US Ambassador: Trump ordered me to work with his lawyer Giuliani
President Donald Trump has ordered him to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani on the Ukraine issue, and Giuliani wanted to urge Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Trump’s political rivals, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sundland admitted during his House testimony on Wednesday.
“I asked the State Department and the White House to provide documents that would help me to testify, but they rejected my request,” Sundeland said at the House of Representatives' hearing. “I have not received any clear answer to my questions regarding the reasons for the suspension of military assistance to Ukraine.”
He said Trump had ordered him to work with Giuliani on Ukraine-related issues, and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was aware of this and that he was “fully supportive” of Giuliani’s efforts to urge the Ukrainian president to investigate Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his son, which Sundeland described as a “trade-off”. In return for arranging a visit to Zelinsky to the White House. "
“If I had known Giuliani’s relations that were now being held accountable, I would not have relied on him to work with us,” Sundeland said.
The US ambassador also said aid should have been delivered to Ukraine without any pressure.
He was a businessman who financed the Trump campaign in 2016, appointing him the last after winning the presidency as ambassador to the European Union.
During his first briefing in a closed-door session a month ago, Sundeland said under oath that he was “not involved” in actions to “freeze aid to put pressure on Kyiv,” arguing that such a move would have seemed “unfavorable” if its goal was “to influence US elections.”.
During that session, he repeated the words “I do not remember” in response to questions from deputies, but later wrote a written note stating: “I remember now that I had one-on-one conversations with Andrei Yermak (adviser close to the Ukrainian president) to tell him that American assistance would probably not arrive until it was given.” Ukraine is a declaration against corruption, which we have been talking about for weeks. "
On Tuesday, the House Intelligence Committee listened to the vice president’s adviser on European and Russian affairs, Jennifer Williams, who said Trump’s July 25 call with his Ukrainian counterpart was unusual and involved domestic political matters.
Army Colonel Alexander Findman said during his testimony that he listened to the call and that he informed White House lawyer John Eisenberg of his concern over Trump’s request to Ukraine to investigate Democratic candidate Joe Biden, saying that “inappropriate” behavior would undermine US national security and support strategic goals. To Russia in Eastern Europe.
Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies