The former special U.S. envoy for Ukraine said he has shifted his outlook on the saga as he faced impeachment investigators again.
Kurt Volker is in a bind.
The former special U.S. envoy for Ukraine was the first impeachment witness to testify behind closed doors and assured lawmakers he saw no indication that President Donald Trump had conditioned a White House meeting and military assistance for Ukraine on a promise from the country’s president to investigate Trump’s political rivals.
But after a cascade of witnesses told lawmakers a far more troubling version of events — that Trump indeed seemed to be orchestrating a quid pro quo for the White House meeting and perhaps for military aid — Volker says he has a new perspective.
“I have learned many things that I did not know at the time of the events in question,” Volker told the House Intelligence Committee in his prepared remarks on Tuesday.
Volker insists he was forthright and honest in his first deposition based on his understanding at the time, but Democrats — and perhaps some Republicans — are likely to zero in on his inconsistencies.
Volker is the first witness called by Republicans to testify publicly, appearing alongside former Trump National Security Council adviser Tim Morrison. But Volker, unlike nearly everyone else in the Ukraine saga, had a role in virtually every facet of the unfolding scandal.
He was a crucial point of contact for Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, as Giuliani leaned on Ukrainians to launch investigations of former vice president Joe Biden and of debunked allegations that Ukraine — not Russia — hacked a Democratic Party server in 2016.
Volker was also in the loop on July 18, when word spread throughout the Trump administration that the president had placed a hold on nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine with virtually no explanation.
And Volker was in the room for crucial White House briefings with Ukrainian officials and another U.S. ambassador — Gordon Sondland — who later directly told top Ukrainians that military aid would likely hinge on the opening of Trump’s favored investigations.
But Volker now says he was in the dark for many of the crucial moments that would have pointed toward a more nefarious purpose of the Ukraine maneuverings. He said that when he helped facilitate contact between Giuliani and a senior Ukrainian official, he was not aware that anyone considered a “linkage” between U.S. military aid and the investigations Trump sought.
“I opposed the hold on U.S. security assistance as soon as I learned about it on July 18, and thought we could turn it around before it the Ukrainians ever knew or became alarmed about it,” Volker testified on Tuesday. “I did not know the reason for the hold, but I viewed it as a U.S. policy problem that we needed to fix internally, and I was confident we would do so.”
Volker also said he was unaware that then-National Security Adviser John Bolton had “strong concerns” about the appropriateness of the investigations.
In perhaps one of the most glaring updates to his earlier testimony, Volker said that during a July 10 meeting at the White House with top Ukrainian officials, he now recalled that Sondland made a “generic comment about investigations” and that “all of us thought it was inappropriate.”
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In his opening remarks for today's impeachment hearing, Kurt Volker revised his previous testimony: "I have learned many things that I did not know at the time of the events in question."https://t.co/hc71XS829s
— POLITICO (@politico) November 19, 2019
Big change from Volker's first testimony to his opening statement today.
Left: he says "no" when asked categorically whether investigations were brought up in July 10 meeting
Right: He says Sondland did bring up investigations, and he found it "inappropriate" pic.twitter.com/VNeV93wNPI— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 19, 2019
Final Volker Testimony 11-1… by M Mali on Scribd
Kurt Volker: " At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden." https://t.co/MYvadbk6kY pic.twitter.com/KudLqsB1NB
— The Hill (@thehill) November 19, 2019
Kurt Volker: "As I remember, the meeting was essentially over when Ambassador Sondland made a general comment about investigations. I think all of us thought it was inappropriate. The conversation did not continue and the meeting concluded." pic.twitter.com/i4BIueMN5p
— The Hill (@thehill) November 19, 2019
Key admission today from Volker: "In retrospect, I should have seen that connection [between Burisma and Biden] differently, and had I done so, I would have raised my own objections. It was unacceptable."
This is an admission from Republicans' witness.
— Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) November 19, 2019
It took me a moment listening to Goldman questioning him to realize that Volker’s answer boils down to: I was too dumb to understand what they meant by “investigate corruption” https://t.co/js3t01AbNf
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 19, 2019
Volker came in trying to walk a fine line about just what he knew and Goldman just exposed it as total BS. I hope Gordon Sondland is watching from his hotel room and thinking about how tomorrow is going to go if he doesn't come clean.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) November 19, 2019
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