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One witness requested by Republicans, Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine, said that Trump’s request of an investigation of Joe Biden made him realize that he failed to equate discussions of the gas company Burisma with Biden.
Testimony on Tuesday provided evidence of Trump’s direct role in the plot. Volker and a fellow witness, the National Security Council official Tim Morrison, both testified that Sondland was in regular communication with Trump. Three witnesses confirmed that they had heard the president personally request, in his July call with Zelenskiy, an investigation of Joe Biden and coordination with Giuliani.
“At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden,” Volker’s statement reads. “ I was not made aware of any reference to Vice President Biden or his son by President Trump, until the transcript of that call was released on September 25, 2019.
“Throughout this time, I understood that there was an important distinction between ‘Burisma’ and ‘Biden’, and urged the Ukrainians to maintain such a distinction. I did not know that President Trump or others had raised Vice President Biden with the Ukrainians, or had conflated the investigation of possible Ukrainian corruption, with investigation of the former Vice President. In retrospect, for the Ukrainians, it clearly would have been confusing.
“In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving the Ukrainian company, ‘Burisma,’ as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden.”
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
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