Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/489

 favorably impress President Trump."$860$

Ukrainian Concern Over Military Aid Intensified After First Public Report of Hold

On August 28, 2019, Politico first reported that President Trump had implemented a hold on nearly $400 million of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine that had been appropriated by Congress.

Almost immediately after the news became public, Ukrainian officials expressed alarm to their American counterparts. Mr. Yermak sent Ambassador Volker a link to the Politico story and then texted: "Need to talk with you."$861$ Other Ukrainian officials also expressed concerns to Ambassador Volker that the Ukrainian government was being "singled out and penalized for some reason."$862$

On August 29, Mr. Yermak also contacted Ambassador Taylor to express that he was "very concerned" about the hold on military assistance.$863$ Mr. Yermak and other Ukrainian officials told Ambassador Taylor that they were "just desperate" and would be willing to travel to Washington to raise with U.S. officials the importance of the assistance. Ambassador Taylor described confusion among Ukrainian officials over the hold on military aid:

"I mean, the obvious question was, "Why?" So Mr. Yermak and others were trying to figure out why this was ... They thought that there must be some rational reason for this being held up, and they just didn't—and maybe in Washington they didn't understand how important this assistance was to their fight and to their armed forces. And so maybe they could figure—so they were just desperate.$864$"

Without any official explanation for the hold, American officials could provide little reassurance to their Ukrainian counterparts. Ambassador Taylor continued, "And I couldn't tell them. I didn't know and I didn't tell them, because we hadn't—we hadn't—there'd been no guidance that I could give them."$865$

Ambassador Taylor's First-Person Cable Described the "Folly" in Withholding Military Aid

The same day that Ambassador Taylor heard from Mr. Yermak about his concerns about the hold on military aid, Ambassador Taylor transmitted his classified, first-person cable to Washington. It was the first and only time in Ambassador Taylor's career that he sent such a cable to the Secretary of State.$866$ The cable described "the folly I saw in withholding military aid to Ukraine at a time when hostilities were still active in the east and when Russia was watching closely to gauge the level of American support for the Ukrainian Government."$867$

Ambassador Taylor worried about the public message that such a hold on vital military assistance would send in the midst of Ukraine's hot war with Russia: "The Russians, as I said at my deposition, would love to see the humiliation of President Zelensky at the hands of the Americans. I told the Secretary that I could not and would not defend such a policy."$868$