Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/103

 advisor to Vice President Michael Pence, similarly testified that "it struck me as unusual and inappropriate." She later added, "the references to specific individuals and investigations, such as former Vice President Biden and his son, struck me as political in nature."

Events leading up to the July 25 call strongly support Ms. Williams's concern that President Trump's request was "political in nature." On May 2, 2019, President Trump retweeted a New York Times article entitled Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies. That article concluded that Mr. Giuliani's efforts underscored "the Trump campaign's concern about the electoral threat from the former vice president's presidential campaign" and noted that "Mr. Giuliani's involvement raises questions about whether Mr. Trump is endorsing an effort to push a foreign government to proceed with a case that could hurt a political opponent at home." On May 9, 2019, it was reported that President Trump's private lawyer, Mr. Giuliani, planned to meet with President Zelensky "to urge him to pursue inquiries that allies of the White House contend could yield new information about two matters of intense interest to Mr. Trump." Those matters were the same two investigations that President Trump raised on his July 25 call. And as Mr. Giuliani stated in early May, "this isn't foreign policy." Instead, Mr. Giuliani was seeking information that "will be very, very helpful to my client," namely "the President of the United States." Again on May 9, Mr. Giuliani stated on Fox News, "I guarantee you, Joe Biden will not get to election day without this being investigated." The next day, in an interview, upon learning that Mr. Giuliani was traveling to Ukraine to pursue investigations, President Trump responded, "I will speak to him about it before he leaves."