>>the committee will come to order. good morning, everyone. this is the second in a series of public hearings. the committee will be holding as part of the house's impeachment inquiry. without objection, the chair is authorized to the curry cessa the committed any time there is a president. we will proceed today in the same fashion as our first hearing. i'll make an opening statement and ranking member nunez will have the opportunity to make a statement. and we will turn to our witness for an opening statement and then to questions. for audience members we welcome you and respect or interest in being here in turn we ask for your respect as we proceed with today's hearing. it is the intention of the committee to proceed without disruptions as chairman i'll take all necessary and appropriate steps to maintain order to ensure that the committee is running accordance with house rules and house resolution 6.60. but i now recognize

myself to give an opening statement. an impeachment inquiry into donald j trump, 45th president of the united states. in april 2019. united states ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch was in kiev when she was called by a senior state department official and told to get on the next plane. back to washington. upon her return to the sea. she was informed by his superiors that although she had done nothing wrong. she could no longer serve as ambassador to ukraine because she did not have the confidence of the president. it was a stunning turn of events for this highly regarded career diplomat. what done such a remarkable job fighting corruption in ukraine. a short time earlier she had been asked by the state department to extend her tour. mastery of on of it has been in the foreign service where 33 years and serve much of that time in the former soviet union. her parents had fled stalin and later hitler

before settling in the united states. she's an exemplary officer who was widely praised and respected by her colleagues. she is known as an anti-corruption champion whose tour in kiev was viewed as a very successful. the master michael mckinley who had served with her in the foreign service for several decades stated that from the earliest days of her career. in the foreign service, she was excellent serious committed. i certainly remember her being one of those people who seemed to be destined for greater things. her successor is acting chief of mission in ukraine investor bill taylor describe her as very frank. she was very direct she made points very clearly and she was indeed off on corruption. and she named names and that sometimes controversial out but out there but she's a strong person and made those charges. in her time in kiev a

massive on of it was tough on corruption. too tough on corruption for some and a principled stance made her enemies as george kent told this committee on wednesday. you can't promote principled anti-corruption action without kissing off corrupt people. and ambassador yovanovitch did not just his soft corrupt ukrainians like the corrupt former prosecutor general yuriy lutsenko. certain americans like rudy giuliani donald trump's personal tourney and 2 individuals now indicted who worked with him igor fruman and let parness. fruman parness and others who would come to include the president's own son don junior, promoted to smear campaign against her based on false allegations. at the state department there was an effort to push back. to obtain a statement of support from secretary pompeo. but those efforts failed when it became clear the president trump want

to her. some of argued that a president has the ability to nominate or remove any investor he wants that they serve at the pleasure of the president. and that is true. the question before us is not whether donald trump could recall an american ambassador with a stellar reputation for fighting corruption in ukraine. but why would he want to. why did rudy giuliani want her gone. and why did donald trump. and why would dobut for

that someone blew the whistle. ambassador yovanovitch was serving our nation's interest and fighting corruption in ukraine. she was considered an obstacle to the further its of the president's personal and political agenda. for that she was smeared and cast aside. but they are not absolute. and they cannot be used. the american people expect their president to use the authority they grant him. in the service of the nation. not to destroy others to advance his personal or political interests. i now recognize ranking member nearness for his remarks. it's

unfortunate that today and for most of next week we will. >>continue engaging and the democrats day long tv spectacles instead of solving the problems we were all all sent to washington to address. we now have a major trade agreement with canada and mexico. ready for approval. a deal that would create jobs and boost our cause. meanwhile we have not yet approved funding for the government. instead the democrats have convened us once again to advance their off ration to topple a duly elected president. democrats on this committee had already voted to impeach this president before. fact democrats have been vowing to oust president trump since the day he was elected.

so americans can rightly suspect that his phone call with president zelensky was used as an excuse for the democrats to for phil. stage 6 weeks of secret depositions. in the basement of the capitol. like some kind of strange cold. the american people finally got to see this farce for themselves. hearsay testimony about conversations, the 2 diplomats who have never spoken to the president. trying to overthrow a president based on this type of evidence. but that's what the whole case relies on. the game and second hand and 3rd hand information cited by the whistleblower. that's why on

wednesday, the democrats were forced to make the absurd. and just when you thought the spectacle couldn't get more bizarre. committee republicans received a memo from the democrats threatening ethics referrals. if we out the whistleblower. as the democrats are well aware. no republicans here no the whistleblower's identity because the whistleblower only met with. chairman schiff claim not to know who it is. asking questions that could reveal his or her identity. republicans on this committee are left wondering. it's even possible for the chairman to block questions. the american

people may be seen these absurdities for the first time. the republicans on this guys are used to them. until they secretly met with the whistleblower. and any topic aside from the ridiculous conspiracy theories that president trump is a russian agent. when you find yourself on the phone like the democrats did with the russian pranksters offering new nude pictures of trump. and after you order your staff to follow up in get the photos as the democrats also dead. but it might be time to ask yourself if you've gone out, too far on a limb. even as they were accusing republicans of colluding with russians the democrats themselves were colluding with russians by funding the steele dossier. and russian and ukrainian. meanwhile they turn a blind eye to ukrainians meddling in our elections because the

democrats were cooperating with that operation. this was the subject. of a 7/20/2017 letter. to then deputy attorneys general. the letter raise concerns about the activities of alexander chalupa a contractor for the democratic national committee. who worked with ukrainian embassy officials to spread dirt on the trump campaign. a senator grassley wrote. lupus actions appear to show that she was simultaneously working on behalf of a foreign government ukraine. the dnc and the clinton. campaign in an effort to influence not only the us voting population. but us government officials. after touting the steele dossier in defending the fbi's russia investigation. which

are now being investigated by inspector general horowitz and attorneys general barr. democrats on this committee ignore ukrainian election meddling even though chalupa. to the blaring signs of corruption. surrounding hunter biden's well paid position on the board of a corrupt ukrainian company. while his father served as vice president. for ukraine issues and the obama the administration. but the democrats media hack. only cared about that issue. briefly. when they were trying to stop joe biden from running against hillary clinton. in 2015. as i previously stated these hearings should not be occurring. until we get the answers to 3 crucial questions. the democrats refused to act. what is the full extent of the democrats prior the court nation with the whistleblower and who else

to the whistleblower coordinate this effort with. what is the full extent of ukraine's election meddling against the trump campaign. and did his position affect any government actions under the obama the administration. can people through a wrenching impeachment process. ever growing list of broken promises. and destructive. release his transcripts. i think it's important that i read this into the record. so that there's no confusion over this first phone call that occurred. on april 21th. i'd

like to congratulate you on a job well done and congratulations on a fantastic election. thank you so very much, it's nice to hear from you and i appreciate the congratulations. again thank you so very much as you can see we tried very hard. we had you as a great example. i think you will do a great job. i have many friends in ukraine who know you and like you i have many friends from ukraine and frankly expected you to win. i'm ládeia, and there's more to me than hiv. there's my career... my cause... and creating my dream home. i'm a work in progress. so much goes into who i am. hiv medicine is one part of it. prescription dovato is for adults who are starting

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you know very soon and we will see very very soon regard. congratulations simply say hello to the ukrainian people and your family let them know i send my best regards. so in ski will thank you. give us a flight and see you soon. take care of yourself and give a great speech today. you take yourself and i'll see you soon. thank you very much, it's difficult for me. but i will practice english and i will meet in english. thank you very much. all that's beautiful day here. that's really good. i could not do it in your language. i was able

to read that in the records of the now the american people know the very first call. >>mister chairman i have a parliamentary inquiry. the general was not recognized. i do want to comment him and i have a point of order under a tres 6.60 will stay a point of order. the point of order is will the chairman continue to prohibit witnesses from answer republican questions as you've done in closed hearings and as you did was a space are interrupted our question of the proper point of origin well spent haven't they have done is not recognize that you're not a part of what does not recognize point of order was not recognized. >>do respond i allowed the road you might know to order jen is not recognized this is out and therefore gentleman's grip. i mean really and a man is not recognized. was allowed to exceed. the opening

statement. i was happy to allow him to do so. first of all i'm grateful. the president has released the call record. i would now ask the president to release the thousands of other records that he has instructed the state department not to release. including investor taylor's notes, including investor taylor's cable, including george kent's memo, a

information that may touch on classified information will be

addressed separately. second congress will not tolerate any reprisal threat of reprisal or attempt to retaliate against any us government official for testifying before congress, including you or any of your colleagues. if you would please rise and raise right hand i will begin by swearing u n. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth. the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. thank you and please be seated. without objection your written statement will be made part of the record with that investor maria van of it you are recognized for your opening statement. the best real need to speak very close to the microphone. for the opportunity to start with this statement. >>to reintroduce myself to the committee and to highlight

parts of my biography and experience. as an american citizen who has devoted the majority of my life, 33 years. service to the country that all of us. the foreign service understanding that my job was to implement the foreign policy interests of this nation as defined by the president and congress. and to do so regardless of which person or party was in power. i had no agenda other than to pursue our stated foreign policy goal. it is an expression of gratitude. all that this country has given to me and to my family. did not have the good fortune to come of age in a free society. for ultimately finding refuge in the united states. my mother's family escaped the ussr after the bolshevik revolution. and

she grew up stateless in not see germany before also eventually making her way to the united states. towards the united states and great empathy for others like the ukrainian people who want to be. i joined the foreign service during the reagan administration. and subsequently served 3 other republican presidents as well as 2 democratic house. it was my great honor to be appointed to serve as an ambassador 3 times twice i george w bush and once by barack obama. there is a perception that diplomats lead a comfortable life. i'm throwing dinner, parties and fancy homes. let me tell you about some of my reality. it has not always been easy. i have moved 13 times and served in 7

different countries, 5 of them hardship posts. was no cut issues, somalia. and increasingly dangerous place as that country's civil war, grinding on. and the government was weakening. the military took over policing functions in a particularly brutal way and basic service services disappeared. several years later after the soviet union collapsed. i helped open our embassy in tashkent uzbekistan as we were establishing relations with the new country. our small embassy was attacked by a gunman, sprayed the embassy building with gunfire. in 19 93 during the attempted coup a mosque in russia. i was caught in cross fire between presidential and parliamentary forces. it took us 3. to go to the embassy. we went because

the ambassador asked us to come. and we went because it was our duty. 2016 until may 2019 i served as the us ambassador to ukraine. during my tenure in ukraine i went to the front line approximately 10 times during a hot war uo show the american flag to hear what was going on sometimes literally as we heard the impact of artillery and to see power systems dollars are being put to use. advance us policy fully embrace. i democrats and republicans alike to help ukraine become a stable and independent democratic state with a market economy integrated into europe. a secure democratic and free ukraine serves not just the ukrainian people that the american people as well. that's why it was our policy. continues to be our policy to

help the training and achieve their objectives. they match our project a detective's. the us is the most powerful country in the history of the world in large part because of our values and our values have made possible. the network of. that buttresses our own strength. ukraine with an enormous land and a large population has the potential to be a significant commercial and political partner for the united states as well as a force multiplier on the security side. out of russia's orbit. ukraine is a battleground for great power competition with a hot war for the control of territory and hybrid war to control

ukraine's leadership. the us has provided significant security assistance since the onset of the war against russia in 2014. and the trump administration's strengthened our policy by approving the provision to ukraine of anti tank missiles known as chaplains. supporting ukraine is the right thing to do. it's also the smart thing to do. if russia prevails and ukraine falls to russian dominion. we can expect to see other time. as the war against russia is ukraine struggling democracy has an equally important challenge. battling the soviet legacy of corruption which is pervaded ukraine's government. corruption makes ukraine's leaders ever vulnerable to russia. and the ukrainian people understand that. that's why they launched a revolution of dignity in 2014, demanding

to be a part of europe. demanding the transformation of the system. demanding to live under the rules of law. ukrainians one of the law to apply equally to all people whether the individual the question is the president or any other citizen. it was a question of fairness of dignity. there's a coincidence of interests, corrupt leaders are inherently less trustworthy on honest and accountable ukrainian leadership makes a u s ukrainian partnership more reliable and more valuable united states. a level playing field in the strategically located country ordering for nato allies creates an environment in which us business can more easily trade invest and profit. corruption is also a security issue because corrupt officials are vulnerable to moscow. in short. it is in america's national security interest to help ukraine transform into a

country where the rule of law governs and corruption is held in check. it was and remains a top us to priority to help ukraine fight corruption. and significant progress has been made since the 2014 revolution, dignity. as the past couple of months have underlined not all ukrainians embraced our anti-corruption work that's perhaps it was not surprising. that when our anticorruption efforts got in the way of a desire for profit. ukraine's you prefer to play by the old corrupt rules sought to remove me. work continues to amaze me. is that they found americans willing to partner with them and working together. they apparently succeeded in orchestrating the removal. the us ambassador. our system they like this. how is it that foreign corrupt interests come in a few late our government. which country's interests are

served when the very corrupt behavior. we have been criticizing is allowed to prevail. undermines the u s. exposes our friends and widens the playing field for autocrats like president putin. our example and the consistency of our purpose. with that background in mind. i'd like to briefly address some of the factual issues i expect to reap what you may want to ask me that starting with my timeline ukraine and the events about which i do and do not have firsthanankn knowledge. i write and ukraine on august 22th, 2016 and left ukraine permanently on may 20th 2019. investigating 2 which i cannot bring any firsthand knowledge. the

events that predated my ukraine service include. the release of the so-called black ledger and mister manafort's subsequent resignation from president trump's campaign. the departure from office of former prosecutor general. victor show him. several other events occurred after. 7/25/2019 call with president zelensky. the discussions surrounding that phone call and a discussion surrounding the delay of security assistance to ukraine in the summer of 2019. as for events during my tenure ukraine. but the allegations that i dissemited thth do not prosecute less was a fabrication. the former ukrainian prosecutor general who made that allegation has acknowlwlged that the list never existed. mister lutsenko

or other ukrainian officials who they should or should not prosecute. instead. i advocated the us position that rule of law revail. uk shouldld and ukrainian law enforcement prosecutors and judges should stop wielding their power selectively as s political weapon against their adversaries and start dealing with all consistently and according. but i told an identified embassy employees or ukrainian officials the president's trump's order should be ignored because he was going to

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concerted campaign against him. the president no longer wished me to serve as ambassador to ukraine and that in fact the president had been pushing for my removal since the prior summer. as mister sullivan recently are counted during his senate confirmation hearing. neither he nor anyone else ever explained or sought to justify the president's concerns about me, nor did anyone in the department justify my early departure by suggesting i have done something wrong. that was just saw them publicly affirmed at his hearing and i served capably. i have always understood that i served at the pleasure of the president. i still find it difficult to comprehend that farm and private interests we're able to undermine us interests in this way. individuals who

apparently felt stymied by or press or efforts to promote. he did us policy against corruption. that is to do our mission. we're able to successfully conduct a campaign of disinformation against a sitting ambassador using an official back channels. as various witnesses have recounted they share baseless allegations with the president. and convinced him to remove his ambassador. despite the fact the state department fully understood that the allegations were false and the sources highly suspect. should concern everyone in this room. the united states abroad. they're the personal representative, the president. they should always act and speak with full authority to advocate for us policies. if our chief representative disney kept it limits our stuff active miss to safeguard the vital national security interest. the united states. this is especially important now when

the international landscape is more complicated and more compare. since the dissolution the soviet union. our ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray. and shady interests the word of the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an american ambassador does not give them what they want. after these events. what foreign mission official. he blamed for wondering whether the us ambassador represents the president's views. and what us ambassador could be blamed for harboring the fear. they can't count on our government to support them as they implement stated us policy. and protect and defend us interests. before taking your questions. at the close deposition. i expressed grave concerns about the degradation of the foreign

service over the past few years. and the failure. a state department leadership to push back as foreign and corrupt interests. apparently hi jack our ukraine policy. i remain disappointed that the department's leadership and others have declined to acknowledge that the attacks against me and others are dangerously wrong. this is about form far far more the me or couple of individuals. professionals are being generated and undermined. the institution is also being degraded. this will soon cause real harm if it hasn't already. the state department as a tool of foreign policy often doesn't get the same kind of attention or you can respect as the military might of the pentagon. the pointy end of the spear if we lose our edge. the us will inevitably have to use other tools even more than it does today. and those other tools are blunter. and not

universally. attacks are leading to a crisis in the state department as the policy process is visibly unraveling. leadership vacancies going filled and senior and mid-level officers ponder an uncertain future. the crisis has moved from the impact on individuals to impact on the institution itself. the state department is being hollowed out from within at a competitive and complex time on the world stage. this is not a time to under cut or diplomat. it is the responsibility of the department's leaders to stand up for the institution in the individuals who make that institutions still today the most effective diplomatic force in the world. has a responsibility to reinvest in our diplomacy that's an investment in our national security. it's an investment in our future in our children's future. and how we

serve this country. we are professionals, we are public servants who buy vocation and train pursue the policies of the president regardless of who hold that office or what party affiliate with we handle american citizen services facilitate trade and commerce work security issues represent the us and report. and advise washington to mention just some of our functions and we make a difference every day. are people who repeatedly affirmed our life. who risk and sometimes give. 40 years ago this month again 444 days deprivation, torture in captivity in tehran. we are the dozens of americans stationed at our embassy in

cuba and consulates in china who mysteriously and dangerously and in some cases perhaps even permanently were injured in the attack from unknown sources several years ago. and we are ambassador chris stevens, shawn patrick smith. people rightly called heroes for their ultimate sacrifice to this nation's foreign policy interests in libya. 8 years ago. each one of you here and every american. courageous individuals were attacked because they symbolize america. what you need to now what americans need to now is that well thankfully most of us answer the call to duty in far less dramatic ways. every foreign service officer runs the same risks and very often so to our families. they served 2. as individuals as a

community. we answer the call to duty to advance and protect the interest of the united states. we take our oath seriously. the same oath that each one of you take. to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same. i count myself lucky to be a foreign service officer fortune to serve with the best america has to offer blessed to serve the american people. the last. i thank you for your attention. i welcome the question. thank you master week, ourselves lucky that. >>have you serve the country as you have for decades. will now move to the 45 minute rounds i recognized myself and majority council for 45 minutes. thank you again for appearing today. before i

headed over to mister goldman our staff counsel i want to ask you about a few of the pivotal events of interest to the country. action in ukraine a key element of us policy. and one in which you place the highest priority. can you explain why. >>it was important and it was actually stated in in and our policy and in our strategy. it was important corruption was undermining the integrity of the government's governance system in ukraine and as i noted in my statement. and that are honest and trustworthy make better partners fo the van gogh.

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aware that the president designated these 3 amigos to coordinate ukraine policy with rudy giuliani. this is the same rudy giuliani orchestrated the smear campaign against you. and the same rudy giuliani who during the now infamous july 25th phone call the president recommended to zelinsky in the context of the 2 investigations, the president wanted into the 2016 election and the bidens yes. and finally investor. in that july 25th phone call. the president praises one of these corrupt former ukrainian prosecutors and says they were treated very unfairly. who was smeared in recalled. d has a taste so rich

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died because she was attacked by acid. several months later, a very very painful death. we thought it was important. and for others who fight corruption in ukraine because this is it's not a you know kind of a table top exercise there lives are in the balance. so we wanted to bring attention to this. we held an and gave her father who of course is still mourning her. >>under current women of

courage awards stem from her anticorruption efforts in ukraine yes that is true was it ever determined to threw the acid and and killed her. >>there have been investigations lower-ranking individuals are involved in this. i have been arrested those who ordered. >>after you stepped away from this anticorruption event to take this call. what did the director general tell you. >>she said that there great concern on the 7th floor of the state from that's where the leadership of the state department's its. there is great they were worried. she just wanted to give me a heads up about this. you seem to be going on and so she just wanted to give me a heads up. i you know hard to know how to react to something like that i asked her what it was about what did she think it