The former special envoy to Ukraine told House investigators he wasn't aware Trump had pressured Ukraine's president for dirt on Joe Biden.
Kurt Volker, the State Department’s former special envoy to Ukraine, on Thursday became the first witness to testify in the House’s impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
But Volker turned over text messages to Congress that indicate he likely knew more than he acknowledged. The texts exchanges involved Volker, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, and Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine. Some of the messages were sent from Volker to Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Volker’s name also appears several times in the whistleblower complaint from a member of the intelligence community that sparked the impeachment inquiry. It claimed Volker advised Ukrainian leaders on how to “navigate” Trump’s requests. Volker told investigators on Thursday that he was not “fully in the loop” about Trump’s intentions, that he was in Ukraine at the time of the call and that he was not subsequently shown a transcript of the conversation, according to The New York Times.
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