President Donald Trump instructed US diplomats to work with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine policy, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told Congress in prepared testimony on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2019) President Donald Trump instructed US diplomats to work with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine policy, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told Congress in prepared testimony on Thursday."President Trump was skeptical that Ukraine was serious about reforms and anti-corruption, and he directed those of us present at the meeting to talk to Mr. Giuliani, his personal attorney, about his concerns. It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the President's mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani," Sondland said.
Giuliani's outsized role in foreign policy became apparent during a White House meeting with Trump, Sondland, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and US envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volcker three days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's May 20, 2019 inauguration, Sondland said in prepared testimony for three House committees that are building a case to impeach Trump.
"Indeed, Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker, and I were disappointed by our May 23, 2019 White House debriefing. We strongly believed that a call and White House meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelensky was important and that these should be scheduled promptly and without any pre-conditions," Sondland said.
The disappointment, Sondland added, was based on "the President's direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani. Our view was that the men and women of the State Department, not the President's personal lawyer, should take responsibility for all aspects of US foreign policy towards Ukraine."
At the time, Sondland said, he was unaware that Giuliani's mission focused on a different objective - to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's role in quashing a Ukrainian corrupting investigation of an energy company that employed Biden's son, Hunter.
"I did not understand, until much later, that Mr. Giuliani's agenda might have also included an effort to prompt the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the President's 2020 reelection campaign.
The allegation forms the basis of the latest effort by House Democrats to create an impeachment template for a House vote to place Trump on trial in the Senate - a trial that could remove Trump from office before completing his four-year term in January 2021.
Sondland, during closed door testimony on Thursday, is likely to face tough questioning by House Democrats over a Trump-ordered delay in sending $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, with critics charging that Trump made military aid a carrot needed to persuade Zelenskyy to investigate the Bidens.
Sondland appeared under subpoena after the White House blocked him from testifying earlier, claiming the House impeachment inquiry was illegitimate and vowing not to cooperate.
