By Aaron Miller-
A top U.S diplomat has told an impeachment inquiry that he followed President Donald Trump’s orders to put pressure on Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Ambassador Gordon Sondland told the highly charged inquiry that Mr Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had ordered him to pile the pressure on the Ukranian government to push the investigation against Biden, with the implied hope of finding dirt on Biden. Most analysts say their is no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Biden, making Trump’s relentless pursuit appear discreditable.
The implication of the claim that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine as a blackmail to achieve his goal of having Biden investigated has emerged as the most disturbing part of the allegation, but the U.S president denies the allegation.
MOTIVE
Critics of the U.S president say the president’s ulterior motive was to undermine Biden’s electoral chances in a similar way he allegedly did to Hillary Clinton. Seeking foreign help to gain electoral advantage is illegal in the U.S.
Mr Biden is one of top contenders for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election. Mr Sondland, the U.S ambassador to the EU, told the latest hearing in the US House of Representatives that Mr Giuliani had sought a public statement from Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky announcing a probe into “corruption issues”.
Mr Trump will face an impeachment trial in the Senate if found guilty. If impeached, two-thirds of members of that Republican-controlled chamber would then need to vote for Mr Trump to be removed from office.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff sparked the second hearing of the day, continuing a long day on Capitol Hill. Schiff stated that Hale was a witness to the “smear” campaign against former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and pushed the State Department to release a statement supporting her.
“Hale pushed to get the State Department to put out a ‘robust full-page statement of defense and praise’ for Ambassador Yovanovitch, sadly to no avail,” Schiff said. “That silence continues today.”
Schiff testimony stated that Cooper oversaw the military assistance package to Ukraine which was delayed over the summer. He said she was “involved in efforts to understand and reverse the suspension,” which was ultimately lifted on September 11.
“All of the agencies responsible for Ukraine policy supported security assistance and advocated for the lifting of the hold,” Schiff said. “The only dissenting voice was OMB, who was following the orders of President Trump. And still no good explanation was provided for the hold.