Swath of Damning Text Messages Released in Impeachment Inquiry

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Swath of Damning Text Messages Released in Impeachment Inquiry

A swath of damning text messages between State Department officials have been released related to the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.

Read the text messages here.

The Daily Beast reports: ‘By September, that effort so alarmed the recently appointed chargé d’affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Bill Taylor, that he called it “crazy” and spiraling toward a “nightmare scenario.” Another Trump appointee, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, insisted Taylor was “incorrect” about Trump dangling a “quid pro quo” before Zelensky—the same quid pro quo that Sondland and his colleagues, from Trump on down, had spent months orchestrating.’

CNN adds: “On the morning of the call, in an exchange with a key adviser to the Ukrainian President, then-US Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker made clear that it was important to the White House that Zelensky convince Trump that an investigation into the 2016 election would happen. … Volker provided Congress with the text messages ahead of his closed-door congressional testimony on Thursday before three committees leading the House’s impeachment inquiry into Trump and Ukraine. … That Trump wanted an investigation was a message that seemed to register with the Ukrainian administration. Volker and the Ukrainian adviser, Andrey Yermak, continued to text after the call about Zelensky making a public statement ahead of a meeting between the two leaders.”

THE TERMS OF THE DEAL, as understood by both sides:

ZELENSKY would publicly commit to investigating a BIDEN-linked company & claims about Ukrainian meddling to help @HillaryClinton in 2016.

— & in exchange —

TRUMP would give ZELENSKY the @WhiteHouse visit he coveted. pic.twitter.com/uJ2JHuD5Rh

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) October 4, 2019

2. Here Volker clearly establishes that the upcoming phone call between Trump and Zelensky is meant to include the latter’s promise to chase up the conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in 2016. Precondition for Z/Trump WH meeting. pic.twitter.com/PMl9AAr0wM

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) October 4, 2019

4. Bill Taylor, US charge d’affairs in Kyiv, asks explicitly if US military aid is contingent on Ukrainian investigations into Burisma/2016 election interference. US ambo to EU tells him to “call me.” pic.twitter.com/CoiH34cXdN

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) October 4, 2019

These text messages are DEVESTATING. In a functional Democracy the vote to impeach would be unanimous. t.co/KVd3eeRog3

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 4, 2019

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