In this ongoing warp speed unraveling of
the White House now read the Whistleblower’s new memo in its full text via CBS News' excellent reporting.
Or read here:
26
July 2019
The
following is a record of a conversation I had this afternoon with a White House
official about the telephone call yesterday morning between President Trump and
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The official who listened to the
entirety of the phone call was visibly shaken by what had transpired and seemed
keen to inform a trusted colleague within the U.S. national security apparatus
about the call. After my call with this official I [redacted] returned to my
office, and wrote up my best recollection of what I had heard.
The
official described the call as "crazy," "frightening" and
"completely lacking in substance related to national security." The
official asserted that the President used the call to persuade Ukrainian
authorities to investigate his political rivals, chiefly former Vice President
Biden and his son, Hunter. The official stated that there was already a
conversation underway with White House lawyers about how to handle the
discussion because, in the official's view, the President had clearly committed
a criminal act by urging a foreign power to investigate a U.S. person for the
purposes of advancing his own reelection bid in 2020.
The
phone call lasted approximately half an hour. The two leaders spoke through
interpreters. My conversation with the official only lasted a few minutes, and
as a result, I only received highlights:
The
President asserted that "it all started in Ukraine," referring to the
allegations of foreign interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and
the subsequent investigation into the Trump campaign's contact with Russian
individuals
The
President asked Zelenskyy to locate the "Crowdstrike server" and turn
it over to the United States, claiming that Crowdstrike is "a Ukrainian
company," (Note: This appears to be a reference to the DNC server from
which Russian hackers stole data and emails that were subsequently leaked in
mid-2016; the DNC hired cyber security firm Crowdstrike to do the forensic
analysis, which informed the FBI's investigation. It is not clear what the
president was referring to when he claimed Crowdstrike is a Ukrainian company;
one of its cofounders was born in Moscow.)
The
President told Zelenskyy that he would be sending his personal lawyer, former
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to Ukraine soon and requested that Zelenskyy meet
with him. Zelenskyy reluctantly agreed that, if Giuliani traveled to Ukraine,
he would see him.
The
President raised the case of Burisma Holdings, Hunter Biden's role in the
company, and former Vice President Biden's role in setting Ukraine policy. The
President urged Zelenskyy to [end page 1] investigate the Bidens and stated
that Giuliani would discuss this topic further with Zelenskyy during his trip
to Kyiv.
The
President urged Zelenskyy not to fire Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy
Lutsenko, who the President claimed was doing a good job. (Note: Lutsenko has
spearheaded various politicized investigations, including on Burisma Holdings
and alleged "Ukrainian interference" in the 2016 U.S. presidential
election. Lutsenko is widely reviled in Ukraine, and Zelenskyy has pledged to
fire him but has been unable to secure approval from the legislature.)
The
President stated that he wanted Attorney General William Barr to speak with
Zelenskyy as soon as possible. (Note: It was not clear whether this
conversation was to be in reference to Crowdstrike or the investigations of the
Bidens.)
The
President reiterated his concern that Zelenskyy was surrounded by people who
were enemies of the President, including "bad oligarchs."
The
President did not raise security assistance. According to the official,
Zelenskyy demurred in response to most of the President's requests.
I
did not review a transcript or written notes, but the official informed me that
they exist.
The
standard White House practice for Presidential-level phone calls with world
leaders is for the White House Situation Room to produce a word-for-word
electronic transcript that memorializes the call. The transcript is typically
then circulated to key White House officials to be transformed into a formal
memorandum that is distributed as an eyes-only document, to the Secretary of
State, Secretary of Defense, and Director of the CIA.
In
this case, the official told me that such a transcript had indeed been produced
and was being treated very sensitively, in hard copy only.
Moreover,
several additional senior White House officials listened to the entire phone
call in an adjacent room in the Situation Room suite and they presumably took
written notes on the call.
The
official did not know whether the President was aware that other people were
listening and that the call was being transcribed. The official also was not certain
whether anyone else was in the Oval Office with the President during the call.
On
the Ukrainian side, it is unclear who listened to the call or whether a record
was produced.
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