Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/92

 announcement that would help him politically. By its very nature, and on its face, the President's conduct thus involved an exercise of power to obtain a personal political benefit. Although there can be no doubt that the abuse of power set forth in Article I involved the exercise of official power, it is helpful to closely consider the scheme at issue, as well as two of the means by which President Trump pursued it: specifically, his solicitation and pressuring of the Government of Ukraine to announce investigations that would result in a personal political benefit.

a.The Scheme

Beginning in the Spring of 2019, President Trump and his agents undertook a scheme to pressure the newly-elected President of Ukraine to announce politically-motivated investigations related to former Vice President Joe Biden and the 2016 United States Presidential election. That scheme included extensive efforts by the President's personal attorney Mr. Giuliani, who sought to tarnish former Vice President Biden and pressed Ukrainian officials to initiate the investigations. Mr. Giuliani publicly confirmed that the President was aware of his efforts, which were undertaken not as part of official U.S. foreign policy but to help the President personally.

But the task of carrying out this scheme was not limited to the President's personal attorney. On May 23, 2019, following the inauguration of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, the President met with United States officials, including Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Ambassador Kurt Volker, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. These three officials, who would later dub themselves the "Three Amigos," reported their favorable impressions of Ukraine's new president, who had been elected on an anti-corruption platform, and recommended that President Trump invite President Zelensky to the White House. President Trump reacted negatively. He expressed the view that Ukraine "tried to take [him] down" in 2016, and told the Three Amigos to "Talk to Rudy"—not U.S. diplomats and experts—about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland testified that "he understood the President's instruction to be a directive to work with Mr. Giuliani if [the delegation] hoped to advance relations with Ukraine." Following that May 23 meeting, Mr. Giuliani made clear to Ambassadors Sondland and Volker, "who were directly communicating with the Ukrainians, that a White House meeting would not occur until Ukraine announced its pursuit of the two political investigations."