David Holmes, a top staffer at the US Embassy in Ukraine, told lawmakers during Thursday’s public impeachment hearing that longstanding US policy toward Ukraine abruptly changed when President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani arrived on the scene.
Prior to that, he said, US policy — spearheaded by former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch — encouraged the country to fight corruption, clean up its courts and thwart Russian aggression.
“In March 2019, the situation at the embassy and in Ukraine changed dramatically. Specifically, the three priorities of security, economy and justice and our support for Ukrainian democratic resistance to Russian aggression became overshadowed by a political agenda promoted by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a cadre of officials operating with a discreet channel to the White House. That change began with the emergence of press reports critical of Yovanovitch,” he said.
Former prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko and Giuliani led the smear campaign, which led to Trump recalling the veteran ambassador in May, according to Holmes and previous testimony.
“In mid-March 2019, an embassy colleague learned that Mr. Lutsenko had complained that Ambassador Yovanovitch had, quote, ‘destroyed him’ with her refusal to support him until he followed through with his reform commitments and ceased using his position for personal gain,” Holmes said.
“In retaliation, Mr. Lutsenko made a series of allegations, mostly suggesting that Ambassador Yovanovitch improperly used the embassy to advance the political interests of the Democratic Party.”
Yovanovitch, Lutsenko claimed in an allegation that she and others denied, had also given him a do-not-prosecute list.
“Following Mr. Lutsenko’s allegations, Mr. Giuliani and others made a series of public statements calling for Yovanovitch’s removal from office. Mr. Giuliani also issued a series of tweets asking, quote, ‘Why Biden shouldn’t be investigated,’ attacking, quote, ‘the new president of Ukraine Zelensky for being silent on the 2016 election and Biden investigations,’” he said.
The president asked Zelensky for the probes during his July 25 phone call, which sparked the impeachment proceedings.
Zelensky, he said, was eager for a White House meeting with the president.
But Zelensky’s chief of staff told Holmes and other US officials after the July 25 call that Trump had discussed “sensitive matters.”
“President Zelensky stated [during a meeting with the aide] that during the July 25 call, President Trump had, quote, ‘three times raised some very sensitive issues and that he would have to follow up’ — he, Zelensky, would have to follow up on those issues when he and President Trump met in person. Not having received a readout of the July 25th call, I did not know at the time what those sensitive issues were,” he continued.
Holmes then said he overheard a July 26 phone call from EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland to the commander-in-chief placed on an unsecure cellphone from an outdoor cafe in Kiev.
Trump, he testified, asked Sondland about “the investigation,” and the ambassador replied that Zelensky “loves your ass” and would launch the probes.
Holmes then said that Sondland said the president wasn’t interested in Ukraine.
“I then asked about the president’s views on Ukraine. In particular, I asked Ambassador Sondland if it was true that the president did not give an expletive about Ukraine,” he said.
“Ambassador Sondland agreed that the president did not give an expletive about Ukraine. I asked why not? Ambassador Sondland stated that the president only cares about big stuff,” he continued.
“I noted there was big stuff going on in Ukraine, like a war with Russia, and Ambassador Sondland replied that he meant big stuff that benefits the president, like the Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing.”
At stake was $391 million in military assistance for Ukraine. On July 25, Trump asked Zelensky to launch the probes in Ukraine during a phone call which he described as “perfect.”
Trump released the aid package on Sept. 11, two days after Congress announced it was investigating why the aid had been held up.