so, august 10th, yermak texts volker.hink it's possible to make this declaration to mention all these things which we discussed yesterday, but it would be logic to do after we receive a confirmation of date. we inform about date of visit, about expectations, and guarantees for future visit. let's discuss it. ambassador volker responded that he agreed but that first they would have to iron out a statement and use that to get a date after which president zelensky would give the statement. the two decided to have a call the next day and to include ambassador sondland. yermak texts ambassador volker excellent, once we have a date we will call for a press briefing announcing up coming visit and announcing vision for the reboot among other things burisma and election meddling in the investigations. yermak was also in direct contact with ambassador sondland regarding this revised approach. he sent ambassador sondland the same text message. ambassador sondland kept the leadership of the state department in the loop. on august 10t

i'm seeing yermak to you tomorrow. here is one of the three amigos following up to arrange this meeting between giuliani and the ukrainians. giuliani replied, setting a meeting with in europe with the top aide for the very next week. quote, i will arrive on august 1 and until 5. he wrote, now remember on july 22nd, so a few days before this and before the call, ambassador colver had connected giuliani with yermak and they agreed to meet. so this is a poll -- this is a follow-up. you have the rangement made by volker and now the call and the follow-up to meet up in madrid. and they do meet in madrid. and this is august 2nd and flew to madrid and meets with rudy giuliani who they know represents the president's interests. both giuliani and yermak walk away from the meeting in madrid clearly understanding that a white house meeting is linked to zelensky's announcement of the investigations. in separate conversations with giuliani and yermak after this mad rit meeting, volker said he learned that giuliani wanted the ukrain

yermak. here is ambassador's fondling. i first communicated with mr. giuliani in early august, several months later. mr. giuliani emphasized that the president wanted a public statement from president zelensky committing ukraine to look into the corruption issues. mr. giuliani specifically mentioned the 2016 election, including the dnc server and bull recent as two topics of importance to the president. giuliani exerted influence in this process on august 4 yermak again he did not turn to the staff of the state department to arrange an follow-up, he turned to giuliani again. volker told yermak you would speak to him later that day and call the ukrainian "after words". volker then text giuliani to ask about the madrid meeting and to set up the call that he had mentioned to yermak. giuliani replies that the meeting with yermak was excellent and he would call later. phone records show a 16 minute call on august 5 between ambassador volker and giuliani. ambassador volker then text yermak had a go

yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably late in the evening on august 8, mr. giuliani called the white house and a highly distinctive pattern. at 8:53 p.m. giuliani texted a white house number. at that's 10:09 a number identified only as -- one in the white house call records called in rapid succession to two minutes later mr. to one knee tempted to return the call trying in office of management and budget number and then the white house situation room and then the white house switchboard at 10:2860 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room office of management and budget, switchboard, 60 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back giuliani and the -1 number connected for four minutes and six seconds. we should be clear. we do not know what giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who was on the other end of tha

yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably, late in the evening on august 8, mr. giuliani called the white house in a highly distinctive pattern. at 8:53 p.m., giuliani texted a white house number. at 10:09, a number identified only as dash 1 in the white house call records called mr. giuliani five times in rapid succession. two minutes later, mr. giuliani attempted to return the call, trying an office of management and budget number, then the white house situation room, then the white house switchboard. at 10:28, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room, office of management and budget, switchboard, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back, giuliani and the dash 1 number connected for four minutes and six seconds. we should be clear, we do not know what mr. giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who wa

yermak. here is ambassador's fondling. i first communicated with mr. giuliani in early august, several months later. mr. giuliani emphasized that the president wanted a public statement from president zelensky committing ukraine to look into the corruption issues. mr. giuliani specifically mentioned the 2016 election, including the dnc server and bull recent as two topics of importance to the president. giuliani exerted influence in this process on august 4 yermak again he did not turn to the staff of the state department to arrange an follow-up, he turned to giuliani again. volker told yermak you would speak to him later that day and call the ukrainian "after words". volker then text giuliani to ask about the madrid meeting and to set up the call that he had mentioned to yermak. giuliani replies that the meeting with yermak was excellent and he would call later. phone records show a 16 minute call on august 5 between ambassador volker and giuliani. ambassador volker then text yermak had a go

yermak in warsaw. ambassador sondland told mr. yermak that the security assistance money would not come until president zelensky committed to pursue the burisma investigation. i was alarmed by what mr. morrison told me about the sondland-yermak conversation. >> ambassador taylor then explained why he was so alarmed by this term, let's hear that as well. >> you said previously that you were alarmed to learn this, why were you alarmed? >> it's one thing to try to leverage a meeting in the white house. it's another thing i thought to leverage security assistance. security assistance to a country at war, dependent on both the security assistance and the demonstration of support. it was much more alarming that the white house meeting was one thing, security assistance was much more alarming. >> upon learning from mr. morrisson that the military aid may be conditioned upon ukraine publicly announcing these 22 investigation, ambassador taylor sent an urgent text message to ambassador sondland asking, are we now saying that security assis

yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably late in the evening on august 8th mr. giuliani called the white house in a highly distinctive wa turn. at 8:53 p.m. mr. giuliani texted a white house number. at 10:09 a number identified as dash one in the white house call records called mr. giuliani five times in rapid succession. two minutes later mr. giuliani attempted to return the call trying an office of management and budget number, then the white house situation room, then the white house switchboard. at 10:28, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room, office of management and budget, switchboa switchboard, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back, giuliani and the dash one number connected for 4:06. we should be clear, we do not know what mr. giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who was on the other

yermak. it was a very, very brief pull-aside conversation that happened within a few seconds. i told mr. yermak that i believed that the resumption of u.s. aid would likely not occur until ukraine took some kind of action on the public statement that we had been discussing for many weeks. >> let's let that sink in for a minute, too. you've heard my colleagues at the other table say ukrainians felt no pressure, there's no evidence they felt any pressure. of course, we've already had testimony about how they did feel pressure and didn't want to be drawn into this political campaign. you saw over and over in the text messages, no, you go first, you announce, you go first. we're supposed to believe they felt no pressure. there it is. it breaks out in the open, military aid is being withheld and there's a connection between the holding of the military aid and these investigations and the first thing they're asking about, they send the copy of the article, what's happening with this aid. they're re

yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably late in the evening on august 8, mr. giuliani called the white house and a highly distinctive pattern. at 8:53 p.m. giuliani texted a white house number. at that's 10:09 a number identified only as -- one in the white house call records called in rapid succession to two minutes later mr. to one knee tempted to return the call trying in office of management and budget number and then the white house situation room and then the white house switchboard at 10:2860 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room office of management and budget, switchboard, 60 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back giuliani and the -1 number connected for four minutes and six seconds. we should be clear. we do not know what giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who was on the other end of tha

appropriate and then andriy yermak said what? he made the type of investigation you are pushing for us to do on biden and clinton? the conversation made clear the ukrainian officials understood the rough nature of president trump's request and therefore doubted america's credibility on anti-corruption measures. records of these conversations and other notes and memoranda by senior american officials in ukraine would flush out and help complete the record for the first article of an peach mint. they would tell the whole truth and to the american people and to this body. you should require the state department to provide them. to summarize, the senate should

yermak, and remember, he was zelensky's chief aide, was basically saying you want an investigation? please send us a formal request from doj. show us you're willing to stand behind the legitimacy of what you're asking. but ambassador volker was unable to provide that information, and that's why even though the white house meeting was so critical to ukraine, even though ukraine needed it so, so desperately, they still wouldn't make the statement with the key additions. president trump's political investigations, which were solely to help his reelection and had nothing to do with foreign policy. president zelensky tried different ways to resist the pressure of becoming a pawn in u.s. politics, even though the oval office meeting was important, zelensky repeatedly tried to find a way around committing to the investigations that president trump demanded. or at the very least, schedule it before taking any official action. this is what you saw in the negotiation over the statement in august, and this is why even president trump's second official act, withholding the white house meeting,

with volker texting andrei yermak. good lunch. thanks. heard from white house. assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate, quote, get to the bottom of what happened, unquote, in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to washington. good luck. see you tomorrow. kurt. well, those words couldn't be much clearer. assuming president z convinces trump, he will investigate, get hef wha in 2016. we'll nail down the visit to washington. that's a text 30 minutes before that call. counsel for the president would like you to think, this is just about that call. you don't get to look outside the four corners of that call. they don't want to you look at the months that went into preparing for that call or the months of pressure that followed it. but you can just look at the right now what happened 30 minutes before that call. in this text message. heard from white house. assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016. if you are wondering how it seemed that president zelensky was aware of what he would be ask

yermak that i believed that the resumption of u.s. aid would likely not occur until ukraine took some kind of action on the public statement that we had been discussing for many weeks. >> you see, this wasn't just an internal scheme among the president's top advisers. president trump through his agents communicated the quid pro quo clearly to ukraine. ambassador sondland told president zelensky's top aide on september 1st that ukraine would not get the military aid unless it announced the investigations. this, my senate colleagues, is the very definition of a quid pro quo. but other witnesses know it too. morrison watched sondland's conversation with yermak and then received an immediate readout from sondland after that meeting. morrison urgently reported the interaction to ambassador bolton on a secure phone call. and of course bolton told him to go tell the nsc lawyers. morrison did as he was instructed. he also told ambassador taylor. ambassado ambassador taylor then confronted sondland. taylor texted, quote, are we now saying a wh

yermak texted him with the article and asked about the reports. nerd, as soon as ukrainians learned about the hold, they asked about it. now, mr. schiff said something during the 21 hours, or more than 21 hours, that he and his team spoke, that i actually agree with. which is, when he talked about common sense. many of us at the tables and in the room are former prosecutors. at the state, federal or military level. prosecutors talk a lot about common sense. common sense comes into play right here. the top ukrainian official said nothing. nothing at all to their u.s. counter parts during all of these meetings about the pause on security assistance. then, boom. soon as the politico article comes out, suddenly, in that first intense week of september, in george kent's words, security assistance was all they wanted to talk about. what must we conclude if using common sense? that they didn't know about the pause until the politico article on august 28th. no activity before, article comes out, flurry of activity. that's common sense. and it's absolutely

yermak texted volker with a link to the article to ask about the report. in other words, as soon as the ukrainians learned about the hold, they asked about it. now, mr. schiff said something during the 21 hours or more than 21 hours that he and his team spoke that i actually agree with, which is when he talked about common sense. many of us at the tables and in the room are former prosecutors at the state, federal or military level. prosecutors talk a lot about common sense. common sense comes into play right here. the top ukrainian official said nothing, nothing at all, to their u.s. counterparts during all of these meetings about the pause on security assistance but then, boom, as soon as the politico article comes out, suddenly, in that first intense week of september in george kemp's words, security assistance was all they wanted to talk about. what must we conclude if we're using our common sense? that they didn't know about the pause until the politico article on august 28th? no activity before, article comes out, flurry of activity. that's common se

the deputy foreign ministers told by andriy yermak keep this secret. we don't want this getting out. they canceled a trip to washington because they don't want this made public. and so, in august there is an effort to get the investigations announced that the only priority for the president and his men. so, the ukrainians to the aid is withheld. they know they can't get the meeting. they know that the president wants these investigations come once these investigations come into the ukrainians, like the americans, can add up to plus two equals four. but if they had any question about that, sondland hasn't ruled out in warsaw when sondland goes over after the meeting him he goes over to andriy yermak and says until you announce these investigations, you are not getting this aid. he makes explicit what they already knew. not just the meeting with the aid itself. the 27th they tell him it's tied to getting these investigations and it's at that point on september 7 when zelensky is told by sondland directly of the quid pro quo that zelensky finally capitula

senior advisor andriy yermak, and jonah fisher and some noises off there.s buckler. chris, what is the latest from there cluzel oh yeah, plenty of noises here as well as we get to the edge of the 16 hour time limit set for these questions and answers posed by senators and answers posed by senators and answered by president trump's defence team and also the democrats‘ prosecution trump‘s defence team and also the democrats‘ prosecution team in this impeachment trial. the democrats‘ prosecution team in this impeachment triallj have to say, having watched it over the last couple of hours, a feeling we‘re going over and over the same ground time and time again. but once this time is up it gets to a new section. we have closing arguments from both sides and then potentially a vote which will take place in less tha n a vote which will take place in less than 2a hours‘ time on whether or not witnesses should be called and that has become the big issue here. as you can hear from the big issue here. as you can hearfrom jonah the big issue here. as you can hear from

senior advisor andriy yermak, and jonah fisher and some noises off there.ashington. what is the latest from there? i have to seejoan is not the only person struggling to get a nswe rs only person struggling to get answers about what the relationship between the white house and the ukraine was about the withholding of military —— military aid and whether there would be investigations into mr drum is my political rivals. in many of the questions that have been put forward to mr trump's defence team as well as the democrats prosecution today have focused on whether or not there needs to be witnesses called to give evidence, to give more light about what was happening in that relationship between the us and ukraine under between the us and ukraine undeer between the us and ukraine under mr trump's administration. and there is a key focus on three or four republicans who may vote with democrats. they need four. that is the magic numberfor them. if they get four republicans to vote alongside them in around 24 vote alongside them in around 2a hours' time they coul

on july 10, 2019 andriy yermak the top aide to president zelensky sent a text to ambassador volker about rudy giuliani here do not text the ukrainian officials said this quote thank you for meeting and your clear and logical position. will be great to meet with you before my departure and discuss. i feel that the key for many things is rudy and i'm ready to talk with him at any time. let me repeat that. the key for many things is rudy. so the president used his personal agent to conduct his scheme with ukraine. they were in frequent contact, everyone white house officials and ukrainian officials knew they had no choice but to deal with giuliani. what was mr. giuliani doing that was so important to ukraine? again the evidence is clear. mr. giuliani's focus was to get investigations into president trump's political rifle to help the president's re-election. we have walked through some of the timelines of mr. giuliani's actions in statements about ukraine but let's just lined them up briefly because it makes the story so clear. april 2019 vice president biden officially announced his campai

in fact, it was a testimony that was the ukrainians, under andriy yermak asked to be connected to mr. giuliani simply because he was somebody who would provide information to the president. an ambassador volker testified that it was not his understanding and he did not believe that mr. giuliani was carrying out the policy directors but rather in his views, what he thought would be something useful for the ukrainians to convince the president other anticorruption. just wanted to make that point. it is of course, the president policy is always to abide by the law. in london the position to make. it's always to abide by the law and to continue to do so. i think it is worth pointing out that many presidents, starting with presentation president washington, has relied on persons who are a confidant but who are not actually employees of the government to assist in the conduct of foreign diplomacy. president washington relied on others to carry messages insert certain circumstances i believe to the french. fdr, had his confidant who he relied on in certain certain circumstances to be a go-be

august, we have that meeting between giuliani and yermak in madrid. august we have the back and forth about the statement. no, you go first, and you commit and publicly announce the investigations, and then we will give you a date. no, you go first. you give us the date and then we will announce the investigations. well, we will give you a statement that doesn't mention the specifics. no, no, you give us a statement that mentions the investigations. that's the month of august. august is also the month where it becomes clear that it's not just the meeting anymore. it's everything. everything is conditoned on these investigations. the relationship, the money, the meeting, sondland and holmes testify. it's as simple as two plus two equals four. that's august. september, sondland says to yermak everything is conditioned on public announcement. so, message delivered, no ambiguity. the ukrainians are told quid pro quo. if taylor texts this is crazy to withhold aid. september is the month. september 7th in particular, trump and sondland talk on the phone and

on july 10, 2019 andriy yermak the top aide to president zelensky sent a text to ambassador volker about rudy giuliani here do not text the ukrainian officials said this quote thank you for meeting and your clear and logical position. will be great to meet with you before my departure and discuss. i feel that the key for many things is rudy and i'm ready to talk with him at any time. let me repeat that. the key for many things is rudy. so the president used his personal agent to conduct his scheme with ukraine. they were in frequent contact, everyone white house officials and ukrainian officials knew they had no choice but to deal with giuliani. what was mr. giuliani doing that was so important to ukraine? again the evidence is clear. mr. giuliani's focus was to get investigations into president trump's political rifle to help the president's re-election. we have walked through some of the timelines of mr. giuliani's actions in statements about ukraine but let's just lined them up briefly because it makes the story so clear. april 2019 vice president biden officially announced his campai

yermak and tested ambassador volker with the link and ask about the report. in other words, as soon as the ukrainians learned about the hold they asked about it. adam schiff said something during the more than 21 hours that he and his team spoke that i actually agree with. which is when he talked about common sense. many of us at the table and in the room. >> senate impeachment trial resumes at 1:00 o'clock eastern and we made this portion from saturday taking you life to capitol hill with a briefing by democrats. >> i could use a little water. >> good morning, everybody. over a month ago we said hearing from witnesses and hearing documents is the bare minimum for a fair trial. since then the imo's were released that said there was clear direction from the president to hold the military assistance. , the gao concluded that the president broke the law in doing so. and new information from this revealed the plot to remove the u.s. ambassador. yen now, according to the new york times, ambassador bolton wrote in his book that he was ordered by the president to co

ambassador sondland described what he told andriy yermak in the short meeting. based on my previous communication with secretary pompeo, i felt comfortable sharing my concern with mr. andriy yermak. it was a very brief publicized conversation that happened within a few seconds. i told him i believed that the resumption of u.s. aid would likely not occur until ukraine took some kind of action on the public statements that we had been discussing for many weeks. >> you see, this wasn't just an internal schema among the top advisers. president trump through his agents communicated the quid pro quo clearly to ukraine. ambassador sondland told president zelensky's top aide that ukraine would get the military aid unless it announced the distinction. this, my senate colleagues, is the very definition of a quid pr this is the definition of a quid pro quo. other witnesses know it too. the conversation that was received from sondland after the meeting, morrison urgently reported the interaction to ambassador bolton on a secure phone call. and bolton told him to tell the nf

on july 10th, 2019, andriy yermak, the top aide to president zelensky, sent a text to ambassador volker about rudy giuliani. in that text, the ukrainian official said this, quote, thank you for meeting and your clear and very logical position will be great meet with you before my departure and discuss. i feel that the key for many things is rudy, and i ready to talk with him at any time. let me repeat that. quote, the key for many things is rudy. so the president used his personal agent to conduct his scheme with ukraine. they were in frequent contact. everyone, white house officials and ukrainian officials knew they had no choice but to deal with guiliani. what was mr. guiliani doing that was so important to ukraine? again, the evidence is clear. mr. guiliani's focus was to get investigations into president trump's political rival to help the president's re-election. now, we've walked through some of the timeline of mr. guiliani's actions and statements about ukraine but let's line them up briefly because it makes the story so clear. april 2019, vice president biden officially announce

ambassador sondland then had a private meeting with andriy yermak, president zelensky's top aide. the two men insisted that the meeting be one on one with no notetaker, perhaps due to the sensitive issues that might come up. ambassador sondland testified that he and presidente zelenskys aid probably discussed the issue of investigations. after these key moments in ukraine ambassador sondland went to lunch with david holmes and two other american officials. mr. holmes set directly across from ambassador sondland close enough to hear the details of an extraordinaryf telephone call between mr. sondland and presidenten trump. as mr. holmes relayed during his sworn testimony under oath, ambassador sondland pulled out his unsecured cell phone and said that he was going to call president trump to give him an update. what happened next was shocking. >> ambassador sondland phone was not on speakerphone. i get to the president's voice to the ear piece of the phone. the president's voice was loud and recognizable. ambassador sondland held the phone away from his ear for credit time presumabl

in an exclusive interview with the bbc‘sjonah fisher in kiev, andriy yermak, a senior adviser to ukraine'spressure from mr trump to open an investigation linked to joe biden. i know president zelensky for a long time. it's impossible to press this guy. and it's impossible to make and manage him to make some decisions. he's absolutely independent and a very strong leader. you will have, i'm sure, have been following the trial in the senate very closely and you will have noticed that the discussion that has moved on from the question as to whether there was pressure put on ukraine. pretty much everyone seems to accept that now. the question is rather more whether that was right or wrong and whether it was something that should lead to a president losing theirjob. is it not now time to level with people and explain what pressure ukraine was under, because it's pretty clear you were under some? 0ur position and our principal position of the president zelensky and all our team, we're always very honest, five, six months ago, and today it's absolutely, we keep the same position. your position is

with volker texting yermak, good lunch. heard from white house. assuming president trump convinces the who will investigate, get to the bottom of 2016, we will nail down visit to washington. good luck, see you tomorrow. those words couldn't be much clearer. assuming president the convinces trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016, we will nail down the visitto washington. that's a text 30 minutes before that call .counsel for the president would like you to think this is just about that call. you don't get to look outside thefour corners of that call. they don't want you to look at the months that went into preparing for that call. for the months of pressure that followed it . but you can just look at right now, what happened 30 minutes before that call. in this text message. heard from white house, assuming president z convinces trump he will get to the bottom of a happened. if you were wondering how it seemed that president zelensky was aware of what he was going to beasked on that call . this is how you can tell. he

with volker texting yermak, good lunch. heard from white house. assuming president trump convinces the who will investigate, get to the bottom of 2016, we will nail down visit to washington. good luck, see you tomorrow. those words couldn't be much clearer. assuming president the convinces trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016, we will nail down the visitto washington. that's a text 30 minutes before that call .counsel for the president would like you to think this is just about that call. you don't get to look outside thefour corners of that call. they don't want you to look at the months that went into preparing for that call. for the months of pressure that followed it . but you can just look at right now, what happened 30 minutes before that call. in this text message. heard from white house, assuming president z convinces trump he will get to the bottom of a happened. if you were wondering how it seemed that president zelensky was aware of what he was going to beasked on that call . this is how you can tell. he

andriy yermak when he met with john bolton at the white house. >> in then we knew the ukrainians would inevitably have a question about the meeting. in so as we get to the main discussion, going into other affairs. they would ask about white house meeting. in mr. bolton was trying to hurry us back. >> as you see present zelinski just didn't raise the oval office meeting on his april 21st call, erase the meeting on july 21st, 5th call with president trump again. president zelinski said in the july 25th call, i also wanted to thank you for your invitation to visit the united states specifically washington dc. after the july 25th call the ukrainians continue to press for the meeting. but that meeting never happened. only on september 25th. after the has announced its investigation into the president's misconduct as it relates to ukraine, in the existence of a whistleblower complaint became public, did president trump in president zelinski meet face-to-face. for the first time. that's meeting was on the sidelines of the un general assembly. that was in new york. it was dominated by public

yermak and tested ambassador volker with the link and ask about the report. in other words, as soon as the ukrainians learned about the hold they asked about it. adam schiff said something during the more than 21 hours that he and his team spoke that i actually agree with. which is when he talked about common

the deputy foreign ministers told by andriy yermak keep this secret.we don't want this getting out. they canceled a trip to washington because they don't want this made public. and so, in august there is an effort to get the investigations announced that the only priority for the president and his men. so, the ukrainians to the aid is withheld. they know they can't get the meeting. they know that the president wants these investigations come once these investigations come into the ukrainians, like the americans, can add up to plus two equals four. but if they had any question about that, sondland hasn't ruled out in warsaw when sondland goes over after the meeting him he goes over to andriy yermak and says until you announce these investigations, you are not getting this aid. he makes explicit what they already knew. not just the meeting with the aid itself. the 27th they tell him it's tied to getting these investigations and it's at that point on september 7 when zelensky is told by sondland directly of the quid pro quo that zelensky finally capitulat

when he makes that remark, yermak throws those right backe states and says, you mean like investigation you want us to do of the clintons and the bidens? and and i was limiting this to y colleague, what is her answer to that? what is the answer to that from a country that prides itself on adherence to the rule of law clerks how do we answer that? and his response i thought was her interesting picky said this proceeding is our answer. this proceeding is our answer. yes, we are a more than fallible democracy and we don't always live up to our ideals. but when we have a president who demonstrates corruption of his office, who sacrifice the national interest for personal interest, unlike other countries there's a remedy. and so yes, we don't always live up to our ideals but this trial is part of our constitutional heritage that we've given the power to impeach the president. i don't think i trial without witnesses reflects adversely on the chief justice. i do think it reflects adversely on us. i think it diminishes the power of this example, to the rest of the world. if we cannot have a fai

but andriy yermak who what you learn more about later, topic to present zelinsky, reportedly directed her to keep silent and not discuss the hold with reporters or congress. we hear testimony about why the ukrainians want to keep it secret, that they knew about the whole. you can imagine why. zielinski did when his own people to know the the presidef the train was holding back aid from him. what does that look like for a new president of ukraine who was tied to make the case that he's going to be able to defend his own country because he is such a great relationship with the great patron of the united states? he didn't want ukrainians to know about it. he didn't want the russians to know about it for the reasons we talk about earlier. so i guess the ukrainians kept it close to the vest. now, mr. purpura also went on to say the ukrainians say they don't feel any pressure that's what they say now. of course we know that's not true. we've had testimony thatwe they didn't want to be used as a political pawn in u.s. domestic politics. they resisted it. you will hear more testimony about th

the depp sd dd deputy foreign mr is told by yermak, keep this ve cred secret.y don't want this out. she planned to come to washington. they canceled the trip to washington because they don't want this made public. in august, there's an effort to get the investigations announced. that's the only priority for president and his men. so the ukrainians know the aid is withheld. they know they can't get the meeting. they though what the president wants, these investigations, and the ukrainians, like the americans, can add up two plus two equals four. but if they had any question about that, sondland removes all doubt on september 1st in warsaw when sondland goes over after the pence/zelensky meeting, he goes over to yermak and he says that until you announce these investigations, you're not getting this aid. he makes explicit what they already knew. that not just the meeting but the aid, itself, was tied. and on september 7th, sondland tells zelensky directly, the aid is tied to you doing the investigations. and it's at that point on september 7th when zelensky is to

then andriy yermak said, what?ou mean the type of investigations you are pushing us to do on biden and clinton? the competition makes clear that the ukrainian officials understood the corrupt nature of president trump's request, and therefore doubted american credibility on anticorruption measures. records of these conversations and other notes and memoranda by senior american officials in ukraine would flush out and help lead the record for the first article of impeachment. they would tell the whole truth to the american people, and to this body. you to summarize, the senate should issue the subpoenas proposed in the amendment requiring the state department to turn over relevant messages and emails, diplomatic cables and notes. these documents bear directly on the trial of this body that is required by the constitution to hold. they are immediately relevant to the first article of impeachment. their existence has been attested to by credible witnesses in the house and the only reason we don't already have them is

with zelensky and ambassador volker is doing exactly what he supposed to be doing -- he's telling yermak, you guys shouldn't really do this investigation of your former president because it would be for a political reason, you really shouldn't engage in political investigations. as representative deming said what is the response of the ukrainians? the one you want us to do of the bidens and the clintons? ukraine is not oblivious to that hypocrisy. mr. sekulow says what are we here for? part of our strength is not only our support for our allies and military might, it's what we stand for. we used to stand for the rule of law, we used to champion the rule of law around the world. part of the rule of law is of course that no one is above the law. to be out in ukraine or anywhere else saying don't engage in political prosecutions and having them throw it right back in our face, like th the one you want us to do? that's why we are here. that's why we are here. i yield back. >> the majority leader is recognized. >> i send a motion to the desk to table the amendment and ask for yays and nays. >

with volker texting andriy yermak, top aide to president zelensky, "good lunch, thanks. heard from white house. assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened, in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to washington. good luck. see you tomorrow." those words couldn't be much clearer. assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016, we will nail down the visit to washington. that is a text 30 minutes before the call. counsel for the president would like you to think this is just about that call. you don't get to look outside the four corners of that call. they don't want you to look at the months that went into preparing for that call or the months of pressure that followed it. but you can just look at right now what happen 30 minutes before that call. in this text message. "heard from white house. assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate and get to the bottom of what happened in 2016." if you are wondering how it seemed president zelensky was aware of what h

and then andriy yermak said, what? the type of investigations you're pushing us to do on biden and clinton. the conversation makes clear the ukrainian officials understood the corrupt nature of president trump's request and therefore doubted american credibility on anti-corruption measures. records of these conversations and other notes and memoranda by senior american officials in ukraine would flesh out and help complete the record for the first article of impeachment. they would tell the whole truth and to the american people and to this body. you should require the state department to provide them. to summarize, the senate should issue the subpoena proposed and the amendment requiring the state department to turn over relevant texts and whatsapp messages, e-mails, diplomatic cables and notes. these documents bear directly on the trial of this body, the trial that this body is required by the constitution to hold. they are immediately relevant to the first article of impeachment. their existence has been attested to

ambassador sondland, then, made the direct link -- had already made the direct link to andriy yermak. after the conversation with the president, had a conversation with zelensky himself and conveyed what he had been informed by the president that -- have to conduct these investigations. and that's when zelensky made the commitment to go on cnn. so ambassador sondland has acknowledged the tie between the two. so did mick mulvaney. and i think that video is now etched in our minds for all history, try to walk that back as he may, he was quite adamant when he was asked about that. and the reporter even followed up when he said that part of the reason why they held up the aid was the desire for this investigation into 2016. and the reporter said, well, what you're saying is a quid pro quo. you don't get the money unless you do this -- the investigation of the democrats. and the chief of staff's answer was, we do it all the time. get over it. so, you have it from the president's own chief of staff. you have it from one of the three amigos, one of the president's point people. and bear in m

yermak >> that the ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general make a statement with respectinvestigations as a condition of having the aid lifted >> seth: there you go. that's literally a quid pro quo. republicans actually thought calling this guy as a witness would be a good idea they thought he would help their case, but he only made it worse. it's like if you murdered a guy and called his ghost as your witness. "he's the one who killed me! "damn it, ghost! [ laughter ] i thought you were on my side. so after tuesday's hearings, republicans decided to change their argument again a house gop aide described the change of messaging this way, it has gone from "there is no quid pro quo" to "there's a quid and quo but not a pro," to "even if there was a quid pro quo, it's not that bad this is just how things are done you can say it's bad, but it's not impeachable. my god, look how much their argument has changed this would be like if you got pulled over and said, "i wasn't speeding okay, i was speeding everyone speeds. i was late for my job. i work at the hospital and so does my

ambassador volker is telling yermak, you shouldn't do this investigation of your former president poroshenko. you shouldn't engage in political investigations. as representative demings said what's the response from ukraine, oh, you mean like the one you want us to do of the bidens and clintons. threw it right back in his face. ukraine's not oblivious to that hypocrisy. mr. sekulow says what are we here for. you know, part of our strength is not only our support for our allies, not only our military might. it's what we stand for. we used to stand for the rule of law. we used to champion the rule of law around the world. part of the rule of law is of course that no one is above the law. but to be out in ukraine or anywhere else in the world championing the rule of law saying don't engage in prosecutions and having them throwed right back in our face, oh, you mean like the you want us to do, that's why we're here. that's why we're here. that's why we're here. i yield back. >> mr. chief justice. >> majority leader is recognized. >> i send a motion to the desk to table the amendment and ask that

august, we have that meeting between giuliani and yermak in madrid. august we have the back and forth about the statement. no, you go first, and you commit and publicly announce the investigations and then we'll give you a date. no, you give us a date and then we'll announce the investigations. well, we'll give you a statement that doesn't mention the specifics. no, no, you give us a statement that mentions the investigations. that's the month of august. august is also the months where it becomes clear that it's not just the meeting anymore. it's everything. everything is conditioned on these investigations, the relationship, the money, the meeting. sondland and holmes testify it's as simple as two plus two equals four. that's august. september sondland says toier mark everything is conditioned on public announcements. so message delivered, no ambiguity, the ukrainians are told quid pro quo. taylor texts this is crazy to withhold aid. september is the month, september 7th in particular, trump and sondland talk on the phone, and the president has a con

but, andriy yermak, a top aide to president zelensky, reportedly directed her to keep silent and not discuss the hold with reporters or congress. now, we heard testimony about why the ukrainians wanted to keep it secret. you can imagine why. zelensky didn't want his own people to know that the president of the united states was holding back aid from him. what does that look like for a new president of ukraine who is trying to make the case that he's going to be able to defend his own country because he has such a great relationship with the great patron, the united states? he didn't want ukrainians to know about it. but he also didn't want the russians to know about it for the reasons we talked about earlier. so, yes, the ukrainians kept it close to the vest. now, mr. purpura also went on to say, well, the ukrainians say they don't feel any pressure. that's what they say now. of course we know that's not true. we've had testimony that they didn't want to be used as a political pawn in u.s. domestic politics. they resisted it. you will hear more testimony about that, about the efforts

remember the ukrainians did not even know, president zelensky and his advisors, yermak and others made it clear there was another interview just the other day with, i think he was a foreign minister at the time but there was an interview just the other day that was published and he explained again that they did not know the aid had been held up. until the politico article on august 20. then he said there was a panic because there just try to figure out what to do. within two weeks it had been released. so we've also heard the idea that it was just the fact of the delay they gave the russians a signal and ukrainians a signal and that was the damage to national security. the whole point is the leaders of the government in ukraine did not know. it was not made public. so they were not given a signal by that and the russians were not given a signal by that. so that theory for damage to the national security does not work. there was a pause temporarily so there can be assessment to address concern the president had raised, the money was released by the end of the fiscal year, there was no d

they cite in their own statement of material facts, it was about the 2016 election, a volker to yermak't think we're going to get the witnesses now. they do not have a case. on article 2 i think it was absolutely silly. there was no impeachable offense. >> donna edwards, is that how you see it? >> it isn't how i see it at all. i'm a lawyer, maybe not as good as hugh. but my reading of the house's brief is that they state really clearly, i think, a strong constitutional argument in the beginning of the brief that lays out the history of impeachment, really reminding us that high crimes and misdemeanors was left to the definition of the legislators. it doesn't mean the breaking of the law. they talk specifically about the abuse -- abuse of power allegations and that the abuse of power is exactly the kind of abuse of public trust that the founders had in mind. and so i think it's a really strong and compelling argument. and the question is whether there's going to be a fair trial so that democrats can really present the argument against the president. >> one quick question on the obstruct

why are they talking about president zelensky and andriy yermak saying no pressure, no demand, no quid pro quo. why won't they tell the american public the truth, that president zelensky didn't have a confirmation until august 29th. ambassador sondland earlier today in the reply brief, they don't mention that that was a guess, or ambassador taylor's line, but they don't say that hearsay. >> laura: congressman gaetz, so much of this hinges on discerning the subjective intent of the president. i believe that was on page 28 of the white house brief. 171 pages long but that was a really important section that hasn't gotten much play. they actually mind read the president's intent, saying the call, 13 people listening, he had the subjective intent to try to do something that would abuse his inherent executive authority to hurt the u.s. national security. that is a wild precedent we are setting for the future. >> if the american people are watching this waterfall of crazy allegations come from democrats, they will see that you can categorize all of them into either hearsay, conjecture, or ju