security dialogue.”517 Mr. Eisenberg said that he would look into it and invited Lt. Col. Vindman to return if any further concerns arose. No one from the of the White House Counsel’s Office, however, followed up with Lt. Col. Vindman on this issue.518
Dr. Hill and Lt. Col. Vindman discussed their reactions and alarm about the July 10 discussions with each other. They both believed that Ambassador Sondland’s statements were inappropriate and “had nothing to do with national security,” and that they would not get involved with the scheme.519 On July 19, they also shared their concerns about Ambassador Sondland’s comments during the July 10 meetings with Ambassador Taylor.520
Ambassador Sondland Coached President Zelensky on Investigations and Kept Senior White House and State Department Officials “In the Loop”
In mid-July, Dr. Hill was preparing to depart the NSC and transitioning her role to Timothy Morrison, who had been serving in another role at the NSC.521 On July 13, Ambassador Sondland emailed Mr. Morrison, explaining that the “[s]ole purpose” of a presidential call was for President Zelensky to assure President Trump that, “Corruption ending, unbundling moving forward and any hampered investigations will be allowed to move forward transparently.” In exchange, Ambassador Sondland wrote, the “Goal is for Potus to invite him to Oval. Volker, Perry, Bolton and I strongly recommend.”522 Later that evening, Mr. Morrison responded, “Thank you. Tracking.”523
On July 19, a little over a week after the July 10 meetings at the White House, Ambassador Sondland spoke directly to President Zelensky about the upcoming call between the two presidents: “It was a short call. I think I said: It looks like your call is finally on, and I think it’s important that you, you know, give President Trump—he wanted this—some kind of a statement about corruption.”524
Following his call with President Zelensky, Ambassador Sondland emailed several senior Trump Administration officials, including Mr. Mulvaney, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Secretary Perry, and their staffs. The subject line of the July 19 email read: “I Talked to Zelensky just now.” Ambassador Sondland wrote:
- He is prepared to receive Potus’ call. Will assure him that he intends to run a fully transparent investigation and will “turn over every stone”. He would greatly appreciate a call prior to Sunday so that he can put out some media about a “friendly and productive call” (no details) prior to Ukraine election on Sunday.525
Secretary Perry responded that Mr. Mulvaney had confirmed a call would be set up “for tomorrow by NSC,”526 and Mr. Mulvaney also responded to confirm that he had asked the NSC to set up the call between the presidents for the following day, July 20.527
Ambassador Sondland explained that this email chain showed that “[e]veryone was in the loop” regarding his discussions with Ukrainian officials about the need for the Ukrainian leader to confirm to President Trump that he would announce the investigations. As Ambassador Sondland further testified:
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