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| Senior State Dept. Ukraine Expert Says White House Sidelined Him | Senior State Dept. Ukraine Expert Says White House Sidelined Him |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| WASHINGTON — A senior State Department official in charge of Ukraine policy told impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he was all but cut out of decisions regarding the country after a May meeting organized by Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, describing his sidelining by President Trump’s inner circle as “wrong,” according to a lawmaker who heard the testimony. | |
| The revelation from George P. Kent, the deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, emerged as he submitted to hours of closed-door testimony to the House committees investigating how President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. | |
| Despite an edict by the White House not to cooperate with what it has called an illegitimate inquiry, Mr. Kent was one of a procession of top officials who have made the trip to the secure rooms of the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill, unspooling a remarkably consistent tale. They have detailed how Mr. Trump sought to manipulate American policy in Ukraine to meet his goals, circumventing career diplomats and policy experts and inserting his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani into the process, raising alarms in the West Wing and throughout the government. | |
| “Here is a senior State Department official responsible for six countries, one of which is Ukraine, who found himself outside of a parallel process that he felt was undermining 28 years of U.S. policy and promoting the rule of law in Ukraine,” Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, said of Mr. Kent, after departing from the room where he was being deposed. | |
| “And that was wrong,” Mr. Connolly said. “He used that word, ‘wrong.’” | “And that was wrong,” Mr. Connolly said. “He used that word, ‘wrong.’” |
| After the May 23 meeting called by Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. Kent told investigators, he and others whose portfolios included Ukraine were edged out by Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union; Kurt D. Volker, the special envoy for Ukraine; and Rick Perry, the energy secretary, who “declared themselves the three people now responsible for Ukraine policy,” Mr. Connolly said. | |
| The meeting occurred on the same day that Mr. Sondland, Mr. Volker and Mr. Perry urged Mr. Trump in an Oval Office briefing to support and arrange a White House meeting for the new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, from whose inauguration they had just returned. It was unclear if the meeting described by Mr. Kent was the same one or another session. | |
| Mr. Trump replied skeptically, telling the group that Ukrainian politicians are “all corrupt.” After that, Mr. Sondland and Mr. Volker began working with Mr. Giuliani to urge Mr. Zelensky to commit to the investigations sought by Mr. Trump. | |
| Mr. Kent said he was told at another point to “lay low” on Ukraine matters. | Mr. Kent said he was told at another point to “lay low” on Ukraine matters. |
| The accounts are trickling out even as the White House seeks to block even more information from surfacing in the impeachment inquiry. Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday defied a request by investigators for documents related to the inquiry, and the Defense Department, the Office of Management and Budget and Mr. Giuliani all gave notice that they would defy subpoenas to turn over material. All of them cited the lack of a House vote authorizing the impeachment inquiry as grounds for stonewalling. | |
| In a sternly worded response to an unusual request for documents, Matthew E. Morgan, the counsel to the vice president, accused the committees of requesting material that is “clearly not vice-presidential records” and blasted the investigation enterprise as a “self-proclaimed ‘impeachment inquiry’” that was ultimately illegitimate. | In a sternly worded response to an unusual request for documents, Matthew E. Morgan, the counsel to the vice president, accused the committees of requesting material that is “clearly not vice-presidential records” and blasted the investigation enterprise as a “self-proclaimed ‘impeachment inquiry’” that was ultimately illegitimate. |
| But House Democratic leaders, who spent much of Tuesday privately polling their rank-and-file members about whether to hold such a vote — a move that could carry political risks and which they have resisted — said they were not planning one. | But House Democratic leaders, who spent much of Tuesday privately polling their rank-and-file members about whether to hold such a vote — a move that could carry political risks and which they have resisted — said they were not planning one. |
| “There is no requirement that we have a vote,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “We’re not here to call bluffs. We’re here to find the truth.” | |
| Mr. Kent spent more than seven hours sequestered with investigators, discussing concerns he long ago raised with State Department colleagues about the pressure being directed at Ukraine by Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani to open investigations into the president’s political rivals. | Mr. Kent spent more than seven hours sequestered with investigators, discussing concerns he long ago raised with State Department colleagues about the pressure being directed at Ukraine by Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani to open investigations into the president’s political rivals. |
| Witness interviews and public records have now confirmed key elements of an anonymous C.I.A. whistle-blower complaint that accused Mr. Trump of abusing his power to gain an advantage in the 2020 presidential election, though critical questions remain unanswered. | Witness interviews and public records have now confirmed key elements of an anonymous C.I.A. whistle-blower complaint that accused Mr. Trump of abusing his power to gain an advantage in the 2020 presidential election, though critical questions remain unanswered. |
| “Every witness we have heard thus far has corroborated the basic narrative,” said Representative Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey and a former State Department official involved in the House investigation. “At first gradually and then completely, official policy was replaced by a shadow policy run by Giuliani that had as its objective not our national interest but the president’s political interest.” | |
| Republicans, who have pounded Democrats for not holding a vote to authorize an inquiry, kept up the pressure on Tuesday, accusing them of ignoring obvious precedent set in the two modern presidential impeachment investigations to deny Mr. Trump and his party a fair process. | |
| Across the Capitol, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said Democrats had thrown “fairness and precedent to the wind.” And at the White House, Mr. Trump picked up a similar line of argument, accusing Democrats of “allowing no transparency at the Witch Hunt hearings.” | Across the Capitol, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said Democrats had thrown “fairness and precedent to the wind.” And at the White House, Mr. Trump picked up a similar line of argument, accusing Democrats of “allowing no transparency at the Witch Hunt hearings.” |
| Republican lawmakers who participated in Mr. Kent’s questioning blasted Mr. Connolly for talking publicly about his testimony. Representative Lee Zeldin of New York claimed Mr. Connolly had only been in the questioning for “about a second, maybe it was two seconds. And he walks about, he starts telling the public what substantively happened behind closed doors.” He added: “This entire process is such a clown show.” | |
| Mr. Connolly said he attended the questioning for more than an hour and a half. | |
| Democrats defended their investigation, and said it was bearing fruit. | Democrats defended their investigation, and said it was bearing fruit. |
| Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said the inquiry was being conducted behind closed doors to preserve its independence, and insisted that Republicans on the committee had been given an equal opportunity to ask questions. | |
| Mr. Schiff said that the committees had made “dramatic progress” in understanding the July phone call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky that prompted the whistle-blower complaint. And the witnesses, Mr. Schiff said, had made clear that there was a paper record that had not been provided to Congress, despite numerous subpoenas. | |
| “The case of obstruction of Congress continues to build,” he said. | “The case of obstruction of Congress continues to build,” he said. |
| New requests for depositions continued to stack up. The committees wrote on Friday to two top officials at the White House budget office, requesting they appear next week to discuss the suspension of security aid to Ukraine, according to one of the officials. They targeted Russ Vought, the office’s acting director, and Michael Duffey, a senior Trump appointee there who was said to have helped approve orders freezing the funds. The letters to the men said merely that investigators believed they had “information relevant to these matters.” | |
| The picture that has emerged from the private testimony that has been offered so far has been striking. First, Marie L. Yovanovitch, whom Mr. Trump abruptly removed this spring as United States ambassador to Ukraine, on Friday offered a blistering assessment of the Trump administration’s foreign policy. The president’s allies had shoved aside career diplomats, including her, in service of “false claims” by outsiders working for their own personal and political objectives, she charged. | |
| Then on Monday, Fiona Hill, a former top White House adviser for Europe and Russia, said that she and John R. Bolton, the president’s then national security adviser, objected strenuously to what they viewed as the hijacking of relations with Ukraine by unofficial channels. In her testimony, Ms. Hill quoted Mr. Bolton as warning he would not be part of any “drug deal” between other Trump appointees and Ukraine, and calling Mr. Giuliani a “hand grenade.” | |
| The extent of Mr. Kent’s testimony was not immediately clear, but as far back as March, people familiar with his warnings said, Mr. Kent pointed to Mr. Giuliani’s role in what he called a “disinformation” campaign intended to use a Ukrainian prosecutor to smear Mr. Trump’s adversaries. Those included former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Ms. Yovanovitch and Ukrainians who disseminated damaging information during the 2016 campaign about Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. | |
| In his voluntary appearance, Mr. Volker played down the idea that he and other presidential appointees had taken part in anything inappropriate, but he turned over a tranche of text messages with Ukrainian and American officials that showed at least some members of the diplomatic core were deeply alarmed by what they believed was happening. | In his voluntary appearance, Mr. Volker played down the idea that he and other presidential appointees had taken part in anything inappropriate, but he turned over a tranche of text messages with Ukrainian and American officials that showed at least some members of the diplomatic core were deeply alarmed by what they believed was happening. |
| Mr. Sondland, the Trump campaign donor turned ambassador who appears to be at the center of the pressure campaign, will meet investigators on Thursday. | Mr. Sondland, the Trump campaign donor turned ambassador who appears to be at the center of the pressure campaign, will meet investigators on Thursday. |
| Mr. Kent’s appearance fit an emerging pattern in which administration witnesses are instructed not to comply with the impeachment inquiry in line with a White House declaration last week that there would be a “full halt” to any cooperation, but who ultimately agree to do so. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the State Department directed Mr. Kent not to appear and sought to limit his testimony. The House Intelligence Committee then issued a last-minute subpoena ordering him to appear, and he complied. | Mr. Kent’s appearance fit an emerging pattern in which administration witnesses are instructed not to comply with the impeachment inquiry in line with a White House declaration last week that there would be a “full halt” to any cooperation, but who ultimately agree to do so. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the State Department directed Mr. Kent not to appear and sought to limit his testimony. The House Intelligence Committee then issued a last-minute subpoena ordering him to appear, and he complied. |
| The process was the same for Ms. Yovanovitch and Ms. Hill. | The process was the same for Ms. Yovanovitch and Ms. Hill. |
| Mr. Kent’s warnings about the disinformation effort are reflected in internal State Department emails provided by the agency’s inspector general to Congress this month and obtained by The New York Times. In one, he assailed a “fake news smear” being pushed against Ms. Yovanovitch by conservative news media personalities allied with Mr. Trump. In another, he criticized the Ukrainian prosecutor who was pushing the claims about Ms. Yovanovitch and called them “complete poppycock.” | Mr. Kent’s warnings about the disinformation effort are reflected in internal State Department emails provided by the agency’s inspector general to Congress this month and obtained by The New York Times. In one, he assailed a “fake news smear” being pushed against Ms. Yovanovitch by conservative news media personalities allied with Mr. Trump. In another, he criticized the Ukrainian prosecutor who was pushing the claims about Ms. Yovanovitch and called them “complete poppycock.” |
| A career diplomat, Mr. Kent has served since last fall as the deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. He has deep experience in Kiev, and with Ukrainian corruption specifically, having served as an anticorruption coordinator in the State Department’s European Bureau in 2014 and 2015, and then as deputy chief of mission in the United States Embassy in Kiev from 2015 until 2018. | |
| In his earlier roles, Mr. Kent had aggressively pushed Ukrainian prosecutors to pursue investigations into Mykola Zlochevsky, an oligarch who owned a gas company that started paying Hunter Biden, the presidential candidate’s younger son, as a board member in 2014. He was pressed at length on his views of the case on Tuesday, a personal familiar with his testimony said. | |
| When a British case against Mr. Zlochevsky for money laundering was dismissed in January 2015 for lack of evidence, Mr. Kent and others in the State Department blamed Ukrainian prosecutors. | When a British case against Mr. Zlochevsky for money laundering was dismissed in January 2015 for lack of evidence, Mr. Kent and others in the State Department blamed Ukrainian prosecutors. |
| Tensions boiled over at a previously unreported meeting in early February 2015 in Kiev, in which Mr. Kent scolded a deputy prosecutor in the office of Vitaly Yarema, who was the general prosecutor of Ukraine — the nation’s top law enforcement post, similar to that of the attorney general of the United States. | Tensions boiled over at a previously unreported meeting in early February 2015 in Kiev, in which Mr. Kent scolded a deputy prosecutor in the office of Vitaly Yarema, who was the general prosecutor of Ukraine — the nation’s top law enforcement post, similar to that of the attorney general of the United States. |
| In the days after the heated meeting with Mr. Kent, Mr. Yarema was fired and eventually replaced by another prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, whom American officials came to view as similarly problematic. | In the days after the heated meeting with Mr. Kent, Mr. Yarema was fired and eventually replaced by another prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, whom American officials came to view as similarly problematic. |
| In 2016, the elder Mr. Biden successfully pushed for Mr. Shokin’s ouster because the Obama administration and other Western governments and international institutions contended he was turning a blind eye to corruption in his own office and among the country’s elite, including Mr. Zlochevsky. | In 2016, the elder Mr. Biden successfully pushed for Mr. Shokin’s ouster because the Obama administration and other Western governments and international institutions contended he was turning a blind eye to corruption in his own office and among the country’s elite, including Mr. Zlochevsky. |
| It was Mr. Biden’s role in the dismissal of Mr. Shokin that Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani have subsequently held up as evidence that the former vice president intervened in Ukrainian affairs to help his son. There is no evidence of that. | |
| Emily Cochrane and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting. | Emily Cochrane and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting. |