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Lindsey Graham Refuses to Read Ukraine Transcripts from Sondland, Volker
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November 6, 2019
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0:57Now PlayingSen. Lindsey Graham says he won't read newly released transcripts by House investigators of private testimony given by U.S. diplomat Gordon Sondland and former Ukraine Special Envoy Kurt Volker. "I don't care what any bureaucrat says."
The House committees leading the impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump released transcripts of testimony Tuesday from two key witnesses: Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and a political supporter of the president, and Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine.
In more than 700 pages of transcripts — plus a sworn statement and additional text messages among some of the key players — the committees laid out what Sondland called the “insidious” evolution of an effort to inject U.S. politics into relations with Ukraine. Key takeaways from the testimony:
Both of the State Department officials said that Trump was insistent on getting his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, involved in Ukraine policy.
U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland Testifies Before House Committees
“He wasn’t even specific about what he wanted us to talk to Giuliani about,” Sondland said. “He just kept saying: ‘Talk to Rudy, talk to Rudy.’”
Sondland said Trump thought Ukraine was a “problem.” Volker said Trump accused the Ukrainians of trying to “take me down” in the 2016 election. That reflected the embrace by Trump and Giuliani of a conspiracy theory that interference in that year’s campaign was plotted by Ukranians supportive of Democrat Hillary Clinton -- not, as U.S. intelligence agencies and Special Counsel Robert Mueller found, by Russians who opposed Clinton and favored Trump.
Giuliani’s involvement caused consternation at the State Department. “People usually smiled when they heard Rudy’s name because he was always swirling around somewhere,” Sondland said. “The State Department was fully aware of the issues, and there was very little they could do about it if the president decided he wanted his lawyer involved.”
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