On July 20, Ambassador Taylor spoke with Mr. Danyliuk, the Ukrainian national security advisor, who conveyed that President Zelensky “did not want to be used as a pawn in a U.S. reelection campaign.” 545 Ambassador Taylor discussed President Zelensky’s concern with Ambassador Volker and, the next day, texted Ambassador Sondland:
Ambassador Taylor explained that his reference to “Washington domestic reelection politics” was “a reference to the investigations that Mr. Giuliani wanted to pursue.”547 According to Ambassador Taylor, President Zelensky understood what President Trump and Mr. Giuliani meant by “investigations,” and “he did not want to get involved.” Specifically, the Ukrainians understood that the “investigations were pursuant to Mr. Giuliani’s request to develop information, to find information about Burisma and the Bidens. This was very well known in public. Mr. Giuliani had made this point clear in several instances in the beginning—in the springtime.”548 Ambassador Taylor also testified that the “whole thrust” of the activities undertaken by Mr. Giuliani and Ambassador Sondland “was to get these investigations, which Danyliuk and presumably Zelensky were resisting because they didn’t want to be seen to be interfering but also to be a pawn.”549
Despite the Ukrainian resistance, Ambassador Sondland said he believed that the public announcement of investigations would “fix” an impasse between the Ukrainian government and President Trump. When asked what he meant by “irrespective of the pretext” in his July 21 text message to Ambassador Taylor, Ambassador Sondland explained, “Well, the pretext being the agreed-upon interview or the agreed-upon press statement. We just need to get by it so that the two can meet, because, again, it was back to once they meet, all of this will be fixed.”550
Witnesses Confirmed the President Conditioned an Oval Office Meeting on Investigations
Multiple witnesses testified that the conditioning of an Oval Office meeting on President Zelensky’s announcement of investigations to benefit the President’s reelection campaign came from the very top: President Trump.
Ambassador Sondland testified that he, Secretary Perry, and Ambassador Volker worked with Mr. Giuliani “at the express direction of the President of the United States.”551 Ambassador Sondland stated that “Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew these investigations were important to the President.”552 Ambassador Sondland explained that he “followed the directions of the President” and that “we followed the President’s orders.”553
94
