WTF Just Happened Today

Friday, October 4, 2019

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1/ Text messages reveal how two U.S. ambassadors coordinated with Rudy Giuliani and a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to leverage a potential White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky into persuading Kiev to publicly commit to investigating Joe Biden. The House Intelligence Committee released the documents and text messages provided by Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine, which show Volker and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland repeatedly stressing that a White House meeting depended on getting the Ukrainians to agree to the exact language that Zelensky would use in announcing an investigation. In August, Volker proposed to Sondland that they have Zelensky cite "alleged involvement of some Ukrainian politicians" in interference in U.S. elections when announcing an investigation. Democrats say the texts are clear evidence that Trump conditioned normal bilateral relations with Ukraine on that country first agreeing "to launch politically motivated investigations." (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Reuters / USA Today)

• Volker told congressional investigators that Giuliani demanded Ukraine specifically commit to investigate involvement in the 2016 election and the firm tied to Joe Biden's son. Volker said Giuliani rejected a draft statement by Ukraine in which the country committed to fighting corruption generally. Instead, Giuliani said the Ukraine statement "should include specific reference to 'Burisma' and '2016.'" (New York Times)

• Volker: Trump told him he was "skeptical" of Ukraine's leadership because the country "tried to take me down," a reference to the unproven allegations that Ukraine was involved in the 2016 election meddling. In Volker's statement, which he delivered during closed-door testimony, he said that Trump believed "Ukraine was a corrupt country, full of 'terrible people.'" Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine, also told Congress "at no time" did he take part in an effort to investigate Biden. (CNN / BuzzFeed News)

• Trump said the Democrats "unfortunately have the votes" to impeach him in the House, but predicted the he would "win" in a trial in the Republican-led Senate. Trump, however, insisted he had said nothing inappropriate during the July call in which he pressed Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden. (Washington Post)

• READ the text messages between U.S. diplomats and Ukrainians released by House Democrats. (