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The Impeachment Trial of President Trump; Nadler Details Alleged "Smear Campaign" Against Former Ukraine Ambassador on Behalf of Trump. Aired 4-4:30p ET
Aired January 22, 2020 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00] NADLER: -- Giuliani first needed Ambassador Yovanovitch out of the way.
And so, in early 2019, Mr. Giuliani launched a public smear campaign against the ambassador, an effort that involved Mr. Giuliani's allies in Ukraine, the president's allies in the United States, and eventually President Trump himself.
Please remember that the object of the president's Ukraine scheme was to obtain a corrupt advantage for his reelection campaign. As we will show, the president went to extraordinary lengths to cheat in the next election. That schemes begin with the attempt to get Ambassador Yovanovitch, quote, "out of the way," unquote.
By all accounts, Ambassador Yovanovitch was a highly-respected and defective ambassador. Witnesses uniformly praised her 33-year career as a nonpartisan public servant and told us that she particularly excelled in fighting corruption abroad.
President George Bush named her as an ambassador twice and President Obama nominated her as Ambassador to Ukraine where she represented the United States from 2016 to 2019. Eradicating corruption in Ukraine has been a key policy priority of the U.S. government for years. During the House inquiry, the ambassador explained why implementing this anti-corruption policy was so important.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOVANOVITCH: As critical as the war against Russia is, Ukraine's struggling democracy has an equally important challenge -- battling the Soviet legacy of corruption which has pervaded Ukraine's government. Corruption makes Ukraine's leaders ever vulnerable to Russia, and the Ukrainian people understand that. That's why the launched the revolution of dignity in 2014 demanding to be a part of Europe, demanding the transformation of the system, demanding to live under the rule of law.
Ukrainians wanted the law to apply equally to all people whether the individual in questions was the president or any other citizen. It was a question of fairness, of dignity. Here again, there is a coincidence of interests. Corrupt leaders are inherently less trustworthy while an honest and accountable Ukrainian leadership makes a U.S.-Ukrainian partnership more reliable and more valuable to the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NADLER: On the evening of April 24, 2019, Ambassador Yovanovitch was hosting an event at the U.S. embassy honoring the memory of an anticorruption fighter who had been killed when acid was thrown in her face the previous year. At about 10 that night, the embassy event was interrupted by a telephone call from Washington. Ambassador Yovanovitch described this conversation with the Head of the State Department's Human Resources Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOVANOVITCH: She said that there was great concern on the seventh floor of the State Department. That's where the leadership of the State Department sits. There was great concern. They were worried. She just wanted to give me a heads up about this, and things seemed to be going on. And so, she just wanted to give me a heads up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NADLER: Confused, the ambassador asked for more information from Washington. Three hours later, they spoke again. Ambassador Yovanovitch learned that there were concerns about her quote "up the street." That is, at the White House. The Ambassador was told to -- to get on the first plane home.
Why was this respected career diplomat abruptly removed from her post? Why was she in fact urged by the State Department to catch the first plane home, that she was in danger, she shouldn't wait? At the time, the White House would not say, but today we know the truth.
The truth was that Ambassador Yovanovitch was the victim of a smear campaign organized by Rudy Giuliani, amplified by President Trump's allies and designed to give President Trump the pretext he needed to recall her without warning.
Mr. Giuliani has admitted as much to the press. In order to understand Mr. Giuliani's smear campaign against Ambassador Yovanovitch, you need to know about a few additional characters who Mr. Giuliani drew into his scheme.
[16:05:00]
The first of these characters is Viktor Shokin, the disgraced former prosecutor general of Ukraine, who was fired by the Ukrainian government for gross corruption. In 2016, at the urging of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the United States government, the Parliament of Ukraine voted to remove Mr. Shokin as prosecutor general because he was corrupt and refused to prosecute corruption cases. At the urging of the United States, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund -- all urged the Ukrainian government to dismiss Mr. Shokin.
The second character is Yuriy Lutsenko, who succeeded Mr. Shokin as prosecutor general. Mr. Lutsenko also proved reluctant to prosecute corruption cases and several witnesses testified that he also had a reputation for dishonesty and corruption. Ambassador Yovanovitch and Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent both testified that the U.S. embassy in Kiev eventually stopped working with Mr. Lutsenko altogether. Shokin, Lutsenko and Giuliani -- the goals of all three characters were aligned.
Shokin had it out for Vice President Biden because of the role the Vice President played in his 2016 firing. The Vice President, carrying out U.S. policy, urged the Ukrainian government to dismiss the corrupt Shokin.
I note that the Vice President -- the former Vice President has been -- has been criticized for -- for urging that he be fired. Lutsenko found his career trajectory fading and wanted President Trump's support to boost his political prospects in Ukraine. Giuliani needed partners in Ukraine willing to announce two sham investigations meant to boost President Trump's own campaign. All three wanted Ambassador Yovanovitch out of the way.
And so in early 2019, the smear campaign began. Mr. Lutsenko became the primary vector for false allegations against Ambassador Yovanovitch. Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent testified that Lutsenko's allegations against Ambassador Yovanovitch were motivated by revenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENT: Over the course of 2018 and 2019, I became increasingly aware of an effort by Rudy Giuliani and others, including his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, to run a campaign smear Ambassador Yovanovitch and other officials at the U.S. embassy in Kiev.
The chief agitators on the Ukrainian side of this effort were some of those same corrupt former prosecutors I had encountered, particularly Yuriy Lutsenko and Viktor Shokin. They were now peddling false information in order to extract revenge against those who had exposed their misconduct, including U.S. diplomats, Ukrainian anti-corruption officials and reform-minded civil society groups in Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NADLER: As Mr. Kent indicated, the smear campaign against Ambassador Yovanovitch was orchestrated by a core group of corrupt Ukrainian officials working at Mr. Giuliani's direction. This group included two additional characters who have been in the news of late, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman were of course indicted last year on several charges, including charges related to large donations they made to support President Trump. Simply put, in doing her job well, Ambassador Yovanovitch drew Mr. Lutsenko's ire, and as Mr. Kent observed, you can't promote principle anti-corruption efforts without pissing off corrupt people.
As it turned out, this statement applied to Yuriy Lutsenko and to Rudy Giuliani, who feared that the Ambassador would stand in the way of his corrupt efforts to coerce Ukraine into conducting investigations that would benefit the political interests of his client, President Trump.
Giuliani's coordinated smear campaign against Ambassador Yovanovitch became public in the United States in late March 2019, with the publication of a series of opinion pieces in The Hill based on interviews with Lutsenko.
On March 20th, 2019, in one piece in The Hill, Lutsenko falsely alleged that Ambassador Yovanovitch had given him a so-called "do not prosecute list." Not only was the allegation false but after having helped originate the claim, Lutsenko himself would later go on to retract it.
The same piece also falsely stated that Ambassador Yovanovitch had quote "made disparaging statements about President Trump," unquote. The statement issued by the State Department declared the allegations to be a total fabrication.
[16:10:00]
President Trump promoted Solomon's article in a tweet, which intensified the public attacks against Ambassador Yovanovitch. Then on March 24th, Donald Trump Jr. called Ambassador Yovanovitch a joker on Twitter and called for her -- called for her removal. You can see the slides of the two tweets.
These unfounded smears by the President and his son reverberated in Ukraine. Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent testified that starting in mid-March, Rudy Giuliani was almost unmissable in this quote "campaign of slander," closed quote.
And according to Mr. Kent, Mr. Lutsenko's press spokeswoman retweeted Donald Trump Jr.'s tweet attacking the Ambassador, further undermining her standing in Ukraine -- her standing, the United States Ambassador's standing.
Mr. Giuliani was not content to stay behind the scenes, either. He promoted the same attacks on the Ambassador on Twitter, Fox News and elsewhere. At the end of March, the attacks intensified. Ambassador Yovanovitch sent Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale an e-mail detailing her concerns and asking for a strong statement of support from the State Department.
In replying, the State Department told her that they we unwilling to help her, their own ambassador. Because if they issued a public statement supporting her, "it could be undermined" by the president and they're concerned that "the rug would be pulled out from underneath the State Department" -- the State Department cannot express support for an American ambassador threatened abroad because they are concerned that if they express support for that American ambassador the rug will be pulled out from under them by the President.
What it must have taken to convince our State Department to refuse support to its ambassador. Phone records show that Giuliani also kept the White House apprised of these developments, as you can see from these slides. Again, it is worth remembering that smearing Ambassador Yovanovitch was a means to an end. Removing her would allow the President's allies the freedom to pressure Ukraine to announce their sham investigations. So we should talk for a few minutes about the investigations that Rudy Giuliani and his henchman were promoting on behalf of the President.
Let's focus first on the allegation that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in our last presidential election. In February 2017 shortly after the intelligence community, the CIA, the FBI, all the intelligence agencies of the United States unanimously assessed that Russia interfered in the Election to help Donald Trump. This alternative theory gained some attention when Russian President Putin promoted it in a press conference. Second, he said, I'm quoting from him, it's in the Russian on these slides I think -- second as we all know, during the presidential campaign in United States, the Ukrainian government adopted a unilateral position in favor of one candidate.
Within that, certain oligarchs certainly with the approval of the political leadership funded this candidate, or female candidate, to be more precise. That's President Putin talking, shifting the blame to Ukraine. Dr. Fiona Hill best explained how the Ukraine narrative is a fictional narrative being propagated by the Russian Security Services.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Based on question and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and it's security services did not conduct a campaign against our country, and that perhaps somehow for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated but the Russian Security Services themselves. The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our Democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our own intelligence agencies confirmed in bipartisan congressional reports.
[16:15:00]
It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified. The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today, our nation is being torn apart, truth is questioned, our highly profession career foreign service is being undermined. U.S. Support for Ukraine, which continues to face armed aggression aggressions [ph], is being politicized. The Russian government's goal is to weaken our country, to diminish America's global role and to neutralize a perceived U.S. threat to Russian interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NADLER: President Trump knew this too. His former Homeland Security Advisor, Tom Bossert, said that the idea that Ukraine hacked the DNC server was quote; not only a conspiracy theory, it is completely debunked. Close quote.
And he and other U.S. officials spent hours with the president explaining why. The second false allegation that the president wanted the Ukrainians to announce was that Vice President Biden used his power to protect the company on whose board his son sat by forcing the removal of Viktor Shokin, the corrupt former prosecutor general.
It is true that Vice President Biden helped remove Mr. Shokin who is widely believed to be corrupt. And as I said a few minutes ago, it was official policy of the United States, the European community, and others; in order to fight corruption in Ukraine to ask that Shokin and Lutsenko be removed.
So the vice president, Vice President Biden in fulfilling U.S. policy, pressured Ukraine to remove Shokin. Not to secure some person benefit but to advance the official policy of the United States and its allies.
Even Mr. Lutsenko when initially seated (ph) the allegations against Mr. Biden in American media, later admitted that the allegations against the vice president were false. And Rudy -- and Rudy Giuliani told Kurt Volker, the special representative for Ukrainian negotiations, who had a prominent role in the scheme that he also knew the attacks on Joe Biden were a lie.
With Ambassador Yovanovitch, the first chapter of the Ukraine scheme was complete. Mr. Giuliani and his agents could now apply direct pressure to the Ukrainian government to spread these two false hoods.
And who benefited from this scheme. Who sent Mr. Giuliani to Ukraine in the first place. Of course we could rephrase that question as the former Republican leader of the Senate, Howard Baker, asked it in 1973. What did the president know and when did he know it.
GARCIA: Mr. Chief Justice, Senators, President's Counsel; President Trump and President Zelensky's relationship started out well. President Trump wanted the two investigations from Zelensky and he had no reason to believe that he would not get what he wanted.
On April 21, 2019; Zelensky who was new to politics, won a land slide victory in Ukraine's presidential election. That evening, President Trump called Zelensky to congratulate him.
On that first call -- the first call, Zelensky invited President Trump to visit Ukraine for the upcoming inauguration. President Trump, in turn, promised that his administration would send someone at a very, very high level.
During that same April call, President Trump invited Zelensky to the White House saying; when you're settled in and ready, I'd like to invite you to the White House. We have a lot of things to talk about but we're with you all the way.
Zelensky immediately accepted the president's invitation, adding that the whole team and I are looking forward to that visit. Numerous witnesses testified about the significance of a White House meeting for the political new comer.
A White House meeting would show Ukrainians that America supported Zelensky's anti-corruption platform. The clear backing of the president of the United States, Ukraine's most important patron, would also send a powerful message to Russia that we had Ukraine's back. [16:20:00]
During that April 24th call, President Trump never even uttered the word corruption. But the White House call recap falsely stated that the two presidents had discussed Ukraine's anti-corruption efforts.
Shortly after the phone call, Jennifer Williams, advisor to Vice President Pence, learned that President Trump asked Vice President Pence to attend Zelensky's inauguration. Williams had heard colleagues began planning for Pence's trip to Kiev.
At the same time, Giuliani was trying to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens in the alleged 2016 election interference. On April 24, Giuliani went on Fox and Friends and had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: Keep your eye on Ukraine because in Ukraine, a lot of the dirty work was done in digging up the information. American officials we used, Ukrainian officials we used that's like collusion with the Ukrainians and -- or actually in this case conspiracy with the Ukrainians.
I think it gets some interesting information about Joe Biden from Ukraine about his son, Hunter Biden, about a company he was on the board of for years, which may be one of the most crooked companies in Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GARCIA: For this campaign to be truly beneficial to his boss, President Trump, Giuliani needed access to the new government in Ukraine. He dispatches associates; Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, to try to make inroads with the Zelensky team.
On April 25, former Vice President Biden publicly announced his bid for the presidency and immediately he was at the top of the polls. That same day, David Holmes, an American diplomat at our embassy in Ukraine, learned that Giuliani had reached out to the head of President Zelensky's campaign.
As Mr. Holmes explained, the new Ukrainian government began to think that Giuliani was a significant person in terms of managing their relationship with the United States. As Giuliani and his associates worked behind the scenes to get access to the new leadership in Ukraine, President Trump was publicly signaling his interest in the investigations.
On May 2nd, the president appeared on Fox News. When asked should the former vice president explain himself on his feeling in Ukraine and whether there was a conflict with his son's business interest. President Trump replied as follows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I -- I'm hearing it's a major scandal, major problem. Very bad things happened and we'll see what that is. They even have him on tape talking about it. They have Joe Biden on tape talking about the prosecutor and I've seen that tape. A lot of people are talking about that tape. But that's up for them (ph). They have to solve that problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GARCIA: The tape President Trump referenced is a video from January 2018 in which Vice President Biden explained he placed an ultimatum to the Ukrainian President to remove the corrupt prosecutor general to ensure that the taxpayer money would be used appropriately. The Vice President's actions were consistent with official U.S. policy, as well as the opinions of the international community.
On May 9, the New York Times published an article about Giuliani's plan to visit Ukraine. In the article, Giuliani confirmed that he planned to meet Zelensky. At that meeting, he wanted to press the Ukrainian government to pursue the investigations, investigations that President Trump promoted only days earlier.
Giuliani said we're not meddling in an election, we're meddling in an investigation which we have a right to do. Giuliani even went so far as to acknowledge that his actions could benefit President Trump personally. He said, and I quote, "This isn't foreign policy. I'm asking them to do an investigation they're doing already and that other people are telling them to stop. And I'm going to give them reasons why they shouldn't stop it because that information would be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government."
[16:25:00]
That's it. Right there. Giuliani admitting he was asking Ukraine to work on investigations that would be "very, very helpful" to the president. He was not doing foreign policy. He was not doing this on behalf of the government. He was doing this for personal interests of his client, Donald J. Trump.
The next morning, on May 10, amid coverage of his planned trip to Ukraine, Giuliani tweeted further (ph) about Biden, then had a flurry of calls with Parnas, who was helping in planning his trip to Ukraine. That same day, Giuliani also spoke with Ambassador Volker on the phone for more than 30 minutes. Ambassador Volker had learned that Giuliani intended to travel to Ukraine and had called to warn Giuliani that Prosecutor General Lutsenko is not credible. Don't listen to what he is saying.
Later that day, Giuliani had a 17-minute call with a masked (ph) White House number before speaking again with Parnas for 12 minutes. That same day, on May 10, Politico asked President Trump about Giuliani's upcoming trip and he replied, I have not spoken to him at any great length but I will. I will speak to him before he leaves.
But that evening on Fox News, Giuliani announced, I'm not going to Ukraine because I think I'm walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president. Separately, in a text message to Politico, Giuliani alleged that the original offer for a meeting with Zelensky was a setup. He said it was a setup orchestrated by several vocal critics of President Trump who were advising Zelensky. Giuliani declared, "Zelensky is in the hands of (inaudible) enemies of President Trump", but Giuliani had not stopped trying.
He had Parnas in a letter from him to Zelensky senior aid on May 11 asking for a meeting. That later made it clear that Giuliani was representing President Trump as a private citizen and that he was working with President Trump's knowledge and consent. The letter is on the slide and reads, "In my capacity as personal counsel to President Trump and with his knowledge and consent I request a meeting with you on this upcoming Monday, May 13 or Tuesday, May 14th.
I will need no more than have an hour of your time and I will be accompanied by my colleague Victoria Toensing, a distinguished American attorney who is very familiar with this matter but it did not appear that Giuliani and Parnas attempts to get the meeting we're (ph) working.
That same day Giuliani sent a text to Parnas asking, this guy is canceling the meeting I think. Approximately three hours later, Giuliani sent Parnas drafts of a public statement that people advising the President elect are no friends of the President. Three days later President Trump instructed Vice President Pence not to attend the inauguration in Ukraine, just three days later.
Vice President (inaudible) staffer Jennifer Williams received a surprising call from Pence's (ph) Chief of Staff. She described it during her public testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: On May 13th, an assistant to the Vice President's Chief of Staff called and informed me that President Trump had decided that the Vice President would not attend the inauguration in Ukraine. She did not provide any further explanation. I relayed that instruction to others involved in planning the potential trip.
[16:30:00]
