first call , zelensky invited president trump t

the very first witness was former special envoy to ukraine kurt volker who testified, he met with presidentelensky the day after the call, there was nothing mentioned about quid pro quo or a hold on aid and in the weeks that followed he was in touch with president zelensky and his team. nothing on either side. this is all from first-hand information. we know president zelensky finds out that there's a hold on aid, on top of that, this is what else with first-hand information we have, president trump's words, president zelensky's words. >> bret: what i'm saying, does it say th change the dynamic now knowing what we know now? here is what john bolton is reportedly saying, does it change the dynamic in any way, shape, or form? >> absolutely not end the president should be acquitted, we shouldn't have put the country through this in the first place. it doesn't change the dynamic of our country being ripped in half right now. this began not with a phone call, july 25th or any of the weeks and months that led up to it, it kind of started because donald trump got elected. he put his hand on the bi

quo was about investigation of burisma and i didn't really think it was about joe biden, and even kurt volker tried to walk that line as well. no. all about joe biden from beginning to end. not about corruption. this wasn't even just generally about burisma. this is about biden. i think his testimony is significant and also two other important things from the interview. first of all, he talked about the threats against ambassador yovanovitch. he said they essentially came from this guy robert hyde, who he described as basically a psychopath and a drunk, which did not give me any comfort. in fact, made me think this guy was a lot more dangerous than we even think. who knew about that and what was the origin of that? and third significant revealing many of the payments to this entire team, to rudy giuliani, to parnas himself, came from dmitri firtash, a russian-backed mobster under indictment. this was funded by the kremlin, learned that first time last night. >> and mike, prosecutors always look for, when they have evidence, they look for corresponding evidence. documentation. notes taken in r

just before that call kurt volker talking to a ukrainian aide to spread zelensky saying during the calling to need zelensky to ensure to president trump he's going to get that investigation. all of these other things. the months' long campaign by rudy giuliani. by painting that picture this was an extortion scheme not just one phone call, perhaps you can enlighten people who get their news from other sources and maybe haven't heard these things before. >> garrett, any talk among democrats that there has been kind a surprise about the bidens and witness swap thing at the expense of maybe getting materials they're looking for? >> i think this is a biden witness swapping thing it got floated as one of these interesting conversations that came up in a lunch but never seriously a part of the strategy here. i don't think most democrats believe there's a good-faith effort that would actually generate additional republican votes. remember the way this is structured. there's going to be one vote first on this broader question of witnesses before there are, perhaps, additional votes on who specif

ambassador kurt volker, the u.s.olcker suppose regularly with president zelensky and other top officials in the ukraine government. and even met with president zelensky the day after the call. he testified that in no way, shape or form in the read-out of the call of the united states with ukraine that he received any indication whatsoever for anything that resembles a quid pro quo on the july 25 call. here's ambassador volcker. >> in fact the day after the call you met with president zelensky, this would be july 26th? >> that's correct. >> in that meeting he made no mention of quid pro quo? >> no. he made no mention of withholding the aid? >> no. he made no mention of bribery? >> no. >> thing the fact is the ukrainians were not even aware of this hold on aid, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> they did not tell you about the testimony from ambassador volker? why not? president zelensky himself as confirmed on three separate occasions his july 25 call with president trump was a good phone call and normal and nobod

remember special envoy to the ukraine, kurt volker, he told a ukrainian adviser after the infamous phone nail down the date for the visit to washington. i'm joined now by a former acting solicitor general and in the office of legal counsel. good morning. >> good morning, ari. >> for people who don't have as much experience in courtrooms as you do, can you tell us in plain english why the addition of this evidence on to a pile of evidence is so significant? in other words if people have heard what we just showed, the text, all of the other record evidence that suggests there was this link why legally is it significant to have john bolton as an eyewitness testimony add to the link? >> i think what we heard on saturday makes this new announcement very dramatic. we kept hearing that there was no witness who spoke with the president who could say that the president intended to, you know, influence the next election by conditioning aid on ukraine announcing that the bidens were under investigation. now we have a witness and, you know, after you spend two hours on saturday talking about the abs

ambassador kurt volker testified that burisma had a reputation for corruption and money laundering, ende managers didn't tell you that. burisma was so corrupt that george kent said he intervened to present u.s. aid from co-sponsoring an event with burisma. you know what this event was? it was a child's contest and the prize was a camera. they were so bad, burisma, that our country wouldn't even co-sponsor a children's event with burisma. in march 2014, we open an investigation into the oligarch and burisma. then hunter biden quietly joins the board of burisma. early 2014 is when vice president began leading ukraine policy. this is how hunter biden came to join burisma's board in 2014. he was brought on the board by devon archer, his business partner, and devon archer was roommates with chris heinz and son of secretary of state john kerry and all three men had started an investment company together. the public records show that 2014, devon archer meets with vice president biden at the white house, and just two days later on april 18th, 2014, is when hunter biden quietly joins burisma, ac

and kurt volker, and we did not have the opportunity to to cross exam paine examine, and so if we areu have heard from, and we would have the right to call them and cross-examine. and george kent, the deputy director of eurasia affairs. you saw it, they called him. and so if we have witnesses, we have right to call and cross-examine deputy secretary kent. the former ambassador to ukraine, ambassador yovanovitch. they called her. you saw that testimony. we did not have the opportunity to cross-examine her. if we have witnesses, we would have to call her. laura cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense, russia, ukraine and eurasia, and they called her, and you saw her witness testimony. right here. we did not have the opportunity to to cross-examine her, and we would have to be given the that opportunity. and these are the witnesses against the president. laura cooper. deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia, and the same thing, and david hale, the undersecretary for political affairs. he was called by the house, and you saw his testimony, and we never

ambassador volker then text yermak had a good long talk with rudy, call anytime kurt. separately he told sondland that giuliani was happy with that meeting and it looks like things are turning around. a reference to volker's hope that satisfying giuliani would break down president trump's reservations concerning ukraine. but things had not turned around by the end of that first week of august, august 7. the aide was still on hold, and there was no movement on setting the date for the white house meeting. ambassador volker then reaches out to giuliani to try to get things moving. ambassador volker text giuliani to recommend that he report to the boss, meeting president trump, about his meeting with yermak in madrid. specifically he wrote, this is volker writing to giuliani. hope you made it back safely, let's meet if you are coming to d.c. it would be good if you could convey results of your meeting in madrid to the boss so we could get a firm date for the visit. so this is ambassador volker following of giuliani. giuliani is met with the top aide in madrid, and he wants

ambassador volker then text yermak had a good long talk with rudy, call anytime kurt. separately he told sondland that giuliani was happy with that meeting and it looks like things are turning around. a reference to volker's hope that satisfying giuliani would break down president trump's reservations concerning ukraine. but things had not turned around by the end of that first week of august, august 7. the aide was still on hold, and there was no movement on setting the date for the white house meeting. ambassador volker then reaches out to giuliani to try to get things moving. ambassador volker text giuliani to recommend that he report to the boss, meeting president trump, about his meeting with yermak in madrid. specifically he wrote, this is volker writing to giuliani. hope you made it back safely, let's meet if you are coming to d.c. it would be good if you could convey results of your meeting in madrid to the boss so we could get a firm date for the visit. so this is ambassador volker following of giuliani. giuliani is met with the top aide in madrid, and he wants