Democrats subpoena White House documents about Donald Trump's Ukraine phone call
The impeachment investigation reveals texts that show one diplomat in particular was concerned about the president's intentions.
Sunday 6 October 2019 22:12, UK
US House Democrats have subpoenaed the White House for documents they want to see as part of their impeachment investigation of Donald Trump.
The chairmen of three House of Representatives committees said they wanted documents related to the phone call between Mr Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that is at the heart of their inquiry.
They said they were forced to issue the subpoena after the White House failed to produce documents they requested in on 9 September.
"We deeply regret that President Trump has put us - and the nation - in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena," said Representatives Elijah Cummings of the Oversight Committee, Adam Schiff of the Intelligence Committee and Eliot Engel of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
They gave the White House until 18 Oct to produce the information, including who else besides the president was on the phone call with Mr Zelenskiy.
Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: "So Crooked Hillary Clinton can delete and acid wash 33,000 emails AFTER getting a subpoena from the United States Congress, but I can't make one totally appropriate telephone call to the president of Ukraine? Witch Hunt!"
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement: "This subpoena changes nothing - just more document requests, wasted time, and taxpayer dollars that will ultimately show the president did nothing wrong."
It comes after text messages revealed US diplomats encouraged Mr Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden's family in return for a visit to Washington.
One of them also called it "crazy" to withhold military aid "for help with a political campaign".
The messages were released by the House Intelligence Committee after Thursday's 10-hour interview with one of those involved, Kurt Volker.
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Mr Volker quit as US special envoy to Ukraine after Democrats launched an in impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
They claim Mr Trump put pressure on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch an investigation into Joe Biden - his likely rival for the presidency - and his son, Hunter.
Some of the texts were made on the day of a phone call between the two presidents, 25 July, and appear to paint a picture of a quid pro quo being formulated.
In the morning, Mr Volker texted an adviser to Ukrainian president: "Heard from White House - Assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate / 'get to the bottom of what happened' in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington."
After the call, the adviser, Andrey Yermak, messaged back "phone call went well" and suggested dates the presidents could meet in September.
Mr Yermak texted two weeks later to try to set a date for the meeting before they would commit to a statement on the investigation.
"Once we have a date we will call for a press briefing, announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of US-UKRAINE relationship, including among other things Burisma and election meddling in investigations," said the message.
"Sounds great!" replied Mr Volker.
Mr Volker; Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union; and Bill Taylor, charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Ukraine, went on to discuss the statement the Ukrainian president would make about the investigation.
But Mr Sondland said in one text in August: "I think potus really wants the deliverable".
The Trump administration's freezing of hundreds of millions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine also caused Mr Taylor serious concern.
"Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?" he wrote to Mr Sondland on 1 September.
And in another message a week later, Mr Taylor said: "As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."
Mr Sondland responded: "Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions.
"The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind.
"The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President ZelenAG百家乐在线官网 promised during his campaign."
The Biden family have not been shown to have committed any wrongdoing.
Mr Trump and the Ukrainian president have both denied that any untoward pressure was exerted.
The president has denied acting improperly in his dealings with Ukraine's president, calling the July phone call "perfect". He has said the Democrats have started the impeachment investigation because "they know they can't win" in next year's election.
Mr Trump also suggested this week that China should "start an investigation into the Bidens".