White House visit” or “do as President Trump had directed and ‘talk with Rudy’” because “it was the only constructive path open to us.”481
Ambassador Volker discussed his intention to contact Mr. Giuliani with Mr. Kent. Ambassador Volker explained that he intended to reach out to Mr. Giuliani because it was clear that the former mayor “had influence” with President Trump “in terms of the way the President thought of Ukraine.”482 Ukrainian officials also understood the importance of working through Mr. Giuliani, something that was underscored by his successful effort to smear and remove Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from Kyiv in late April.483
In response to Ambassador Volker’s stated intention to reach out to Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Kent raised concerns about Mr. Giuliani’s “track record,” including “asking for a visa for a corrupt former prosecutor,” attacking Ambassador Yovanovitch, and “tweeting that the new President needs to investigate Biden and the 2016 campaign.” Mr. Kent also warned Ambassador Volker that “asking another country to investigate a prosecution for political reasons undermines our advocacy of the rule of law.”484
On July 10, Ambassador Taylor met with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv, before their Ukrainian colleagues were scheduled to meet with National Security Advisor John Bolton at the White House later that day. At the meeting in Kyiv, the Ukrainian officials expressed that they were “very concerned” because they had heard from former Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, who had learned from Mr. Giuliani, that President Trump had decided not to meet with President Zelensky.485
Ambassador Taylor texted Ambassador Volker to explain the situation and advised that he had also informed T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, Counselor of the Department of State:
Despite his text message to Ambassador Taylor that official U.S. government representatives should be allowed to “speak for the U.S.,” and notwithstanding Mr. Kent’s warnings about engaging with Mr. Giuliani, Ambassador Volker almost immediately reached out to Mr. Giuliani. Four minutes after sending the text message above, Ambassador Volker texted Mr. Giuliani to request a meeting to “update you on my conversations about Ukraine.” He told Mr. Giuliani that he believed he had “an opportunity to get you what you need.”487
One hour later, around 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, Ambassador Volker met Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak for coffee at the Trump Hotel before they traveled down Pennsylvania Avenue to their afternoon meetings at the White House.488 Over coffee, Mr. Yermak asked Ambassador Volker to connect him to Mr. Giuliani, thus further demonstrating the Ukrainians’ understanding that satisfying Mr. Giuliani’s demands was a key to getting what they wanted from President Trump, namely the Oval Office meeting.489
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