Ukraine was ‘already worried about pressure from Trump to investigate Biden BEFORE phone call’

More than two months before the phone call that launched the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s newly elected leader was already worried about pressure from the U.S. president to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden, the Associated Press reports. 

Volodymyr Zelensky gathered a small group of advisers on May 7 in Kiev for a meeting that was supposed to be about his nation’s energy needs. Instead, the group spent most of the three-hour discussion talking about how to navigate the insistence from Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for a probe and how to avoid becoming entangled in the American elections, according to three people familiar with the details of the meeting.

They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue, which has roiled U.S.-Ukrainian relations.

The meeting came before Zelensky was inaugurated but about two weeks after Trump called to offer his congratulations on the night of the Ukrainian leader’s April 21 election.

The full details of what the two leaders discussed in that April 21 phone call have never been publicly disclosed, and it is not clear whether Trump explicitly asked for an investigation of the Bidens.

Trump was interested in having  Zelensky’s government investigative Bursima, a Ukraine company with Hunter Biden on its board, as well as unproven allegations on the 2016 election 

Zelensky gathered a small group of advisers on May 7 in Kiev where  Trump's insistence of a probe came up in the discussion

Ukrainian President  Volodymyr Zelensky was already worried about pressure from the U.S. President Donald Trump to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden months before their infamous July 25 phone call,  Associated Press reports

Trump was interested in having Zelensky's government investigative Bursima, a Ukraine company with Hunter Biden on its board, as well as unproven allegations on the 2016 election. Hunter Biden is pictured with his father Joe in 2016

Trump was interested in having Zelensky’s government investigative Bursima, a Ukraine company with Hunter Biden on its board, as well as unproven allegations on the 2016 election. Hunter Biden is pictured with his father Joe in 2016

The three people’s recollections differ on whether Zelensky specifically cited that first call with Trump as the source of his unease. But their accounts all show the Ukrainian president-elect was wary of Trump’s push for an investigation into the former vice president and his son Hunter’s business dealings. 

A former comedian who won office on promises to clean up corruption, Zelensky’s first major foreign policy test came not from his enemy Russia, but rather from the country’s most important ally, the United States.

The May 7 meeting included two of his top aides, Andriy Yermak and Andriy Bogdan, the people said. Also in the room was Andriy Kobolyev, head of the state-owned natural gas company Naftogaz, and Amos Hochstein, an American who sits on the Ukrainian company’s supervisory board. Hochstein is a former diplomat who advised Biden on Ukraine matters during the Obama administration.

Zelensky’s office in Kiev did not respond to messages on Wednesday seeking comment. 

The White House would not comment on whether Trump demanded an investigation in the April 21 call.

The White House has offered only a basic public readout on the April call, saying Trump urged Zelensky and the Ukrainian people to implement reforms, increase prosperity and ‘root out corruption.’ 

Trump has said he would release a transcript of the first call, but the White House had no comment Wednesday on when, or if, that might happen.

After news broke that a White House whistleblower had filed a complaint about his July 25 call with Zelensky, Trump said the conversation was ‘perfect’ and that he had asked his Ukrainian counterpart to do ‘whatever he can in terms of corruption because the corruption is massive.’

The White House would not comment on whether Trump demanded an investigation in his  April 21 call with Zelensky

The White House would not comment on whether Trump demanded an investigation in his  April 21 call with Zelensky 

During the call, Trump asked Zelensky for ‘a favor,’ requesting an investigation into a conspiracy theory related to a Democratic computer server hacked during the 2016 election campaign.

Trump also pushed Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son. Trump then advised Zelensky that Giuliani and Attorney General Bill Barr would be contacting him about the request, according to a summary of the called released by the White House.

Within days, Giuliani flew to Madrid to meet privately with Yermak, Zelenskiy’s aide who was in the May 7 meeting.

Trump has denied that an investigation of Biden was a condition for releasing military aid as a quid pro quo. But on Tuesday, the senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine at the time, Ambassador William Taylor, starkly contradicted the president, saying that Trump had demanded that everything Zelensky wanted, including the aid and a White House meeting, was conditional on a public vow that he would open an investigation.

Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in the Ukraine, testified behind closed doors for more than nine hours Tuesday in the impeachment inquiry

Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in the Ukraine, testified behind closed doors for more than nine hours Tuesday in the impeachment inquiry

Taylor also detailed multiple previously undisclosed diplomatic interactions between Trump’s envoys and senior Ukrainian officials in which the president’s demand to investigate the Bidens in exchange for American aid was clear.

The continued flow of high-tech U.S. weaponry is seen as essential to the survival of the Ukrainian government, which has been mired in a long-running civil war with Russian-aligned separatists in the east of the country. In 2014, masked Russian troops took control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Russia later annexed it, provoking Western sanctions against Moscow.

In a joint September 25 news conference with Trump at the United Nations in New York, Zelensky denied he felt pressured to investigate the Bidens.

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be involved, to democratic, open elections of U.S.A.,’ the Ukrainian leader said. ‘We had, I think, good phone call. It was normal. We spoke about many things, and I think, and you read it, that nobody push it. Push me.’

Trump then chimed in: ‘In other words, no pressure.’

In a joint September 25 news conference with Trump at the United Nations in New York, Zelensky denied he felt pressured to investigate the Bidens

In a joint September 25 news conference with Trump at the United Nations in New York, Zelensky denied he felt pressured to investigate the Bidens

However, a New York Times report published Wednesday, claimed that top Ukrainian officials were aware as early as the first week of August that the U.S. was freezing its military aid, a Wednesday report revealed. 

This revelation contradicts Donald Trump’s assertion that Ukraine did not know military aid was being withheld, which he claimed made a quid pro quo impossible.

Interviews and document views conducted by the newspaper, it came to light that over the course of a few days in August a Pentagon officials discussed the freeze directly with a Ukrainian government official.

The Defense Department official suggested Trump’s acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was pushing for the aid freeze and that the Ukrainian government should contact him regarding any concerns over the decision.

The official also noted, according to interviews and documents, that Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak, who negotiated with Rudy Giuliani over investigations and a White House visit from Zelensky, should also reach out to Mulvaney regarding the aid hold. 

During his Jumly 25 phone call, Trump advised Zelensky that his personal lawyer, Rudy  Giuliani (pictured) would be contacting him about his request for an investigation into corruption

During his Jumly 25 phone call, Trump advised Zelensky that his personal lawyer, Rudy  Giuliani (pictured) would be contacting him about his request for an investigation into corruption 

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