Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador Sondland Worked to "Break the Logjam"
President Trump's hold on security assistance persisted throughout August, without explanation to U.S. officials and contrary to the consensus recommendation of the President's national security team. At the same time, President Trump refused to schedule a coveted White House visit for President Zelensky until he announced two investigations that could benefit President Trump's reelection prospects. The confluence of those two circumstances led some American officials, including Ambassador Sondland and David Holmes, Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, to conclude that the military assistance was conditioned on Ukraine's public announcement of the investigations.838
On August 20, Ambassador Kurt Volker met with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper. Ms. Cooper and Ambassador Volker agreed that if the hold on security assistance was not lifted, "it would be very damaging to the relationship" between the U.S. and Ukraine.839 During this meeting, Ambassador Volker mentioned that he was talking to an advisor to President Zelensky about making a statement "that would somehow disavow any interference in U.S. elections and would commit to the prosecution of any individuals involved in election interference."840 Ambassador Volker indicated that if his efforts to get a statement were successful, the hold on security assistance might be lifted.841
Although he did not mention that conversation during his deposition, Ambassador Volker had a similar recollection, during his public testimony, of the meeting with Ms. Cooper. Ambassador Volker recalled discussing with Ms. Cooper the draft statement that had been coordinated with Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak—which included reference to the two investigations that President Trump demanded in the July 25 call—and that such a statement "could be helpful in getting a reset of the thinking of the President, the negative view of Ukraine that he had" which might, in turn, "unblock[] whatever hold there was on security assistance."842
Around this time, Ambassador Sondland sought to "break the logjam" on the security assistance and the White House meeting by coordinating a meeting between the two Presidents through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. On August 22, Ambassador Sondland emailed Secretary Pompeo, copying the State Department's Executive Secretary, Lisa Kenna:
Should we block time in Warsaw for a short pull-aside for POTUS to meet Zelensky? I would ask Zelensky to look him in the eye and tell him that once Ukraine's new justice folks are in place (mid-Sept) Ze should be able to move forward publicly and with confidence on those issues of importance to Potus and to the US. Hopefully, that will break the logjam.843
Secretary Pompeo replied, "Yes."844
Ambassador Sondland testified that when he referenced "issues of importance to Potus," he meant the investigation into the false allegations about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election and the investigation into the Bidens.845 He told the Committee that his goal was to "do what was necessary to get the aid released, to break the logjam."846 Ambassador Sondland
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