although i spent 'morning of july 26th with president ze zelensky, the first summary from the zelensky call i heard from anybody inside the u.s. government was during a phone call i had with tim morrison, dr. hill's recent replacement at the nfc on july 28th. mr. morrison told many ethme th the call could have been better and that president trump had suggested that president zelensky or his staff meet with mr. guiliani and president and attorney general william barr. i did not see any official readout of the call until it was publicly released on september 25th. by august, i was becoming more concerned. on august 16th, i exchanged text messages with ambassador volker which i learned a senior adviser to president zelensky had asked that the united states submit an official request for an investigation into burisma's alleged violations of ukrainian law. if that is what the united states desired, a formal u.s. request to the ukrainians to conduct an investigation based on violations of their own law struck ne as improper and i recommended to ambassador volker that we stay clear to find ou

role for the new zelensky administration and personally reaching out to president zelensky and his senior team. sondland's new found assertiveness also concerned dr. hill who previously enjoyed a cordial working relationship with the ambassador. hill had a blowup with sondland when he told her he was in charge of ukraine policy. dr. hill testified that sondland got testy with me, and i said who has put you in charge of it? he said the president. on july 10th, dr. hill was part of a meeting at the white house with a group of u.s. and ukraine yann officials with bolton, sondland and secretary perry, another of the three amigos. the meeting was to give the ukrainians they were answer to set up a meeting, a first meeting between their new president and president trump according to white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, the meeting would happen if ukraine undertook certain investigations. hearing this, bolton abruptly ended the meeting. undeterred, sondland brought the ukrainian delegation and lieutenant colonel alexander vindman downstairs to another part of the white house where they were

when president zelensky brought up u.s. military support and noted that ukraine would like to buy more anti-tank missiles from the united states, trump responded by saying, i would like you to do us a favor, though. trump then requested that zelensky investigate the discredited conspiracy theory that ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. trump asked zelensky to look into the bidens. neither request has been included in the official talking points for the call but both were in donald trump's personal interests and the interests of his 2020 re-election campaign. and the ukrainian president knew about both in advance, in part because of efforts by ambassadors sondland and volker to make him aware of president trump's demands. the next day, july 26th, in kyiv, holmes served as a notetaker during a meeting between bill taylor, volker and sondland with president zelensky and other senior ukrainian officials. zelensky said on the previous day's call, said on the previous day's call, president trump had, quote, three times raise

before president zelensky joined the call, volker said he planned to be explicit with president zelensky in a one-on-one meeting in toronto on july 2nd. in that meeting ambassador volker planned to make clear what president zelensky should do to get the white house meeting. i did not understand what this meant, but ambassador volker said he would relay that president trump wanted to see rule of law trains paren see, but also, specifically, cooperations on investigations to get to the bottom of things. once president zelensky joined the call, the conversation was focused on energy policy and the war in dombas. president zelensky said he looked forward to the white house visit president trump offered in his may 29th letter. by mid july it was becoming clear to me the meeting president zelensky wanted was conditioned on the investigations of burisma and alleged ukrainian interference in the 2016 u.s. elections. it was also clear that this condition was driven by the irregular policy channel i had come to understand was guided by mr. giuliani. in a regular nsc secure video conference call i

as it turns out president zelensky agreed with you. on october 10th, president zelensky held a press marathon with over 300 reporters where he said repeatedly and consistently over hours and hours that he was not aware of a military hold during the july 25th call. in fact, in his official press release from the ukrainian government available on his website that i will be introducing into the record, he said our phone conversation bear no, sir relations to arms. they blocked the provision of military assistance prior to our telephone conversation, but the issue had not been discussed during our conversation. i mean, i didn't even know. >> there was no quid pro quo involving military aid during that call. president zelensky went on to confirm a number of things, there was no pressure no conditions no threats on military aid there were no conditions or pressure to investigate burisma. or the 2016 election. that there was no blackmail. that there was no corruption of any kind during the july 25th call. again, from his official press releas

when president zelensky product u.s.ilitary support and noted ukraine would like to buy more antitank missiles from the united states, trump responded by saying i would like you to do us a favor, though. trump requested zelensky investigate the discredited conspiracy theory that ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. trump asked zelensky to look into the bidens. neither request had been enclosed in the official talking points by official nfc staff, but both were in donald trump's personal interests. president knew about both in advance, in part because of efforts by ambassador volker to make him aware of presidential's demand. in kiev, holmes served as a notetaker with president zelensky and other senior ukrainian officials. zelensky said on the previous day's call -- said that on the previous day's call, president trump had "three times raised sensitive issues that he would have to follow-up on when they met in person." although he did not realize it at the time, holmes came to understand that the sensitive issues wer

when president zelensky brought up u.s. military support and noted that ukraine would like to buy more anti-tank missiles from the united states, trump responded by saying, i would like you to do us a favor, though. trump then requested that zelensky investigate the discredited conspiracy theory that ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. trump asked zelensky to look into the bidens. neither request has been included in the official talking points for the call but both were in donald trump's personal interests and the interests of his 2020 re-election campaign. and the ukrainian president knew about both in advance, in part because of efforts by ambassadors sondland and volker to make him aware of president trump's demands. the next day, july 26th, in kyiv, holmes served as a notetaker during a meeting between bill taylor, volker and sondland with president zelensky and other senior ukrainian officials. zelensky said on the previous day's call, said on the previous day's call, president trump had, quote, three times raise

president zelensky and senior members of his team made clear that they wanted president zelensky's first overseas trip to be to washington to send a strong signal of american support and requested a call with president trump as soon as possible. we at the embassy also believed that a meeting was critical to the success of president zelensky's administration and its reform agenda and we worked hard to get it arranged. when president zelensky's team did not receive a confirmed date for a white house visit, they made alternative plans for president zelensky's first overseas trip to be to brussels instead, in part to attend an american independence day event that ambassador sondland hosted on june 4. ambassador sondland hosted a dinner in president zelensky's hon which included jared kushner, secretary pompeo's counsellor, senior european officials and comedian jay leno among others. ambassador bill taylor arrived in kyiv on june 17. for the the next month the focus of our activities along with the three amigos was to coordinate a white house visit. to that end we were working with ukrainian

after the zelensky meeting, i also met with zelensky's senior aide yermak. i don't recall the specifics of our conversation but i believe the issue of investigations was probably a part of that agenda or meeting. also, on july 26th shortly after our kiev meetings, i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house, which is finally, finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys, confirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again, given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified information. other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this calling. for the most part i have no reason to doubt their accounts. it is true that the president speaks loudly at times and it is also true i think we primarily discussed asap rocky. it is true that th

by president zelensky in public of these investigations. before that, i had only understood from ambassador sondland that the white house meeting was conditioned. and at this time, after i heard of this conversation, it struck me -- clear to me that security assistance was also being withheld. >> 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. the white house meeting was one thing, security assistance was much more alarming. >> now, ambassador taylor, in your opening statement, you outlined a very detailed timeline. in fact, we have a written copy here. and you included some phrases and words in quotations. did you take notes of this conversation on september 1st with ambassador sondland? >> i did. >> did you take notes to most of the conversations if not all of them you cited in your opening statement? >> all of them.

also met with zelensky's senior aide, andriy yermak. i don't really the specifics of our conversation, but i'm sure the phone call was probably on the agenda of our meeting. also on july 26th, shortly after their kyiv meetings, i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house which is finally, timely sharing certain call dates and times with my attorneys con fimfirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kyiv, and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified investigation. other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. for g this call. for the most part, i have no reason to doubt their accounts. it's true that the president speaks loudly at times, and it's also true i think we primarily discussed a$ap rocky. it's true that

that danyluk, the national security advisor for zelensky, was concerned that zelensky didn't want to be used as some tool in american politics, is that correct? >> that is correct. >> so zelensky didn't want to go on tv and announce political investigations that he thought would mire him in u.s. politics, right? >> he and his advisors knew that it's a bad idea to interject, to interfere in other nation's elections, yes, sir. >> nonetheless, it appeared until the aid was lifted, the hold was lifted, that he felt compelled to do it. >> he was making plans, his staff was making plans to have him make some kind of announcement, i don't know what it would have been, on cnn in public. >> even though he doesn't want to be mired in u.s. politics? >> even though he knew it was a bad idea to interfere in other people's elections. >> mr. nuance, you are recognized for 7 minutes and 10 seconds. >> thank the gentleman for that. ambassador taylor x y, you said your deposition that the first time you heard about this shiss with rudy giuliani, and i'm paraphrasing but you read it in the "new york ti

a white house visit was critical to president zelensky. president zelensky needed to show u.s. support at the highest levels in order to demonstration to russian president putin that he had u.s. backing as well as to address his anti-corruption a reform agenda at home. they were pretsing for a date. president zelensky, and senior members of his team made clear they wanted his first overseas trip to be to washington, to send a strong signal of american support, and requested a call with president trump as soon as possible. we at the embassy also believe that a meeting was critical to the success of their administration, and its agenda and we worked hard to get it arranged. when president zelensky's team did not receive a confirmed date for a white house visit, they made alternative president zelensky's overseas trip to be in brussels as well. ambassador sondland hosted a dinner in president zelensky's honor, which included jared kushner, ulrich brechbuhl, and comedian jay leno among others. ambassador taylor arrived in kyiv on foreign affairs in july 17th. focusing on our activi

after the zelensky met i met with zelensky's senior aide, andre yermak. i don't recall the specifics of of our conversation but i believe the investigation was probably that of our agenda or meeting. also on july 26, shortly after our kiev meetings i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house which finally, finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys confirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev, and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again, given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified information. other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. for the most part, i have no reason to doubt their accounts. it's true that the president speaks loudly at times, and it's also true, i think we primarily discussed asap rocky. it's true that the president likes to

zelensky was surrounded by enmys for the president. the white house then whittled down a list for the official presidential delegation from over a dozen individuals to just five. secretary perry as it's head. kurt volker. national security council director alex vindman. tech rare acting o fai-- affair. as the accredited ambassador to the union did not credit nonmember states, he made clear that he had direct and frequent access to president trump and chief of staff mick mulvaney secretary perry, ambassador sondland, and ambassador sondland made clear they would take the lead on the zelensky administration. i became aware that mr. giuliani, a private lawyer, was taking a great role. and he was who was ultimately indicating privately that he had been contacted by someone named ghouli giuliani who said he is an advisor. in the following months it became apparent that mr. gullian a -- giuliani was having a direct influence on the ground president at one point in a preliminary meeting, someone wondered s aloud why he was so active in the me

after the zelensky meeting, i also met with zelensky's senior aide, andre yermak. i don't recall the specifics of our conversation, but i believe the issue of investigations was probably a part of that agenda or meeting. also, on july 26th, shortly after our kiev meetings, i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house, which has finally, finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys, confirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again, given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified information. other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. for the most part, i have no reason to doubt their accounts. it's true that the president speaks loudly at times and it's also true, i think we primarily discussed asap rocky. it's true that the

he began reaching out to the zelensky administration, key figures in the zelensky administration, and continues to do that. >> let's focus on the inauguration for a minute. you escorted, for lack of a better word, the u.s. delegation around? mr. holmes: i joined them in some of their meetings, but not for the entire day. >> and who was on the official delegation? mr. holmes: five people. the head of the delegation was secretary perry, ambassador volcker, ambassador sondland, our temporary charge, and alex vindmanmate -- representing the white house. >> you testified previously, secretary perry gave a list of sorts to president zelensky at the meeting. do you recall that? mr. holmes: yes. in the meeting with the president, secretary perry opened the meeting from the american side, and had a number of points he made. d, heg that perio handed over a piece of paper. i didn't see what was on the paper, but secretary perry described what was on the paper as a list of trusted individuals, recommended that president zelensky could draw from that list for advice on energy sector reform issues.

zelensky -- president zelensky through the steps that needed to be taken in order to get to the phone call. >> understood. and you testified earlier that the security assistance had already been frozen, to your knowledge, at least by july 18th, is that right? >> that's correct. >> so that was just a week earlier than this? >> that's correct. >> just so we're clear, ambassador taylor, before this july 25th call, president trump had frozen the security assistance that ukraine needed and that the white house meeting was conditioned on ukraine initiating this investigation and that had been relaid to the ukrainians. is that an accurate state of play at this time? >> that's an accurate state of play. i at that point had no indication that any discussion of the security assistance being subject to conditioned -- conditioned on the investigations had taken place. >> right. but you understood that the white house meeting was? >> correct. >> let's move ahead to this july 25th call. and -- between the presidents. am i correct that neither of you were on this call, is that right, mr. kent? >> th

zelensky, and mr. yellmak and even though this is not a quid pro quo, and if president zelensky did not clear thing s up in public, we would e at a stalemate and that is one point. >> and mr. morrison talked to you, correct? >> ambassador sondland also told me that he recognized that it was a mistake to have told the ukrainians that only the meeting with the president in the oval office was held up on the in order to get the investigations. no, wit was shg, it was not ju, but it was the security assistance and everything. it is those two discussions. >> i understand. and just to recap. you had three meetings with the president zelensky and no linkage in those three meetings came up. and ambassador zelensky did not announce that he was doing any investigations of the bidens or the burisma and president zelensky, excuse me, and so then what you have in front of you is an addendum that mr. sondland made to his testimony that we had a couple of weeks ago that says that i, for gordon sondland, do affirm and

place in mid-september, that zelensky -- he, zelensky, should be able to move forward publicly and with confidence on those issues of importance to potus and the u.s. hopefully that will help break the logjam. the secretary replied, yes. i followed up the next day asking to get 10 to 15 minutes on the warsaw schedule for this. i said, we'd like to know when it's locked so that i can tell zelensky and brief him. executive secretary kenna replied, i will try for sure. moreover, given my concerns about the security aid, i have no reason to dispute that portion of senator johnson's recent letter in which he recalls conversations he i had on august 30th. by the end of august my belief was that if ukraine did something to demonstrate a serious intention to fight corruption, and specifically addressing burisma and the 2016, then the hold on military aid would be lifted. there was a september 1st meeting with president zelensky in warsaw. unfortunately, president trump's attendance at the warsaw meeting was canceled due to hurricane dorian. vice president pence intendatte instead. i mentioned t

on july 21, 2019, president zelensky won another land slide victory. the nsc proposed that president trump call president zelensky to congratulate him. on july 25, 2019 the call occurred. i listened in on the call in the situation room with white house colleagues. i was concerned by the call. what i heard was inappropriate and i reported my concerns to mr. izen berg. it is improper that the president of the united states demand to investigate a u.s. citizen and political opponent. i was clear that if the ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 elections, the bidens and burisma, it would be interpreted as a partisan play and would undoubtedly result in ukraine losing partisan report and advancing russia's strategic objectives in the region. i want to emphasize to the committee that when i reported my concerns on july 10th relating to ambassador sondland and on july 25th relating to the president, i did so out of a sense of duty. i privately reported my concerns in official channels to the proper authority in the chain of command. my intent was to

zelensky right away. our assessment of mr. zelensky was that he and the president would get on famously. he was smart, he was funny, he was charming, he was the kind of person the president would like and, once the two of them got together, we thought the chemistry would take over and good things would happen between the u.s. and ukraine relationship, that's why we were pushing for a quick, unconditional meeting. >> it's unfortunate he was unwilling to meet without the commitment on the investigation. thank you, agh. you would have preferred, if they just had the meeting with the president of ukraine, without these conditions, is that what you're saying? >> yes. conditions, and it involved an investigation, right? >> well, remember, the initial invitation that the president sent to president zelensky had no conditions. >> but that didn't last very long, did it? and then there were conditions -- this is not controversial at this point -- there were conditions the president wanted investigationsy. >> e. and you thought burisma a

by president zelensky in public of these investigations. before that, i had only understood from ambassador sondland that the white house meeting was conditioned and at this time, after i heard of this conversation, it struck me, it was clear to me that security assistance was also being held. you said previously 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 -- it was much more alarming, the white house meeting was one thing, security assistance was much more alarming. >> now ambassador taylor, in your opening statement, you outlined a very detailed timeline and, in fact, we have a written copy here and you included some phrases and words in quotations. did you take notes of this conversation on september 1st with ambassador sondland? >> i did. >> did you take notes related to most

vindman and miss williams took note of the word burisma by zelensky. a fact conspicuously left out of the call now locked away on an ultrasecure server. colonel vindman believed zelensky must have been prepped for the call to make the connection between biden and burisma, a fact other witnesses have now confirmed. in the weeks that followed the july 25th call, colonel vindman continued to push for a release of the military aid to ukraine and struggled to learn why it was being withheld. more disturbing, word of the hold reached ukrainian officials prior to it becoming public. by mid-august the deputy ambassador asked vindman why the united states was withholding the aid. vindman didn't have an answer. they needed to publicly commit to these two investigations if they hoped to get the aid. miss williams, we all saw the president's tweet about you on sunday afternoon. and the insults he hurled at ambassador yovanovitch last friday. you are here today, and the american people are grateful. colonel vindman, we have seen more attacks on your character and w

zelensky, president zelensky, in his negotiations with russians, is very important and will enable him to get a better agreement with that support from the united states, both from the military assistance, but also from the political assistance that we can provide. >> but he has not yet had that white house meeting, has he? >> he has not. >> i think it is ironic that soviet-born lev parnas, now indicted, had a meeting with the president in the white house after participating in a number of campaign events for the president and contributing $325,000 to the president's pac. so maybe it is actually the requirement that you give money to the president's pac in order to get that meeting at the white house. ambassador taylor, is it true that the prosecutor general now has opened an investigation in ukraine? >> the new prosecutor general that president zelensky has appointed is indeed investigating crimes in general. is that your question? >> yes. >> he is in office and is investigating criminal activity. >> has he specified what investigations he's undertaken? >> no. >> he has not. all right

skelet zelensky is a real deal. he's interested in rudy giuliani's corruption and prosecuting the bad guys. correct? >> we are cautiously optimistic. we'll work where ever there is a pleasant hill cal will to do the right thing and put forward genuine reform. >> this alioligarchs take contr by virtual theft, for example, their rights on certain energy licenses, correct? >> that's one element. >> the company, burisma, he had a little bit of a story history of corruption, does he? >> mr. lachesky, he used his authority to himself controlled. that would be an act of corruption in my view. yes. >> self-dealing and self-enriching. >> how did the ukrainian government pursue that? >> the new government, the revolution of dignity turns into partner with the u.s. and u.k. to try to recover tens of billions of dollars of stolen assets. the first case that we tried to recover that money came from mr. ch chesky. >> the $23 million was frozen until somebody in the general prosecutor's office in ukraine shuts the case and issues

the president signed a let tore president zelensky. the ukraine national security advisor visited washington dc for a meeting with national security advisor volker. i attended the meeting with dr. hill. we anticipated they would raise the issue of a meeting between the presidents. ambassador bolton cut the meeting short when they started to speak about the requirement that ukraine deliver investigations for trump. i stated to ambassador sondland that this was inappropriate and had nothing to do with national security. dr. hill also said his comments were not proper. we agreed to report the incident to mr. john eisenberg. on july 21st, 2019, president zelensky won in another victory. the nsc suggested that the president call him to congratulate him. on july 25th, i listened in on the call in the situation room with white house colleagues. i was concerned by the call. what i heard was inappropriate and i reported my concerns to mr. eisenberg. it is improper for the president of the united states to demand a foreign government investigate

zelensky later that day. however, ambassador sondland said he wanted to make sure that no one was transcribing or monitoring as they added president zelensky to the call. ambassador volker separately told the u.s. participants that he and ambassador volker planned to be explicit with president zelensky in a one-on-one meeting on july 2nd. he planned to make clear what president zelensky should do to get the white house meeting. ambassador volker said he wanted to relay that president trump want to see rule of law, transparency but kor operation on investigations to get to the bottom of things. once president zelensky joined the call the conversation was focused on energy policy president sclen skooe also said he looked forward to the meeting. by mid-july, the meeting president zelensky wanted was candidate on the investigations of burisma and allegedly interference in the 2016 u.s. elections. it was also clear that this condition was driven by the irregular policy channel i had to come understand was guided b

zelensky loving the president and so forth? >> the whole thing after he mentioned asap racky. >> and then the next time we tried to unpack this. the neck time you talked with the president was on the telephone was september 9th, according to your deposition, right? >> i may have even spoken to him on september 6th. but again i don't have all the records. i wish i could get them then i could answer your questions very easily. >> but on september 9th at least at your deposition you were extremely clear. you call the president, said he was cranky? >> he seemed cranky. >> and you said in no uncertain terms and this is on the heels of the bill taylor text, right? >> right. >> and why don't you tell us, what did the president say to you on september 9th that you remember? >> well, words to the effect, i decided to ask the president the question in an open-ended fashion, because there were so many different scenarios floating around as to what was going on with ukraine. so rather than ask the president nine different questions, is it

after the zelensky meeting, i also met with zelensky's senior aide, andriy yermak. i don't really the specifics of our conversation, but i'm sure the phone call was probably on the agenda of our meeting. also on july 26th, shortly after their kyiv meetings, i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house which is finally, timely sharing certain call dates and times with my attorneys con fimfirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kyiv, and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified investigation. other witnesses have recently

president zelensky and senior members of his team made clear that they wanted president zelensky's firston to send a strong signal of american support and requested a call with president trump as soon as possible. we at the embassy also believe that a meeting was critical to the success of president zelensky's administration and its reform agenda, and we worked hard to get it arranged. when president zelensky's team did not receive the confirmed date for a white house visit, they made alternative plans for president zelensky's first overseas trip to be to brussels instead, in part to attend an american independence day event ambassador sondland hosted june 4th. ambassador sondland hosted a dinner in president zelensky's honor following the reception which included president zelensky, jared kushner, secretary pompeo's counselor, ulrich brechbuhl and comedian jay leno among others. he arrived as charge deaffairs on june 17th. for the next month, the focus of our activities, along with those of the three amigos was to coordinate a white house visit. to that end, we were working with ukraini

to represent him at zelensky's upcoming inauguration.s. williams was working on logistics. pence would be the attendee second in significance only to the president and would have sent an important signal of support to the new ukrainian president. in early may, however, rudy giuliani had been planning to bo to ukraine to p prent's interests itite rre but had to call off the trip after it became public. among others, giuliani blamed trump. three days later, the president called off the vice president's inauguration. instead, a lower level delegation was named, energy secretary rick perry, ambassador sondland and ambassador kurt volker, the three amigos. said of ron johnson and lieutenant colonel vindman would also attend. after returning from the inauguration, several members of the delegation briefed president trump on their encouraging first interactions with zelensky. they urged trump to meet with ukrainian president, but trump instead criticized ukraine and instructed them to work with judy -- work are with rudy. a few weeks later, amb

after the zelensky met i met with zelensky's senior aide, andre yermak. i don't recall the specifics of of our conversation but i believe the investigation was probably that of our agenda or meeting. also on july 26, shortly after our kiev meetings i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house which finally, finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys confirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kiev, and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again, given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified information. other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. for the most part, i have no reason to doubt their accounts. it's true that the president speaks loudly at times, and it's also true, i think we primarily discussed asap rocky. it's true that the president likes to

yermak, zelensky's aide, met on august 2nd. where did they meet? >> they met in madrid. >> and did you learn that mr. giuliani requested anything of the ukrainians at that meeting? >> only when i spoke with mr. giuliani afterwards. he said that he thought ukraine should issue a statement. and then i spoke with mr. yermak after that and he said yes and we're prepared to make a statement. and that then kicked off the series of discussions that i said in my testimony. >> we'll get into that in a second. but mr. giuliani did not explain to you what needed to be included in that statement, in that call you had? >> he said something more general, as i recall. i recall him saying fight corruption, that their commitment to being different. mr. yermak told me when i spoke with him as i recall that the statement would include specific mention of burisma and 2016. >> let's go through some of the text messages so we know exactly who said what. and first let's start on august 9th. this is a text exchange between you and ambassador sondland where ambassador sond

this july 26th meeting with president zelensky. earlier in the day from this lunchtime event we've been talking about, during the course of the meeting with president zelensky did any of the parties discuss what came up on the telephone call? >> i don't believe so. >> so president zelensky didn't expression any concerns about the content of the call, jiet. >> i mean all i heard about that call was that it was a good call, it was friendly, everyone was happy, you know, i was delighted to hear that, so that we could now move to the next phase which was the meeting. >> okay, okay, so you can -- you can tell us with certainty that nobody talked about demands in that meeting or fulfilling the president's demands. >> i don't remember exactly, again, this is a great example, mr. castro, of where i would have loved to see the noltes from the meeting. i didn't take any notes but i know there were notes taken but i don't remember any heated conversation in the meeting. i remember it being a really, really friendly good meeting and that's why

president zelensky was reforming ukraine in a hurry. he appointed reformist ministers and anticorruption legislation. he took quick executive action, including opening the high court with a new parliamentary majority stemming from snap elections. residents on ski changed the ukrainian constitution to remove from a sourceity of raw corruption for two decades. , as time could be different new ukraine breaking from its corrupt past. and yet i found a confusing arrangement for making u.s. policy towards you rain. there appeared to be two channels of u.s. policymaking and of limitation, one regular as acting ambassador, i had authority over the bulk of the effort to support ukraine against the russian invasion to help defeat corruption. kent andgue, george our colleagues at the national security council were my main points of contact in washington. formerlynel is responsible from former leading and overseeing the implementation of u.s. policy with respect to ukraine. a policy that has consistently enjoyed strong bipartisan support in congres

zelensky and his senior team. sondland's new found assertiveness concerned dr. hill who had enjoyed a cordial working relationship with the ambassador. hill had a blowup in sondland when he told her he was in charge of ukraine policy. dr. hill testified that sondland got testy with me and i said who has put you in charge of it? he said the president. on july 10th dr. hill was part of a meeting at the white house with a group of u.s. and ukrainian officials including bolton, sondland and energy secretary perry, another of the three amigos. the meeting was intended among other things to give the ukrainians an opportunity to convey that they were anxious to set up a meeting, a first meeting between their new president and president trump. sondland interjected to inform the group that according to white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, the white house meeting sought by the ukrainian president with trump would happen if ukraine undertook certain investigations. hearing this bolton abruptly ended the meeting. undeter

>> yes. >> what did he say to president zelensky? >> he was the last to speak. >> he talked about the importance of ukraine to national security and said it was very important that the zelensky administration stay out of u.s. domestic politics. >> was is your understanding that president zelensky and the ukrainians were already feeling presh smur pressure to conduct these investigations? >> yes. >> dr. hill you testified around this same time in may you learned that president trump was receiving information from someone else at the national security council. iscu that right? >> that's not quite right. i was told in passing that someone else at the national security council, that the president may want to speak to them because of some materials related toat ukraine. >> did that person indicate that the president thought that was the director of ukraine? >> that was correct. it was a very brief conversation. who is the director of ukraine? >>r director of ukraine is ale vindman. >> who did this individual in ee refer to. >> the individ

the favor trump asked of zelensky was really a demand. after the call multiple individuals were concerned enough to report it to the national security counsel's top lawyer. the second time in two weeks vindman had raised concerns with nsc lawyers. williams also believed asking zelensky to undertake these investigations was inappropriate and that it might explain something else she had become a ware of. the otherwise hold on military assistance to ukraine. both colonel vindman and ms. williams took note of the explicit use of the word burisma by zelensky. a fact left out of the record of the call now locked away on an ultrasecure server. colonel vindman believed zelensky must have been prepped for the call. a fact that other witnesses have now confirmed. in the weeks that followed the july 25th call, colonel vindman continued to push for a release of the military aid to ukraine and struggled to learn why it was being withheld. more disturbing word of the hold had reached ukrainian officials prior to its becoming public. by mid august the u

place in mid-september, that zelensky, he, zelensky, should be able to move forward publicly and with importance to potus and the u.s. hopefully that will help break the log jam. the secretary replied, yes. i followed up the next day asking to get 10 to 15 minutes on the warsaw schedule for this. i said we'd like to know when it's locked so that i can tell zelensky and brief him. executive secretary kenna replied, i will try for sure. moreover, given my concerns about the security aid, i have no reason to dispute that portion of senator johnson's repeat letter in which he recalls conversations he and i had on august 30th. by the end of august, my belief was that if you crane did something to demonstrate a serious intention to fight corruption and specifically addressing burisma and the 2016, then the hold on military aid would be lifted. there was a september 1st meeting with president zelensky in warsaw. unfortunately, president trump's attendance at the warsaw meeting was cancelled due to hurricane dorian. vice president pence attended instead. i mentioned vice president pence befor

would be considered as a demand to president zelensky. after this call, did you ever hear from any ukrainians, either in the united states or ukraine, about any pressure that they felt to do these investigations that president trump demanded? >> not that i can recall. >> did you have any discussions with officials at the embassy here, the ukrainian embassy here in washington, d.c.? >> yes, i did. >> did you discuss at all the demand for investigations with them? >> i did not. >> did you discuss at all at any point their concerns about the hold on security assistance? >> to the best of my recollection, in the august timeframe the ukrainian embassy started to become aware of the hold on security assistance and they were asking if i had any comment on that or if i could substantiate that. >> and that was before it went -- it became public, is that right? >> yes. >> and what did you respond? >> i believe i said that -- i don't recall, frankly. i don't recall what i said. i believe it may have been something along the lines of i'm not aware of

zelensky wins. his party takes over and president trump wants to see, with all these other things that are of concern, he wants to see if this new guy is, as i like to sale, the real deal? a real reformer. aid gets held up for a 55. july 18 and released on september 11. it seems more important of the 55 day pause is the 14 days. ukraine realized aid was held up on the 29th. we've had you testify to that and the witnesses yesterday. aid gets held up -- ukraine learns aid is held on august 29 and then released on september 11. in those 14 days, there are three important meetings with senior government officials and president zelinsky. august 29, ambassador bolton and president zelensky. september 1, vice president pence meets with president zelensky and septembes murphy and johnson meet with president zelensky. none of those meetings, none of those meetings did any linkage to security assistance dollars and an announcement or the start of any investigation ever come up. none of them. but he seems to b

by president zelensky in public of these investigations. before that, i had only understood from ambassador sondland that the white house meeting was conditioned. at this time, after i heard of this conversation, it struck me -- was clear to me that security assistance was also being held. >> you said previously 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 -- it was much more alarming. the white house meeting was one thing, security assistance was much more alarming. >> now, ambassador taylor, in your opening statement you outlined a detailed timeline. in fact, we have a written copy here and you included some phrases and words in notations. did you take notes of this conversation on september 1st with ambassador sondland? >> i did. >> did you take notes related to most of the conv

this zelensky guy wins, right? >> right. >> and his party takes over and president trump wants to see with all these other things that are of concern to him, he wants to see if this new guy's actually, as i like to say, the real deal. a real reformer and actually going to deal with the corruption problem. so aid gets held up for 55 days. gets held up on june 18th -- excuse me, july 18th -- and then is released on september 11th. but it seems to me, more important than the 55-day pause is the 14 days when ukraine realized aid was held up on the 29th. we've now had you testify to that. the two witnesses yesterday testified that. the politico article. so aid gets held up on august -- excuse me, ukraine learns aid is held on august 29th. and then, of course, released on -- released on september 11th. in those 14 days, there are three important meetings with senior government officials and president zelensky. there's the august 29th meeting between ambassador bolton and president zelensky. there's the meeting september

on july 25th, the day of the trump-zelensky call, volker had lunch in a senior aid to president zelensky and later texted the aide to say he had heard from the 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. ambassador sondland spoke to president trump a few minutes before the call was placed but was not on the call. during that now infamous phone call with zelensky, he ponded to the appreciation for u.s. defense support and request to buy more jaff line missiles by saying i would like you to do us a favor, though. trump asked zelensky to address the 2016 conspiracy theory and even more ominously, look into the bidens. neither had been part of the official preparatory material for the call but they were e in donald trump's personal interest and election campaign. and the ukrainian president knew both in advance in part because of ambassador volker and sondland's efforts to make him aware of what the president was demanding. around this time ambassador sondland bec

zelensky raised the suspended security assistance. following that meeting sondland approached yerm to tell him he believed that what could help move the aid was if the ukrainian prosecutor general would go to the mic and announce that he was opening the burisma investigation. on september 7th, ambassador sondland had a telephone call with trump and asked him what he wanted from ukraine. according to morrison, who spoke with sondland after the call, trump insisted there was no quid pro quo but president zelensky must personally announce the opening of the investigations and he should want to do it sondland said if president zelensky didn't grow to make a public statement about the investigations u.s. and ukraine would be at a stalemate, meaning it wouldn't receive the much needed stewart assistance. morrison had a sinking feeling after the call. as he realized that the ask was for you being directed at zelensky himself appear not the prosecutor general as sondland relayed to the evenier ukrainian aid in war saw on september 1st. while

after the zelensky meeting, i also met with zelensky's senior aide, andre your mack. i don't recall the specifics of our conversation but i believe the issue of the investigations was probably a part of that agenda or meeting. also, on july 26th, shortly after our kyiv meeting, i spoke by phone with president trump. the white house, which has finally, finally shared certain call dates and times with my attorneys confirms this. the call lasted five minutes. i remember i was at a restaurant in kyiv and i have no reason to doubt that this conversation included the subject of investigations. again, given mr. giuliani's demand that president zelensky make a public statement about investigations, i knew that investigations were important to president trump. we did not discuss any classified information. other witnesses have recently shared their recollection of overhearing this call. for the most part, i have no reason to doubt their accounts. it's true that the president speaks loudly at times and it's also true, i think we primarily discussed asap rocky. it's true that th

tell zelensky to do the right thing. that's all i got from president trump. >> did you also get from president trump as reflected by ambassador taylor that he said he was adamant that president zelensky had to "clear things up and do it in public." >> that part i i can agree to, yes. >> the time is now with the minority for 20 minutes. i'm sorry, 33 minutes. >> 33 minutes. thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador, you've been in business for a long time. >> i have. >> so, if you want to get to the bottom of something, somebody that is running the department or one of your buildings or something, who do you go to? >> the boss. >> the manager of whatever company? right? >> correct. >> if you want to get to the bottom of foreign aid, probably go to the people in charge of foreign aid here in this town, wouldn't you? because you're not in charge of foreign aid. >> i'm not in charge of foreign aid. >> and you had to testify that you presumed foreign aid was this or that, and you were guessing this was tied to foreign aid. but ther