Trump pushed for Ukraine probe of firm tied to Bidens
A US diplomat yesterday told Congress that President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer injected domestic politics into talks with Ukraine, including seeking a probe of a Ukrainian company with ties to the son of Trump's Democratic rival Joe Biden.
US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland told congressional committees conducting an impeachment inquiry that Trump ordered diplomats in May to involve his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in talks between Washington and administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump and Giuliani are accused of linking US military aid to Ukraine to Zelensky's agreement to open an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter, as well as whether Ukraine was involved in meddling on behalf of Democrats in the 2016 US election -- a popular but widely discredited conspiracy theory.
"Mr Giuliani emphasized that the president wanted a public statement from President Zelensky committing Ukraine to look into anticorruption issues," Sondland said in a prepared statement.
"I did not understand, until much later, that Mr Giuliani's agenda might have also included an effort to prompt the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Biden or his son or to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the President's 2020 reelection campaign," he said.
"Mr Giuliani specifically mentioned the 2016 election (including the DNC server) and Burisma as two anti-corruption investigatory topics of importance for the President," Sondland said.
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